Well, friends, we’ve got less than a month left until the bitter end, in more ways than one. Not only does this divide, chaotic year called 2014 come to an end, but so does my time here at the publication. Just two more Buzz columns, then a final countdown, and its fare thee well, oh my honey, fare thee well. So we’re gonna round out this run with some top of the line stuff, taking a look at one of the year’s best films (and also the year’s 3rd Biblical film misfire). We’ll take a look at NBC’s second live musical, talk about the fate of Star Trek and have a short film take us into the future. Sam... I'm glad you're with me, cause it’s time for this week’s Buzz.
Movies: It makes sense that the man who made Moneyball and Capote would combine both sports and murder to give us not only the best work of his career, but the best work from each of its three main actors.Foxcatcher is a haunting meditation on fame, the lust for glory and the crushing quest for respect in the eyes of others. The true story of John Du Pont’s obsession with wrestling and the two young men caught in his web of wealthy madness, the film lets story take a back seat to somber character study, allowing the viewer to uncomfortably drift and stew in the dark, dank world of the Foxcatcher Estates, the sprawling Xanadu-esque property of the Du Pont family, including John and his cold, bitter mother, on whom he depends for affection and approval so greatly as to almost be the dark mirror image of Buster Bluth.
Haunting, stoic and almost inhuman, Steve Carrell’s performance as Du Pont is one for the ages, leaving the viewer unsettled for hours after the credits role, and his interplay with Channing Tatum as an Olympian living both in squalor and in the shadow of his well-adjusted brother is more spine-chillingly disquieting than any comic book villain brought to the screen. Its grim, midnight blue visual tone and simplistic cinematography help craft this almost Lovecraftian environ into which Ruffalo’s character is unwillingly dragged by his brother at the behest of the egomaniacal Du Pont, and its Ruffalo’s ever-charming demeanor that feels so incongruous with all the rest of Du Pont’s world that a sense of dread lingers like thick smoke in the air of the movie house, circling like vultures waiting for the brilliantly anti-climactic climax, the undignified final act of the mad king of the chemical empire that you anticipate from the first frame of the film (its a fairly well-known true story, after all) and yet still cringe when it occurs and hope perhaps that a miracle may occur. Its stirring, disturbing, and perfectly played, a masterwork of stagnant dread and mingling egos, forever entangled in that bastion of masculine identity known as sport.
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Here’s a statement that can’t in any way piss anyone off: Exodus is easily the best book of the Old Testament. The story of Moses, one of the oldest in history, has been adapted countless times (and been good about twice). Now, Ridley Scott, whose last good movie seems like it came out around the time of Moses, has decided to tackle the tale of the Jews escaping Egypt. After a sub-par Son of God (the movie, not the Christian religious figure) and an abysmal Noah, this miscast misfire feels all the more irritating in its self-importance. Better just stick to The Ten Commandments.
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TV: Well, we all tuned in for a disaster and were treated with…a pleasant if mildly cloying piece of unironic, unabashed wholesomeness? What is this, NBC? We all gathered around the TV, the good ol’ fashioned husband, wife and 2.5 kids to cynically tweet our hatred for anything sweet and sincere. We are all bound and determined to destroy all the gentle with snide, post-modern Letterman-esque sneers and jeers, and you give us this? A singing, dancing gleeful affair, a cast out countless cheeks bereft of tongues placed in them? Well, what are we supposed to do? Have fun? Have non-self-concious, unironic fun? Why, no one has done that since the olden times, in those pre-painfully-hip days of yore. While Christopher Walken did his best to SNL it up with staggered delivery and missed cues, Peter Pan Live proved un-hate-watchable, and indeed simply…watchable. Even mildly enjoyable. Perfect? Far from it, but while its still not safe to admit you enjoyed it on social media, for fear the mustached, 7th year towards a Bachelors in Theatre or Philosophy coffee shop hipsters will tear you down, anyone who ever wanted to have unabashed fun on TV can hit up their DVRs for this strangely entertaining program.
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News: Bad news for fans of the rebooted Star Trek, but good news for fans of actual Star Trek, came this week when it was announced that the writer of the 2009 Star Trek, and the follow-up Star Trek: Into Darknesswould not be directing the third installment as originally intended. Of course, ST:ID met with mixed reception and even more furious fan opinions, but just remember that according to Orci himself via Twitter, Star Trek: Into Darkness “…has infinetly more social commentary than Raiders in every Universe, and I say that with Harrison Ford being a friend.”
While Star Trek Next Generation alum Jonathan Frakes is now vying for the coveted position of trying to make the Skyfall to the Quantum of Solace that was Into Darkness, the former director, and author of prestigious films like Cowboys vs. Aliens, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will likely continue to exclaim his theories that 9/11 was an inside job (and that those who don’t believe him are “coincidence theorists” like the class act gentleman that he is.
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Short Film: With the gloriously optimistic voice of astrophysical icon Carl Sagan, Waderers is a visually stunning look at the new frontiers envisioned by the hopeful when Kennedy first spoke of space travel, and when Kirk and co. took us there in the Enterprise. These childlike chimera, these far star-gazing fata morgana skate across the screen in Wanderers to entice the viewer to once again long for what, as many scientist posit, is an inevitable fate of mankind if we wish to survive beyond the lifespan of our drifting cosmic rock. If Interstellar made you long for more visions of the cosmic unknown, Wanderers should tide you over until such time as humanity realizes the importance of observing the great vastness of space.
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