“Foxcatcher”
R, 134 minutes, Sony
A bleak, mid-wintery gloom suffuses this dramatized version of the lurid real-life murder of champion wrestler Dave Schultz at the hands of the late John du Pont in 1996. As refracted through the chilly, superbly controlled lens of director Bennett Miller (“Capote,” “Moneyball”), the otherwise tawdry tale of ambition, self-deception and mental illness becomes an unsettling allegory of violence and love at their most ritualized and repressed. “Foxcatcher” exerts a mesmerizing pull, not only because it affords the chance to witness three fine actors working at the height of their powers, but also because it so steadfastly resists the urge to clutter up empty space with the filigree of gratuitous imagery and chatter.
“The Captive”
R, 112 minutes, Lionsgate
Though it was screened at the Cannes and Toronto film festivals, this Canadian film is a woefully and wildly misconceived kidnap thriller from Atom Egoyan and co-written with David Fraser. The film stars Ryan Reynolds and Mireille Enos as parents searching for their daughter, who mysteriously vanished without a trace.
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part I”
PG-13, 123 minutes, Lionsgate
As the first part of the last installment of the juggernaut adaptation of the wildly popular young-adult novel, this dutiful, glumly atmospheric placeholder feels like a long, extended inhale. But “Mockingjay,” directed by Francis Lawrence from a script by Peter Craig and Danny Strong, gains steam as it goes. Its retro-futuristic aesthetic lacks the flamboyance of past installments, but possesses its own grim integrity, and even contains one authentically shocking reversal that bears more than a whiff of a “Manchurian Candidate”-like menace. Jennifer Lawrence, as heroine Katniss Everdeen, is not only the best thing about “Mockingjay,” but also probably the one thing that makes an otherwise dreary dystopian franchise worth watching.
Television series: “Longmire: Third Season” (A&E), “Transporter: The Series – First Season” (Fox), “Outlander: Season 1, Volume 1” (Starz), “CHiPs: Third Season” (1979-80, five-disc set) and “A Place to Call Home, Season 1” (drama set in 1950s Australia, Acorn).
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