Out of the Furnace (Christian Bale)

[Bim]

Very cool

 

[kvz5]

BTS:

 

[johnrain]

Yes, sir. I apologize for the erroneous information. It just seemed like a long, long time ago.

I found the screening date. It was October 2012 and the movie was going to be released on November 30th, 2012. I don't know why they've postponed it for a whole year, but from the screening and the audience reaction it was clear the movie had a lot of issues.

Maybe they fixed them. Maybe now it's watchable. The trailer sure looks better. Anyway, I'm not going to rewatch it to see if that's true. I'd rather watch some "children" movie instead.

Cool story, bro.

 

[Tim_Riggins]

@LEOZZTT:

That's part of the process, that's why they do test screenings, to see what people like, don't like, what works, doesn't work. You can't talk seriously about how the movie was, considering that it's out more than a year later, it probably doesn't have anything to do with what it was.

 

[kvz5]

 

[kvz5]

Relativity's FYC site is up. Interesting tidbit: If this nabs a Best Picture nod (doubt it), both Ridley Scott and Leonardo Di Caprio will get the nods as producers:

http://relativitymedia.com/awards/

Access Hollywood interview:

"Christian Bale: Out Of The Furnace Is A 'Really Bloody Good Film'"

http://watch.accesshollywood.com/vi...Ume7oEoK6UG1mUQEl9DJJlA 8Abl_cTgK04n9PKIlOAo#

 

[Bim]

Nice

 

[kvz5]

Two new TV spots:






DP30 with Bale:



One of the best interviews I've seen with him. It helps too that David Poland actually asks interesting questions.

 

[kvz5]

Variety's Actors on Actors:

Jeff Bridges on Christian Bale as Russell Baze in “Out of the Furnace”

Christian Bale's portrayal of the complicated Russell Baze in Scott Cooper's “Out of the Furnace” is outstanding.

Christian always delivers, but I found this performance especially engaging.

What I love about his work is that he consistently creates characters that are real.

He gives the audience the sense they are a fly on the wall, watching something that isn't meant to be seen.

Scott Cooper's wonderful original screenplay and direction have given us the opportunity to see remarkable performances by the entire cast, and Christian, leading the pack, draws us so beautifully into this story with his powerful, subtle performance, that this movie is a one-of-a-kind jewel. It's the best movie I've seen in a long time.

(Bridges, who has six noms, won an Oscar for “Crazy Heart.&#8221

http://variety.com/gallery/sag-prev...n-bale-as-russell-baze-in-out-of-the-furnace/

 

[Rorschach2012]

Quite a compliment coming from the dude

 

[kvz5]

FYC ad:

 

[kvz5]

The Heart of Gold cover used in the 2nd trailer is now available on iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/heart-of-gold-single/id766085309

 

[dark_b]

Casey Affleck DP/30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSeKnyNVX9U

 

[kvz5]

I saw it this afternoon and while it had some issues, I really liked it. Had some pacing and script issues but IMO the performances made up for all its flaws. Everyone in the cast is really top notch especially Bale and Affleck. It can be argued that this is Bale's best performance so far but I feel like his acting here is so different to American Psycho (what I consider his best performance) that they're not comparable at all so I can't say which one is better. That bridge scene with Saldana is one of the best acting I've seen in quite a while. Affleck was amazing as well. He added so much to a character that a lesser actor could've easily made very cliched and generic. His chemistry with Bale was very heartfelt and was one of the highlights of the movie.

Unfortunately, the RT score is at 51% right now even with the glowing reviews from THR, Variety, EW (they gave it a A-), etc. If you had to read just one review, I suggest Roeper's. I totally agree with how he described the bridge scene. I'll put it in spoilers because it has a bit of it but it won't ruin the movie.

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/movies/24149697-421/solid-guy-in-a-shaky-world.html

Spoiler

It’s a simple enough scene, really.

Christian Bale’s Russell is recently out of prison and hoping to reunite with Zoe Saldana’s Lena, who has taken up with the sheriff while Russell was away. You can see by the look in Lena’s eyes she’s never stopped loving Russell.

What happens next should be left for you to experience. It is a scene expertly written, filmed and acted. After Lena walks away, Russell is left alone on a bridge. Without any attention-grabbing histrionics, Christian Bale plays every moment of that scene so perfectly, you feel as if you’re eavesdropping on real life.

One hesitates to dive into the reference bag to say “a young Brando” when lauding a performance, but Bale is that good here. That GREAT here.

“Out of the Furnace” is one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. Director/co-writer Scott Cooper’s second feature (his first was “Crazy Heart,” which won an Oscar for Jeff Bridges) is a stark, bleak, intense drama set in a dying corner of the Rust Belt. This is a place where it always seems cold, and everyone’s house is in need of repairs, and even if you’re lucky enough to have a job at the mill, you know it won’t be for long.

With echoes of everything from the Charles Bronson bare-knuckled fighting classic “Hard Times” to “The Deer Hunter” to “Winter’s Bone,” this is a story of some tough, flawed people who deep down want to do the right thing — and some tough, soulless people who will chew up and spit out anything that gets in their way.

“Out of the Furnace” is set in Braddock, Pa., in 2008. The locals barely pay attention to the visuals of Teddy Kennedy lauding Barack Obama on the TV sets in the bars, and Obama talking about “hope and change.” It means nothing to them from where they’re sitting, in a town destined to slide right off the map.

We open at an outdoor drive-in theater, where Woody Harrelson’s Harlan DeGroat explodes in a violent rage over the smallest of perceived slights. We later learn DeGroat is the unquestioned king of a deep backwoods enclave in New Jersey — the kind of place where even law enforcement doesn’t mess with the locals who have lived there for generations. Dealing meth and getting tweaked on his own supply, DeGroat is Walter White without even the beginnings of a moral compass. He is pure, fuming evil.

Bale’s Russell Baze is a solid guy who’s probably been in a bit of trouble here and there but is trying to walk the straight path. It’s Russell’s younger brother Rodney (Casey Affleck) who’s the tinderbox — home from three tours of duty in Iraq, sinking deep into debt with stupid bets at the OTB, seething with rage about what he’s seen in Iraq and the utter indifference he’s met with upon his return.

Their mother is gone. Their father is dying. The only thing good in Russell’s life is the beautiful and sweet Lena. The only thing good in Rodney’s life is his brother looking out for him, which seems like it won’t be nearly enough to save him.

But it’s Russell who winds up doing an extended prison stint. And by the time Russell gets out, many terrible things have transpired, and he’s powerless to do anything about most of these events. He missed his own best chance at a good life.

Incapable of handling a regular civilian job, Rodney turns to bare-knuckle fighting to earn cash. Rodney talks his way into a big-money payday in that backwoods Jersey town, which lands him neck-deep in DeGroat’s world. The fight scenes are so brutally realistic you want to turn away, but we know there are greater, potentially fatal horrors waiting outside the ring if things don’t go DeGroat’s way.

What a great ensemble. Affleck is terrific. Willem Dafoe is perfectly cast as a local bar owner and bookie who’s involved in all sorts of shady doings, but still has a soft spot for Russell and Rodney. Sam Shepard is stoic greatness as Russell’s uncle. Forest Whitaker is, well, Forest Whitaker playing the sheriff who’s with Lena and knows she’ll never love him the way she loved Russell, but he’s not about to give her up.

From the use of Pearl Jam’s “Release” as a framing device to the breathtakingly beautiful, 35mm Kodak cinematography from Masanobu Takayanagi, Cooper makes one brilliant choice after another. Even the smallest detail, e.g., the way everyone at a small dinner gathering heads into the kitchen to scrape the plates and put the dishes into the sink, feels just right. And when Cooper directly borrows a couple of moments, one from “The Deer Hunter” and one from “The Silence of the Lambs,” it feels like homage, not easy ripoff. He’s earned those scenes.

I was surprised to learn Bale is only about a year older than Affleck. The age difference between the brothers they play is a few more years than that, but we can tell Russell has been looking out for Rodney forever, and Rodney admires the hell out of his older brother — and yet can’t help but create situations that could kill one or both of them.

Bale has given a number of memorable performances, but this just might be his best work to date. The Wales-born actor looks, sounds and comports himself like someone who’s been living in the same Pennsylvania town his whole life, who knows he’s probably going to die in that town, and just wants to make the best of it. Bale strikes so many different notes and hits each with the same precision, whether Russell is enjoying a tender moment with his girlfriend, using his charm to get Rodney out of a jam or methodically doing what has to be done with the proverbial s--- hits the proverbial fan.

It’s as good as any performance I’ve seen all year.

Email: [email protected]

 

[weezerspider]

Really dug the film, but that last shot was confusing as hell. Still don't know for sure what was meant by it. I'd probably give this a B+ or an A-. Like you said, there are some pacing issues, but there is a lot of good here.

I fear this is going to be 2013's 'Killing Them Softly' which tanked at the box office and seemed to get sort of mixed reviews, where the Positive reviews seemed to all be GREAT, but there was a lot of hate around it. It's really dark. Most people don't like that. Unlike KTS, both times I saw Furnace, both crowds seemed to really dig it.

 

[kvz5]

Really dug the film, but that last shot was confusing as hell. Still don't know for sure what was meant by it. I'd probably give this a B+ or an A-. Like you said, there are some pacing issues, but there is a lot of good here.

I think they should've just ended it with that shot -

Spoiler

of him after he shot DeGroat. Loved that relieved "at peace" look on his face in that scene after DeGroat fell. I've seen some debate online on what the ending meant but I took it to mean that he didn't go to jail for shooting DeGroat (I suppose Barnes helped him) and he's just going to continue to live his (lonely) life.

 

[weezerspider]

I think they should've just ended it with that shot -

Spoiler

of him after he shot DeGroat. Loved that relieved "at peace" look on his face in that scene after DeGroat fell. I've seen some debate online on what the ending meant but I took it to mean that he didn't go to jail for shooting DeGroat (I suppose Barnes helped him) and he's just going to continue to live his (lonely) life.

Yeah I agree on both accounts.

 

[bullets]

I thought it meant he

Spoiler

found the money

. Not a great ending but everything leading up was really good. It's a sad film but phenomenal acting

 

[jacobed]

The acting is just wow. Probably the best of the year

 

[kvz5]

I thought it meant he

Spoiler

found the money

. Not a great ending but everything leading up was really good. It's a sad film but phenomenal acting

Hmmm... could be!

Spoiler

I felt that the envelopes in the desk were significant but I wasn't sure what they were.

 

[The Shape]

I've heard such mixed things about this both from friends and the critics, but I think I have to see it for myself either way. I'm always down for a good Bale performance.

 

[Rowsdower!]

You guys, El Mayimbe said it sucked, so ya know, it must be horrible. He's never wrong, after all.

 

[The Shape]

You guys, El Mayimbe said it sucked, so ya know, it must be horrible. He's never wrong, after all.

Not enough explosions for him! Plus, he's probably irked about his "scoop" that Bale's character was really Bruce Wayne in hiding.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Not enough explosions for him! Plus, he's probably irked about his "scoop" that Bale's character was really Bruce Wayne in hiding.

Don't forget his other scoop where Woody Harrelson is the ruler of Planet Hulk.

 

[TheNextNolan22]

Don't forget his other scoop where Woody Harrelson is the ruler of Planet Hulk.

And Casey Affleck as Dick Grayson!