Fincher, Maguire--Pawn Sacrifice

[jhiggy23]

EW is reporting that David Fincher will be directing a film called "Pawn Sacrifice," starring Tobey Maguire as chess-legend and recluse Bobby Fischer. I'm a vocal critic of Fincher, since I think both his talent and his films are overrated, but I'm excited for this film because of its subject matter. Bobby Fischer was an extraordinary mind with an incredible gift and I look forward to this film.

That being said, it reminds me of the very underrated "Searching for Bobby Fischer."

[WyldeMan45]

Well this will be the first Fincher movie I don't even bother with. Having already seen Searching for Bobby Fischer, which more than gave me my fill of chess movies, I won't willingly subject myself to the torture of watching any Tobey Maguire movie.

[Shanester]

Originally Posted by WyldeMan45

Well this will be the first Fincher movie I don't even bother with. Having already seen Searching for Bobby Fischer, which more than gave me my fill of chess movies, I won't willingly subject myself to the torture of watching any Tobey Maguire movie.

I agree! Maguire has about as much carisma on screen as a corpse

PS. Where'e the Panic Room Blu-Ray??

[Porkchop Express]

Originally Posted by WyldeMan45

Well this will be the first Fincher movie I don't even bother with. Having already seen Searching for Bobby Fischer, which more than gave me my fill of chess movies, I won't willingly subject myself to the torture of watching any Tobey Maguire movie.

Isn't he working on a facebook movie right now? What's happened to Fincher?

[Rob71]

A good biography of Bobby Fischer could be amazing but I love chess, so that may color my opinion. I think Tobey Maguire could pull it off and make it a very good film. I wonder if they will go into his later life where he went moon-bat crazy? Towards the end of his life he really alienated a lot of supporters with his comments.

[awongus]

As a BIG Fincher, Fischer & chess fan, I'm looking forward to this one.

I really wish Searching for BF would come out on Blu already...

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by awongus

As a BIG Fincher, Fischer & chess fan, I'm looking forward to this one.

I really wish Searching for BF would come out on Blu already...

Me too! I really like that film.

[the reynholm]

Pawn Sacrifice Trailer (2015) Tobey Maguire, Liev Schreiber Drama Movie HD - YouTube

[chris_sc77]

love maguires face at 2:15

did Fincher really direct this?

[Bades]

Originally Posted by chris_sc77

love maguires face at 2:15

did Fincher really direct this?

No, it's Edward Zwick (Last Samurai, Blood Diamond)

Looks good.

[Holmes]

For a brief moment in the early 1970s, the game of chess captured the international public's imagination on an unprecedented scale and dominated the evening news. The reason: an Iceland-based series of matches which pit highly gifted American up-and-comer Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) against longstanding Soviet grandmaster Boris Spassky (Liev Schreiber). The games were regarded as an extension of the turbulent Cold War and a chance for the U.S. to defeat the Soviet Union in an arena in which they notably excel. During this time, Fischer's personal demons, including escalating paranoia regarding surveillance and a Jewish conspiracy, threatened to compromise his genius game.

This is the subject of Pawn Sacrifice, an engaging and appropriately dour biopic and sports film (if chess qualifies) directed with characteristic old-school clarity by Edward Zwick. The drama mines considerable fascination from the idea of a niche game becoming an ideological and symbolic instrument for a pair of countries ready to destroy one another, and there is a tragic-bordering-on-tragicomic quality to the scenes of Fischer the man disintegrating (his eyes rapidly dart at every sound, he destroys hotel rooms in search of wiretaps) while a political and social machine well beyond his control casts him as a national hero. There are a few flaws—a heavy-handed music cue or two, a dearth of chess action in the first half—but this is a tense, unusual story told well, and there are several dynamic performances. The anti-heroic role of Fischer is ideal for Tobey Maguire, an actor whose very presence pivots on a baby face complicated by an air of agitation and discontent, and every peripheral player is perfectly cast, including Michael Stuhlbarg and Peter Sarsgaard as excitable lawyer Paul Marshall and levelheaded Catholic chess writer Father Bill Lombardy, respectively. They are the men primarily shouldering the burden of containing Fischer's volatility. Schreiber is striking, too, portraying Spassky as a complicated, imposing, and opaque figure without any mustache-twirling Red-Scare theatricality.

B+

[gambit64]

I still consider myself a chess player (just shy of expert level), even though I have not played in any tournaments for quite a few years (someday I hope to get back into some tournament play). But anyways, my wife and I went to Pawn Sacrifice and quite enjoyed it! The acting was excellent in my opinion and did a great job of giving us this look at Bobby Fisher. It's quite coincidental, but following the movie my wife did more research on him. As it turns out, my wife (who is Japanese) has a Japanese chess book which she recently bought and was starting to learn the game. This book happens to be written by Bobby Fisher's Japanese wife (who wasn't mentioned near the end credits). My wife had no idea who Bobby Fisher was until the movie and she happened to have this book written by his wife! Again, excellent movie. Highly recommended.

[Ray Jackson]

Terrible title imo.

...too generic.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by Bades

No, it's Edward Zwick (Last Samurai, Blood Diamond)

Looks good.

Edward Zwick is the Michael Bay of dramatic films.

...therefor I would assume that this film lacks anything even resembling subtlety.

The viewer will be beat over the head repeatedly with what we're supposed to be feeling.

[Thomas Guycott]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Terrible title imo.

...too generic.

It's a chess move.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by Thomas Guycott

It's a chess move.

Only chess players will get that.

...everyone else will shrug and decide to go see The Martian instead.