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Pawn Sacrifice

2014

Edward Zwick

Tobey Maguire, Peter Sarsgaard, Liev Schreiber, Michael Stuhlbarg ...

6.2

5,960

Drama In this remarkable true story set in the height of the Cold War, chess legend Bobby Fischer is locked in a gripping championship clash with the Soviets as he struggles against his own psychological demons while the whole world anxiously awaits the outcome.

	Author	Review
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"Biopics are a dime a dozen, but Tobey Maguire gives such a transfixing, transformative performance as chess master Bobby Fischer that you're hooked (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of four)"	POS
United States	Justin Chang Variety	"Tobey Maguire gives an angry, bristling performance as chess champ Bobby Fischer in Edward Zwick's conventionally effective biopic."	POS
United States	Jordan Mintzer The Hollywood Reporter	"This well-acted and handsomely crafted biopic is not a total checkmate, but takes the queen all the same."	POS
United States	Stephanie Merry The Washington Post	"Edward Zwick has a firm grasp on atmospherics, putting the audience in Fischer’s place (...) A worthy and historical look at the link between genius and mental illness (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of four)"	POS
United States	Chris Nashawaty Entertainment Weekly	"While the first half of the film is a bit too by-the-numbers, the second half is good enough to make it worth sticking it out"	POS
United States	Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times	"A solid and entertaining addition to the Fischer film canon"	POS
United States	Richard Brody The New Yorker	"Despite the rigid yet slapdash filmmaking, the movie conveys the outsized fascination and mystery of a tormented genius at work"	NEU
United States	Neil Genzlinger The New York Times	"It’s about how we manufacture celebrities on scant pretext and then destroy them, or allow them to destroy themselves while we watch."	POS

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