Bennett Miller's intense drama Foxcatcher - which previously scored five-star review at the Cannes Film Festival - has stunned audiences at the Telluride Film Festival. The movie is tipped for major awards and the general consensus in Colorado was that Steve Carell's stunning performance is the best of the year, so far. 

FoxcatcherSteve Carell [R] and Channing Tatum [L] in 'Foxcatcher'

"A film to be considered alongside David Fincher's The Social Network and Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master as a swirling, smoke-black parable of modern America," said Robbie Collin of the Daily Telegraph.

"Above everything else, it is a piercing insight into toxic mentor-ism, into competitive men and their terrible emotional need to find a father-figure to hate and to disappoint," said Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian.

"Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum give superb performances in Bennett Miller's powerfully disturbing true-crime saga," said Justin Chang of Variety.

FoxcatcherSteve Carell [L] is being tipped for major awards

"The director really hits his stride with a stunning portrayal of psychopathy and moral decadence in the unlikely environment of Olympic wrestling," said Donald Clarke of the Irish Times.

Carrell and his co-star Channing Tatum are beginning to start the publicity jaunt for awards' season and both dined with press at a Sony Classics dinner over the weekend.

A movie that Foxcatcher may encounter at the Globes and Oscars is Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman, which also bowled over audience at Telluride. It features a much-hyped lead performance from Michael Keaton and Fox Searchlight appear keen to push the movie into a healthy battle with Miller's drama. According to Wrap, the studio held a press confab at the same time as Foxcatcher's over the weekend. 

Watch a 'Foxcatcher' clip: