"Full Blown AIDS" gets Cowboy.

So, last night I finally made the time to go see Dallas Buyers Club starring every body's favourite nonchalant Texan who apparently doesn't wear antiperspirant according to his Auntie who I met once, Matthew McConaughey. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee; it's the story of Ron Woodroof; a horny rodeo halfwit hick who contracts HIV through heterosexual sex with a drug addict unaware of the risks during the mid-80s. Given only 30 short days to live, he takes matters into his own hands sourcing unapproved medication to survive.

Dismissed by his homophobic community and with a diet consisting of cheap whiskey and a fuck load of ropey coke, he quickly ends up in the emergency room where he befriends unlikely transvestite side-kick, Rayon, played beautifully by Jared Leto. With the prospect of wonder-drug "AZT" helping to cure his full blown aids (as its later referred to by his African American middle-aged secretary) he tries every trick in the book to register in the trial before he's forced to turn to America's favourite dodgy next door neighbour, Mexico, to find an alternative. Untested foreign meds and proteins help revitalise him and Ron sets out on a journey to overcome the simple-minded fat cats at the FDA and become unapproved med supplier to anyone who shares his equally ill fate. With the concerned care of Dr. Eve played by Jennifer Garner and business partner, Rayon, Dallas Buyers Club is a story of acceptance, belief, and above all, survival.

What strikes you from the offset is the physical change McConaughey has gone through to portray an incredibly sick guy. We're used to seeing him play the All-American cowboy with the muscle width to suffocate a teenage hippo but it was when I saw his cameo in The Wolf of Wall Street recently that I first noticed his pretty amazing transformation. His performance is outstanding and inevitably, people will compare the movie to the likes of Philadelphia which tackles the same terminal disease and the attitudes towards it. 
But, where Denzel fought with his own personal demons to overcome homophobia, McConaughey is himself suffering from the virus and dealing with his prejudices first-hand. Rayon is his sassy associate and like that spitty tar dinosaur in Jurassic Park, will get his back up if the cowboy's  derogatory nature begins to surface. With both actors performing outstandingly well, it's both funny and very moving watching the bond between the two characters blossom. 

Garner is surprisingly good as the straight-arrowed doctor turned BFF who breaks free from the shackles of her cold-hearted boss Dr. Sevard to become Woodruff's unicorn. The performances throughout the movie are brilliant all round, particularly Leto who having toured the world wearing finger paint and jamming for 6yrs, has taken to the stage in his comeback gig as if he'd never been away. This just goes to show that all those teenage girl's knickers have made him a better man and an even more engaging actor.

Dallas Buyers Club really impressed me and the countless BAFTA and Oscar noms are unequivocally justified for what is (I hate spelling his bloody surname) McConaughey's greatest performance to date. It goes to show that you don't necessarily need your big budgets and your overly ridiculous set designs, just a solid cast and a director who wants to tell the story of an extraordinary person...that just liked sex way too much.

Dallas Buyers Club receives 4/5 Macho Man Randy Savages.

    

My First Brain Fart.

I've been racking my brains over an episode of Fringe starring the lad from Dawson's Creek and all the hairless extras from The Matrix, as to how I begin my blog. I concluded that the best way was to offer up a short retrospective on films and television that I enjoy, particularly in the wake of Harold Ramis' passing earlier on this week which was very sad and got me feeling all nostalgic. Farewell Egon...and any chance of Ghostbusters 3 ever being made, unless Hollywood invents it's own slime capable of bringing him back to life in a portrait. And you know what, I'd probably watch that. Once you've received "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull aversion therapy", anything goes. 

I've always been a bit of film nerd ever since my Dad bought a top VHS player and gave me the power to bootleg pretty much any flick I wanted. He'd watch them first and veto them if they were unsuitable. Although after Basic Instinct somehow slipped through the net, I knew that pretty much anything went. Except Conan the Barbarian it seemed. All the sexy bikini-killings and inexplicably terrible accents just didn't resonate well with my father.

I've always been a sucker for sagas. I put it down to the enjoyment of watching great characters and their world's grow bypassing the measly 2hrs duration, which is why I've become a telly addict now as well. Star Wars (the original  trilogy before Lucas needed a new pool) and the Trek were responsible for my adoration for sci-fi. Rocky made the underdog an even worthier hero. Back to the Future made me a sucker for all things time-travel, and Indiana Jones swung from vines and carefully tread between booby traps in the name of God. Well, he spelt his name out on rocks above a bottomless chasm which was structurally unsound and albeit impossible. My attitude towards anything I watch these days is clearly inspired by a shit ton of magical stuff from my childhood.

Alternatively, I tend to avoid the CGI heavy crap which is becoming more and more prevalent in movies. Transformers almost gave me ocular ahernia and as much as I enjoy an adventurous plot, The Hangover Part III was so detached from what made it so funny in the first place, I wish I hadn't bothered. I even find war epics a little samey unless they've an interesting spin on them like Kubrick's vlog-inspired Full Metal Jacket. 

I'm going to write reviews of the films I go and see, the TV shows I've finally gotten round to finishing and I'll even chuck in the odd older picture for good measure which I hope you enjoy reading. How does one sign off these things? I don't know, but I could murder a tea and a wee.