Road to the Oscars: Day Three (Dallas Buyers Club)

I can handle your insults, but 5%?

25. Take it or leave it.

For those of you who read my February favourites post a couple of days ago, you'll know that Matthew has been absolutely blowing my mind lately. With work like True Detective, Mud and Magic Mike he has gone from an actor I would avoid like the plague to one of my favourite actors at the moment, extremely quickly. Even his short role in The Wolf of Wall Street was outstanding. He has finally shown us his true potential as an actor, a real “McConaughnaissance” (I wish I had come up with this, but sadly the author of this very interesting article on the relationship between the Oscars and bloggers got there first). His performance as Ron Woodroof, who is diagnosed with AIDS and told he has 30 days to live, is brilliant and thought-provoking. Woodroof is not just portrayed as a two-dimensional “do-gooder” whose trying to save lives, but as a real human being, with shades light and dark. A man who is often homophobic and out to make a profit, but will stand up for the people he trusts and loves. 

With all that praise just heaped on McConaughey, I now want to state that I thought Jared Leto was just as amazing, if not slightly better. Now I could be a little bias here, because I’ve loved Leto for longer than I have McConaughey (who I’ve really only loved since True Detective started), but I don’t think I am when I say in this film Leto can be a bit of scene stealer. All eyes are focused on him and what he’s saying when he’s on screen. And although I don’t truly believe this, I have to admit I had a good chuckle when I read the fact that “Leto lost the most weight and wore eyeliner” made him "a shoo-in for Best Supporting Actor” (again, taken from here). There has been a lot of discussion about Leto’s character, Rayon, and his casting. I believe that they definitely should have cast a transgender person to play the part. But sadly, they didn’t and Leto has done a pretty amazing job in their absence. 

The film itself is quite conservative, especially considering the subject its dealing with. While we see Ron regularly engaging in sexual activities before his diagnosis, post-diagnosis he is shown as abstinent except for one woman who he makes very sure also has AIDS. As this review points out, “the idea of safe sex for people with HIV is not discussed, and it is unusual for a movie on this subject to avoid the subject of condoms so entirely”. It also hardly deals with any of the politics behind the issue at the time (Reagan era America) but I don't know whether it's lacking because of it or whether it's better focusing on what the people were doing. 

Dallas Buyers probably won’t win Best Picture but I’ll tell you that it has a definite winner in Jared Leto for Best Supporting Actor and a very good chance with McConaughey for the award of Best Actor.

February Favourites

I've decided to write a little bit of a catch up/February favourites because I haven't written in a while.

(Favourite) Television Show(s): Febrauary has been a great month for television. So many shows are back, and I'm loving all the new storylines. However, I can't write about all of them here so I've chosen my top three. Of course the start of Teen Wolf has been the highlight of my life month. Season 3B started off in January quite slowly, but is quickly picking up the pace and every episode is just getting better and better. There is so much mystery and intrigue this season and there is so much potential, I absolutely can't wait to see where it ends up (although I also can because I don't want it to end!). I spent the first couple of days in February watching the 2013 mini-series Top of the Lake with Elizabeth Moss (Peggy from Mad Men). It's directed and written by Jane Campion, who wrote and directed one of my favourite movies Bright Star. It's a drama/crime series set in New Zealand, and it's pretty similar to ITV's Broadchurch. I very highly recommend both. Moss is brilliant, displaying so much raw emotion in every single episode.

True Detective: Episode 1

The third TV show I have been loving this month has been HBO's new series True Detective. I feel like this show just came out of nowhere. I saw it advertised on a billboard a few days before it started and was intrigued by the fact Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey were in a television series. I loved it from the first episode and somehow every episode manages to make me love it even more. McConaughey is absolute perfection playing Rust Cohle. I honestly think this is his best work to date and I cannot recommend this show highly enough. It's already made it onto my favourite television list.

(Favourite) Film: To be completely honest I haven't watched too many films this month. The absolute stand out that I have watched definitely has to be Dallas Buyers Club. It's really been McConaughey month this February. He was outstanding in Dallas Buyers, so much so I would not mind seeing him beat Leonardo Di Caprio for the Oscar (yes, I said it). Jared Leto will without a doubt win Best Supporting Actor for his role as well, he was phenomenal. The story itself was so heartbreaking, but quite inspiring and I would highly recommend it to everyone.

I'm not going to write a section for my favourite books this month because I (fingers crossed!) will be doing a blog post solely on books I've been loving lately sometime in early March.

Hope you enjoyed that, let me know what you're favourites for this month were in the comments!