NOT BUYERS CLUB
Oscar Nominee Movie Review – “Dallas Buyers Club”
****
Review by Justin T. Bowler
Matthew and Jared are going to win the Oscar. But, I’m not on this bandwagon! Let the review begin.
Someone has to stand up and say, “You are ALL drinking Kool Aid!” I’m not buying it! Is Jared Leto good? Yes. Is it his best performance? Yes! Is it the best performance of the year? No. No! NO! The pirate/terrorist from “Captain Phillips”, you know the “you’re not the captain, I’m the Captain now” guy, had the best performance. He was incredible. He looked like a terrorist, he acted like a terrorist, I believed he was a terrorist. If you told me “Two months before he was cast as a pirate/terrorist, he was ACTUALLY making a living and supporting his family as a pirate/terrorist”, I would have believed you. On the other hand, Jared Leto looked like a transgender, he acted a lot like transgender, but I didn’t believe he was a transgender. Had he made me believe he had actually had the surgery, THEN I would say give him the Oscar. But, instead I saw a solid performance by a man dressed in drag. Furthermore, why can’t we nominate and award actual gay men for playing a gay role? (Well, actually we can, but, ONLY ONCE, and that was Sir Ian McKellan for “Gods and Monsters”) Furthermore, how come we can’t nominate and award gay men for playing a straight role? (NEVER happened btw) (At least, not in the 90 seconds of in-depth research that I did).
Matthew McConaughey was great in the film. Is it his best performance? Yes. Is it a great performance? Yes! Is it the best performance of the year? NO! While I’m not necessarily a fan of always nominating the same people because they have so many nominations… Blah blah blah Meryl Streep (Yes Meryl, we get it, you are a world-class athlete competing against high schoolers) (It’s not fair that actresses won’t shoot films because Meryl is releasing a film that same year) (I don’t know if that is true or not, but it MIGHT be). And yes, a mediocre performance from Meryl is better than most top performances by others, but does she automatically deserve a nomination EVERY TIME? OK, usually, yes. But sometimes, she doesn’t (Okay, this time she did too). But my point is that I don’t think certain people should get an automatic nomination. That being said, Tom Hanks should have been nominated! And he should have won for “Captain Phillips”!
(BTW it’s about to get all SPOILER-Y in here)
A lot of the film Hanks is as good as he normally is, which is better than most are ever. But, his blindfolded scene alone, is so powerful. Then, you add to that his final scene, the debriefing scene, and… Forgetaboutit. Hands down, signed and sealed, stamped and approved, stuffed and corked… His performance is the best. During that final scene, where he is so overcome with emotion that he is unable to speak, the audience feels the need to burst out crying because his character is unable to (THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED WHEN I WATCHED IT, BTW!). Yes, people in the theater were bawling, BAWLING their eyes out. Was it his performance? (Or was it just the imagery recall of theatergoers remembering when they were abducted by pirates?). You be the judge.
I’m not saying “Dallas Buyers Club” shouldn’t be receiving praise. It should. It’s a good solid film, with an important story to tell, (much of it may even be true…http://entertainment.time.com/2013/11/08/the-true-story-of-dallas-buyers-club/). The point I’m trying to make is… in all honesty I forgot, I got too riled up… but it was somewhere along the lines of… The movie is good. But, don’t buy into all the hype and give it a bunch of awards just because everyone likes it. Scratch that, that wasn’t the point either. The point I’m trying to make is that Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto give performances worthy of an Oscar nomination, but Tom Hanks and the pirate/terrorist guy give performances worthy of an Oscar Statue. Yeah. Right! THAT was my point.
(But, seriously, the movie is really good, 4 out of 4 stars) (You should go see it)
(But go see “CAPTAIN PHILLIPS” first!)
(PS: “Captain Phillips” isn’t all true either…http://entertainment.time.com/2013/10/12/movie-fact-check-captain-phillips/)
Justin T. Bowler
@JustinTBowler
Editor’s Note: The actor nominated for Best Supporting Actor for playing a pirate/terrorist in “Captain Phillips” is Barkhad Abdi.
Directed by: Jean-Marc Vallée
Release Date: November 22, 2013
Run Time: 117 Minutes
Country: USA
Rated: R
Distributor: Voltage Pictures
