Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) is on top of the world, seemingly untouchable. He created a highly successful marijuana plant and distribution company, stayed alive, and has a gorgeously ambitious wife … Continue reading ‘The Gentlemen’ is Guy Ritchie’s best film in years
Killer Joe is the first movie to make you think Oscar worthy in 2012. While other films have came close and/or scored, this is a movie that demands to be seen. A different kind of entertainment that quite frankly needs to find more production in Hollywood.
Here is the story of Chris(Emile Hirsch), who finds himself 6,000 dollars in debt to a group of people you don’t want to owe money to. Under immense pressure, he contacts Joe Cooper(Matthew McConaughney) to complete a job. That job involves murder and the collection of an insurance policy. Chris’ father Ansel(Thomas Haden Church) and stepmother Charlene(Gina Gershon) are involved. Dottie(Juno Temple) is the prize possession that lures Joe into the deal. From here on out, the madness grows right along with the sharp charm of William Friedkin’s dark thriller.
Killer Joe will change the way you look at McConaughey. Playing a unique man of many skills, McConaughey is a revelation and reminds you there is a fine actor behind the good southern looks. This is the performance of the year. Memorable performances arrive when you know no other actor could have played that role as good as the one on screen in front of your eyes. McConaughey owns a movie with a great cast doing solid work. He is the reason to watch the movie. A true Oscar worthy performance. (more…)
In 2009, Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner starred in a throwaway romantic comedy called Ghosts of Girlfriend’s Past. Watching the film, you had a feeling these two actors were capable of higher quality filmmaking. Fast forward to November of 2013 and that wish of mine has been granted. McConaughey and Garner share the screen here in Dallas Buyers Club, in one of the better films of 2013. Dare I say it isn’t an outstanding film because the directing and writing isn’t as memorable as the performances but the overall impact here creates a crowd pleasing film that will win at the box office.
Make no mistake, though, it’s not often that a film like Dallas Buyers Club comes along and rocks your soul without manipulating it first. The greatest thing about this movie is that it is powerful without really trying to be and that happens because two actors, McConaughey and Leto, give Oscar worthy performances and the writers and director don’t get in their way. What the film lacks in sophisticated storytelling and direction, it makes up for with brilliant transformative performances.
The movie tells the story of Ron Woodroof, a Texan infected with the AIDS virus who takes matters into his own hands by finding his own cure and not just helping himself but developing a system that helps fellow victims of the virus as well. In 1985, there wasn’t a cure for AIDS and all people could do was hope to land themselves in an ill-fated drug trial. If you got it, you had 30 days to live in agony before expiring. Woodroof was far from a perfect man but wasn’t going to just wither away. The movie is an understated gut punch because the story is powerful enough to get into your senses and electrify you for 2 hours. Some true stories have to acquire a loud musical score, actors who overact and screenplays that use a Kleenex box as their defense mechanism. Dallas Buyers Club doesn’t want your sympathy. It wants your attention and the material speaks for itself. The mood is grim yet doesn’t shy away from a comedic moment and the look is gray yet allows a few colors to pop in the process. (more…)
When Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey made the deliriously comedic Edtv together in 1999, I would find it hard to imagine they would be tag teaming in
HBO’s darkly brilliant 8 hour miniseries True Detective over 13 years later. Then again, each actor had taken chances by then in addition to their well-known comfort zones. Woody didn’t stray too far from his weirdo humor except for random occasions like Natural Born Killers and The People Versus Larry Flynt(both involving a heavy dose of dark humor). McConaughey flirted with his demons in Frailty and Lone Star.
Trust me when I say that each actor is on a completely different level here. Their work on this show tells you how much of a roll they have been on in recent years. Playing a pair of detectives investigating a gruesome crime in 1995 while they tell modern investigators about their methods in present day, the two actors are spellbindingly flawless in their roles.
Creator and writer Nick Pizzalatto frames the 8 hours around these two cops and their personal lives. Martin Hart (Harrelson) is a deeply flawed man with a wife and kids yet is slowly crumbling under the weight of infidelity and nerves that are nearly fried. McConaughey’s Rust Cohle is the polar opposite, a spiritual outcast who gives new meaning to the word eccentric and practices methods other detectives find creepy and uncomfortable.
Watching these two work with each other and get lost inside these deeply layered roles, a viewer is taken aback at what they are watching. Are these the same guys who wasted a decent part of their career playing softball instead of spending more time in the A List pro class? It’s a marvel to partake in every single hour.
Dose of Buffa 