#33
Dallas Buyer’s Club
TBA
Matthew McConaughey had almost as good a year as Channing Tatum in 2012. Sure, his movies didn’t gross as much, but the fact people have forgotten about the McConaughey that starred in all those rom-coms and are now asking to see him as an Oscar nominee says the times have changed. Now Matty McC is pulling a Christian Bale and going method as he stars as Ron Woodroof, a drug taking, women loving, homophobic man who, in 1986 was diagnosed with full blown HIV/AIDS and given thirty days to live, in Dallas Buyer’s Club.
For anyone that watched the great 2012 documentary How to Survive a Plague the rest of this synopsis is going to hit home much harder:
Loosely based on the true-life tale of Ron Woodroof, a drug taking, women loving, homophobic man who, in 1986 was diagnosed with full blown HIV/AIDS and given thirty days to live. He started taking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved AZT, the only legal drug available in the U.S, which brought him to the brink of death. To survive, he smuggled non-toxic, anti-viral medications from all over the world, but yet still illegal in the U.S. Other AIDS patients sought out his medications forgoing hospitals, doctors and AZT. With the help of his Doctor, Eve Saks and a fellow patient, Rayon, Ron unintentionally created the Dallas Buyers Club, the first of dozens which would form around the country, providing its paying members with these alternative treatments. The clubs, growing in numbers and clientele, were brought to the attention of the FDA and pharmaceutical companies which waged an all out war on Ron. “DBC” follows Ron Woodroof’s personal fight to survive which lasted 2191 days when he died on September 12, 1992, six years after he was diagnosed with the HIV virus.
Gael Garcia Bernal, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto and Steve Zahn co-star.
#32
Nebraska
TBA
Alexander Payne made a rousing return to feature films with The Descendants in 2011 after not having made a feature for seven years. Now he seems back on track as he brings us Nebraska in 2013. The film centers on a father and son road trip, from Billings, Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska that gets waylaid at a small town in central Nebraska, where the father grew up and has scores to settle.
With Bruce Dern and “Saturday Night Live’s” Will Forte in the two lead roles this is a film that I couldn’t help but be drawn to and it will be fascinating to see what kind of work Forte can deliver when working with a director of Payne’s caliber.
Nebraska will be distributed by Paramount and while a release date has yet to be set, this is another one that screams for a Toronto premiere and a late year Oscar push.
#31
Captain Phillips
October 11
Paul Greengrass feels like he’s been missing for a while after the lackluster Green Zone in 2010, but Captain Phillips seems like it’s worth the wait as he is teaming with Tom Hanks to bring the true-life story of Captain Richard Phillips to the big screen.
Phillips was the captain of the Maersk Alabama when it was hijacked by Somali pirates in April 2009. Phillips eventually surrendered himself to protect his crew and even tried to escape unsuccessfully before Navy SEAL snipers were called in. This one could be great.
And that does it for Part Two. If you missed yesterday’s list of films ranked #41-50 click here to give it a look. Tomorrow I’ll bring you numbers 21-30 as things only get better from here and I have to say, I think they’re already looking pretty damned good.
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