Dallas Buyers Club [Blu-ray]

Excellent movie that is boosted by the fearless performances of Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, both of whom are simply fantastic. Unlike some modern "method" acting that becomes indulgently self-conscious (e.g., Jake Gyllenhaal in NightCrawlers), both McConaughey and Leto remain focused on the objects in their worlds (even when they are inner objects) and not on what great actors they are, if that makes sense. Griffin Dunne's small but significant turn as Dr. Vass is a masterpiece - he creates a full, three-dimensional character in very few lines. The film makes a couple of compromises - I think Jennifer Garner's role is woefully underwritten, and so we really don't gain insight into her character, which seems more plot device than flesh-and-blood entity. As a result, the actress has little to work with, and some of her scenes seem contrived. I also think that, when the movie shifts gears and shows, in a sort of extended montage, McConaughey's progression into a globe-trotting, international, high-stakes wheeler-dealer rubbing shoulders with major players in the Big Pharma game, you are left with a bit of whiplash. How did he get from point "A" to Point "Z" in the blink of an eye? The movie covers its tracks pretty deftly, but those leaps in just a few minutes remain a bit jolting and are a major departure from the pace at which the story unfolds in the first hour. Additionally, there's a large dollop of the 1970s corporate America-as-the-most-malevolent-force-in-the-universe trope in the film, but at least it's tempered with an equal acknowledgment of government bureaucracy's inherent indifferent incompetence as well. But these quibbles are pretty minor. This is ultimately a movie about redemption, about our shared humanity, about how a person can grow and yet retain much of the individuality that makes him who he is. It may be a bit obviously theatrically structured, like the "well-made plays" of the 19th century, but the power of this movie - aside from the fact that it's based on a fascinating real-life story - is in McConaughey's terrific performance as Ron Woodroof and the improbable relationship he forms with Jared Leto's equally wonderfully-rendered Rayon.

This is a a very hard knock on bone and spear in soul creation for those of us who grew up during the AIDS epidemic in the 80's. I remember precisely where I was when Reagan first mentioned it and called it the "gay mens disease" blaming it's spread on bathhouses in NY. Even at 14 I knew it went much deeper than that. It managed to scare most of us cerebral types just enough to keep ourselves intact. Anyway I knew it couldn't be as simple as what they were tying to saturate the airwaves with. I watched media for the first few years, aching for the skeletal men who just wanted love like every one else. And then I watched my friends begin their journey with HIV. Straight, bi, gay, it didn't matter. The scramble for a new drug had the pharma companies in a frenzy as they saw the potential for $$$$$$ in a "cure" or as close as they could claim to get. But back to this movie in which both Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto literally transform not just their bodies but their very souls into the characters they potray giving them free reign to BE. The hardcore scientist in me always wondered at which level the brain activity is most prominent during such a total immersion in a character, but my soul understands just how much they are giving us, how deep they are opening up to us, like glasses of water from a river. The story is tragic, powerful, gentle and driven. It's a very sharp look at the control the FDA has over our very bodies by choosing for us what is "good" and what is "not good". In simple terms, which product will garner them the most profit. Sad but true. It has happened many times over many decades only to be a gut punch down the road when symptoms begin to alter lives, rarely for the better, from whatever drug they were prescribed. The humanE element, as I mentioned is, hands down impeccably worn like a second skin by the main actors, though all give outstanding performances. I don't know what turned me toward this movie, correction, I didn't know, but , as someone who has been diagnosed with necrotizing chronic pancretitis and after 7 years being put on in home hospice at 68lbs., I shifted my thinking, weaned myself off all the drugs they were handing out to me like candy, went back to my vegan diet, started walking my pup again and gained 12 lbs in 6 months. Since then I use only natural medicinals in their purest forms for my conditions. This movie is pure, and essential, for people to think before they leap down the rabbit hole of that first FDA approved pill that promises magic in BIG letters and prints the side effects so small and man couldn't read it. A not to miss movie!

I live in Dallas and I remember this time. I lost many friends to this disease. I think Matthew Mcconaughey did an incredible job. He looked the part so much that is was almost painful to watch. At the time that Ron was diagnosed, they did not have hope for people or treatment. I remember going to see one of my friends back in 1985 at this hospital ( the movie did not use the hospitals real name so neither will I) and he was 6'1" and weighed about 95 pounds. If you looked in the rooms down the long hallway, this is all you would see. They would let people choose to discontinue treatment and die due to they needed the beds and there was nothing they could do. The best they could do was make people as comfortable as possible and let them go. It was a very bad time in America. I did not know Ron but I wish I had. It looked like he helped a lot of people. The movie for me was personal. I loved it but I could see some people not liking it due to the subject matter. My husband would not watch this but he does not like shall we say " the ugly side of life" that can affect any of us at any time wether it be AIDS, Cancer or so many other disease. I think everyone should see this film even though it is painful to watch at times. AIDS as we now know can affect anyone. BRAVO on a great performance and a real look at what people went through in the 80's. Not only did they suffer physically but they were also treated horribly by the general public due to fear and ignorance. God bless all my friends and all of the people that have been affected by this disease. God bless Ron Woodroof for not just laying down and accepting what the doctors said.This is also an eye opening experience in how the FDA has to much control in what people should have a right too. They are there to protects us but let's face it, when money is involved, the best interest of the people gets over looked. Look at all the commercials today with lawsuits against medication, that were FDA approved, due to the damage they have caused. Maybe this film will shake things up a little and get the FDA to look a little deeper into what their role should really be and not their bottom line.

I lost a cousin to AIDS who could have greatly benefited from the supplement regime in this movie. Sadly, his father worked for what should have been the best of all places, a major pharmaceutical company. He believed in the flawed system shown in this film. Watch this for the great acting and the great information. Our access to a variety of supplements and natural products like raw milk and cheese from local farmers is being taken away from us by an FDA/USDA run for the purposes of major drug, agricultural and biotech companies. This film shows one of the many tragic results. When it comes to food and drugs, I believe in informed consent, not bans and fines. Seeing this film will teach you a lot about the dangers of letting drug companies supersede human rights. If you want more info on the plot, there are many reviews here that give you that. I think it is such a wonderful educational opportunity that I want to comment mostly on the FDA aspect. Please note that this review will likely receive negative comments touting the wonders of the FDA . There are people paid to do that and I have seen them show up every time big pharma is questioned. I don't get paid to answer them and won't waste my time. I'm surprised that Big Pharma allowed this film to be made. They are THAT powerful. As coincidence would have it, I finally got around to watching it shortly after learning that it had long been known, in another country, that a substance in Soy could treat AIDS. Note that is REAL SOY, not the GMO, "Round Up Ready", stuff we have here which is rich in pesticide residue. Why were we not told about this years ago?? Who is REALLY protecting our health and well-being. Certainly NOT the FDA. As this film shows, it only protects the drug patents of major U.S. manufacturers and biotech companies and much of medicine supports it for financial gain. Only last week, the FDA had approved a pain killer so lethal that states are now moving to ban it. How protective of human life is that?? If you don't already know, the FDA with its Corporate Dons, like former policy maker for Monsanto Micheal Taylor, (over food) and Virginia Weldon (former Monsanto VP for public policy) now on the FDA Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee have been running a virtual war on supplements for decades. The reason is simple. Many of them work really well and most are from natural products which have to be synthesized to be patented. If they haven't figured out how to defy nature (the process of synthesizing often has side effects not present in the original) they don't want to see a natural drug that works on the market. It is also easy to dissuade people from using them because most natural remedies work over time and don't have the immediate punch the pharmaceutical companies like to advertise. But your body doesn't like to be "punched". The movie illustrates that very well as the effects of AZT devastate patients in the early trials...This while the medical industry, which benefits financially from participation in these studies...gladly touted their worth...least they not be asked to do another. Symptomatic treatments that do nothing to enhance the body's immune system or replace vital nutrients do not create health. They create drug dependence. In a truly free society, informed consent would be the norm. Now go watch the film and tell your friends to watch it too.

In DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, Matthew McConaughey joins the big league of actors with the unique ability to become the characters they portray. McConaughey gives a stunning, gritty and bittersweet performance as a rather unsavory real-life person Ron Woodroof. McConaughey won the Academt Award as Best Actor and few actors take such a risk in an unpredictable box-office movie. Slender McConaughey lost even more weight to portray the AIDS-stricken, gaunt Woodroof. While we can praise his performance, there are a lot of negatives about DALLAS BUYERS CLUB. The film is long and slow-moving. Although Woodroof is real, transgender Rayon (Academy Award winner Jared Leto) was created to give the Woodroof character an ally and more dramatic interaction. We are taken back to the 80's when AIDS was an automatic death sentence with no treatment, let alone a cure. It became a "gay" disease and people out of both homophobia and legitimate fear were uncertain how easily AIDS could be contracted--a simple sneeze? A handshake? DALLAS BUYERS CLUB takes us back to this time as heterosexual Woodroof deals with his own homophobia and those of "friends" who assume he must be gay. Woodroof starts the DALLAS BUYERS CLUB to get unapproved by potentially life-saving drugs to those afflicted by AIDS. Unfortunately, he is not crusading for the good of mankind but rather for his own needs. It all comes at a cost. It's $400 a month to join the DALLAS BUYERS CLUB. Those who can't pay, can't get the medicines. Although Woodroof softens a bit in his journey. He is never redeemed as he plays against the Law and the FDA. It never goes beyond the money he can earn from the club. He fights agains the harsh drug AZT because of the damage it does but at the time, it was the only approved treatment. As we learn later, a smaller dose of AZT combined with other drugs did provide an effective treatment-but not cure-for AIDS. McConnaughey is amazing in his role and deserves to be applauded. It's clear he had his heart in this project and he finally can be added to the ranks of great dramatic actors. There is a disappointment that the bonus features lack any information on the real Ron Woodroof. The bonus features are minimal and deal only with the making of the film. There is nothing to give historical context of this frightening time in the 80's.

Matthew McConnaughey gives the best performance of his career yet in DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, the story of Ron Woodruff and his struggle to obtain medicine, legal or otherwise, for his AIDS. There was also outstanding supporting work by Jennifer Garner and Jared Leto, who played a transgender AIDS patient named Rayon. When the movie begins, we are introduced to Ron Woodruff, a hard-drinking, sex-crazed, racist and homophobic man whose life is falling apart. As time progresses, he makes a gradual change to becoming a man who values his (and others') lives more due to his illness. He is also a man who doesn't give up or give in, as evidenced by his multiple run-ins with the FDA and the DEA, and symbolized by the final frames of the film. And more than anything, that is what I think the movie is about: overcoming when the odds are against you. This is a powerful and moving story, based in fact, which deserved every award it received at the Oscars. Matthew McConnaughey, on somewhat of a winning streak lately, put in some of his finest work here and went the extra mile by making a significant physical transformation to inhabit the character and person of Ron Woodruff. Jared Leto also deserves mention in this regard for his transformation as well. Jennifer Garner also does well as Ron's doctor and (eventual) friend, one of the few people not afflicted with AIDS who sees his plight and tries to help him. Her performance was imbued with a certain kindness and gentleness which I found rather appealing. As far as technical qualities are concerned, Jean-Marc Vallee did a great job directing, the cinematography was excellent and I thought that the music was good as well. There's really nothing to complain about with this film at all. Sure, it might have been Oscar bait, but that doesn't detract from the fact that this was one of the best films of 2013.

One of Matthew McConaughey's most acclaimed acting and grueling physical preparation for this movie. He and flim crew went to great lengths to show the difficulty, controversy, law and religious prejudice of the early times of trying desperately to find relief or cure of this deadly disease: HIV: No matter your own feelings/opinions; this is an award winning flim, giving you insight of a true story; as to the fight to save many people in all walks of life in the Worldwide battle of the disease. This a NEVER GIVE UP content of a driven individual facing adversities. Don't miss this one. Not a Boring documentary. Highly Recommend and one to watch over and over again, similar growing pains in the USA to McConaughey's "A Time to Kill", thought provoking and reflection thinking. One for your private collection. 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆

Matthew McConaughey did a very good job. I am so happy that he won award on this movie.