Review of Dallas Buyers Club (2013) by Filius S — 17 May 2014

Matthew McConaughey plays a hick from Texas in the 80's who finds out he has HIV and 30 days to live. He finds out about experimental life saving drugs that aren't FDA approved but can be bought in places like Mexico, The Netherlands and Japan. Decides to sell the drugs to other AIDS affected people by signing them up in a $400/month club as per some legal loophole. Movie escalates to McConaughey vs. the FDA cat and mousing for a bit, with heart tugging storylines inbetween.

The movie also has Jared Leto and Elektra in it who play a trans-something with AIDS and a nurse respectively. Acting is good across the board, with Matt Mc nailing a home run. Story is also good, and well paced, although somewhat predictable.

The movie strikes out of a perfect score by having bland style and careless camera work. It's as though every shot was just "now point the camera at that actor over there"... which is fine, I guess. But I mean, if you've got a camera, at least be a bit creative with it guys. I don't need massive steadycam sequences, but just some really nice framing would be enough. Also lighting was mostly dull.