Dallas Buyers Club and Mud

Focus has moved the release date of the true-story, straight-gay, uplifting aids movie Dallas Buyers Club five weeks earlier, from December 6 to November 1. Yesterday they unveiled the trailer.

In twenty years of acting since Dazed & Confused, guess which nude bongo banger has never been nominated for an Oscar or even a lousy Golden Globe? Last year ought to have been Matthew McConaughey's moment for a supporting nod, but I suspect he fell asunder of dreaded vote splitting -- the gay independent Bernie was his better performance while the homoerotic but degayed studio stripper flick Magic Mike grabbed all the attention (and earned him four big wins from the Spirit Awards, National Society of Film Critics, NY Film Critics, and the Village Voice film poll). Will it happen again in 2013? Because he's very good in Mud but all the hype will be for Dallas Buyers Club. [You know how Hollywood equates physical transformations with Real Acting. In Mud, he bravely went with scraggly hair, but for Dallas Buyers he lost all that weight! My god, not since Charlize played ugly (Best Actress), or Nicole wore that fake nose (Best Actress), or Jamie wore sunglasses (Best Actor), or Daniel got a wart (Best Actor)...]

Anyway, although it's not as powerful as the foreign Oscar winner In A Better World, Mud springs from the same roots of nice young teens making a series of increasingly bad decisions. Also, there's the friction of a classic, innocent boy crush on a charismatic, shirtless criminal. Anyone seeking a flicker of subtext might notice that this story arc climaxes late at night when McConaughy crawls through the boy's window and climbs into bed with him. Reese Witherspoon detractors / fans should note she is barely in the movie. It is the third impressive feature from 34 year-old director Jeff Nichols who wrote each of his films. Mud was released on dvd earlier this month or watch it right now.