10. Dallas Buyers Club
Grade: BMy Take: Dallas Buyers Club tells the true story of Ron Woodruff (Matthew McConaughey), a heterosexual, homophobic, rodeo-loving Texan who finds himself in the tragic position of contracting the AIDS virus during the breakout of the epidemic in the 1980's. Woodruff went on to bend and brake government regulations in order to sale more viable medical alternatives to suffering AIDS patients who were being offered inferior treatments through the traditional channels. For a biopic dealing with the sensitive subject of AIDS, the film is refreshingly straightforward and unfussy. This lets Dallas Buyers Club avail itself of the self-righteous and emotionally manipulative pitfalls films of this nature often walk into, but the film doesn't really adventure outside the "a-day-in-their-shoes" narrative and never transcends the human interest story aspect of its protagonist.
Oscar Prospects: The area of the film that has garnered the most praise, and rightfully so, is for its terrific performances from Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto. Both actors are locks for their respective categories (Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor), and McConaughey, who over the past two years has had one of the most miraculous career turnarounds in the history of cinema, is probably the favorite to win. Beyond the two male thespian categories though, Dallas Buyers Club may be the biggest beneficiary of the delays of Foxcatcher and The Wolf of Wall Street (if it doesn't make it by Christmas). If the film can generate enough love among the Actors branch, the largest branch in the Academy, then depending on how the December competition pans out, Dallas Buyers Club could be a serious Best Picture player. Also, even though it's a bit more crowded than usual this year, Best Original Screenplay could be a very real possibility.