Demolition

First Hit:  There were strong and weak aspects to this film, however I liked the concept of tearing things apart so that one can rebuild one's life.

Pema Chodron, an American Tibetan Buddhist, wrote a book called “When Things Fall Apart.”

The beginning of this film reminded me of this book. Sometimes when things in our life fall apart (internally or externally), it can be a calling to deconstruct one’s life so that it can be re-built with more mindfulness and understanding.

Now this might sound too philosophical when writing about a film where the main character loses his wife in an auto accident and due to a malfunctioning vending machine, he decides to look at his life.

Here Davis (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Julia (Heather Lind) are driving and get into an accident. She dies, he lives, and as he begins to view his life, he realizes that he didn’t really know his wife or his life. To find out more he begins by tearing his physical possessions apart. It starts with his refrigerator, then computer, then his house. These are funny and cathartic scenes.

Opening to viewing what he feels inside, two outside influences push him along; his father-in-law and boss Phil (Chris Cooper) and Karen (Naomi Watts) the vending machine customer service representative. Additionally, she has a son, Chris (Judah Lewis), who is struggling being a teenager and together, Davis and the boy learn valuable life lessons.

Gyllenhaal is strong and ever present in his scenes. There is a scene where he’s listening to a song he and Chris created together while walking down the street in NYC. Watching him free dance down the street, one can sense the amazing versatility and skills he has as an actor. Watts character wasn’t as clearly defined and was probably set up this way to bring her son’s confused life into focus. Lewis was very strong and very good in his role as a confused 15-year-old young man. Cooper was very good as the strong determined man who held his daughter in very high regard. Bryan Sipe wrote and interesting script with a great concept. Jean-Marc Vallee directed this story in some creative ways and I loved the bit about buying anything on Ebay.

Overall:  This wasn’t a great film but, for me, the point of the story was set early on and I bought into the way it was presented.

Wild

First Hit:  The story is compelling and I’m not sure it was reflected in its full glory here. Reese Witherspoon plays Cheryl Strayed, a woman who was lost in her life and found herself again by hiking the Pacific Coast Trail (PCT).

The opening scene is great as it shows Cheryl tossing a boot over a cliff after the other one gets clumsily shoved off the cliff edge while she is pulling off a toenail. It shows her naivety in this hiking endeavor along with her quick tempered anger and easily accessed frustration.

This scene fully represents who she is at that moment. It is a great scene. It is unfortunate that not all the following scenes measure up as well. This isn’t to say there aren’t good to great scenes in the film, there are and they just don’t stand up to this opening scene.

Having hiked a lot when I was younger as part of our family backpacking vacations into the high sierras, I enjoyed the scenes of the mountains, meadows, and trails. We learn why she is on the trail through flashbacks which are like thought bubbles, brought up by music, conversation, or situations.

These flashbacks are OK, however they didn’t give me enough context as to why she became a drug addict, slept with everyone in sight, and tried to destroy her life. There was more to the story and it wasn’t here.

Witherspoon was very strong as Cheryl however I think the way the story was told and directed was the weak point of this film. Laura Dern was really engaging and full as Cheryl’s mom. Gabby Hoffman as Cheryl’s friend Aimee was very good. I liked her repulsion of Cheryl’s lifestyle when they were having dinner at the diner. Thomas Sadoski as Cheryl’s ex-husband Paul was also very strong as the man who loved Cheryl through thick and thin. Nick Hornby wrote the script which was very reflective of Cheryl’s book. Jean-Marc Vallee directed this film and this is where I think that this film falters a bit. There is a lot to digest from this book/script and it's a good attempt – not great.

Overall:  I did enjoy the film but I wasn’t satisfied that it told the story deeply enough.

Dallas Buyers Club

First Hit:  A very strong, poignant and wonderful story about wanting to live.

This story highlights the fear of and struggles with HIV/AIDS in the mid-1980s. Ron Woodruff (Matthew McConaughey) lives a really hard life.

He’s an electrician, bull rider, while trying to un-protectively screw every woman he sees. He’s drunk or high much of the time and in today's terms he lives, what we would call, an extremely risky life. Ron and his friends are homophobic and take pride in being “real men”.

The opening scenes of him screwing a woman in a bull stall while peeking through the fence at a bull rider being thrown from his mount which segues into him taking bets and drinking and hitting a cop tells a specific story. Due to an accident while trying to fix an electrical connection, he ends up in the hospital.

The doctors, after doing numerous blood tests on him, tell him he’s got HIV/AIDS and has about 30 days to live. He’s denies he’s got a homo disease, but his predicament catches up and catches hold in his mind and he begins to learn about his disease. He cannot get dosages of AZT which has been shown to both help fight the virus but in doing so breaks down the immune system completely. As an alternative for himself and others, he goes to Mexico and gets drugs (protein and other antiviral concoctions) and sells them to others who are suffering. He then learns that selling unapproved drugs is illegal so he starts a Club where people pay monthly memberships and get their drugs for free (patients self-administer).

Keeping the club alive for himself and others who are suffering is rough going because the government wants him and other clubs like his, shut down. Helping him develop his club is gay crossdresser Rayon (Jared Leto) and Dr. Eve Saks (Jennifer Garner) who walks a fine line until she sees that her hospital’s philosophy is not assisting HIV/AIDS patients is not helping.

McConaughey will be nominated for his portrayal of Woodruff. He physically and mentally did what it took to climb into this role and share the story of a man who lived more than 2,200 days past the expiration date he was given of 30 days. He powerfully showed how humans will do what it takes to survive. Leto was absolutely amazing as Rayon and will probably be nominated for a supporting role. Garner was very good as a doctor attempting to toe the line of her job and also act with empathy towards her HIV/AIDS patients. Denis O’Hare was excellent as the head doctor and administrator holding the line of policy. Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack wrote an amazing script and Jean-Marc Vallee delivered Oscar worthy direction.

Overall:  A very powerful film about human perseverance.