I expected more from this Cohen brothers movie. It wasn’t a bad storyline, but it never seemed to get off the ground. After we got home Pat was reading some online reports and the Joel Cohen had this to say,  “The film doesn’t really have a plot. That concerned us at one point – that’s why we threw the cat in.”

Ah, so now I understand!

As Pat and I waited for the movie to begin we realized we didn’t have a clue what it was about. We knew Bruce Dern starred in it, but that was about all we knew. It is a delightful story of an aging man and his son. The father believes he has won a million dollars in a lottery and, since no one will believe him or drive him to collect his prize, he continually sets out walking from Billings, Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska. Eventually one of his sons agrees to drive him and the events of their trip are told in the story. Very funny, but rather sad at times. The movie was shot in black and white; Pat thought that was a good affect but I didn’t like it as much.

I’ve not been a fan of Matthew McConaughey; I could never get past his southern drawl. This movie has changed my mind though.

McConaughey plays the role of Ron Woodroof a man who has been given a month to live after he is diagnosed with AIDS. Rather than give in to his disease he begins researching the effective drugs that are available around the world. He forms the Dallas Buyers Club and makes these drugs available to its members. He is fighting for his life and the lives of the club members, but he is hampered by the established medical community and the government regulators.

I’ve had the book on order from the Library for quite awhile, but the movie arrived before the book. This is a beautiful story about a very ugly time in Germany’s history. Liesel is a young German girl who has been sent to live with a foster family; we never know for certain why (was her mother a Communist or Jewish?). She forms an immediate connection with her foster father, but finds her foster mother a little more difficult. She arrives not knowing how to read or write, but over the course of the movie her love for books grows. The narrator (God? Death?) ties up all the loose ends.