Image = All right, All right, All right!

as Ron Woodruff

Here’s the truth about the Academy Awards.  Sometimes awards (especially for acting) are given (as they should be) for a performance because it is far and above THE BEST of the year – as in Helen Mirren for The Queen or Mo’Nique for Precious.  Sometimes it’s for a body of work and the actor has been passed up before and (I hate this) the Academy feels they owe someone an award – as in Denzel Washington when he “won” for Training Day after he lost for his uh-mazing performance in The Hurricane. 

Golden Globe winner

This year is a little different.  It was a fantastic year for movies and there are a bunch of worthy contenders.  Matthew McConaughey – once a punch line – not taken seriously because of his great looks and his resume of romantic comedies – has actually transformed his career and his image in Hollywood.  It was a conscious effort by him and his team to choose more serious and risky roles, beginning with The Lincoln Lawyer in 2011 and followed by Bernie, Killer Joe, Magic Mike, Mud and of course Dallas Buyers Club.  The gamble paid off and we are now looking at McConaughey very differently.  

Matthew has shown his commitment to show business for 22 years.  To put it very simply, it is his time.  First he transformed his career and then he physically altered himself to play unsavory hustler Ron Woodruff.  Dallas Buyers Club is a tour de force and a story about a critical time in American history that will raise awareness about AIDS, American healthcare and being transgender.  I want McConaughey to win the Oscar for Best Actor this year for two reasons.  1 – he deserves it and 2 – the biggest award in the industry will cause more people to see this great independent film.