The Fault in Our Stars (2014)

NEW RELEASE FILM REVIEW || Seen at Cineworld Shaftesbury Avenue, London, Friday 20 June 2014 || My Rating likeable

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© 20th Century Fox

I suppose it would be really easy to write a review about how this flagrantly tearjerking melodrama of two teenagers falling in love while living with terminal cancer is the worst kind of emotional heartstring tugging, but that would probably be because I somewhat fell victim to it. It’s very hard not to, after all, given the premise, even without the little flourishes that are added to help you along the path. Those flourishes, thankfully, generally steer clear of big string-laden orchestration or gloopily grandstanding sentimental speeches from the parents (at least, as far as I recall).

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Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

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NEW RELEASE FILM REVIEW || Director Jean-Marc Vallée | Writers Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack | Cinematographer Yves Bélanger | Starring Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto, Steve Zahn | Length 117 minutes | Seen at Genesis, London, Thursday 20 February 2014 || My Rating worth seeing

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© Focus Features

There’s no doubt that Matthew McConaughey has been turning in some excellent acting performances of late, but once again with this film (as with the similarly critically-feted Mud last year), I find myself unable to quite understand what all the fuss is about. The performance, yes, is very good, but the film it’s in service to seems to be made up of well-worn familiars of the genre, and held together by an unflashy style that occasionally shows sparks of editing flair, but is mostly fairly workaday. It’s hardly a disease-of-the-week teleplay, but the style is not a million miles from a TV movie. Or perhaps I am just reacting to grumpily to that very first appearance of the title cards in Times New Roman. It doesn’t take much sometimes.