Dallas Buyers Club

What would you do if you were suddenly diagnosed with HIV and told you only had 30 days to live?

That's the dilemma and true story of Texas cowboy Ron Woodroof who, back in 1985, was faced with this exact statement. His tale is offered in stunning and honest fashion in "Dallas Buyers Club." The Blu-ray comes at the perfect time: The film has just won recent Golden Globe awards in the acting categories.

Please dear God, let both Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto win Oscars for their portrayals of Woodroof and transgender Rayon, respectively. Both give career-turning performances in the story of how Woodroof, after being diagnosed with HIV, goes on a journey of survival by finding any treatment necessary to ameliorate his illness. This includes befriending an unlikely doctor (Jennifer Garner) who develops an odd friendship with Woodroof.

Garner's character helps in leading a clinical trail of the drug AZT, and Woodroof is mortified that he doesn't have access to it due to the enormous cost. He then goes on a quest to steal it, takes it with dire side effects, and comes in contact with an unlicensed doctor who gives him a cocktail of drugs to take.

This leads Woodroof to import said drugs from Mexico and resell them to local Texans. To do this, he forms what he calls the Dallas Buyers Club. The Woodroof character transforms from vilifying homophobe to caring human being and enlists the help of Rayon (Leto) with the smuggling and selling.

God only knows why it took Hollywood so long to make another film about the AIDS epidemic, but "Dallas Buyers Club," thankfully, can be purchased on Blu-ray. Special features are minimal: a 5-minute promo for the film called "A Look Inside Dallas Buyers Club" features McConaughey and his reasoning why he helped finance the film. He admits his performance is aided by Woodroof's real life diaries, through which the actor discovered just how passionate he really was.

Garner and Leto also appear in the brief promo, and Leto should be commended for the fact that he stayed in character during the entire filming of the movie, on and off camera. Three deleted scenes are also included on the Blu-ray, but the real reason to purchase the new Focus Films disc is to watch the (hopefully) soon to be Oscar-winning film.

"Dallas Buyers Club"
Blu-ray
www.universalhidef.com