The Paperboy (2012)

Despite my aversion for Matthew McConaughey —the less I see of this guy, the better I feel— I watched The Paperboy anyway because it has Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman peeing on his face and genitals and I wanted to see what he did to deserve that. 

The story follows an idealistic reporter, Ward Jansen (Matthew McConaughey), who returns to his hometown when Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman) asks him to prove that Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack), the man she met via letters and whom she is in love with, on death row for the murder of a sheriff, is innocent, and drags his college-drop-out younger brother, Jack (Zac Efron), into the investigation.

Serenity (2019)

I read something about a brilliant, mind-blowing twist on Twitter a while back so, despite my aversion for Matthew McCounaghey, I decided to check out Serenity. And now I don't know how I feel, whether I'm angry about the fact that sarcasm doesn't translate well over text or astonished about the fact that some people actually believe that was a clever twist. 

Anyways, the story follows Baker Dill (Matthew McConaughey), a down-on-his-luck fishing boat captain who is obsessed with catching "Justice", a giant tuna fish (no, it's not Jim Halpert). One day, his ex-wife Karen (Anne Hathaway) shows up and offers him a deal, $10 million to drop her new, violent husband, Frank (Jason Clarke), into the ocean for the sharks to feast on him and pretend it was a fishing accident. 

We Are Marshall (2006)

Genre

Drama | Sport

Director

McG

Country

USA

Cast

Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, Anthony Mackie, Arlen Escarpeta, David Strathairn, Ian McShane, Kate Mara, January Jones, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Brian Geraghty, Tommy Cresswell, Christian Kanupke, Nina Jones, Mike Pniewski, Robert Patrick

Storyline

When the most of the football team and coaches of Marshall University die in a plane crash, the team's new coach (Matthew McConaughey) and his surviving players try to keep the football program alive.

Opinion

I'm back with another McConaughey movie, that also features Matthew Fox, the other Matthew I can't stand. Luckily, the sacrifice was quite worthy.

Run to the end zone by McConaughey, We Are Marshall is tedious, but rises from the ashes thank to the message it delivers.

My expectations for this film were kind of low. Even though I knew it is based on a true story, I was expecting the typical stereotyped feel good sport film. I was wrong. 

The plot isn't much different from any other sport films out there, and so would seem to be the outcome. The football does play an important role in the story, but, as I mentioned before, there's a message delivered, and it redeems the film from the sport genre. The whole point of the film is dealing with loss, and getting back to the daily business of life, and it uses football to deliver a message of hope, showing how winning just one game provided enough hope to set an entire town on the path of recovery. 

Some people have been complaining about the ending, saying that it killed the climax. So, should have the film ended after winning the game against Xavier? No way, unless you don't want just another sport film.

Having said that, the big fail is McG's direction. He doesn't manage to fully capture the emotions in Huntington at that time, and the result is a sad film with no real feeling. 

Matthew McConaughey really did a wonderful job portraying coach Jack Lengyel, and basically carried the whole film. Looking lost and in pain, Matthew Fox also did a good job as the assistant coach. Anthony Mackie wonderfully portrayed Nate and caught his spirit of leadership.