Reel advice: From Dallas to Nebraska

It's been 20 years since the Academy Award-winning movie Philadelphia (an Oscar for star Tom Hanks and one for Bruce Springsteen's song) became one of the first full-blown Hollywood movies about AIDS. Since that time, some things have changed. No longer the death sentence it was originally considered to be, it has become a chronic illness manageable with a cocktail of prescription meds. The stigma of HIV/AIDS has also diminished over the years. But one thing that hasn't changed is that the AIDS crisis is far from over.

Although it is set almost 30 years ago, Dallas Buyers Club (Focus) is a gut-wrenching reminder of how far we've come and how much farther we have to go. Sadly, the same evils that existed in the mid-1980s, especially the greed and indifference of the pharmaceutical industry, still exist today.

Based on the true story of the late Ron Woodruff (portrayed on screen by Matthew McConaughey in an Oscar-worthy performance), a sexually promiscuous hetero trailer court denizen, who receives an unexpected HIV diagnosis during a hospitalization following a work-related accident. Racist, homophobic and an all-around unpleasant guy, Ron's vitriolic response to his HIV status doesn't surprise attending physicians Sevard (out actor Denis O'Hare) and Saks (Jennifer Garner).

With a shockingly low T-Cell count, Ron is given 30 days to live. He doesn't make the most of the first few, spending them in a drug and alcohol haze. But as reality sets in and days slip by he heads to a library and begins doing research. Returning to the hospital, Ron attempts to get involved in the AZT drug trials taking place in Dallas. Not satisfied with his odds, Ron makes a financial arrangement with an orderly and soon has access to the meds he needs.

Meanwhile, his personal life is crumbling. His equally homophobic friends abandon him and he's unable to find work. He loses access to the AZT and ends up in the hospital. There he meets Rayon (Jared Leto in an equally Oscar-caliber performance), an HIV + trans woman whom he initially rebuffs. But soon they form an unlikely friendship and business partnership, taking on the medical and pharma establishments, saving lives and extending their own beyond what they originally believed possible.

Alternately heartbreaking and uplifting, Dallas Buyers Club is from the tradition of Norma Rae and Philadelphia, stories of underdogs and outcasts who triumphantly (and tragically) make an impact on society and movie audiences equally.

Bruce Dern could be another Oscar contender for his brave, vulnerable performance in Nebraska (Paramount). Shot in black and white, Nebraska opens with Woody (Dern), convinced that he has won a million dollars in a Publishers Clearinghouse-type sweepstakes, walking towards Nebraska (from Montana, mind you), to collect his cash prize.

Of course, we all know he hasn't won. His downtrodden son David (Will Forte) knows, and so does everyone else around him. But years of alcohol abuse have taken their toll on his brain and nothing can stop the determined Woody from achieving his goal of collection.

Realizing that Woody can't be deterred from his path, father and son set out on a cross-country journey. Essentially a road movie crossed with mythology, Nebraska finds the father and son traversing familiar and unfamiliar highways and byways. An extended stay in Woody's hometown is both comedic and dramatic, and altogether original and entertaining.

Director Alexander Payne has a knack for getting outstanding performances of out his actors. Remember what he did with Matthew Broderick in Election? What about Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt, Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church in Sideways, George Clooney in The Descendants and Margo Martindale in the "14e arrondissement" segment of Paris, je t'aime? Nebraska is no exception in the case of Dern and Forte. All in all, Nebraska is well worth the trip.