The Paperboy (2012)

The Paperboy (2012)

Available at Amazon.

The Paperboy is a 2012 American thriller film starring Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, John Cusack, and Nicole Kidman. Directed by Lee Daniels, it is based on the 1995 novel The Paperboy by American author Pete Dexter. The film competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.

An idealistic reporter, Ward Jansen, and his younger brother, Jack, investigate the events surrounding a murder to exonerate a man on death row, Hillary Van Wetter. Wetter has been jailed for the alleged murder of an unscrupulous local sheriff, Thurmond Call. Call had previously stomped Wetter's handcuffed cousin to death. Wetter is now on death row and awaiting execution. The Jansen brothers are helped by Ward's colleague, the ambitious Englishman Yardley Acheman and the seductive Charlotte Bless, a woman Wetter has never met but who has fallen in love with him and is determined that he should be released and that they should marry. In prison Wetter receives correspondence from her consistently.

Charlotte tries to prove Wetter's innocence by requesting the help of Ward and Yardley, who are both investigative reporters from the Miami Times and are hungry for a salacious story. Ward returns to his hometown to investigate the case but has mixed feelings about returning home to his estranged father,and his new girlfriend, Nancy, who distribute the Miami Times in their town. Both the Jansen brothers dislike their father's new girlfriend. Jack is the paperboy after having been expelled from college for vandalism. His only best friend is his maid, Anita, who narrates the story.

The evidence against Wetter is inconsistent and the writers are confident that if they can expose Wetter as a victim of redneck justice then their story will benefit them greatly. Meanwhile, Jack has fallen in love with Charlotte who only desires Wetter. Anita realizes that Jack can never stop thinking of Charlotte as she is his first love. One day, with some information from Wetter, the Jansen brothers travel to the swamp to meet Wetter's uncle, Tyree, who has evidence that he did not commit the crime.

Ward is soon revealed to be a closeted homosexual when he approaches a pair of sadistic men who rape and torture him. During Ward's time in the hospital, Yardley prints the news article despite not getting all the facts right. Jack tries to convince Yardley to stop, but instead discovers that Yardley is actually American, but had to pretend to be English because local black men could not be successful unless they lied about their backgrounds. Yardley had also given Ward sexual favors in return for position in the paper.

Wetter is eventually released from prison and takes Charlotte away to the swamp to live with him. She is unhappy and sends a letter to Jack telling how much she hates her new life. During their father's wedding, a recently recovered Ward and Jack go to save Charlotte. However, the escape plan is flawed and Charlotte and Ward are killed by Wetter, who is then arrested for their murder and executed on the electric chair as planned originally. Towards the end of the story, Anita reveals that Jack never forgot his first love.

Searching for Sugar Man (2012)

Searching for Sugar Man (2012)

Available at Amazon.

Searching for Sugar Man is a 2012 Swedish/British documentary directed by Malik Bendjelloul, detailing the efforts of two Cape Town fans, Stephen 'Sugar' Segerman and Craig Bartholomew Strydom, to find out if the rumored death of American musician Rodriguez was true, an
d, if not, to discover what had become of him. Rodriguez's music, which never took off in the United States, had become wildly popular in South Africa, but little was known about him there. The film is produced by Simon Chinn and John Battsek.

Searching for Sugar Man tells the incredible true story of Rodriguez, the greatest '70s rock icon who never was. Discovered in a Detroit bar in the late '60s by two celebrated producers struck by his soulful melodies and prophetic lyrics, they recorded an album which they believed would secure his reputation as the greatest recording artist of his generation. In fact, the album bombed and the singer disappeared into obscurity amid rumors of a gruesome on-stage suicide. But a bootleg recording found its way into apartheid South Africa and, over the next two decades, he became a phenomenon. The film follows the story of two South African fans who set out to find out what really happened to their hero. Their investigation leads them to a story more extraordinary than any of the existing myths about the artist known as Rodriguez. -- (C) Sony Pictures Classics