The Seven Best Matthew McConaughey Performances

7: Killer Joe (2011)
Matthew McConaughey is: Killer Joe Cooper
In Seven (or more) Words: Friedkin, the helmer of two of the finest films that represent 1970's cinema (The French Connection and The Exorcist), directs our resident Texan in a subtle yet potent display of simmering rage, reminiscent of Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. Even contract killers have charisma.

6: A Time to Kill (1996)
Matthew McConaughey is: Jake Tyler Brigance
In Seven (or more) Words: McConaughey attempts to replicate Gregory Peck's Atticus Finch in less screen time. With a searing monologue that acts as a continuation of one of the all time great courtroom speeches (To Kill a Mockingbird of course), 'Now imagine she's white' should tear open the mind of any sceptic and turn it into a perpetual conscious engraved with the simple methodology of equal rights. It's not just the dialogue, it's the way he delivers that dialogue.

5: Dazed and Confused (1993)
Matthew McConaughey is: David Wooderson
In Seven (or more) Words: Alright, Alright, Alrigghhhht. The greatest hang out film along with Rio Bravo, according to Tarantino, McConaughey enters the screen with such nonchalance, such swagger. He's fucking cool. And he knows it.

4: Magic Mike (2012)
Matthew McConaughey is: Dallas
In Seven (or more) Words: I avoided this film for a while. I finally accustomed myself to the idea of watching a movie with a main plot focus centred around male stripping (vodka helped) and was thoroughly entertained. Dallas steals the show, and McConaughey really should have bequeathed his first Oscar nomination.

3: Mud (2012)
Matthew McConaughey is: Mud
In Seven (or more) Words: I met Jeff Nichols last year at Sundance London, and he said that McConaughey knew the character better than he, the writer (also the director), did. It is a testament to the depth of research McConaughey plunges himself into. This is his most immediately identifiable creation since Dazed and Confused, and marks an honest, masculine performance, blighted by his unrequited love for Reese Witherspoon's Juniper. We can all relate.

2: Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
Matthew McConaughey is: Ron Woodroof
In Seven (or more) Words: An Academy Award. At last. The candour of aids, a thought provoking true story, with two diverse, meaningful performances. By losing three stone in weight he 'became smarter' (Matthew McConaughey, 2013). I guess that means as an actor too, because this is his smartest film performance to date. Riding a transition from detestable to determined, whilst being likeable throughout.

1: True Detective (2014)
Matthew McConaughey is: Rust Cohle
In Seven (or more) Words: The greatest television character since Tony Soprano. An ark promulgated across eight episodes; McConaughey has a lengthier period to propagate his wings. Considering this is predominantly a film blog, I am cheating, but I don't care. Phenomenal acting appears regularly on HBO, whether that be stand alone or ensemble. This here confirms McConaughey can stand alone, as once an industry joke, he is now a power house of a performer, one of the actors of his generation capable of quality control and consistency. He always had it in him.

Special Mention: The Wolf of Wall Street (2014)
Matthew McConaughey is: Mark Hanna
In Seven (or more) Words: Alec Baldwin in Glengary Glen Ross is the best scene stealing cameo ever. McConaughey is a close second.

My Next Article is... The Seven Best Robert De Niro/Martin Scorsese Collaborations