WILD [2014]

Director Jean-Marc Vallée does the near impossible by turning Cheryl Strayed's memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail into a gracefully crafted contemplative film.
Reese Witherspoon does a wonderful job as Strayed who's walking the 2,633 miles long PCR as a way to gather her thoughts from the troubled life she hopes to leave behind.  It's a thoroughly captivating told story of a heart that opens up into the vast wilderness around it that's both dangerous and elegant.  Thankfully we're never quite sure what's around each bend and that's a rarity in such films.  Wild stumbles along here and there but Witherspoon and Laura Dern's underplayed performances make the journey well worth your time.

3½ female hobos out of 5

DALLAS BUYER'S CLUB [2013]

Jean-Marc Vallée directs Matthew McConaughey as Ron Woodroof, an AIDS patient in the 80's who dealt unapproved pharmaceutical drugs, in Dallas Buyer's Club.
This is probably McConaughey's best performance to date but I can't go without taking note of Jared Leto's fantastic turn as a transgender woman that should get him an award without a doubt.  Dazzling performances aside, the tale is one that needs to be told and deserves to be heard.  There's a few lulls in the storytelling and it occasionally threatens to lose focus but when all is said and done, it's a film that the cast & crew can surely be proud of.

4 Texas wild flowers out of 5