Top Five

Chris Rock is the lead character, playing a comedic, big-screen actor who is interested in becoming a serious big-screen actor. His fiance is a reality TV super-star whose entire life is public. The premise of the film is that Rock is being shadowed by a journalist doing an entertainment piece trying to find out what really makes the comedian tick. Throughout, comedians make appearances and the running discussion is "list your top five rappers". Turns out that this is a moderately interesting look at comedy, confidence, and self worth. But moderately interesting does not mean hilarious or thought provoking or worth your time.
2 stars (out of 5)

Wild

I didn't read the book, but having recently seen another single woman trek in the wilderness film (Tracks), which I really liked, I was up for another adventure. Here Reese Witherspoon plays the woman who is using the Pacific Coast Trail as her personal therapy. She is walking from Mojave to Washington state to change her life after losing her mother and (apparently) making some poor life decisions. Unfortunately, the film is more focused on the backstory of the daughter/mother relationship than about the adventure travel. We get 1-2 minutes of walking followed by 5-6 minutes of flashback. We didn't really ever sink into the true physical enormity of making this walk, or the emotional strength needed to maintain forward momentum. It could have been so much better.
2 stars (out of 5)