Has anybody seen this movie? I want to see really badly but its not playing anywhere in my area.
Into the Wild the movie
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I saw it yesterday, and was just fixing to start a thread about it. I thought it was really well done. Some kind of kitschy effects in a couple of scenes but the acting was wonderful (even Vince Vaugn), the scenery was captivating, and the story, no matter how you react to it, will definitely get you talking. It was 2.45 long and it never seemed like it. I didn't even leave the theatre to pee.
Oh, the only annoying thing was that the entire soundtrack was done by eddie vedder, and he just bothers me.
Edited to say that the story was heavily romanticized as well but I found that part enjoyable.
Edited to say that the story was heavily romanticized as well but I found that part enjoyable.
I'm waiting to go see the movie before I make any comments. But as a preview, I've read the book a couple of times, lived in Fairbanks for four years, and I have hiked out to the bus that he died in. I'm really curious what angle they are going to take with the movie.
The movie left out most of the parts that made him look like an idiot. I think that the movie tried to tell the story from Chris' perspective of himself and his journey, not the perspective of his critics who view him as an ill prepared, unskilled kid.
Apparently the movie mis-represented his parents, or represented them in a way the book did not. I plan to get the book this week.
I am jealous that you lived in Fairbanks for four years. It looks amazing.
There was an article in Nat. Geo. Adventure that interview's Sean Penn (the director) and Jon Krakauer. Penn and Krakauer went back and did a lot more research for the screen play so there are some good reasons why the movie is slightly different than the book.
For example, a lot of the character research came from Chris' sister who really didn't have all that much nice to say about her parents. I wouldn't say that it misrepresents the parents. The final version of the movie was approved by Chris' parents and Chris' mother was the deciding factor as to whether or not the movie could be made.
Link: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/news/into-the-wild.html
Thank you for the link.
I didn't know anything about the movie until i just looked it up.. I'm gonna try and see it tonight...
There was a great article in Outside magazine about it, interview with Penn and the guy's parents, etc. Looks really good.
I guess that pearl jam song "alive" didn't make it in
You just pissed on the floor didn't you?
Or when driving to Florida to kill your stalkee's girlfriend?
It got bumped at the last minute for "Life Wasted" and "Comatose"I guess that pearl jam song "alive" didn't make it in
God that magazine is useless...
There was a great article in Outside magazine
It seems to have gotten much worse lately. I remember there being some good articles in it before, but all of the issues I've looked at in the last couple of years have been worthless.God that magazine is useless...
The book was more informative then the movie. Like Laura said they left everything out that made him seem foolish.. such as there was a way to pass over the river a mile down from where he attempted to cross.
some people see him as amazing and living the life he choose, and some think he is a complete idiot. The movie was very well done.
Sean Penn took aver 7 years to convince his parents to shoot the mopvie, so i am sure it had to be presented in a certain way
some people see him as amazing and living the life he choose, and some think he is a complete idiot. The movie was very well done.
Sean Penn took aver 7 years to convince his parents to shoot the mopvie, so i am sure it had to be presented in a certain way
I got a free subscription for some reason recently and I'm not even really tempted to open it when it arrives.
Sorry, I'll start reading Mountain Bike Action insteadGod that magazine is useless...
I'm sure that one is just as useless.Sorry, I'll start reading Mountain Bike Action instead
National Geographic is even getting pretty bad. It's about equal parts adverts and content. At least they haven't let the ads get *into* the content (yet)...
Fairbanks itself is kind of a hole in the ground, but it has an endearing quality. I didn't think I would miss it much, but now that we have been gone for a couple of years, we're talking about going back.
Living there for a few years definitely gave me a different opinion of what McCandless did, but I'll reserve comments until someone else opens that can of worms.
OK, I'll bite. What do you mean living there gave you a different opinion? You also said you hiked to the bus - how far of a hike is it? I imagine now that the movie is out more people will be doing that. I have been wanting to see it since I read the book.
I read the book in 1999 and was just captivated by the guys spirit and bravery. Glad the movie was finally done on his story. I just saw it tonight and really liked it.
Still trying to figure out why its not playing within 100 miles of me. I understand Richmond if far from the center of the cultured universe but come on
Finally got to see the movie. It was well worth the wait I thought.
I have read the book but have not seen the movie. I thought it was a very well done book and I enjoyed it. I may need to see the movie. I just think that a movie could not do what a book can do in presenting the thoughts that are not spoken, which made up a lot of the book. It sounds like good movie though.
I saw this last weekend. It was a little "out there" in some places, but overall, I thought it was great! It really gets you thinking about the relationships in your life, and how you connect with other people. At least that's what happened with me. It's also *really* emotional. I am so not a "cryer" at movies, but this one had me hitching in a couple spots. I would say it's definitely money well spent to go see this. I didn't read the book, so I don't know how the movie compares to the book, but books are almost always better than the movies made from them, so that's no surprise.
I just finished the book and I thought it was definitely comparable to the movie. Of course the movie was flashier and added some parts that the book didn't have for flair, but I thought a really good job was done of keeping the movie close to the book.
I read part of the book before I moved to Alaska. At the time I had only lived in Montana, and was going to school in Bozeman. I thought that he must have been very brave and just had some bad luck. I could only compare his experience to my own in Montana. In reality, living off the land in Montana and living off the land in Alaska is two different ballgames. Until I lived in Alaska, I thought I knew enough to survive on my own. Alaska gave me a huge wake-up. You cannot go off half-cocked into the wilderness up there and expect to survive. You will almost certainly die.
McCandless had brains, and he had guts. He managed to skin out an entire moose, and made a valiant attempt at smoking it, without much prior knowledge. That is not an easy task, even for someone who knows what they are doing. He correctly identified plants that he could eat, and had it not been for a small mistake, he probably would have walked out of the wilderness and we would have never heard about him. The fact is, two mistakes killed him, and they weren't big mistakes. But they were mistakes that anyone who had lived in Alaska longer than a year would have known not to make.
One, he assumed the river would not change. Spring run-off changes the landscape of every river, creek, and stream in Alaska. Not knowing the lay of the land or where the source of the river was prevented him from realizing that as the snow melted, the water would rise. A map could have changed that, but it wasn't required.
Two, he didn't correctly estimate how much he would need to eat to survive in the Alaska wilderness. In the southwest, where he had spent most of his time, water becomes the biggest concern, and you can go days without eating and still function. It doesn't work like that in Alaska. Water is everywhere, but food and shelter are your biggest concerns. One day without food exposed to the elements can kill you. Had he spent a winter in Alaska, even living in the city of Fairbanks, he would have hopefully picked up on this.
As for the hike to the bus, we made it about ten miles down the road in my Bronco before a flooded stream blocked us from going any further. We hiked 18 miles in from there to get to the bus. 18 miles out the next day. It was late October, there was ice on the river, and it sucked. But we did it. I don't know that you will see lots of people heading out to see that bus, unless they start doing helicopter tours. Unless you are prepared to fight the cold, there are few ways out there in the summer. I think a couple of tours take large 4WD's out there, but I'm not sure.
As for the movie, well, they did a good job recreating the bus. The hike that he took out there is a little off, but it makes for good scenes. I thought they did a good job with it, but I must say that I was pretty bored the whole time. I enjoyed the scenery, but it just made me wish I was out hiking or riding, and not sitting in a theater. If anything, watch the movie, then read the book. The book can fill in the gaps in the movie.
Here is the only decent pic I got out there. It was so cold and humid that my camera fogged up quite a bit. Well, that and I'm not much of a photographer...
Holy crap. What a load of Sean Penn...
The shower scene? I was laughing out loud frequently. I can only envision the conversations between Penn and Vedder in coming up for the music, too.
I'm glad I saw it, but it wasn't exactly fantastic.
It was interesting to see the book re-cast in a first-person sort of way, rather than as a third-person investigation. Penn clearly re-imagines McCandless as a visionary wandering hero, rather than the pompous little dramatist he clearly was.
I don't hate the kid, but the movie is waaay too kind to him.
The shower scene? I was laughing out loud frequently. I can only envision the conversations between Penn and Vedder in coming up for the music, too.
I'm glad I saw it, but it wasn't exactly fantastic.
It was interesting to see the book re-cast in a first-person sort of way, rather than as a third-person investigation. Penn clearly re-imagines McCandless as a visionary wandering hero, rather than the pompous little dramatist he clearly was.
I don't hate the kid, but the movie is waaay too kind to him.
I'm struggling to see how this shows he had any brains whatsoever. He marched into one of the most demanding natural environments on Earth, alone, and completely unprepared both materially and intellectually. He should have spent more time learning actual field skills and less time spouting coffeehouse-open-mike-night bull**** about the 'wild.' He'd been lucky one too many times previous...if he'd ever gotten the smackdown from nature that he deserved (you'd think the story starting with him parking his car in a ****ing wash in the desert would have learned him something), maybe he'd have had some humility, and that might have saved his ass when the chips were finally down.hooker_47 said:
He wasn't trying to know everything about what he was going out to do. His whole plan was to have an amazing adventure, which he did. Had he studied and prepared endlessly, it would have no longer been a "true" adventure.
The only difference with Chris Mccandless and the ones that "spout coffeehouse-open-mike-night bull****" is that he actually did what he ranted about.
"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."
Chris McCandless
And he's dead...so kudos to him. Great job.
I'll personally stick with not being a moron and living. Lots of people have adventures just as great as, or better than, his, and live through them.
The idea that a lack of preparation somehow makes for adventure is laughable. He was prideful and disdainful of the facts of life in the 'wild.' That's not the key to adventure. Hell, he thought Jack London was somehow an authority on adventure in the wild. London was a fatass wannabe...a writer, not a real adventurer.
I'll personally stick with not being a moron and living. Lots of people have adventures just as great as, or better than, his, and live through them.
The idea that a lack of preparation somehow makes for adventure is laughable. He was prideful and disdainful of the facts of life in the 'wild.' That's not the key to adventure. Hell, he thought Jack London was somehow an authority on adventure in the wild. London was a fatass wannabe...a writer, not a real adventurer.
The most fun things that I have done in my life are the ones that I was most ill prepared for.
two words.....
NATURAL
and
SELECTION.
NATURAL
and
SELECTION.
It's intelligent design, man. Get with it.
Such as?
He's a prankster that God fella. I wanna party with that dude.
McCandless was a spoiled rich kid with a chip on his shoulder because his family did not live up to his expectations. He took a chance and lost. Big deal. While I feel for his family, he got no less then he was looking for, and probably died wishing he wasnt such an a$$hat.
If he had lived, he would have a cable show on Discovery Channel now.
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
I left AK the summer he went there, and have often wondered if we crossed paths along the way.
If he had lived, he would have a cable show on Discovery Channel now.
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
I left AK the summer he went there, and have often wondered if we crossed paths along the way.
There's no rule saying you're not as stupid as McCandless...or as pompous. In fact, it's RM, so it's quite probable.
I f you want a success story about one man and the Alaskan Bush you need to check out this guy...
http://www.dickproenneke.com/DickProenneke.html
Been a big fan and follower of his since I was a kid....McCandless could have learned a lot from him.
http://www.dickproenneke.com/DickProenneke.html
Been a big fan and follower of his since I was a kid....McCandless could have learned a lot from him.