Here we have an interesting 2007 film for those of you who are adventure-seekers. Written and directed by Sean Penn, the story is based on the 1996 non-fiction book of the same name, written itself by Jon Krakauer. As far as the story itself, it's a biographical depiction of the two years Christoper McCandless (Emile Hirsch) spent traveling. Headed northbound to Alaska, Chris changes his identity to "Alexander Supertramp", and meets several interesting people along his journey. His reasoning is simply to get away from everything society calls "living", and to get back to the nitty gritty of a life consisting of himself, nature, and nothing much more. Meanwhile, his parents, Walt and Billie (William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden) struggle through the pressures of having a missing son. This is along with his sister, Carine (Jena Malone), who co-narrates (along with Chris) and has always expected Chris to do something like this some day. Some of the additional cast includes the likes of Catherine Keener and Brian H. Dierker as a couple of hippies; Vince Vaughn as the runner of a harvesting company; Kristen Stewart as an unsure of herself teenage folk singer; and Hal Holbrook as a lovable and caring old man, more than willing to help Chris out. As I mentioned at the beginning, this one's for those real adventure-seekers. It's a great film either way, but it will speak to survivalists and the like a bit more. I don't know for certain, but it seems like some of the survival techniques this guy attempts seem more realistic than most movies would attempt. It seems quite grounded in the story that it's based on. That said, there's also something here for the artsy, as it IS a bit of an artsy film. This Chris guy wasn't just an adventurous type, he was also well-educated and really quite poetic by the looks of it. Throughout the film, he paints a great picture with his words about the wilderness, survival, the fear that comes with it, and just his emotions. So be fairly warned that it is a deep and poetic film. But there is something about it that pulls you in. This title came to mind after checking out 'A Walk in the Woods'. The thought process basically being that I wanted to share with you what I assume to be a truly wonderful man-embracing-nature film. Indeed, perhaps my favorite of it's kind.
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It's often said that there are no good movies out there that illustrate the life of a high-school student anymore. There are a few exceptions, but they generally turn out to be comedies. 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' manages to stand out among the crowd, as it's much more in the realm of a high school drama. It manages to cover just about all the bases of that good old high school angst. It seems the kind of movie where no matter who you are, there's probably a character or two here that you can relate with quite well. The film is about a freshman named Charlie (Logan Lerman), coming into the unknown realm of high school. He's clearly nervous about things, and you immediately understand that he has a sort of anxiety issue going on. For the time being, however, he isn't in bad shape. He's just trying to fit in, and having trouble. One day, he meets two seemingly awesome people; a step brother and sister pair named Patrick (Ezra Miller) and Sam (Emma Watson) respectively. Despite the fact that they are seniors, they take Charlie under their wing and welcome him into their circle of friends. The main focus of the story is Charlie and the eyes he has for Sam, painting a pretty damn realistic picture of how much it sucks to be hung up on your high school crush. However, both Sam and Patrick have their side stories, and their characters are just as important. Sam has a history of "sleeping around", but she's trying very hard to pry herself away from all of that and succeed at school. Meanwhile, Patrick plays the somewhat formulaic gay guy (see 'Mean Girls' and 'Easy A' for further examples), but I'm very happy to see that he has more of a story to him as well. He has to deal with having to hide his sexuality from his partner's father, when in actuality he's pretty much out, loud and proud. By the way, don't get me wrong by calling it "somewhat formulaic" and making that sound like a harsh criticism. Some formulas are good! These characters helped make those examples I mentioned work and turn out to be good movies as well. Anyway, as the movie unfolds, you are taken along with the characters throughout all of their highs and lows, especially Charlie. The film does a good job with allowing that time to get to know and care about the people involved. All three of the leads will tug at those heartstrings in some way. Beyond the likable cast, the movie carries an interesting atmosphere with it. In a certain way, it made me more nostalgic about high school days than most other titles having to do with those years. I found in a big way I could identify with Charlie and all that he has to go through here. I won't spoil anything, but I will say that my favorite moment in the movie was the ending. Something very real is narrated, and it just closes things off with an interesting anecdote. A fair warning for some of the audience though, the... I guess climactic scene of the movie might have a few "trigger warnings" to it. I wouldn't imagine it's unwatchable, as it's kinda hard to understand what exactly happens, but I feel it my responsibility to throw that out there. For me, on a personal level, this is likely the best high school drama that has come out within the last decade or so. Not that there's a whole lot to choose from, to be fair. But if you feel so inclined for a heart-felt high school romance story that isn't so lovey-dovey, this is a great title! |
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