liveonearth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
liveonearth) wrote2008-03-21 10:45 pm
liveonearth) wrote2008-03-21 10:45 pm
Movies: No Country for Old Men and Into the Wild
We had already heard about No Country. Sam walked out in the first 15 minutes. Everyone else who told us about it said it was kind of a bummer, especially the ending. But we decided to check it out anyway because it won so many Oscars.
I managed to sit through about the first 30 minutes. The violence and suspense were continuous. I am too susceptible to emotional manipulation to sit through movies like that. I react as if that sicko was coming after me with his oxygen tank, even though my mind knows it is just a movie. I know better than to subject my system to such stress for the sake of "entertainment" so we walked out. We were headed for home but then no one was in the lobby so we walked into the other movie and sat down. Turns out we came in during chapter 2 of 6, so we caught most of Into the Wild.
I have read the Krakauer book and found as usual that the movie differed. The book is an excellent read, as are each of Krakauer's books that I have picked up. There were wonderful quotable quotes at the beginning of each chapter. But in spite of filling in the blanks around the few facts that are known about Chris McCandless' story, the movie captured the same spirit in a young man that the book did.
One fiction that I think was added to the movie version was that "Alexander Supertramp" supposedly jumped in a kayak and paddled through the Grand Canyon and on down to Mexico. They showed a minute or two of someone running some pretty big water in a recreational kayak. No way was that person in the boat a first timer. And no way did Chris McCandless do what they suggested.
There were a few times when things didn't really fit together in the movie and it was a little jarring. Several times the protagonist was very cleanly shaved when it seemed totally unbelievable that he would look so clean. I did like the death scene at the end. Well done.
The biggest surprise in the movie came when I recognized Brian Dierker of Flagstaff. I thought it was him the first time I saw him, then it was confirmed. He was playing a hippie dude who lived in a camper in the desert and sold books. Sean Penn was the director of the movie, and I knew that Dierker was on the GC river trip that Penn was on last summer....so it made sense. Then there was a glimpse of Dierker in the sweaty act--of sex. There was something suspiciously real about that clip, short as it was. There was no reason for it to be in the movie other than Penn et al must have had the footage and wanted to use it.
I managed to sit through about the first 30 minutes. The violence and suspense were continuous. I am too susceptible to emotional manipulation to sit through movies like that. I react as if that sicko was coming after me with his oxygen tank, even though my mind knows it is just a movie. I know better than to subject my system to such stress for the sake of "entertainment" so we walked out. We were headed for home but then no one was in the lobby so we walked into the other movie and sat down. Turns out we came in during chapter 2 of 6, so we caught most of Into the Wild.
I have read the Krakauer book and found as usual that the movie differed. The book is an excellent read, as are each of Krakauer's books that I have picked up. There were wonderful quotable quotes at the beginning of each chapter. But in spite of filling in the blanks around the few facts that are known about Chris McCandless' story, the movie captured the same spirit in a young man that the book did.
One fiction that I think was added to the movie version was that "Alexander Supertramp" supposedly jumped in a kayak and paddled through the Grand Canyon and on down to Mexico. They showed a minute or two of someone running some pretty big water in a recreational kayak. No way was that person in the boat a first timer. And no way did Chris McCandless do what they suggested.
There were a few times when things didn't really fit together in the movie and it was a little jarring. Several times the protagonist was very cleanly shaved when it seemed totally unbelievable that he would look so clean. I did like the death scene at the end. Well done.
The biggest surprise in the movie came when I recognized Brian Dierker of Flagstaff. I thought it was him the first time I saw him, then it was confirmed. He was playing a hippie dude who lived in a camper in the desert and sold books. Sean Penn was the director of the movie, and I knew that Dierker was on the GC river trip that Penn was on last summer....so it made sense. Then there was a glimpse of Dierker in the sweaty act--of sex. There was something suspiciously real about that clip, short as it was. There was no reason for it to be in the movie other than Penn et al must have had the footage and wanted to use it.