Alli and I went simple tonight – a couple movies from Blockbuster, some frozen pizza, sodas from Quik Trip. I was hoping to celebrate low cholesterol tonight, but we decided to take it easy. I picked up two movies on the way home, Dedication with Billy Crudup and Mandy Moore and Into the Wild with Emile Hirsch and a slew of other actors.
We started the evening with Dedication, a completely off-beat romance about Henry, a messed up children’s author (Crudup), and his new illustrator, Lucy (Moore). The two are forced to work together and dealing with Henry turns to be challenging because he’s…well…he’s crazy. To put it into perspective – when he gets anxious, he lays on the ground and puts heavy books on his chest to ground himself.
I really enjoyed it. It was really funny and well-acted. Billy Crudup is one of my favorites and he is absolutely terrific. It’s not a typical romantic comedy and was definitely worth the rental.
Into the Wild is a movie I’ve been wanting to see since it came out, but never got around to it. Wow. I was really blown away by it. It was so beautifully filmed, mostly due to the amazing scenery. The scenery is kind of the point. Emile Hirsch plays a restless college graduate looking to find himself by getting lost in the wild. Allen recommended this movie a while back (perhaps when it originally came out) and I’ve heard nothing but good things about it.
It’s a terrific story, particularly amazing since it’s based on a true one, captured in the book by Jon Krakauer. I think that the best advice of the move can be found about 2/3 of the way through it, “When you have a dream within reach, you just reach out and grab it.” Great advice. I’d recommend that movie for sure.
I saw Into the Wild and had mixed feelings about it. Especially after I read that the real story wasn’t as pretty.
It must be said that both films are not for everyone. I really liked the two movies but know that “Dedication” is a really “off” romantic-drama mixed up with some dry humor. And Into the Wild is a journey, don’t expect it to entertain you in a “popcorn blockbuster” way. I thought it was awesome, but I wouldn’t recommend it to all.
I enjoyed Into the Wild for it’s cinematic excellence, scenery and character development, but the story is tragic. I’ve not read the book, but his actions in the movie are those of a manic depressive person.
When I graduated high school, I had dreams of living off the land in Southern Oregon, but I would never have gone into the wild without a map. I believe he figured out too late that he really didn’t want to commit suicide.
The real message is what he wrote during his final days. “Happiness is not real unless it is shared”.
McCandless’s story is tragic, but then so many people have benefited from hearing it… a couple of years of hitchhiking led to his story challenging thousands (millions?) of people to reexamine their lives
actually i saw into the wild three times and i dont know what to say i cant explain ; it gives to me somethings amazing like hope …