Absolutely loved it

Rating: 9/10 (25 March 2008)

To start off i'm a huge fan of Sean Penn's films. Indian Runner and Crossing Guard affected me like no other film ever has. They had me in tears for reasons i still don't understand. I remember crying for an hour after all the credits had finished from Indian Runner. Both films will have a place in my heart and mind forever. When i heard about Into the Wild i was very excited. I'm not always crazy about true stories however, even if there well made they usually don't impress me as much as original fiction. Therefore, I had high expectations going into this movie but low at the same time. I wasn't sure how Penn would handle nonfiction and really didn't want to be disappointed. Well i wasn't at all, in fact i was delighted and impressed. I thought that it was a beautiful movie, well acted, well directed, well shot, just really well put together. I loved the fact that even know many of the characters weren't in the movie for more than twenty minutes or so they were still so memorable and likable. Catherine Keener is never a disappointment for me and continued to give a great performance. I also kept hearing before i saw it that Hal Holbrook was nominated for an academy award and that he gave such a great performance and as i was watching the movie i almost thought it was a mistake because i was more than an hour and a half into it and still hadn't even seen him. When he did finally show up, he blew me away. He was a great character, immediately had that loving grandfather effect, and all i wanted to do during that last scene when hes dropping Emile Hirsch off is give him a big hug and tell him that i'd be the happiest girl in the world if he adopted me. This goes to show that although he was only on screen for about twenty minutes he was wonderful. Like Indian Runner and Crossing Guard, Into the WIld left me in deep thought and an overflow of tears. I really enjoyed this movie and recommend it to anyone looking for a good flick.