Into the Wild (2007) - Penn and Co. triumph with true-story, American odyssey

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+ Best Movie of the Year
+ Best American Movie of the Year + Best Adventure Movie of the Year + Best Youth Movie of the Year + Best Road Movie of the Year

Emile Hirsch sits on the roof of an abandoned bus in Alaska and ponders existence on this serene poster for Sean Penn's Into the Wild

Into the Wild is the true story of Christopher McCandless, who as a young man in May 1990 breaks radically with his parents' suburban life and cuts himself off from everything and every one he knows to go on an American adventure as a 'Alexander Supertramp.'

Into the Wild is the 4th feature written and directed by Californian master filmmaker Sean Penn (The Crossing Guard (1995)), based on the same-titled 1996 nonfiction book of McCandless' life and journey by Jon Krakauer (Into Thin Air (1997)).
Rarely does a film touch people the way that Into the Wild does, and certainly does touch me when I watch it. It gets to you like a sharp, pointed arrow with a vivacity, a fullness of life, a formidable drive and a devastating but also enormously beautiful end. This film is an absolute masterpiece.
Emile Hirsch (Killer Joe (2011)) is a star and a generational hero for his towering performance here, and his scenes with Hal Holbrook (Innocent Victims (1996, TV movie)) are among the most moving that I can recollect ever having seen in a motion picture.
The music in the film, made up of monumental, howling, acoustic and beautiful songs by Eddie Vedder (The Namesake (2006), song) and a strong score by Michael Brook (The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)) and Kaki King (How I Got Lost (2009)), is forceful, as is the exceptional cinematography by Eric Gautier (Clean (2004)). Into the Wild is a visual cornucopia of the majestic sights in America's Godly nature.
As a film about a young radical idealist and explorer, Into the Wild is out of this world, and with the release of this masterpiece and his outstanding performance in Gus Van Sant's masterpiece Milk (2008), Penn touched a height in movies that is only afforded very few certified greats.

Related posts:

Sean Penn:  Gangster Squad (2013) or, Good Men vs. Bad Men! (actor)
This Must Be the Place (2011) - Sorrentino's Nazi-hunting stoner cracker (actor)
The Tree of Life (2011) or, Mother, Father, Sharks, Dinosaurs, My Brothers, Sunflowers, the Desert, the Wind and Me (actor)
Fair Game (2010) or, The Intelligence War (actor)
2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
21 Grams (2003) or, Hardcore Life (actor)
The Pledge (2001) - Maddening, realistic, unpleasant child-killer story (director)
The Crossing Guard (1995) - Penn's great, downbeat Jack Nicholson-starring drama thriller (writer/co-producer/director)
Carlito's Way (1993) - De Palma's best gangster movie (actor)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Estimated 15 mil. $
Box office: 56.2 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 3.74 times the cost)
[Into the Wild premiered 1 September (Telluride Film Festival, Colorado, USA) and runs 148 minutes. Shooting took place in Washington, including Seattle,  Oregon, including Portland, Arizona, Alaska, South Dakota, California, Atlanta, Georgia, Nevada and in Mexico from April - November 2006. SPOILER The final bus section of the film was shot in Alaska about 50 miles (80 km) from the actual site, using a replica of the real bus. The film opened #33 to a 212k $ first weekend in 4 theaters, a huge 53k $ cinema average, and widened to peak at #14 and in 660 cinemas in North America, where it grossed 18.3 mil. $ (32.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 13.5 mil. $ (24 %) and Italy with 8 mil. $ (14.2 %). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Supporting Actor (Holbrook), lost to Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men, and Best Editing, lost to The Bourne Ultimatum. The film won 1/2 Golden Globe nominations, an AFI award, was nominated for a César award and a David di Donatello award, a Grammy, won two National Board of Review awards and many other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, equal to its rating here. It is currently #181 on IMDb's user-generated Top 250 list, sitting between Wild Tales (2014) and Life of Brian (1979). Penn as filmmaker returned with the ridiculed The Last Face (2016). Hirsch returned in Speed Racer (2008). Into the Wild is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Into the Wild?

The Eye (2008) - French talents Moreau/Palud fail in Hollywood with Asian horror remake

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There's something seriously amiss with an eye. On the poster for David Moreau and Xavier Palud's The Eye

A blind, extremely pretty violinist finally gets a chance to have a cornea transplant operation. But problems arise with her newfound sight ... - Ghost kind of problems!

The Eye starts out alright, because its premise, - a person who experiences a corrosion of her reality, - is highly creepy and frightening. Unfortunately the promising ingredients are later wasted:
A barrage of unsuccessful shock moments, flash editing and a climax that doesn't fulfill the premise's scare are among The Eye's chief problems. It also struggles with a protagonist in Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four (2005)), who plays blind and later sight-impaired very convincingly, but who also goes through an awkward romance with her eye specialist here, just as parts of the film's dialog and plot points feel dubious and awkward.
SPOILER The Eye closes down with a final point about Alba's not requiring eyes to see, (her own old useless eyes have apparently at this point been operated back into her eye sockets), - which is just plain silly.
The Eye is written by Sebastian Gutierrez (Gothika (2003)), based on the same-titled 2002 Hong-Kong/Singaporean film by the Pang brothers, and directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud (Them/Ils (2006), both).

Related posts:

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  

2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess

Jessica Alba gives an interview about the film here

Cost: 12 mil. $
Box office: 56.9 mil. $
= Big hit
[The Eye premiered 31 January (Hollywood) and runs 98 minutes. The Asian film had already been remade once, in India as Naina (2005). Shooting took place in New Mexico, Los Angeles, California and in Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada from February 2007 - ?. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour, to a 12.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#4) and grossed a solid 31.4 mil. $ (55.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 3.6 mil. $ (6.3 %) and Spain with 2.8 mil. $ (4.9 %). Moreau has stated dissatisfaction with the finished film and alleged that he was barred from its editing. He returned after a five year break with It Boy (2013), while Palud returned with an episode of XIII: The Series (2011) and theatrically with Blind Man (2012). The Eye is rotten at 22 % with a 4.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Eye?