I had a pass to see this, so I caught it last night. This movie is about the true story of Christopher McCandless ("Alexander Supertramp"), who pretty much threw away a road paved for him that was certain to bring him prosperity in order to find himself and explore the wilderness. While what he did was irresponsible and was the end of him, you have to admire the fact that the guy lived more and saw more in two years than a lot of people see in their lifetime.

I thought Emile Hirsch will likely get some nominations come awards season. While the movie was maybe a half hour too long, I think it's a story that needed to be told and was gripping, poignant and ultimately heartbreaking. There were a lot of great supporting actors in it, like Catherine Keener, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt and Hal Holbrook. Even Vince Vaughn was decent in his part, proving that the guy can still play a decent serious role even if all he gets are comic parts these days.

Sad thing about this story is that had McCandless been able to pull through two more weeks (he was stranded by himself for 112 days in Alaska), he would've been rescued. I wonder how long it took Hirsch to lose all the weight because he really did look like he was dying at the end. He was good enough in this to make you forget Alpha Dog.

since it's a true story, I don't think "spoilers" apply, since it was a guy's life, not a movie script someone created.

Did you catch the Oprah episode where Sean Penn appeared with the actor from this movie? They also had the real-life guy's family on the show.

What caused his death was malnutrition. However, it doesn't mean he wasn't eating. He apparently ate the wrong kind of berries and those berries once inside his system, didn't allow anything he ate to be digested properly, therefore, he wasn't getting the nutrients into his bloodstream. Thus, the malnutrition killed him.

This story seems incredible. Sounds like good reading too.

As a huge fan of Catherine Keener, I hope to be able to see it this weekend. The rest of the cast is amazing, too. I also love Marcia Gay Harden, Jena Malone and Kristen Stewart, and I thought Emile had a ton of potential since seeing him in The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys. I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Now that I've seen it, I must say that I absolutely LOVED it. If Emile doesn't at least get an Oscar nomination, he will have been robbed. I was way into the movie that I didn't really notice it being too long. I agree, the supporting cast was excellent. This is probably my favorite film of the year so far, and I definitely recommend it.

Now that I've seen it, I must say that I absolutely LOVED it. If Emile doesn't at least get an Oscar nomination, he will have been robbed. I was way into the movie that I didn't really notice it being too long. I agree, the supporting cast was excellent. This is probably my favorite film of the year so far, and I definitely recommend it.
I've read that Oscar buzz is already starting for Emile. The transformation he goes through near the end needs to be seen, you can't describe it. He lost 45 lbs for the final scenes of the movie and he completely makes you believe he really is sick and dying himself. He became the character through the whole movie and he was brilliant. Funny how totally about-face this movie was compared to his last film, Alpha Dog. In Alpha Dog, he played one of the sickest villians in movie history, a character with absolutely no moral redemption and a terrible person (like Into The Wild, Alpha Dog was a true story where Emile masterminded a kidnap and murder), yet here he completely won the audience over even if they thought what he did was irresponsible and stupid.