Zane Umsted (zumsted07)

Some major cheeseball action going on in the midst of the normal action. PREDATOR is such a manly masculine fest that it allows for some good laughs. Two guys slap hands, then engage in an impromptu muscle flexing arm wrestle. One guy shoots blindly into the rain forest, then is joined by three more guys who follow his lead by also shooting blindly into the rain forest. There's a lot of cool stuff like that and I liked it. Great, quality cinema? No. Still awesome? YES!!

It's kind of like candy-coated torture with a cool soundtrack. We know Tom will be spurned, his heart will be broken, even while he is dancing with animated birds and winking at his Han Solo reflection. When we see it in progress, slowly (perhaps too slowly) but surely, it's the juxtaposition between the highest of highs and the lowest of lows that make it excruciating. But, as if to give respite to the audience, we at least have some creative split-screen action. And that damn cool soundtrack.

My favorite movie ever! I had been looking forward to this movie for a long time before watching it in hopes that it would really speak to my desire for adventure. Not only did it deliver in that regard, in a way that I never could've imagined, but it also gave me a new outlook on life. Christopher McCandless, alias "Alexander Supertramp," embarks on his adventure to escape what he feels are trappings of human society: materialism, status, greedy priorities, and the generic cookie-cutter structure of life. The movie portrays Alexander Supertramp at once as a pioneer and as a naive headstrong young man, and Emile Hirsch is pitch perfect in playing the complex role. As Alex begins to starve once reaching "the wild" of Alaska, you see the extent of Hirsch's transformation into the role to a point where he could be referred to as "Chrisian Bale Version 2.0" in terms of his extreme weightloss. Hirsch is not the only noteworthy performance, however. All of the supporting turns, including Catherine Keener, Hal Holbrook, and Vince Vaughn, are also emotionally engaging and give further depth to the movie. It is also worth noting that the soundtrack by Eddie Vedder is phenomenal, both in the movie and in its own regards. Into the Wild is, in my opinion, the ultimate counter-culture film despite it being released in the wrong decade and is the best, deepest, most thought-provoking film that I have ever seen.

My favorite movie ever. A flawless comic book to film translation.