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(1 - 41) of 41 OFCS Rating: 78% Fresh Page   1   4.5/5 " Laced with amazing visual stunts, standout performances, and a perspective of our nation that's nearly incomprehensible, we wind up tramping right along with our wide-eyed hero."   PopMatters   Bill Gibron B+ "Into the Wild is a literal free spirit of a motion picture, but it also remains a poignant, tragic, and unforgettable tale of misplaced human desire."   eFilmCritic.com   Brian Orndorf 3.5/5 "astute and brisk though not always as concise as one would hope"   Filmcritic.com   Chris Cabin B+ "For a story so fraught with potential landmines, Sean Penn, the screenwriter, bridges delicate narrative constraints to fulfill expectations of audiences familiar with Krakauer's book."   ColeSmithey.com   Cole Smithey "After the deeply internalized sorrow, longing, and rage examined in Penn's earlier movies, Into the Wild finds another way to explore identity and damage, and to make them immediate and more abstract."   PopMatters   Cynthia Fuchs B "Does capture the true spirit of the adventure."   Ozus' World Movie Reviews   Dennis Schwartz "What can ever be known of the real Chris McCandless is well served on-screen in 'Into the Wild.'"   ReelTalk Movie Reviews   Donald J. Levit 3.5/4 "A heartrending slice of Americana both inspiring and foreboding in its view of a world that will exist long after we are all gone."   TheMovieBoy.com   Dustin Putman B "Surprisingly emotional and unguarded, with a central performance that could be one of the year's best."   EricDSnider.com   Eric D. Snider A "The reason it's so troubling, even disturbing, is that notwithstanding the protagonist's profound goodness, the film insists on consequences for his narcissism, his naivete, his -- yes -- stupidity."   Film Blather   Eugene Novikov 3/4 "While it does lag in some areas, it's truly an entertaining, utterly fascinating, and fantastic epic..."   Cinema Crazed   Felix Vasquez Jr. C+ "A visually stunning modern-day epic in which the protagonist, unfortunately, remains a blur."   One Guy's Opinion   Frank Swietek 5/5 "The engrossing true-life drama of an idealistic young man who yearns to live alone in the Alaskan wilderness and to reap the soulful benefits of solitude in the spirit of Thoreau."   Spirituality and Practice   Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat C "Contrary to the lessons we learned in Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man, large bears will not always eat irritating hippie man-children. Damn shame."   Modern Fabulousity   Gabriel Shanks D+ "American filmmaking at its laziest and most astoundingly pretentious...Sean Penn directs with the maturity of a thirteen year old who's just discovered The Catcher in the Rye..."   Cinepinion   Henry Stewart 3.5/4 "By the end of the movie, I don't know that I liked Chris, but I understood him and sympathized with him, and sometimes that's more important."   ReelViews   James Berardinelli 2/4 "... As the credits roll at the close of Into the Wild, you don't feel like you've celebrated a life spent on the road less traveled; you feel like you've just witnessed a slow-motion suicide."   Cinematical   James Rocchi 4/4 "Sean Penn steps behind the camera to craft one of the most powerful films of the year."   Palo Alto Weekly   Jeanne Aufmuth 8/10 "The ultimate destination creates the opportunity for Penn to draw up a summation for his protagonist's journey, and it's a moral that should satisfy those viewers looking for meaning and order."   Window to the Movies   Jeffrey Chen "As most films directed by actors, the performances here are very strong."   Planet Sick-Boy   Jon Popick 3/4 "What is evident by the film's conclusion is that our sincere and honest relationships with fellow men and women is what makes us human and great; not at all our connection to nature"   Bangitout.com   Jordan Hiller 4.5/5 "Chris' relationship with the machine of expectations and responsibilities is tried by Keener and Holbrook in particular, but he sticks to his guns and leaves a wake of bittersweet gaps behind him.""   Cinerina   Karina Montgomery A- "Penn's maturation as a filmmaker is stunningly complete. Into the Wild is a riveting, spiritual revelation - one young man's journey to find himself that ends in folly unmourned."   Reeling Reviews   Laura Clifford "[T]he extraordinary Emile Hirsch [is] like Leonardo DiCaprio 10 years ago, all coiled intensity and wrapped-up irony..."   Flick Filosopher   MaryAnn Johanson 3/4 "Has a profound cumulative effect by the end--a testament not only to Penn's control and understanding of the material, but the terrific lead turn by Hirsch."   Mr. Brown's Movies   Michael Dequina 4/4 "This is a great, great film."   Aisle Seat   Mike McGranaghan A- "Penn's sensitive screenplay and Hirsch's engaging performance show us McCandless's ability to connect to the subtlest signals from the widest range of people and to the grandest scope of nature."   Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies   Nell Minow 2/4 "Romanticization takes precedence over analysis in Into the Wild, Sean Penn's exasperating adaptation of John Krakauer's nonfiction bestseller."   Slant Magazine   Nick Schager 5/5 "Encaixa-se perfeitamente na filmografia de Sean Penn, que, como diretor, parece se especializar em histórias tristes e desesperançosas que buscam investigar a natureza humana através do que ela tem de mais angustiante."   Cinema em Cena   Pablo Villaca 4.5/5 "Into the Wild didn't make me want to eke out a living in an abandoned bus, but it did make me yearn - just a little bit - for my younger, less cynical days"   Film Threat   Pete Vonder Haar 4/5 "The self-reflection is powerfully honest, and the landscapes are genuinely spectacular."   Shadows on the Wall   Rich Cline B "Movie's strong suits are great acting and great location photography, not its structure or its self-destructive central character."   Laramie Movie Scope   Robert Roten 6/10 "A near miss by director/screenwriter Penn when he mistakes a self-absorbed college student for a hero of the counter culture"   Monsters and Critics   Ron Wilkinson "A wholly and unexpectedly decent enterprise."   Not Coming to a Theater Near You   Rumsey Taylor "Into the Wild is a film to meditate on. It's long, it's not particularly fast moving but it struck me in a carnal fashion."   Movie Views   Ryan Cracknell "Penn throws you headlong into the romance of his journey and the buzzing thrill of his quest..."   Seattle Post-Intelligencer   Sean Axmaker 3.5/4 "Poetic, resourceful, sparse and marginally pretentious."   Charlotte Weekly   Sean O'Connell "If nature -- if life -- is as wild and precious as the movie makes it out to be, Hirsch needs to give us something, someone, to watch on-screen. We need to feel a presence before we can take the measure of an absence."   Salon.com   Stephanie Zacharek 5/10 "What's bizarre is how Penn idealizes and never questions this self-destructive, totally egocentric, romanticized adventurer."   www.susangranger.com   Susan Granger 5/10 "I am overwhelmed by the intensity of theme, and underwhelmed by the sophomoric content thereof, and so I end up in the middle, sort of whelm-neutral."   Antagony & Ecstasy   Tim Brayton 3.5/4 "The only Truth is that the quest to reclaim the best of what we were disillusions us. . . before it kills us."   Film Freak Central   Walter Chaw  (1 - 41) of 41 OFCS Rating: 78% Fresh Page   1