Into the Wild

The review I have up at Pajiba today is for a movie that I very highly recommend:

(Sean) Penn is widely regarded as one of our very best acting talents, but based on his previous work behind the camera — particularly in The Crossing Guard — his directorial style could best be described as lugubrious to the point of inert. Given the austere, ultimately tragic facts of Into the Wild, there was every reason to fear that his rendition would consist of one three-hour tracking shot of a stand of frozen pine trees set to Mozart's Requiem on a loop. Instead, the finished product represents a forceful step forward for him.