For any of you who read John Krakauer's biography on Christopher McCandless, Into the Wild, or watched Sean Penn's moving film about his life, you know that McCandless was a restless and troubled kid who gave everything away after he graduated from Emory University and went to Alaska to rough it a bit and live out his nature fantasy. Sadly, he ended up dying of starvation in the abandoned bus he Read more

Since we now have an outline of the main characters for the rumored 90210 spinoff, my brain can't stop thinking about who might be cast in these roles. While these new characters have updated traits and hobbies (emo! YouTube!) they are, as some have pointed out, more or less the new versions of the original cast. While we all have our old favorites, I think it's really fun imagining the young Read more

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to the titles below, Awake, a thriller staring Hayden Christensen and Jessica Alba is out on DVD as well. Into the Wild There has been no shortage of buzz around this heartbreaking and visually Read more

Eddie Vedder's haunting and soulful tunes are laced throughout Sean Penn's drama Into the Wild, bringing a dimension and beauty to Christopher McCandless' journey in ways that dialogue or silent images probably could not have achieved alone. A video recently surfaced for one of Vedder's songs for the film, "Guaranteed," and to watch it is to be launched right back to the emotional experience of Read more

Nominations were announced today for the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the only major awards ceremony guaranteed to still happen now that the writers' strike is threatening the Golden Globes. Into the Wild dominated the film side with four nominations, followed by No Country for Old Men and Michael Clayton with three each. On the TV side, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty, and Mad Men were among the recognized Read more

Into the Wild wasn't indie enough for the Independent Spirit Awards, but that didn't stop the Gotham Awards from recognizing the film. Wild, which had too big a budget to be considered for the Independent Spirits, took home the award for best feature at Tuesday's Gotham Award ceremony, which recognized achievement in independent film. Michael Moore's documentary Sicko took home the award for Read more

Today's holiday gift guide features gift ideas for the boys in your family with whom you had to share a bathroom growing up. The complete series of Arrested Development on DVD will most likely delight your brother while also providing you guys with something to laugh at together if you find that the holiday togetherness is getting to be a bit much. I really like the Bourne movies, but the guys I Read more

Though he lost his Malibu trailer home over the weekend, it didn't seem to be any skin off Sean Penn's back as he premiered Into the Wild at the Rome Film Festival last night. Penn, the film's director, and his star Emile Hirsch went casual for the photocall and dressed like twins for the red carpet premiere. Seems kinda like a father/son relationship with these two, right? After excusing his Read more

For the most part, any faults I found with Into the Wild, Sean Penn's upcoming film adaptation of Jon Krakauer's bestselling book, didn't have to do with Emile Hirsch's performance in the lead role, which I found to be rather arresting. It was a difficult role and — as I learned straight from Hirsch himself — it was often very physically demanding. Yet for Hirsch, with Penn's guidance (er, Read more