More Taking Temporary Residence In The Woods

I'm not planning on making missing Thursdays a thing, but again, things have been a little crazy this week. Anyway, a movie! A Walk in the Woods is based on a Bill Bryson book of the same name, about him trying to walk the Appalachian Trail with an old friend he'd lost contact with over the years. Robert Redford plays Bryson, Nick Nolte plays his friend Katz.

It's not bad. There's some pretty funny parts, mostly revolving around how unprepared these two, especially Katz, are for hiking 2000 miles. Katz is definitely not in proper condition for it, but he also pretty much takes any opportunity presented to him along the way, so he's fun to watch get himself into trouble. As for Bryson, he seems extremely awkward around people, but maybe it's just the kind of people you'd run into on that trail. They'll all seem to be serious outdoorsy types, very into what kind of tent is best or whatever, and Bryson doesn't give a shit. He just bought a damn tent because they told him he needed a tent. So some

My dad found it ludicrous that with all the overpriced crap the camping store guy sold Bryson, he didn't encourage him to bring a knife or a multi-tool or something. I was surprised he didn't bring a satellite phone, if he wanted to keep in touch with his wife so badly. Of course, either one of those things might have proved useful during the point when the two tumble down a cliff face like a couple of dopes, so maybe that's why.

There's is the obligatory scene where Bryson and Katz have a serious falling out about whether to proceed, and it looks as though that may be it for them, but Katz gives in almost immediately, which was surprising. In fiction you kind of expect the characters to stay mad at each other until some dramatically convenient moment. But this is supposed to be based on real events, and so it doesn't work like that. I'm still not sure exactly what Bryson did it for, it felt like there were a lot of half-formed reasons, or my attention was divided (watching a movie with my dad means you're pretty much in a full-scale conversation at the same time).

I felt like a lot of the close-up shots on the two were done in front of a green-screen, though? Like someone took shots of places on the Trail and put them in the background? There are definitely some shots that had to be done on location, but others, I don't know. That was a disappointing thought, somehow.