Into Thin Air: Death on Everest

This clunky adaptation of Jon Krakauer's best-seller — about the disastrous 1996 Mount Everest trek that took the lives of eight other climbers — barely brings to life what should've been a whopping story. Except for the author himself (Christopher McDonald), we never get to know the ill-fated climbers behind the hoods and goggles. And when a sudden storm blows in, it's hard to tell who survives, much less care. Some striking cinematography in Into Thin Air: Death on Everest captures the terrible beauty of towering peaks — still, the experience is sort of like watching an IMAX film on video. Read the book instead. C-