Year:
2000
Studio:
DreamWorks SKG/Columbia Pictures
Movie:
3/5
DVD:
3/5
This is one of Dave's favorite films. First time I watched it, it
didn't do anything for me. But much like Clerks, this is a film that on a
second viewing in ok. It takes place in the 1970's and follows the
coming of age story of 15 year-old fledging journalist William Miller
(Patrick Fugit) as he follows the rock band Stillwater on their tour.
Almost Famous is
the deeply personal story of writer/director Cameron Crowe. It's his
life experiences, fictionalized a little, and reflects his love of
music. William is a bright young man who gets his first big chance to
write for "Rolling Stone Magazine". His subject is Stillwater, an
almost famous band that he befriended while trying to get backstage at
a concert to interview Black Sabbath.
William is an impressionable young teen, earnest and nice, who gets
caught up in this rock and roll world. He meets Penny Lane (Kate
Hudson) and the rest of the Bandmates, which are like Groupies but put
out less. William falls in love with Penny, who loves Stillwater
guitarist Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup). William gets to see the rowdy
and crazy side of a rock and roll band and he becomes friends with
these people. But in the end William still has to write his story.
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Personally, I
think it's a nice film. But it doesn't speak to me. I didn't live the
70's in the US and I would have been too young then. The music to me is
old and stagnant. For the most part 70's music sucks which means that
the musical scores don't make me feel anything. And although I'm sure
it's a great movie (it did almost win an Academy Awatd), deep down
inside it's just not that good a movie to me.
The DVD has a 24-minute behind the scenes featurette which is fairly
good because Cameron Crowe gets to talk about what this movie means to
him. There is a music video, "Fever", with the fictional-band
Stillwater. Also included are production notes, actor bios (I didn't
realize that the mom was the detective in Fargo), and filmmaker bios.
Interestingly, there are eight of Crowe's Rolling Stones articles, from
1973 to 1979. The artiels are on The Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin,
Neil Young, Peter Frampton, Fleetwood Mac, Van Morrison, and Joni
Mitchell. Each article has an introduction by Crowe. Although I didn't
read much of it, Crowe's writing is really quite good and I can see why
Rolling Stone hired the young man.
What I liked: it's a nice, personal story.
What I didn't like: the time period is not interesting to me.
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