Rating: 
Summary: WOW - how incredibly mediocre
Review: This movie was obviously put out in a year of some pretty weak movies. The fact that this movie was actually nominated for awards is beyond explanation. Let's talk about Kate Hudson (you know she is Goldie Hawn's daughter - make me puke). I cannot believe she was nominated for an award - for what? She is an empty suit. I've seen better acting from the Olsen twins. I guess it is good to be related to the right people. This movie has one interesting angle, the start of a journalist's career. Other than that, I think everybody should face the fact that this movie was supposed to be a view of the "wild and decadent 70's" and was nothing more than a poorly acted (Kate Hudson, Jason Lee) hollywood production - nothing decadent about it. The Soundtrack - big deal - listen to any classical rock station for more than an hour and I guarantee you will hear the entire soundtrack - nothing special.
Rating: 
Summary: A lot better than expected!
Review: I guess, like many people, I was unsure about watching a movie about music and set in the 70's. I am too young to know anything about the 70's, and as the film mostly deals with teenagers, it would appear that it has no market. Don't let that fool you, as this is one of the best movies of the year!
It features star performances from Fugit as the young reporter and from McDormand as his mother. It's also nice to see Fairuza Balk, such a greatly underrated actress. The only remotely bad thing I could say about this movie is that Kate Hudson is not nearly as good as I had expected her to be. She was still very good, just not as superb as I had been led to believe.
Basically, although 'Almost Famous' deals with teens, it is far from your typical teen movie. It raises questions of freedom and restriction alongside the failure of modern music to truly inspire any of us anymore (or that was the message I got anyway). As William the young reporter leaves his home in hope of freedom, friendship and rock and roll, he slowly realises that this very world he's looking is being destroyed by the people he admires, attempting to overglorify themselves though... reporters. In short, he's never truly "free", restricted by his own emotions for the beautiful Penny Lane.
This is a gorgeous film and one that everyone should see.
Rating:
Summary: Best Feel Good Film you Could Buy
Review: I love this film. It's so well made that it looks like it was made in 1973. Fantastic story, really funny, great cast, all this and an unbelievable soundtrack to sing along to. Buy it now.
Rating:
Summary: Best Feel Good Film you Could Buy
Review: I love this film. It's so well made that it looks like it was made in 1973. Fantastic story, really funny, great cast, all this and an unbelievable soundtrack to sing along to. Buy it know.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful coming-of-age movie
Review: This movie is about what it was like to be a fan of 70s album music, albeit from the privileged viewpoint of a teenage journalist who had access to rock groups that most of us could only dream about. Though I didn't see the movie in a cinema, I'm one of the fans who has gone a bundle with its release on video, buying both the DVD and the soundtrack CD. Though there are already 268+ reviews of the DVD on this site, I feel I just have to say how much I too love it.What I love about the movie, besides its gentle humour, its superb choice of music and uplifting theme, is that the characters are so fully rendered that there is so much going on in each scene. Take the moment where guitarist Russell first speaks to William's Mum on the phone -- though the key to the scene is that she manages to freak even him out, writer/director Crowe still finds space in the same moment for Penny Lane to fend off another groupie making herself too available to Russell. I also like the fact that the plot contains no bad guy or violence. Though in the UK the DVD carries a '15' rating -- for the use of expletives -- I'm happy to let my ten-year-old daughter watch it with me. (I'm using it mainly as a covert means of getting her to appreciate the 70s music that I enjoy so much!) Despite the fact that there's no bad guy and the superficial resemblance of the film to a road movie, we shouldn't allow our senses to be beguiled into ignoring the clever plot structuring, which is still based on the Hero's Quest map used for 'Star Wars', 'Lion King' etc. Lester Bangs makes an excellent mentor in this movie -- far more wisdom spews from his lips than say, William's Mum's. Setting the climax in an aircraft poised on the brink of crashing in an electrical storm was a brilliant stroke. The choice of songs for the movie was excellent. Camercon Crowe chose the high-quality album tracks of the period, rather than the dance-oriented oldies that most nostalgia movies go for. 1972-76 is the period in rock that I ought to know best, but there are several songs here, such as 'Tiny Dancer', 'Mr Farmer' and 'Every Picture Tells a Story', which I hadn't heard before. Even the Cat Stevens' track ('The Wind') was a revelation which has considerably increased the respect I have for the artist. My appreciation of Led Zep's acoustic numbers and even Simon & Garfunkel has also improved as a result of Crowe's highly intelligent juxtaposition of sound and vision. But I still loathe Rod Stewart! But the soundtrack sound quality is so good that I'm half-convinced that Crowe re-re-mastered many of the tracks specially for the movie. Much of today's expletive-loaded music seems to do nothing but encourage violence and bring out the worse in people. (There I go sounding like William's Mum!) The late 60s and early 70s was a time when music tried to elevate our senses. Many thanks, Cameron, for making this excellent tribute to the period. One of my teenage friends at the time regularly went on about what a superb journalist Lester Bangs was. Now I know what he meant.
Rating:
Summary: Feels like the 70's...
Review: again. That wierd era where rock bands were eventually swallowed up by the disco craze. What were we thinking? Cameron Crowe is obviously an authentic student of the era. If you don't know that the story is a rough autobiography of Crowe's own experience as the enfant terrible of rock journalism, you may find the plot to be unbelievable. Crowe admits to combining many of the elements of several rock bands that he chronicled for Creem and Rolling Stone to create Stillwater, the fictional rock band of this tale. Sights, sounds, clothing and thought processes of the era are all faithfully reported in this gem of a movie. Watching the Crowe interview in the special features section, and checking out his Rolling Stone articles, you know that the casting director for the film was a genius. Unknown Patrick Fugit has many of the mannerisms and wistfulness that made "then-Cameron" and "now-Cameron" delightful and admirable. The real star of the movie is the music, and the mix of authentic and pretend rock of the era, along with some of its unusual anthems (all of Elton John's early music touched cords in rock lovers - we weren't sure why we loved it, but we did). The group scenes in the movie, most set to music, have an authentic camaraderie and sense of "chilling" that made ecletic groups of band members such memorable icons of the era. Crowe was obviously enamored of both his mom and Lester Bangs, an early mentor. He cast them richly with the incredible Frances McDormand and a beautiful cameo piece by Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
Many of the band members and wannabes were well cast, but the centerpiece is Kate Hudson, who illuminates the screen with her charisma and vulnerability. A well deserved Oscar for a talented young actress. This film earns a resounding 5 stars - there is not a target audience, because there will be something for everyone to enjoy.
Buy, don't rent the DVD!
Rating:
Summary: Aw, Cameron GOT ME for a SECOND Almost Famous DVD
Review: When the first version came out and contained NO extras, lots of folks assumed there was a second act to follow...and here it is. This thing is super-loaded with everything but the kitchen sink. Although the new film content alone is worth the price of admission. Support this film and support Cameron Crowe. Not only is he one of the great guys in the business, but he doesn't make enough movies - and it doesn't help when the announcer at the Golden Globes introduces Cameron's leading man as the star of "Vanilla Ice" when it's really "Vanilla Sky." Whoops!
Rating: 
Summary: a dissenting note
Review: A lite weight "coming-of-age" tale; 70's rock as seen through Kate Hudson's rose-tainted shades. There were a few good bits and performers, but overall, the characters were romaticized: the earnest striver, the bad-girl-with-a-heart-of-gold, the tarnished knight who comes through in the end. The camera work is TV-average. As for the soundtrack--how can a film be about the liberating power of rock and make an Elton ballad its centerpiece? For rock in all its jaded glory?--try Scorseses the Last Waltz.
Rating:
Summary: I am absolutely a slave to the groove.
Review: Cameron Crowe really outdoes himself here, and clearly uses some of his own personal experiences and observations to create what is one of the best movies of 2000.
It has a young-boy-finding-himself appeal, rather like a 1970's 'Perks of being a Wallflower', yet the characters are exceptionally developed and appealing, especially the divine Miss Pennylane, a groupie come professional band aid.
The plot has a handsome gentle humour and a fabulous way of ordering scenes to maximise the effect of the piece. I adored the phone call and reply 'Has the acid kicked in yet?' and reply, 'How can you tell?' followed by the immediate shot of Russell on the top of a house screaming 'I am on drugs'.
The director delivers a sensitivity to the film and the characters, and reveals beauty admist the drug culture and ideas
of the 1960's and 1970's. Of particular note was the scene in which the bus sings Elton's classic 'Tiny Dancer' and the aeroplane scene in which members of the band admit their mutual dislike, love and homosexuality. As well as Pennylane's reply 'What kind of beer?' when it is revealed she is traded for $50 and a case of beer. But then, the brillance never ends in this film. This film is truly fabulous, reminding us what we love about music, and what we love about life. I only wish I had been there.
Rating:
Summary: believable, likeable characters
Review: The acting is the best part of this movie. Everything about Billy Crudup's performance is right on target. His expressions, movements and speaking are just right. His character comes across as likeable and very believable. Frances McDormand, as usual, is exceptional. Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson are also real and refreshing. There just isn't any bad acting in this movie. I didn't think the movie itself was all that memorable but the acting was so good, it made the movie quite enjoyable.
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