Almost Famous

Rating:
Summary: Possibly the best "director's cut" ever.
Review: We're seeing "Director's cut" movies released all the time, and a lot of them end up being real disappointments (The "Apocalypse Now Redux" comes to mind), filled with schlock that does nothing to advance the storytelling and probably should've stayed on the cutting room floor or in the "bonus materials" section. (Kevin Smith was wise enough to not provide a longer cut when he released "Dogma" last year. Bravo!)

So, it was with some trepidation that I sat down to watch the "Untitled" cut of Cameron Crowe's masterpiece "Almost Famous." I thought I would end up bored and dissatisfied with this new version: It's one of my favorite films anyway, how can it be better. However, this DVD is a pleasant surprise. All of the extra footage is very good, and it truly adds to the plot of the film, rather than just being there for the sake of being included. Some of the stuff is totally new, including a very funny radio station interview scene. Other things cut back into the film are subtle changes to familiar scenes that clear up some of the things about both the characters and the plot (particualarly, they cement the relationships between Penny, Russell and William).

When I saw the "Tiny Dancer" sequence in the theatre, I felt like I should be at least misting around my eyes. Last night, I outright cried at it. Crowe has done a great job making a DVD that tugs at you just a little more than the theatrical version of the film. It's a whole new (and much better) movie.

Rating:
Summary: Possibly the best "director's cut" ever.
Review: But we're also seeing "Director's cut" movies released all the time, and a lot of them end up being real disappointments (The "Apocalypse Now Redux" comes to mind), filled with schlock that does nothing to advance the storytelling and probably should've stayed on the cutting room floor or in the "bonus materials" section. (Kevin Smith was wise enough to not provide a longer cut when he released "Dogma" last year. Bravo!)

So, it was with some trepidation that I sat down to watch the "Untitled" cut of Cameron Crowe's masterpiece "Almost Famous." I thought I would end up bored and dissatisfied with this new version: It's one of my favorite films anyway, how can it be better. However, this DVD is a pleasant surprise. All of the extra footage is very good, and it truly adds to the plot of the film, rather than just being there for the sake of being included. Some of the stuff is totally new, including a very funny radio station interview scene. Other things cut back into the film are subtle changes to familiar scenes that clear up some of the things about both the characters and the plot (particualarly, they cement the relationships between Penny, Russell and William).

When I saw the "Tiny Dancer" sequence in the theatre, I felt like I should be at least misting around my eyes. Last night, I outright cried at it. Crowe has done a great job making a DVD that tugs at you just a little more than the theatrical version of the film. It's a whole new (and much better) movie.

Rating:
Summary: incredibly bad; a torturous experience
Review: A root canal is less painful than sitting through this piece of tripe. It is absolutely mindboggling that ANYONE could possibly like this movie -- yet look at all these glowing reviews. Man, what is wrong with these people? Have their brains turned to mush?

I despised this movie. I felt dirty for having watched the whole thing. There is nothing even remotely interesting happening at any point in this horrible, horrible waste of celluloid. The characters -- every single one of them -- lack any depth whatsoever. The acting is mediocre at best. Every attempt at humor falls completely flat. But the most despicable thing about this movie -- beyond the boring script, beyond the annoying Kate Hudson and the irritating little peach-faced journalist guy (So cute! So innocent! -- is the fact that Cameron Crowe takes 70s Rock and Roll, sucks it dry of any sense of excitement, and basically covers it all with a nice, thick layer of molasses.

If you think a life of rock and roll is this sweet and tame, you're an idiot.

Rating:
Summary: An great entertaining film, which it was based on Crowe`s.
Review: When an young smart 15 year old reporter (Patrick Fugit) has been giving the chance to work with the magazine-Rolling Stones. But First, he has to write an Article on a Up and Rising band named Stillwater, he has to spin weeks with the Group. But the young Reoorter has fall in love with a Groupie (Kate Hudson in a Oscar Nominated Role) and he become friends with the band lead singer (Billy Crudup).

DVD`s has an smooth anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) transfer and an Strong DTS 5.1 Surround Sound-Also in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Great Performances by Fugit, Crudup, Hudson (In a Oscar Nominated Role), Francis Mc Dormand (In a Oscar Nominated Role) and Jason Lee. Written and Directed by Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky). Cameron Crowe win an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and it was Oscar Nominated for Best Editing. Newest DVD Edition has two altertive version:One is the Original Theatrical Relase and The New Director`s Cut named Untitled has 36 minutes of Additional Footage. Including Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound on the Director`s Cut and Original Relase has DTS 5.1 Surround Sound and also Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Including a running commentary track by Director:Cameron Crowe and His real life Mother. This is a one of a kind film. Grade:A-.

Rating:
Summary: Best Film of 2000
Review: You all know the story about this being Cameron Crowe's not so semi-autobiographical coming of age story about being a young rock n' roll journalist. The acting is all superb, the editing, the soundtrack, the pace, the tone--in short, everything is absolutely perfect in this film. Cameron Crowe somehow managed to make a quintissentially funny, romantic, nostalgic, melancholy, celebratory, tragic masterpiece, and anyone who has ever loved something and seen its deterioration will respond, primally, to this film. Remarkable in every way.

The only way for Crowe to make it better was to release a "director's cut" and a treasure trove of extra features so that the viewer wouldn't be forced to leave that world before he/she was ready. I couldn't recommend this more emphatically.

Rating:
Summary: Almost Indispensable
Review: I reluctantly sold my original DVD of Almost Famous and bought
this Bootleg Cut. Great decision! Thirty of the 35 minutes of new
material was great stuff--not cutting room floor sweepings. There
are lots of new music references for the classic rock fan; and some
new scenes which are terrific, e.g. "You've been listening to Night
Circus." :: The CD of Stillwater tracks is excellent, much better
than I expected. Only quibble: the production is so modern it
doesn't really sound like a 1973 recording, but the lead guitar
based rock is in the ballpark. :: The Stairway feature is about
the best extra in the history of DVD. A real hoot. :: If you
liked AF in the first go-round, you'll really love this set.

Rating:
Summary: It Has Grown On Me
Review: The first time I saw this film I didn't like it at all. I didn't know what to expect, was apprehensive since its about the early 70s when I was a teen, and was afraid it would bring back too many bad memories. Yes I do have them. I also watched it with my mother. Another fatal mistake.

Since then I have watched it probably 4 or 5 times and its really grown on me. The party Russell and William get invited to by the "regular" every-day kids in the van is very reminiscent of some great parties I went to (except we never had a rock star jump into a pool from the roof of a house). The song they group sing at the hotel in LA (Something in the Air?), a great choice for that time. The clothes and hair are true to the times as much as they can be, except for Kate Hudson's hair. No self-respecting "cool" girl in the early 1970s would have wanted that permed hair look that Kate has. Sure, that look was cool in the late 70s (Farrah Fawcett gets credit for it) 80s, 90s, and even now, but in the early 70s, cool girls wanted their hair straight (and I mean straight straight) parted in the middle and long. Want an example? Check out Sissy Spacek's hair in the movie "Carrie." Carrie wasn't cool, but Sissy was.

The Elton John songs from the movie may not seem hip enough to some people now, but Elton was the "king" in the early 70s and his songs were played every where all the time, so its fitting.

Cameron Crowe did a very good job of making everything fit the times. I don't think the casting could have been better. I still think the "band-aid" groupies are kinda sad. Crowe shows the ultimate sadness of girls who lived like that through Penny Lane's experience. But I guess we all live and learn.

Rating:
Summary: THE PERFECT MOVIE RENTAL, BUT NOT FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY
Review: Here is another movie that I was not eager to see but was glad that I had the chance. This story is truly about Sex, Drugs and Rock-&-Roll. It is NOT a family movie though. Being a product of the 80s, I think I was more able to appreciate the subtleties of the story better. Certainly my Mother & Father wouldn't understand it quite as well.

What I liked best about the movie is the ending. That is where all the parts come together. That is where we, the audience, really get the opportunity to "know" the characters for who and what they are.

I don't own this movie and don't really plan on buying it. But I am certainly glad to have seen it..once.

Rating:
Summary: CROWE'S BEST YET?
Review: Set in the early seventies and the time of endlessly touring British and American concept rock bands and told through the eyes of high school kid and wannabe rock journalist William Miller, the movie follows the lives of the up-and-coming fictionalised rock band Stillwater and one of their most special fans, Miss Penny Lane (the excellent Kate Hudson). Whether you were around in the seventies and remember this era (I wasn't and I don't) it is hard not to be moved be this rock odyssey as the band move from town to town, squabble to squabble and we watch William grow.

This has everything you'd expect from a movie about a rock band, girls, drink, drugs, fighting and general excessive bad behaviour but it skilfully avoids ever falling into cliché because the characters here are not just rock stars or groupies, they are real people, with human weaknesses and human strengths. Crowe's writing and direction are both subtle and beguiling and he draws extraordinary performances out of all the main leads including Billy Crudup (as lead guitarist and charismatic star of Stillwater), Kate Hudson (as Penny Lane), young Patrick Fugit (as William) and great supporting turns from the finest young character alive at this moment, Philip Seymour Hoffman (as legendary rock journo. Lester Bangs) and Frances McDormand, as William's overprotective mother.

I must admit to being a big fan of Cameron Crowe's work ever since seeing Say Anything and Jerry Maguire and unlike the, by all accounts, very disappointing Vanilla Sky, Almost Famous is up there with Crowe's finest work. Great romance, great humour and great warmth, this semi-autobiographical movie has it all in bucket loads and if this doesn't warm the cockles of your heart their aint much hope left for you I'm afraid.

Rating:
Summary: It just gets better and better...
Review: As an avid fan of rock and pop music, and being at an age where I can actually remember 1973, this movie is absolutely one of my favorites. I think I've watched it 5 times, and could watch it another 5...or 6...or...you get the idea. Cameron Crowe nailed the time period, the music, and the total feeling of the rock scene circa 1973 as well as his intent to give something memorable back to those who gave so generously to him in his youth. I enjoyed the "Untitled" version of the movie, though could see why come of it was left out of the theatrical release. Like Russell Hammond says in one of the restored scenes..."It's all about what you leave out." Though he's talking about music, I thought the comment to be a little ironic. But I digress. I'll probably buy more of his movies because this one definitely said ALOT to me. I've even gone out and bought some of the movies Cameron mentions in the Director's Commentary of "Untitled"...those being "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "The Apartment" just because I have such a great respect for Crowe after seeing his passion for both music and the art of film making through this movie. Jerry McGuire was good, but this movie absolutely ROCKS!!