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Summary: Want to remember????
Review: Above all else, this movie made me remember just how passionately I loved music when I was a teenager. If you've forgotten just how many hundreds of times you played your favorite records when you were young, this film is for you!!!
Rating:
Summary: Has Something For Everyone
Review: Whether you love the music, you love the actors, or you love the story. There is something that makes this movie directed by Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire). This movie tells the tale of a William Miller who is only 15 years of age, who begins to write for Rolling Stone. As his first assignment he chooses the rock band Stillwater. The boy follows on the trip trying to interview the band members: Jason Lee and Billy Crudup play the leads of the band. The kid reporter is also infatuated with a "band-aid" Penny Lane (Kate Hudson). As he goes on tour with the band he begins to make friends with all of them and falls in love for the first time. This is a must own DVD! Some of the funniest scenes and dialouge that has come along in quite some time. You can't get any better than this.
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Summary: a movie you won't forget
Review: Almost Famous is an autobiographical movie, based on Cameron Crowe memories. It is a story about a naive boy (William Miller) who has the most exciting experience of his life when he is given the chance to cover the US tour of a new band, stillwater, for Rolling Stone magazine. During this trip, William becomes more mature and aware of what happens on rock shows backstages, which represents a new world to him. Doing his job, he mets some "groupie" girls, who belong to music bands universe and make this film even better. The soundtrack is great and the characters have complex plots. The cast was very well chosen, and the best performers in scene are Kate Hudson, as the crazy groupie "penny lane", and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who has a small part, but does it extremely well, as always. Frances McDormand is also great as William's repressive mother. Most part of the film she is worried with her son, and the influence sex, drugs and rock'n roll may cause in his teenage life. This movie has memorable moments, such as the dialogs between "penny lane" and william, and the airplane scene, when the stillwater, the groupies and even william start confessing their sins. I also enjoyed the "groupies girls". Actually I know a few girls like that, which follow some local bands in my country and behave the same way as the characters of this film. Really unbelievable nowadays! I will never understand what makes these girls so devoted to group members and why they need to follow them and enjoy the sucess they do not deserve. It's kind of depressing, if you consider they have very low self steem, getting envolved with everybody in the bands. This DVD also brings HBO Behind the scenes, which I really recommend. In order to fully understand this movie, it is necessary to watch this special, in which Cameron Crowe reveals how autobiographical this film is, showing real pictures he took with rock stars on the 70's and also telling us about his early days experiences at show backstages. As over 150 critics agreed: Almost Famous is one of the top 10 films of the year!
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Summary: Great Film
Review: This is a great film for teenagers to adults. I also recomend Bless the Child, The Kid and especially What Lies Beneath and Coyote Ugly.
Rating:
Summary: true currency
Review: no extras? oh, bother. the movie? (breathe in) B E A U T I F U L .
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Summary: Pure bliss. The best film of 2000.
Review: 'Almost Famous' is as much about music as it is about growing up. It's about embracing what you love and finding the willingness to let go, to move on, to fit in. Cameron Crowe's first film since his smash hit 'Jerry Maguire', 'Almost Famous' is the story of young William Miller (newcomer Patrick Fugit), a music fan, who lies his way into his dream job: touring with a rock n roll band while composing an article about them for Rolling Stone Magazine. The band he tours with is named Stillwater, four guys on the verge of stardom. Along the way, William meets a group of 'band-aids' (aka. groupies), one of which, a ravishing young girl named Penny Lane (played wit great charm by Kate Hudson) with whom he eventually grows to love. All the while, his mother (Oscar winner Frances McDormand) sits at home, her over-protective instincts running wild. What transpires through the film is beautiful coming-of-age tale with humor and wit to burn. I'm a bit hesitant to reveal many plot details about the film. It's something you're better off not knowing much about. Experiencing the maturing of William and the painful realizations of fame that the band goes through during the tour is half the fun of the movie. You will get to know each character through-out the film. They will become your friends, your heroes, and you will cheer them on and weep for them. Such is the brilliant simplicity of Cameron Crowe who, as both writer and director, has fictionalized a portion of his own life to share with us. And I for one am grateful. It's rare that a movie has the power to effects it's audience in a way this film does. Much like William, we are newcomers to the world he experiences. William's slow realization that these guys in Stillwater might be larger then life when they are on stage, but when they are not, they are just as vulnerable as we are and just as human, is pure magic. The members of the band include Billy Crudup as the charismatic guitarist whose good looks cast him in the limelight, Jason Lee as the lead singer whose desire for attention creates tension through-out the group, and real-life musicians Mark Kozelek and John Fedevich. Their music was written by Crowe's wife Nancy Wilson of the group 'Heart' and was actually performed by the actors themselves. And they are quite good, both musically and performance wise. Lee continues to show his versatility and Crudup delivers his second great performance of 2000, the other in the wonderfully skewed 'Jesus's Son'. The rest of the cast sparkles as well with McDormand and Fugit convincingly playing mother and son, one desperate to stay close while the other begs for a little room to grow. But the film belongs to Kate Hudson, whose grace and tenderness leap from the screen, and to Philip Seymour Hoffman as the wise and cynical rock critic Lester Bangs, stealing every scene his is in. And to Cameron Crowe, who continues to turn everything he touches into pure gold. This is the best film of 2000 and one you cannot afford to miss.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost Fell Asleep
Review: Time now for my review of Almost Famous. While the ex-hippies might be enjoying this boring movie if you're looking for a fun movie to watch you might try something else. What's ridiculous about this is that the critics gave the movie a good review and I watched it because of that. But the movie is a lot of feel-good nonsense in the tradition of the 70's. Just goes to show you that you have to make up your own mind on these things. -----------------------------------------------------------------
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Summary: GREAT MOVIE! BUT WHERE IS THE BONUS FOOTAGE???
Review: THIS IS A GREAT MOVIE FILLED WITH SOME SPECTACULAR CLASSIC ROCK MUSIC. ANY ROCK AND ROLL FAN SHOULD SEE THIS MOVIE. THIS MOVIE WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH. IT IS A GREAT STORY! WATCH IT YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID! HOWEVER, THE DVD WAS A BIT OF A BUMMER. WHERE IS THE 30 MINUTES OF EXTRA MOVIE FOOTAGE THAT WERE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE? I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT IT WASN'T ON THIS DVD. I HOPE THERE WILL BE A COLLECTORS VERSION DVD OF ALMOST FAMOUS SOMEDAY!
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Summary: Almost Famous - What were YOU doing when you were 15?
Review: Myself, like many others, counted down the days until March 13th arrived. Cameron Crowes "Almost Famous" has reassured me that this talanted director creates films unlike all others. There is always SOMETHING unique about every movie this man has been a part of. With Almost Famous, I had a constant 2-hour smile on my face, at the same time remembering a bunch of adolescent memories like my first girlfriend, my first kiss, the first time I got to experience real freedom away from home. And I am sure I'm not alone here, because what made this film so wonderful is that it has provoked similar memories in those that saw this wonderful film. OK, let's talk about this DVD. As soon as I received mine, I immediately looked on the back for the 'extra features.' Let me make this clear before I start my review, there is NO COMMENTARY and there is NO 30 MINUTES OF EXTRA FOOTAGE. From what I hear, Cameron Crowe was too busy working on his next film to spend time on this DVD release. So, I'm expecting a FUTURE release of this film with all those extras many of us were hoping for. However, I DO recommend getting this DVD in its current state, because simply, it's just a GREAT film! OK...NOW back to the DVD. I opened the case up and was introduced to an attractive looking DVD with a picture of the cast on the DVD. The pamphlet inside is nothing special. It has 3 behind-the-scenes photos and a little background on the making of the film. It also has chapter listings. I popped the DVD into my player and was pleasantly surprised by the menu design, very easy navigation with eye popping moving menus and colors, all displayed with the background music of Stillwater. The 'main menu' has a choice of 'special features', 'scene index', 'audio options' and 'subtitles'. Under 'special features', you have the choice of watching an HBO special on the making of Almost Famous, the theatrical trailer and the "Fever Dog" music video. You can also view production notes, cast and crew biographies and Rolling Stone articles written by the director. The "Making Of" special is a nice look into the film, with interviews by many cast members. Nothing we haven't seen before, but still nice to have. The "Fever Dog" video is pretty bad. Yes, it contains a few cuts not seen in the film, but 3/4 of it seems out of sync. (I'm an editor, I notice stuff like this). The whole video resembled an old 'Godzilla' TV show after a while....oh well. The 'scene index' is wonderful. It has a title for each scene and moving menus which create a very attractive screen. You have 3 'audio options'. DTS Digital Surround, 5.1 Dolby Digital and 2.0 Dolby Digital. You also have a choice of having English 'subtitles' on or off. My favorite 'special feature' were the articles written by Cameron Crowe. Reading these articles makes you realize what a terrific writer Cameron Crowe is, and how much of a pleasure it must be to read his scripts. OK....now to the technical stuff about the movie. I was very VERY impressed with this beautiful anamorphic widescreen transfer. The cinematography in this film is wonderful. Colors are beautifully rendered, blacks are rich and the concert footage is gorgeous. No complaints about picture quality, it is excellent. The audio is also wonderful. Although the dialogue is pretty much center channeled, the movie sounds far from monaural. Ambience sounds are surrounding and the music is outstanding. If you watch this on a surround system, the concert footage will envelope your ears and bring you right into the show. I was even impressed with the audio on a 2 speaker system. Your subwoofer will kick in during the concert footage, other then that, this film is not one to test your system out. Having the dialogue strictly centered makes the concert footage EXPLODE! The sound design is terrific, clean, clear and beautifully recorded. (Yes, I found myself singing Tiny Dancer.....again!) In conclusion, Almost Famous is one of my favorite films from the past few years. It's full of emotion and PERFECTLY casted with wonderful performance from all involved. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this DVD. I give the film 5 stars, but the DVD loses a star for lacking the footage we were all hoping for. Go get this DVD if you want to smile for 2 hours straight. You'll find that you can't help but relive those early-teen memories while watching this film. If you ARE a teen, trust me, you'll still enjoy this movie. If you are of the older generation, who knows......I think you may love this film! You'll laugh, cry and go through all the emotions a Cameron Crowe movie brings out of us. Enjoy Almost Famous....and oh yeah...."Don't do drugs!"
Rating:
Summary: Cameron Crowe hits the nail right on the head
Review: This movie could almost have been my story. Like William Miller, the 15 year old lead character in Almost Famous, I too found myself immersed in the backstage world of the 70's concert scene. Unlike young Miller or Cameron Crowe (who the character was pretty much based on), I wasn't a writer, I sold vintage guitars to all the touring bands that hit Houston starting in 1974 but I too was only 15 and was basically the same wide-eyed kid. I remember 'your name's not on the list' and being in love with a 'band-aid' or two that only had eyes for the band members. This movie captures exactly the way it felt back then: the musicians, the road crews, the music, the girls, everything. I ended up being a guitar tech, then a road manager and finally a manager before I left the business a couple of years ago at age 40. Ironically for me, (you'll understand why after you've seen the movie) I was the tour manager for Steve Marriott's, Humble Pie from 1982 to 1985 but I don't think I ever won a girl in a poker game like Reg. There were a lot of little details that made it very real for me. There's a shot of the band's tour manager when he introduces the band. After he finishes, the camera lingers on him for a bit and you get a feel for the amount of pressure this guy is under. This particular character wasn't really fleshed out that much in the movie so I was surprised to see this particular shot but I'm glad it didn't get cut. The DVD quality is excellent on this one and bonuses include a 'Making of' feature, original trailer, production notes and cast and crew details. The DVD also includes several full-length Rolling Stone articles written by Cameron Crowe in the `70's. About the only thing missing was a deleted scenes section. Comedies like Still Crazy and Spinal Tap do a great job of lampooning this eras rock bands while still paying a sort of tribute and both are excellent movies but this movie falls into a category of its own. It took me back to what it was like in the very beginning when I first fell in love with rock and roll. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Cameron.
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