Almost Famous (DVD)

All of Cameron Crowe's movies are incredibly warm and fuzzy, and all of the conflicts and tragedies within them are resolved without the usual pain and suffering you get in dramas. In 'Singles' even a miscarriage is ultimately swept away in the final romantic conclusion. The other consistent element in all Crowe's movies is a use of pop music. 'Jerry Maguire' was full of chirpy romantic pop, John Cusack resolved his problems with Ione Skye by playing Peter Gabriel outside her house in 'Say Anything', and 'Singles' was set in the Seattle grunge scene. This is no surprise, as Crowe started as a teenage rock journalist for ...  Read the complete review

...and the sex, and the drugs, and the rock and roll! Back in the early seventies when director Cameron Crowe was just a teenager, he followed a rock band around on tour and then wrote an article about them for Rolling Stone magazine. Years later, he decided to make a semi-autobiographical movie about his experiences, with the outcome being 'Almost Famous'. William Miller is a fifteen-year-old boy who is two years ahead of his school peers and heavily into rock and roll music. Often writing for the school newspaper, his work is noticed by famous rock critic Lester Bangs, who encourages William to interview Black Sabbath for Creem magazine. ...  Read the complete review

Lester Bangs: You CANNOT make friends with the rock stars. That's what's important. If you're a rock journalist -- first, you will never get paid much. But you will get free records from the record company. And they'll buy you drinks, you'll meet girls, they'll try to fly you places for free, offer you drugs... I know. It sounds great. But they are not your friends. These are people who want you to write sanctimonious stories about the genius of the rock stars, and they will ruin rock and roll and strangle everything we love about it. This is the advice given to 15 year old rock journalist William Miller as he joins up-coming rock group ...  Read the complete review

The film opens in San Diego, 1969. A young boy's passion for music is fuelled by his big sister's rebellion against their quirky mother who thinks all rock and roll music is about is "drugs and promiscuous sex". The sister elopes with her boyfriend at 18 and leaves her brother all her records. We then skip forward and meet the boy (William) as a 14 year old in 1973. He writes for the school magazine and when he hears Rolling Stone magazine's infamous journalist Lester Bangs is in town giving a radio interview, he waits outside the station to meet him. This initial meeting proves to be a catalyst in the schoolboy's life. He manages to land an ...  Read the complete review

Almost Famous follows an under-age wannabe rock reporter following mediocre US band Stillwater as they tour the country, trying to write a feature article for Rolling Stone magazine (who he's somehow managed to convince over the phone that he's a fully fledged adult). We see the band rivalries, notably between nominal lead singer (the fabulous Justin Lee) and the more charismatic guitarist (Billy Crudup) who always outshines him. There are complications from the groupies, or 'band aids' in tow - Kate Hudson plays 'Penny Lane' in the best performance of her career: she's having an affair with the married Crudup, the young journalist is totally smitten with ...  Read the complete review