Almost Famous: Untitled Bootleg Cut DVD (Almost Famous (DVD))

Member Name: ralfschumacher

Product:	Almost Famous (DVD)
Date:	27/06/04 (71 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Loads of features., Movie has a great stor., Great Acting.

Disadvantages: The region 2 version is low on extras compared to this one.

This review refers to the Region1 Untitled Cut of the film.

The Story

This film is set in 1973 and is based on a young boy named William Miller (played by Patrick Fugit) who at the age of 15 gets an assignment from Rolling stone magazine to interview the members of the up and coming band 'Stillwater' while on their 'Almost Famous' tour. With his tape recorder at the ready William embarks on an eye-opening journey, even though his over-protective mother (Frances McDormand) doesn't want him to go.

Review

I highly enjoyed this film when I first saw it on the single disc version about a year back and must say that I liked it even more the second time on this release, 'Untitled: The Bootleg Cut'. I liked the movie on so many levels and it's hard to point out one thing that drew me in. The writing was perfect, the directing was perfect and the acting was, yeah you guessed it, perfect. The movie had so much meaning to it that people can relate too and was interesting all the way to the very end. Another thing that really kept me glued to the screen though were the excellent performances from the cast. Kate Hudson and the over protective mother played by Frances McDormand in particular who I though should have one the Oscar.

Extra Features

On disc one of the three-disc-set is the main extra, the Untitled version of the movie, which includes over 30 Minutes of added footage. These extra and extended scenes offer more insight into some of the characters and also offers more 'Stillwater' music if you like that. I didn't really have a favourite but 'Fever Dog' was quite catchy. Also on this disc is an audio commentary by writer/director Cameron Crowe and his mother Alice Crowe. Behind the scenes footage, the 'Stairway to Heaven' scene, Outtakes (EE), an interview with Lester Bangs (the real one), Cameron Crowe's top 10 albums of 1973 with commentary plus his o
riginal Rolling Stone articles.

The second of the three includes the theatrical version of the film and some more extras such as extended scenes from the Stillwater concert in Cleveland, deleted scenes with audio commentary and the full screenplay that won Crowe an Academy Award. There are also some other things such as trailers and cast and crew bios. The third disc is a free music CD which has about 6 tracks of Stillwater's songs.

On a more technical note the movie has a Dolby 5.1 Soundtrack that is very powerful on the concert scenes and on the theatrical version an extra French Dolby 5.1 and DTS soundtrack are included. The DVD also boasts a very nice transfer with an nice crisp and clear picture but with a bit edge to give it that 70's feel. The picture is presented in 1.85:1 so is Fullscreen friendly with only the small black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. All in all this a great package. A great movie backed up with some great extras. If you are a fan of the original version then it's worth paying a bit more to get this one.

Rating Movie: 9/10 - Theatrical version 8/10

Rating DVD/Extras: 8/10


(Please note this review was also posted on ciao.co.uk if you think I copied it)

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