Almost Famous DVD

...Introduction -

Almost Famous is a movie that I had heard about a few times but had never got around to watching. However, armed with my trusty PVR, this is no longer the case! I noticed that it was listed to be shown on TV some months ago and so I decided to record it to watch back later. Now that was back in February but I am trying to get back to watching movies and catching up with stuff, now that the rather exciting (for me) month ...
...cast) -

Almost Famous is all about an average 15 year old guy called William Miller (played by Patrick Fugit), who, having discovered a love of rock and roll music thanks to his older sister who left him her old vinyls when she left home, decides he wants to get into music journalism and ends up being hired by Rolling Stone magazine, who believe he is a qualified music journalist, to tour with and write about an new rock group called ... more

- Introduction -

Almost Famous is a movie that I had heard about a few times but had never got around to watching. However, armed with my trusty PVR, this is no longer the case! I noticed that it was listed to be shown on TV some months ago and so I decided to record it to watch back later. Now that was back in February but I am trying to get back to watching movies and catching up with stuff, now that the rather exciting (for me) month of May with the BSB concert and everything is over, so I decided to watch it last night. I'm glad I finally got around to watching it, as I did quite enjoy it. Read on for more information... (oh and may I also mention quickly that I have cancelled my DVD rental account for now, I decided I needed to save a bit of money and I'd seen most of the movies I was interested in seeing anyway, so there will probably be fewer movie reviews from me but I'll still record movies from Freeview channels to watch and review at times, of course).

- Main Credits (non-actors, which are mentioned further on in the review) -
Source:- IMDB (see:- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181875/fullcredits)

Director - Cameron Crowe
Writer - Cameron Crowe
Producers - Ian Bryce, Cameron Crowe
Associate Producers - Martin P. Ewing, Scott M. Martin, Steven P. Saeta, Jerry Ziesmer
Co-Producers - Lisa Stewart
Cinematography - John Toll

- Story (incl. some of the acting cast) -

Almost Famous is all about an average 15 year old guy called William Miller (played by Patrick Fugit), who, having discovered a love of rock and roll music thanks to his older sister who left him her old vinyls when she left home, decides he wants to get into music journalism and ends up being hired by Rolling Stone magazine, who believe he is a qualified music journalist, to tour with and write about an new rock group called Stillwater, in the early 1970s (the tour being set in 1973 I believe). Stillwater consist of Jeff Bebe (played by Jason Lee), Russel Hammond (played by Billy Crudup), Larry Fellows (played by Mark Kozelek) and Ed Vallencourt (played by John Fedevich). I feel I should also mention that, having looked it up out of interest, it turns out that there was a rock band (folk/rock) in the 1960s/70s of the same name but this is a different band to the one in this movie, if that helps.

His mother (played by Zooey Deschanel) is quite unhappy, being very much against the stereotype of rock and roll, often saying 'say no to drugs' and all that sort of thing. She calls often, scaring some of the roadies with her insistence to pass on certain messages (mainly to not do drugs of course!).

As time goes on, William starts to fall for a lady who follows the group on tour who's only known as Penny Lane (played by Kate Hudson). She has her own problems and ultimately its up to William to try and help her out but the worry is, as William becomes more accustomed to the life of touring with a rock and roll band, with witnessing many things such as inebriated group members and incidents involving drugs, a near helicopter crash and a case of electric shock on stage, his high school graduation approaches and his mum is stuck, hoping that her son will return in time for her to watch him graduate and go on to get a real job.

Will he manage to cope as an adolescent in such a situation, what with all the drink and drugs and promiscuity? will he shame his mother and family at home? what will he experience and what will the Rolling Stones piece end up like, will they publish it if they realise that he's so young and what about his high school graduation? will him and the lady known as 'Penny Lane' get together? you'll have to watch the movie to find out, of course.

- Genre/Themes/Issues -

The movie is a drama with a sort of a fictional documentary type feel to it, in a sense. It explores the issues around family life and 'coming of age' I feel, with William trying to reassure his mum that he will come back to live a more normal life, while she worries about what he may be seeing or becoming involved in and of course it explores the importance of music in adolescents at that time.

- Thoughts/Opinions/Extra Information -

I quite enjoyed this movie, as a sort of a fictional semi documentary, or yes I guess you could say rockumentary, about the life of such rock and roll acts from that era (around 1973).

I thought that it was quite an atmospheric movie, im sure the soundtrack is good, I particularly noticed tracks by Elton John being played in the background and other artists include The Who, The Beach Boys and Led Zeppelin. You can find more detailed infomation about the OST (official soundtrack) here:- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181875/soundtrack for those of particular interest in that aspect.

I thought the character of William was quite interesting, he certainly was interested to see what went on, although he tried to step back a bit, his mother obviously taught him well about staying away from drugs and such like! which came in handy, as it turns out that there's always need for a sober person to be around when things go wrong... I wouldn't say that it entirely glamorised what went on in those days, some of the characters from the group and that followed them around, it was clear that they were less than happy and people who were high at the time were shown to be pretty stupid at times, I mean it certainly doesn't make me think wow, I wish I was like them, put it that way. What you see is that there can often be alot of problems going on with groups behind closed doors, as they struggled with different issues, the lead singer being seen as the main member with the others annoyed when a tshirt design was shown where the lead singer is the only one in focus and the others shown as basically just silhouettes in the background and then there are issues with their management and other things. This all goes in to Williams notes to go into the Rolling Stone article, of course... whether the group like it or not!

Kate Hudson does well as this rather mysterious 'Penny Lane', who appears to be quite happy and takes a bit of a shine herself to William, though in the end its more him who helps her out. I won't say much more to spoil the movie but I did think that she played her part quite well.

Also I thought that Zooey Deschanel did well as Williams rather down trodden mother Anita. You can't help but feel sorry for her, you can kind of tell that she does care alot for her children and has their best wishes to heart but finds it hard to keep up with them, or more with him anyway. His sister leaves early on in the movie (although she does re-appear at one point). Watching one of the later scenes in the movie was a bit moving, you'll know what I mean when you see it! im not wanting to give anything too much away. Of course, Patrick Fugit also does well as the main character, William, as he looks like your average 15 year old kid and you can tell that he is genuinely both interested in the group and the music/music industry and what goes on, while also wanting to take a step back from some of the perhaps more extreme sides of that, what can be involved with it (drink and drugs etc.).

I thought that the movie was well cast and that it was just about the right length, it is perhaps a little long for some, at just over two hours but it didn't seem, to me, to get too flat or bland during that time and it kept me interested to see what the outcome would be, as far as the magazine story was concerned and to see what may happen to some of the characters.

I thought that in general it was quite an atmospheric movie and captured quite alot, with some pretty good concert scenes and some good photographic/cinemagraphic shots, if you know what I mean.

- Certificate -

Almost Famous is rated 15 in the UK, due to somg strong language, scenes of drug use/drug content and brief nudity, although there aren't really any sex scenes as such and there is little, if any, violence.

- Official Website -

The official website for Almost Famous can be found here:- http://www.cameroncrowe.com/eyes/almostfamous_synopsis.html
here you can find a synopsis for the movie, as well as photos, info. on cast and crew, production notes, information on the official DVD and soundtrack and so on.

- Conclusions -

I quite enjoyed this movie, I think as a sort of music rockumentary that explores the problems that can go on behind closed doors and exposes some of the lifestyles and the things that went on during that era, in the 1970s, its quite good. The movie has a decent story and its well cast, with a good soundtrack to go with it too, of course. If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, I'd definitely recommend it. Oh yeah and I apologise for the slightly unimaginative/unexciting title, I couldn't think of anything great to use, I couldn't find that 'wow' factor for the title of this review im afraid *is very disappointed* lol!

I hope that this review is useful and thanks, as always, for reading! 

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