A Love Letter to Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous"

In preparation for the next Smackdown Team Experience is traveling back to 2000.

This photo is an instant serotonin hit.

By: Christopher James

Almost Famous is a love story. That’s not as a reference to teenage journalist wunderkind William (Patrick Fugit) and his love for legendary “band-aide” Penny Lane (Kate Hudson). It’s also not a reference to William’s adoration for the band Stillwater, which sets off the chain of events. Writer-director Cameron Crowe made Almost Famous as a love letter to professional passion. William loves music and just wants outlets to profess his feelings on the subject. Can a journalist be a fan? This is a question asked multiple times throughout the movie. In the end, the answer is yes and no. You have to love something enough to devote your life to it, but not so much that you get swallowed up by it...

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Almost There: Renée Zellweger in "Jerry Maguire"

by Cláudio Alves

Throughout Oscar history, 15 films have conquered nominations in all acting categories. 1936's My Man Godfrey was the first and David O. Russell's American Hustle is the most recent example. Many didn't deserve such honors, their bountiful Oscar haul being mostly a matter of awards buzz rather than undeniable excellence. That said, there are also movies that got tangentially close to this feat and deserved it but didn't get it. Upon rewatching Jerry Maguire (currently streaming on Netflix), I was surprised to realize Cameron Crowe's seminal comedy was one of those productions which deserved to enter that exclusive club of Oscar champions…

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Soundtracking: "Almost Famous"

Chris Feil's weekly series looks back at Cameron Crowe's rock opus...

Of everything that Almost Famous gets right about our relationship with music, its richest insights come from how it explores the importance of music in adolescence. Cameron Crowe is telling his own story of his teenage music journalism days in the film, but that’s not solely why the film feels so personal. It’s personal because it’s about that time in our life when music is never more personal.

When Crowe stand-in William Miller is gifted a treasure chest of vinyl from his sister Anita she isn’t just handing over the greats, she’s tasking him to find himself. At that age our musical taste is a vessel to both define ourselves and connect to others, to develop some kind of community or shared experience. It’s in the background of every heartbreak and happy memory, even if it just played in our heads. Through music, Crowe makes the intensely personal into something universal. Just like a song.

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Review: Aloha's Good Intentions Can't Rescue It

Michael C here to try to make sense of what I just watched. Cameron Crowe’s Aloha is one of the most bewildering cinematic experiences in recent memory.

Gone is the filmmaker behind Almost Famous and Jerry Maguire that could gracefully execute romantic gestures grand enough to capsize lesser movies. Gone even is the maker of follies like Elizabethtown who missed the mark by a mile but at least left a coherent mess in his wake. In his place is a guy that can barely scrape together a moment of believable human interaction in Aloha’s 105 minute running time. Crowe is so besotted with his notions of spiritual uplift against a mystical Hawaiian backdrop, so dizzy with big statements about life and love and redemption, that he appears to have lost his bearings completely. Aloha’s outpouring of emotion is fed into the malfunctioning machinery of the screenplay and spat out the other end as gobbledygook.

Bradley Cooper plays Brian Gilcrest, a cynic with a heart of gold in the Jerry Maguire mold. Gilcrest is a soldier coming off a series of vague professional disasters given the cushy task of obtaining a blessing from some native Hawaiians so the army can relocate an ancient burial ground (I think). Returning to Hawaii means seeing the girlfriend he ran out on eighteen years ago (Rachel McAdams) and her new family. Gilcrest is escorted on this mission by spunky young fighter pilot played by Emma Stone. The pairing generates all the romantic sparks of a guy babysitting his rambunctious younger cousin on a weekend road trip.

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Box Office Fault Lines

I didn't see the latest disaster epic this weekend - but maybe you did? How many people did The Rock save with his giant arms and helicopters and diving (the three techniques he used from the trailer - I'm just guessing). San Andreas the movie may have killed off Californians but it was spectacle enough to attract the nation at large with a $50+ million opening weekend which makes this his biggest opening weekend outside of the Mummy and Fast & Furious franchises.

WIDE RELEASE
May 29-31 Weekend
01 San Andreas NEW $53.2
02 Pitch Perfect 2 $14.8 (cum. $147.5) Review
03 Tomorrowland $13.8 (cum. $63.1) Review
04 Mad Max Fury Road $13.6 (cum. $115.9) Review & Podcast
05 Age of Ultron  $10.9 (cum. $427) Review & Marathon & Podcast
06 Aloha NEW $10 Review
07 Poltergeist $7.8 (cum. $38.2)
08 Far From The Madding Crowd $1.4 (cum. $8.3) Review 
09 Hot Pursuit $1.3 (cum. $32.3) Review
10 Home $1.1 (cum. $170.4) 

Meanwhile Aloha, Cameron Crowe's latest had a dismal $10 million opening (That's a dismal opening when you've got three mostly bankable A list stars) and terrible reviews - many critics calling it his worst yet. I was curious to see it despite the reviews until I heard that Emma Stone was playing a character that was meant to be half Asian American and then I was like...'you know what Hollywood? Just not doing this anymore. ENOUGH.'

In better news Mad Max and Far From The Madding Crowd (the two we're rooting for at the moment from genre quality and "make more movies like this" concerns) held fairly well in their third and fifth weekends respectively. Fury Road's exorbitant price tag isn't going to make it one of the most profitable films of the year but at least it will eventually make its money back! I had the laziest weekend ever as you probably sensed from the unusually quiet blogging... but I'm hoping you found excitement. What did you see?

NYC Readers Take Note:
I will be appearing in a show at UCB in the East Village called "So Into It" on Tuesday night (June 2nd) this week. It's a comic variety show that changes themes each month and this month the topic is 'awards shows'. I'm not totally sure what to expect but I will be interviewed on stage at some point during the show. Please note: I am not the one bringing the comedy -- not a comedian. I'm just being interviewed but I'd appreciate support from anyone reading who is So Into The Film Experience (and also non-judgmental) as I'm terrified of being on stage.