00s Movie Review - Almost Famous

Director: Cameron Crowe
Genre: Drama/ Comedy
Runtime: 122 minutes
Year: 2000
Starring: Patrick Fugit, Billy Crudup, Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand, Jason Lee, Zooey Deschanel, Anna Paquin, Fairuza Balk, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bijou Philips, Jimmy Fallon

Description: A high school boy (Patrick Fugit) in the early 1970s is given the chance to write a story for Rollin Stone magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies them on their concert tour.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2022 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 49: A MOVIE ABOUT A MUSICIAN
 
Review: It’s 1973. Fifteen-year-old William Miller lives in San Diego and dreams of becoming the best rock journalist ever. His great love of music was born from a collection of records his sister left him four years earlier when she left home. William writes articles for local magazines and also sends them to a rock and roll magazine. The editor of this magazine, Lester Bangs, is in San Diego and William seeks him out. He manages to get an assignment from Lester to write about Black Sabbath who are performing in San Diego. When William is trying to get in, he meets a few groupies, including the mysterious Penny Lane. Moments later, Stillwater’s band members arrive. Partly because of his contact with Penny, William gets in touch with this band, who actually, because he is a journalist, consider him the enemy.

Some time later, William is approached by Rolling Stone Magazine, to write an extensive tour report of Stillwater. And so William, leaving behind a very distressed mother, travels with the band along with Penny.

“Almost Famous” a good film about music. The film describes director Cameron Crowe’s own life as a rock journalist and he says that this film is a love letter to music. Even though the film isn’t very realistic, it does have many layers. The search for success and happiness, the loss of youthful innocence, it’s about love and passion.  

“Almost Famous” is considered to be one of the best film of 2000. I personally wouldn’t go that far, but it’s strong enough to be memorable.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

90s Movie Review - American History X

Director: Tony Kaye
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 119 minutes
Year: 1998
Starring: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D’Angelo, Ethan Suplee, Fairuza Balk, Avery Brooks, Stacy Keach, Elliot Gould

Description: Former neo-nazi skinhead Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) tries to prevent his younger brother Danny (Edward Furlong) from going down the same wrong path that he did.

Review: After skinhead Derek Vinyard kills two black burglars, he goes to prison, with pride. The so called ideals of the ‘third reich’ can’t save him there, so Derek chooses a different path and doesn’t want to have anything to do with it anymore. His younger brother Danny though worships Derek and is about to follow the wrong path.
“American History X” is a powerful film, with some shocking violent scenes. That one scene, involving a curb, makes me cringe every time.  It’s a drama with a clearly present moral.
The story alternates between the past and present. The part that’s set in the present day, is shot in full color. The scenes where we learn about Derek’s early life and his time in jail, was shot in black and white. By using these two different styles, it keeps your attention at all times.
The acting is excellent and especially Edward Norton shines. This is his best performance to date and he shows how varied he can be. We see him as the relentless and proud neo-nazi, that doesn’t even blink to kill a man and has a strong opinion about people that aren’t white. But also the change he goes through, where he finally realizes what he did. He is no longer proud of his actions and wants to walk away from that life. Norton was nominated for an Academy Award and in my opinion he should have gone home with the statue.
“American History X” is one of my favorite films and gets to me every time. A great film with an extraordinary performance by Edward Norton.

Rating: 5/ 5