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Almost Famous: The Bootleg Cut

Movie: A

Sound: A

Picture: A

Reviewed By: David

Dreamworks and Director Cameron Crowe team up to bring you "Almost Famous: The Bootleg Cut".

Here's your ultimate backstage pass to "the best rock and roll movie ever" (Joel Siegel, Good Morning America)

The Academy Award®-winning Almost Famous. "With this Bootleg Cut, you feel much more like you're on tour with the band, and you have a chance to get to know the characters in much greater depth," says director Cameron Crowe. Featuring superb performances by Oscar®-nominated Kate Hudson and Frances McDormand.

This is one of the best films that I have seen in awhile. The story and acting are both very very good, and the Bootleg Directors Cut is even better than the original (I think). This new 35 minutes of footage has been seamlessly inserted into the film and it is very very hard to notice where the new material was inserted at, this means and says a lot for the work and time and the effort that DreamWorks put into this title.

It's the opportunity of a lifetime when teenage reporter William Miller lands an assignment from Rolling Stone magazine who without meeting him sends him on tour with the fictional rising band Stillwater. Although it takes some persuading of his reluctant mother William joins Stillwater as they cross the country opening for Black Sabbath and embarks on his coming of age. After William hits the road with Stillwater he finds there's a lot more to write home about than the music.

William falls in love 2 times. First William idolizes Stillwater's charismatic and roguish lead guitarist Russell (Billy Crudup) an icon of the rock star every teenage boy dreams of being. Usually very wary of the press Russell be-friends William seeing him as an innocent acolyte. And then William falls romantically in love with the free spirited Band Aid Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) who is, herself affectionately attached to Russell. Writer director Crowe creates a unique poignant love triangle with these three people, and the dynamics of the struggles between their attentions to each other and their own self consciousnesses are delicate and heartfelt.

Although Crowe's film has been criticized by some as "too soft" it's a perfect look through the prism of its unusual central character. William is a teenager pushed past his adolescence into an adult world of cynics whose primary goal is to prolong their own adolescence.

"The Bootleg Cut" being a two-disc set offers more extras than the first did, one disc release of "Almost Famous." In the DVD's menus you will find a tiny microphone icon. Clicking on these icons will lead to audio snippets in which Cameron Crowe explains why the bonus material(s) were included on this director’s cut DVD release.

Enjoy

I would recommend you buy this movie, you can't go wrong on this one. Click here to purchase the movie from our store.

Edition Details:

• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color, Closed-captioned, DTS Surround Sound, Widescreen, Dolby
• Commentary by Cameron Crowe & his mom, Alice Crowe
• Production notes
• Theatrical trailer(s)
• 2 DVDs and 1 CD of 6 Stillwater Songs
• Two versions of the film: Almost Famous Untitled: The Bootleg Cut - Director's Edition with 36 minutes of never-before-scene footage & the original cut
• A new behind-the-scenes featurette
• Deleted scenes with commentary including Stillwater's Cleveland concert featuring 6 original songs
• Cameron Crowe's Top 10 albums of 1973
• Shooting script with Cameron Crowe's notes
• Original Rolling Stone articles with commentary
• Nancy Wilson's original music made exclusively for the DVD menus
• Widescreen anamorphic format
• Number of discs: 3