OK...so I want to get talking about the five new movies I saw last week, but I realise that I haven't even discussed the types of film that I love. And I feel like you need a reference point of what I consider "the best" before you can feel comfortable taking my suggestions. I will not be able to tell you my favorite because I like such drastically different types of films that I would more than likely have to give my top favorite according to category....but I don't feel that is necessary. So what I will provide is a top ten list (in no specific order) of movies that I have watched time and time again. These are the movies that if nothing new is available to check out, I can safely fallback on my ICONIC yen because I know I will enjoy the tenth watch just as much as I did the first....and so we begin! Here is the first movie that must be mentioned...
Almost Famous
Why do I love this movie so much? Well it has great flow that is captivating from the opening scene, and as much as I want to call it a coming of age story, I am not sure that is accurate because the main character knew more than many of the adults. It is a love story in some respect because there is so much love between the characters, but no happily ever after cheesy shit. The stellar foundation of vintage classic music helps add depth. For those of you who have not seen this film let me at least give you a brief synopsis.
The main character is a young man named William and he is being raised by his single mother and his sister. His mother Elaine (played by Francis McDermott) is a college professor on the upper end of brilliant. She doesn't want her children to fall into the trap of drugs and evil rock music. She wants them to pursue the path ok true knowledge. Of course the older daughter Anita (played by Zoe Deschanel) hates that her mother tries to force her values on them. William on the other hand adores his mother and takes her advise to heart and doesn't even get mad when he finds out that she has been telling him that he is 15 so he won't feel weird about going to high school when he is only 13.
In one of the beginning scenes Anita gets caught trying to sneak a Simon & Garfunkel album in under her coat...and the following conversation takes place:
Anita Miller: It's unfair that we can't listen to our music!
Elaine Miller: That's because it's music about drugs and promiscuous sex.
Anita Miller: Simon and Garfunkel is poetry!
Elaine Miller: Yes it's poetry. It's poetry of drugs and promiscuous sex. Honey, they're on pot.
Anita Miller: First it was butter then it was sugar and white flour, bacon, eggs, Bologna, rock 'n roll, motorcycles. Then! It was celebrating Christmas on a day in September when you knew it wouldn't be commercialized! What else are you gonna ban?
Elaine Miller: Honey, you want to rebel against knowledge, I'm trying to give you the cliff notes on how to live life in this world.
Anita Miller: We're like nobody else I know!
Elaine Miller: I am a college professor. Why can't I teach my own kids? Use me!
Anita Miller: Darryl says that you use knowledge to keep me down. He says that I'm a "Yes" person and you are trying to raise us in a "No" environment.
Elaine Miller: Well, clearly "No" is a word Darryl doesn't hear much.
Anita Miller: I can't live here! I hate you! Even William hates you!
Young William: I don't hate her.
Anita Miller: You do hate her! You don't even know the truth.
Elaine Miller: Drama queen.
Anita Miller: Feck you!
Elaine Miller: Hey!
Anita Miller: This is a house of lies!
So as you can guess Anita decides to leave home with her boyfriend to find the freedom and independence that she has been seeking. The pivotal moment is when she tells him right before she leaves that she left all her vinyl under his bed. She writes a note that he should light candles and listens to The Dark Side of The Moon....fast forward several years and William is still a wonderfully innocent kid but he has fallen in love with the music that his sister left him and in his spare time he has been submitting articles to various magazines. He meets with his mentor Lester Bang, who is a long time music journalist who can't suppress his cynicism. But he likes William because he sees that his love for the music is why he has pursued this particular area, he knows that is has nothing to with a kid just wanting in on the "lifestyle". He doesn't do drugs or drink...so Lester becomes a sounding board, gets him his first interview with the up and coming band Stillwater. It is that fateful assignment that will land him in front of Penny Lane (played Kate Hudson) who oozes sex and coolness as well as brings Russel Hammond into the story (lead guitarist for Stillwater). The foundation is set from that scene for what will come. Penny Lane takes him under her wing because despite her actions she is just a kid too and feels a connection with young William right away.
Eventually one of his articles get picked up by the Rolling Stone and they call to interview him (having no idea that he is still in high school). The lead editor ask's him who he is listening to at that moment and he replies Stillwater, and they kind of like the idea of doing a story on a small band making it big, and so they offer to pay him to go out on the road with the band and get some real intimate interviews.
The story unfolds and there is not a single moment that is removable. When I first saw the movie I remember the feeling that came over me when the band picked up the lead guitarist from a party where he had been dropping acid all night...by the time the tour bus arrived in the morning the dude was cracked out and things were tense...but over the radio Elton John's Tiny Dancer begins to play and one by one everyone on the bus allows the music to breach the tension and everyone joins in. William is so exhausted from babysitting an acid tripping rock star all night leans over to Penny Lane and says that he needs to get home...and she looks at him and says "You are home".
Those are just a few highlights. The Mother plays an important role and there is closure in this movie. It is the full package. It is written brilliantly, casted to a tee, and directed so that the feel of 70's is palpable. It is a story about a boy who just genuinely falls in love with music and his talent as a writer throws him into a world that he is not prepared for, and not really all that OK with.
So this is one of ten movies that no matter how many times I watch always leaves me happy and pulling out some old school music.
I leave with you the best quotable from the movie:
Lester Bangs: Aw, man. You made friends with them. See, friendship is the booze they feed you. They want you to get drunk on feeling like you belong.
William Miller: Well, it was fun.
Lester Bangs: They make you feel cool. And hey. I met you. You are not cool.
William Miller: I know. Even when I thought I was, I knew I wasn't.
Lester Bangs: That's because we're uncool. And while women will always be a problem for us, most of the great art in the world is about that very same problem. Good-looking people don't have any spine. Their art never lasts. They get the girls, but we're smarter.
William Miller: I can really see that now.
Lester Bangs: Yeah, great art is about conflict and pain and guilt and longing and love disguised as sex, and sex disguised as love... and let's face it, you got a big head start.
William Miller: I'm glad you were home.
Lester Bangs: I'm always home. I'm uncool.
William Miller: Me too!
Lester Bangs: The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we're uncool.
William Miller: I feel better.
Lester Bangs: My advice to you. I know you think those guys are your friends. You wanna be a true friend to them? Be honest, and unmerciful.
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