Almost Famous (2000) - #97

Empire top 301: #97
IMDb top 250: -

Rating 9/10

Director: Cameron Crowe
Writers: Cameron Crowe
Starring: Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Anna Paquin, Kate Hudson, Patrick Fugit, Jason Lee & Philip Seymour Hoffman

"And you can tell Rolling Stone magazine that my last words were... I'm on drugs!"

William Miller (Fugit) is a 15 year old aspiring music journalist, who has a rebellious sister who gets him into rock music and a strict conservative mother who thinks rock music is the root of all evil which leads to drugs and promiscuous sex.  After writing a few well received articles William is contacted by the editor of Rolling Stone magazine to write a piece on up and coming band Stillwater, to travel on the road with them and get a story worthy of the front page. Whilst on tour with the band William gets to know head Band Aid (Groupie) Penny Lane (Hudson) and he falls in love with her. 

I have a huge love for music, not just the singers or groups but the songs, the sounds and the lyrics and this is what I get from this movie. Crowe has a love for the MUSIC. The film is a semi-autobiographical look at Crowe's younger years when he travelled with bands like The Who whilst writing for Rolling Stone magazine. Whilst I wasn't born in the 70's from the various documentaries I've seen and books I've read, to me, Crowe has got the feeling, look and sound of the 70's down. The soundtrack is awesome and has my favourite Elton John song "Tiny Dancer" slap bang in the middle of the movie during a great scene, but in every scene there is some amazing song playing in the background. 

The Oscar winning script is superb, it's funny and moving and joyous and sad. Most of the best lines belong to Frances McDormand's overbearing mother Elaine but everybody gets their time to shine with some great dialogue. Frances McDormand does kind of steal the show; her Oscar nominated performance is hilarious and very relatable to anybody who has parent(s) that won't just let them be who THEY want to be. This is not the case for me, but I have friends who have parents like this! 

Billy Crudup and Jason Lee, the central guys in the Stillwater band are both excellent and have some great scenes together, especially the turbulent flight scene which has an hilarious ending. Kate Hudson brings depth to what could have been a really floaty and limiting role, whilst Penny is mostly carefree Hudson brings a lot of vulnerability to it with her emotive eyes and facial expressions; she really does a beautiful job. I adore Fairuza Balk as Sapphire, she really gets that carefree, fun loving character. 

I haven't seen the movie in a while and it was fun to see how many people are in it who are now big stars; Anna Paquin, Jay Baruchel, Jimmy Fallon and Eric Stonestreet to name a few. Almost Famous is a great coming of age story written by someone who really gets music and how it can make you feel and the soundtrack really is AMAZING. 

American Psycho (2000) - #156

Empire top 301: #156
IMDb top 250: -

Rating 6/10

Director: Mary Harron
Writers: Mary Harron & Guinevere Turner 
Starring: Christian Bale, Reese Witherspoon, Willem Dafoe & Justin Theroux

"I don't want to get you drunk, but, ah, that's a very fine Chardonnay you're not drinking."

I have read a few pages of Brett Easton Ellis' American Psycho and a few pages was all I could handle.   I read the disturbing rat torture scene and I just couldn't bring myself to read anymore. The film does not include this scene, thankfully. In the hands of the wrong director this film could have very easily turned out to be a silly torture porn movie but Marry Harron manages to make a really stylish and some might say thought provoking film.

The film only gets a 6 out of 10 from me because I neither loved or hated it, it was just a bit meh. Sure it looks good, the soundtrack is great and Christian Bale gives a good performance but it just doesn't do anything for me. It's not a bad movie, it kept my attention for the duration but when it ended I was a bit, so what. Nothing is resolved by the end of this movie and you have to make up your own mind about who is Patrick Bateman and did he commit all those murders and I do like an ambiguous ending.

I did feel that Reese Witherspoon and Willem Dafoe were criminally underused and their characters were a bit pointless but this is Bales' movie and he carries it well. There are some great scenes and at times it is quite funny, Bale doing the moonwalk before axing Jared Leto was inspired and really made me laugh out loud.

Now I'd love to sit and critique this film some more but I have to return some videotapes!

Gladiator (2000) - #27

Empire top 301: #27
IMDb top 250: #61

Rating 10/10

Director: Ridley Scott
Writers: David Franzoni, John Logan & William Nicholson
Starring: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed & Richard Harris

"Are you not entertained?"

Yes I'm entertained, very entertained. A great story, great writing, great acting, great direction and a great score. What more could you want from a movie! This movie is a joy to watch and is one that I could watch again and again. Ridley Scott has created a modern day epic and even though 13 years old it hasn't aged a day. Scott's direction along with John Mathieson's cinematography is simply stunning. The opening battle scene in Germania, every scene in the Colosseum, the landscape; it is beautiful and all played over by Hans Zimmers gorgeous score!  

The writing is amazing and there are times when it sounds like poetry. This may be down to some exquisite acting from all involved. Russell Crowe is terrific as Maximus and his performance deservedly won him the Best Actor Oscar in 2000. He plays the part perfectly going from strong and commanding in one scene to full of emotion and touching in the next. The supporting cast are equally as excellent, Joaquin Phoenix is brilliant as the evil Commudus never hamming it up and Connie Nielsen is splendid as Lucilla. 

However the real stars for me are the late Richard Harris and Oliver Reed. Oliver Reed in particular who steals every scene he is in, subtly and beautifully. How he did not receive a posthumous Oscar nomination for this performance I'll never know. 

This an exciting, moving, inspiring, gorgeous movie and one I would highly recommend. It throughly deserves it's place in the 500 greatest movies of all time, however I would've placed it a lot higher than Empire magazine did!