ALMOST FAMOUS
Encore, 9:00 p.m. ET
This 2000 autobiographical magical mystery tour by writer-director Cameron Crowe recounts his coming of age as a young rock journalist, covering the industry in the 1970s for Rolling Stone magazine while still a teenager. His first cover profile, in 1973, was on the Allman Brothers Band – basically reshaped here as a fictional band named Stillwater, led by Billy Crudup’s charismatic Russell Hammond. Crudup gives a marvelous performance, but director Crowe gets them out of almost all his actors, and there are a lot deserving of particular attention here, starting with the central family. Watch for Patrick Fugit as William, Crowe’s cinematic counterpart, impossibly immature to be swimming the currents of rock ’n’ roll; Zooey Deschanel as William’s influential, free-spirited older sister; and scene-stealer Frances McDormand (pictured) as William’s aggressively protective mother. But there are so many other contributions, too, including Philip Seymour Hoffman as passionate rock critic Lester Bangs, Jason Lee as an understandably jealous member of Stillwater, and, playing groupies on the rock scene, Anna Paquin, Fairuza Balk, and a luminous Kate Hudson. And if you doubt the power and joy of rock music, look and listen to how Almost Famous enlivens a bus trip with an impromptu sing-along of Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.”