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1. Weeks before the opening: Cameron Crowe! Cameron Diaz! That shot of Tom Cruise on the edge of a skyscraper's roof! This should be good.

2. Days before the opening, after

artname and

xythian got back from the preview screening: Uh oh.

3. Opening day, after reading Roger Ebert's review: Sounds like it might not be as bad as they said.

4. Opening weekend, after seeing it: It's not as bad as they said.

5. Yesterday, after seeing it again on DVD: You know what? It's good.

6. Today, after seeing the movie it was based on: It's still a good movie, but I don't understand why Cameron Crowe bothered remaking it--long stretches of his version are almost shot-for-shot identical. Why tell this story again?

7. Tonight, after listening to the commentary by Crowe and Nancy Wilson: It's still a good movie, but the movie I thought I saw isn't the same one Crowe thought he was making, and I'm not sure if I like the movie he thought it was. Fortunately, he encourages alternate interpretations.

Additional notes from the commentary:

1. Not only does music play a tremendous role in the films that are Cameron Crowe's finished products; apparently, it's also playing on set during the filming of many scenes, as a way of getting people (principally actors) in the right mood for the moment. Every one of these scenes has a specific tone matched with the name of a pop song.

2. One of the things I liked about the movie the first time I saw it was how it played as a collage of things Cameron Crowe loved (I assumed)--like The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and Monet's paintings and everything by the Beatles. From the commentary, though, it seems he wasn't aware of these as personal affections. He refers to them as "things David Aames [the protagonist] loved as a child" or "things that are in all of our minds," but only rarely as close to his heart in particular.

3. Cameron Crowe really likes actors, and really appreciates the craft of what they do. Having seen the film twice, I'd been watching Cruise and Diaz and Penelope Cruz, and I'd made up my mind about their performances, but the commentary track also throws a spotlight on Kurt Russell. He really is good in this.