Take a journey into friendship

"Be honest and unmerciful" Lester Bangs instructs budding scribe William Miller at the start of "Almost Famous" (2000), a semi-autobiographical love letter to 70s music and rock journalism.

Bangs, played brilliantly as always by the late Philip Seymour-Hoffman, gives young Miller, played by uber-talented Patrick Fugit, his first paid assignment to cover a Black Sabbath concert in San Diego.

"Almost Famous" is based on writer-director Cameron Crowe's actual experiences writing for "Rolling Stone" magazine when he was the fictional Miller's age, just 15.

I adore this movie especially the soundtrack of 70s rock songs lovingly compiled by Crowe's then wife and Heart founder Nancy Wilson.

My favorite scene is when Miller introduces rock "Band Aid" Penny Lane (played gorgeously by Kate Hudson) to star lead guitarist Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) and Joni Mitchell's "River" is softly playing in the background.

Such a touching, tender scene with the sweet, gullible Miller not twigging that Penny and Russell already know each other from previous tours.

This movie is about journalism, 70s music, unrequited love, the machinations of bands and best of all, a road trip which parallels the protagonist's own loss of innocence.

Speaking of road trips, "Thelma and Louise" (1991) is a must because of the often funny, sad and mad juxtaposition of the central characters, Thelma (played amazingly by Geena Davis), and Louise, played by one of my all-time favorite actresses Susan Sarandon.

Directed by the genius Ridley Scott, the film starts innocently enough. Gal pals Thelma and Louise are off to a lake house for a weekend. Thelma is nervous because she hasn't told, and doesn't tell, her controlling husband Darryl about the trip.

The gals zip off in Louise's open-top vintage convertible but the journey turns dark after an incident in a car park and suddenly Thelma and Louise find themselves on the run.

Aside from the breathtaking scenery as the women take a different route to escape the police, a stellar performance by Harvey Keitel as the cop with a heart as well as then newcomer Brad Pitt as a cowboy drifter, this film is about an enduring and all-encompassing friendship.

Sarandon and friendship are central to another must-see, the delicious "Witches of Eastwick" (1987).

As the title suggests, the film is set in the picturesque New England town of Eastwick where three friends gather for a weekly wine and nibbles lament on life and the shortcomings of men.

Not only is Sarandon a star of this film but two of my other favs, Michelle Pfeiffer and Cher.

Pfeiffer is particularly delightful as the vulnerable and fecund Suki whose husband has left her because they had too many children while Cher's Alex has been abandoned because she is unable to fall pregnant. Meanwhile, Sarandon is playing prudish Jane, an uptight cellist.

Just while we're on Michelle Pfeiffer, I think she has got to be in the pantheon of the modern acting greats and during these covid times, I have caught up on a lot of her films and she never fails to deliver a stand-out performance.

Her thriller "What Lies Beneath" with Harrison Ford unusually playing a villain, is a wonderful Hitchcock homage and edge-of-your-seat flick.

She's luminous in "One Fine Day" with George Clooney but her Catwoman in "Batman Returns" tops everything else, especially the whip work, which she did herself.

Watch out for the classic "Honey, I'm home... Oh, I forgot, I'm not married" dark yet funny scene where Catwoman returns to her alter ego Selina Kyle's dowdy apartment to complete her transformation.

Anyhow, I digress. Back to the intriguing "Witches of Eastwick". During one of their girls' nights, the trio (played by Sarandon, Pfeiffer and Cher) inadvertently conjure up the perfect man, or so they think at first.

Daryl Van Horne, played expertly and hilariously by an at-times increasingly frustrated and dishevelled Jack Nicholson, then shows up in Eastwick to terrorise the tranquility and disrupt the dreariness. The scene of him being chauffeur-driven to buy ice-cream while dressed in silk robe and slippers is a delight.

While at first willingly seduced by Daryl, who of course appeals to each friend by telling them what they badly want to hear, the rock-solid trio eventually come to their senses and hatch an ingenious plot to rid their lives of the destructive and supernatural male force forever.

Anyway, it's a laugh-out-loud, dark fantasy comedy with a twist.

Now you have it, three sensational movies with a common thread of friendship and love. Enjoy!