Ray (Widescreen Edition)
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Movie Reviews of Ray (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: Addiction, Adultery, and Adoration
Summary: 5 Stars
What can I say about this film that has not already been said? Very little. I agree with everyone who says that Jamie Foxx "became" Ray Charles. I "became" Ray Charles just watching it. It was an amazing performance. At the end of it, I felt as though I knew Ray--I felt that he was one of my friends--I felt that I miss him now that he is gone. The performance was that powerful. I agree with everyone who says that the sets were dynamite. The cars. The clothes. The hip-cat talk. The brash Jim Crow. They took us back, baby. They took us back. I agree with everyone who says that the music works in this movie better than in any musician's bio-pic ever, and that includes even the best of them like Buddy Holly, The Doors, Richy Valens, Sweet Dreams, Coal Miner's Daughter, the Countless Elvis attempts, and even the Oscar-winning Amadeus. And there is a reason: focus.
Love it or hate it, focus makes the difference. Yes, Ray's life was bigger than addiction, adultery, and adoration. Yes, this narrowness of focus leaves out much that is to be said about one of the musical greats of all time. It does, however, make for an easier viewing. It does allow for a man's life to be built around plotpoints, rather than feel like a confusing splash of film images--which is what usually happens in a bio-pic (take Van Peeble's ALI, for example).
So, if we focus on Ray's adultery, there is a natural beginning, middle and end when Marge Hendricks, his longtime lover, meets Ray, becomes entangled in his life and his music, and then dies tragically of an overdose (never mind the truth that Ray's dalliances neither began nor ended with Marge).
If we focus on the drugs, there is a natural beginning, middle and end when Ray is introduced to heroin, becomes a junky, and finally kicks the habit (never mind that the addiction seems to have coincided with the BEST music he ever created; in other words, most of the songs we love him for were all created during his junky days).
Finally, if we focus on the adoration (i.e., the music and the fan), we get the "rhyme" that matches the "reason." In other words, Ray's music, fueled by his addiction and lust, is the perfect background music for . . . the movie RAY. The driving rhythms of HIT THE ROAD JACK and UNCHAIN MY HEART are both heartstrong and drugged-out frenetic.
A final point: My second favorite Ray song of all time is THE NIGHTTIME IS THE RIGHT TIME (my all time favorite was left out of the film, LET'S GO GET STONED). For about two decades I have associated that song, NIGHTTIME, with a classic episode of THE COSBY SHOW--you know the one I'm talking about: Cosby and family lip-sync a musical tribute to their grandparents before they go off on a sea voyage to renew their vows. It is a sweet scene, highlighted by cute little Rudy (Keisha Knight Pulliam), five at the time, closing her eyes in a lover's mask and moaning the song's famous call "Baby, Baaaabay, Babbbbay, Ooh my ba-baaaay" to Cosby's reponse, "I say Baby, I say Baby--" Again, I know that you know the scene and the song--it begins with Dave "Fathead" Newman's famous lazy bump-and grind tenor sax intro. For years when I heard the song, the Cosby scene played in my head. That little girl belting out those words. It seemed so cute. So innocent. Seeing it in the movie, with Marge Hendricks singing it to her lover Ray Charles, seeing the look of love and lust in her eyes, seeing her eyes wide open as she sings--there is nothing cute about that scene. Baby don't mean baby in that scene, if you know what I mean.
Movie Review: The Best Music Biography Ever Made
Summary: 5 Stars
Doing a music film biography can be a pretty tricky thing to pull off. They can either turn out to be triumphs such as "Whats Love Got to With It" (the amazing survival story of singer, Tina Turner) or total artistic stink-bombs like Oliver Stone's "The Doors" (60's rocker, Jim Morrison). Thankfully, Taylor Hackford's Academy Award winning film, "Ray", the story of legendary soul singer/musician, Ray Charles, belongs in the former catagory. In fact it's probably one of the best music biographies ever made. The film follows Ray Charles Robinson (Jamie Foxx) from his childhood in abject poverty to his rise in musical fame & fortune. In his childhood he sees his younger brother accidentally drown (which haunts him) and shortly after he goes blind from glaucoma. Charles' strong willed mother, Della (Kerry Washington) teaches him with "tough love" ("I aint gonna be around forever, so you better learn to do it yourself") to stand on his own two feet and survive in this world. Charles takes the lessons to heart. He has an affinity for music. We follow him on a personally messy but artistically successful, life long trip, that takes him from the juke joints of the segregated, deep rural South to the most famous concert stages of the world. I think one of the reasons this film is so successful is because it presents us with the portrait of a truely conflicted man, who almost has a dual personality. On one hand it shows Ray Charles the "musical genuis" of both the stage and the studio. Here was a man who wore the word "genuis" like a crown.This was not just hype. The film shows, that he was a musical innovator (meshing gospel & blues together to create his own unique R&B style) consumate professional, a perfectionist and a tough taskmaster, who had high expectations for the musicians, that worked for him. On the other hand, the movie also presents a man with an equally messy personal life, that included heroin addiction, marital problems and numerous sexual affairs. It presents a conflicted man, who had lived a very tough life, with many personal demons, but who eventually perservered. Director Taylor Hackford does a fantastic job of telling this story in a wonderfully dynamic fashion, that keeps the viewer wanting more. But the real key for the artistic success of this film has got to be the mesmorizing, title role performance from Actor, Jamie Foxx. Foxx dosn't just merely mimic or do a slick impersonation (although he does a great job in that respect). Instead its almost as if he becomes Ray Charles himself and reveals in his performance, what the essence of the man was. This truely was the best acting performance of 2004 and Foxx roundly deserved his 'Best Actor' Oscar. Other very good performances from the film included Kerry Washington as Charles' no-nonsense mother, Sharon Warren as his first wife Aretha and Curtis Armstrong as Atlantic Records owner/producer, Ahmet Ertegun. Finally, mention should be made of the wonderfully faithful recreations of Ray Charles' legendary live shows. You really feel like your at one of his concerts. The filmmaker wisely chose to use Ray Charles' original recordings for the soundtrack and Jamie Foxx to lip-synch to. Wise choice, because only Ray Charles could make sounds like that. I wasn't much of a Ray Charles fan before I saw this movie, but I came out of the theatre tapping my toes and humming the tunes. Now, all thanks to this film, I'm trying to collect all the Ray Charles music, I can get my hands on! Great movie! Great music! Highly recommended!Movie Review: The One And Only Ray Charles
Summary: 5 Stars
"Ray", released in 2004, garnered much critical acclaim from the critics. The quality of this film proves them all as well-deserved, earning seven Oscar nomination including Best Picture and winning two (Best Sound Mixing and Best Actor). It stars Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Clifton Powell, and others. This film portrays the life and times of legendary musician Ray Charles. It shows how he changed music history through his songs, his piano, and his vocals. Through a grueling work schedule, heroin addiction, multiple sex partners, racism, and blindness, he overcomes every life obsticle wonderfully. Meanwhile, it portrays his struggling childhood. These past images haunt him through the whole film, namely his brother's early death. All of the shown glimpses show how he began his life journey where the film begins.
These scenes and events are written beautifully. Between the two simultaneous timelines, the film flows smoothly. It successfully distinguishes his music often played in whole and his personal life without any major distractions. Therefore, this is not just a musician "biopic". It's a drama. Few other films have accomplished this difficult task to this magnitude ("Amedeus", 1984). This film gives Ray Charles the recognition he deserves as a musician and a person. Led by director Taylor Hackford, the series of events remain entertaining, yet heartfelt in certain scenes. Such quality proves that the fifteen years of struggling to create this film was worth the wait. The emotional stance continually builds, leading to a powerful conclusion.
Words cannot describe Jamie Foxx's performance as Ray Charles. His mannerisms and appearance resemble exactly Charles's, ranging the performances style to the reaction of excitement to the speaking tone to the heroin reaction. Therefore, watching Foxx is just like watching Ray Charles. This difficult task proved well researched since he never leaves his "Ray Charles mode". Occassionally does a film feature an actor portraying a real-life figure maintain their preciseness. Though the actual Charles sings in the film, he expresses his own musical passion through the film. The crew couldn't have hired a better actor for this role. This truly was the performance of 2004 and of his career. His hard work before and during filming paid off.
Though Foxx's performance is the main showcase, the other actors also portray their roles beautifully. Through drug addiction, heartbreak, financial struggle, and betrayal, the actors' talents take this film to further emotional stance. Some supporting roles could have received an Oscar nomination without complaints from the critics, namely Kerry Washington and Regina King.
The costume design and the make-up are accurate to the mid-1900's styles. Jamie Foxx's appearance amazingly resembles Ray Charles to the degree that viewers often difficulty distinguishing the two. Many characters, especially the women, could be mistaken as actual 1950's footage because of the make-up, the wardrobes, and the hairstyles. The costumes also resemble Charles's actual suits worn on stage.
Such overall film quality makes "Ray" unforgettable viewing experience. The DVD is a great essential for any Ray Charles or Jamie Foxx fans as it will surely please its audiences for a long time. Other material that film fans may like are Ray Charles's final album "Genius Loves Company" and the "Ray" Sountrack.
Movie Review: One of the Best Bio-Pics I've ever seen!
Summary: 5 Stars
Jamie Foxx more than earned his recent Best Actor Oscar win with this brilliant portrayal of the one and only musical genius of Ray Charles. Perhaps more than Denzel Washington as Malcolm X, Lawrence Fishburne as Ike Turner, Angela Bassett as Tina Turner, or Will Smith as Mohammed Ali...Foxx's performance made me forget that it was anyone other than Ray Charles himself on the silver screen. To call it merely an "impersonation" is to belittle a skill that many actors can't pull off. Watch "Saturday Night Live" for impersonations of famous people, but can any of those actors carry an entire film, causing the viewer to forget that its merely an impersonation and getting absorbed as though we are watching Ray Charles' life play out before our very eyes.
I read some critiques of this film suffering from the usual bio-pic pitfalls of what angle to present a famous person's life story and where to begin and end such a film. This film does everything right in terms of how a bio-pic should be made and the creative license that convey a person's inner demons was well done in this film. The flashback sequences were well done and weren't confusing, and they helped the viewer understand the underlying motives of a childhood tragedy and how it helped create the person Ray Charles came to be.
What I loved most was seeing just why Ray Charles was considered a genius, as he knew when to move on to bigger and greener pastures with an impeccable sense of timing and what he is owed. He could easily have wasted years if not decades at the hands of some craven club owners in Seattle who knew they had a rare and profitable talent on their hands and weren't thinking in his best interest, but their own greed. People might have thought they could pull things over a blind man's head, but he always got the last laugh.
That's not to say that he was a perfect man. The scenes of implied heroin use were heartbreaking, but redemption comes in the end when an arrest and drug treatment forces him to face his demons once and for all to kick his habit. The scenes of his going cold turkey should be a warning lesson to anyone considering using drugs without regard to aftereffects. That Ray Charles kicked his habit cold turkey and never relapsed is another testament to his genius.
What got the most laughs and applause in theaters where I saw it, was when Ray Charles refused to perform in a segregated venue in Georgia, causing the state to ban him for life. The irony of it all as we watch the film in 2004/2005 is that we know that his "Georgia On My Mind" is the official state song of our state and he was given the hero's welcome in the state capitol in 1979.
This film is an impressive tribute to one of the greatest musical geniuses of our time and worth seeing and owning in your personal dvd collection. If you buy this dvd, you'll probably want the cd soundtracks as well...as the first thing I did after seeing this movie was running out to buy a greatest hits cd since I regrettably didn't have a single Ray Charles cd in my collection. That'll change after seeing the movie. Ray Charles' music is diverse enough for everyone to like at least some of his songs.
Movie Review: Stunning, Beautiful, So many ways to praise this
Summary: 5 Stars
The Oscars have been and gone, and one film has left critics stunned.
Jamie Foxx plays the part of Ray Charles Robinson, and pulls off an astonishing resemblance to the legend who died in late 2004.
The story begins as Ray is standing waiting for a bus to take him on his quest for fame in Seattle, however, when he is introduced to a Jazz band he hopes to work with, they doubt his abilities as he is blind. Despite the fact he is blind and black, he convinces them to give him a chance. They are astonished to see a blind man play the piano so well.
He finally reaches his destination of Seattle, and is forced to play in a talent night when one of the participants falls sick. Despite being unprepared he is persuaded to perform, after being tricked into taking drugs to calm him down. The audience stare in amazement, and immediately, he is snapped up by the owner and becomes his manager... as well as his lover.
Ray and his band start to sell out on every gig they play, however, he is set back by a childhood nightmare. He feels he is surrounded by water, which causes Ray great pain. Despite this, Ray continues to sell out, and before long he is spotted b a big record company, who offer him a deal. However, his manager isnt too kean to let her biggest money earner go. His manager seems to be hiding something from Ray about the deal, so he decides to speak to the record label himself, and finds his manager has been lting to him about the deal. In a moment of fury he leaves and travels the country with his new band and manager. However, drugs get the better of him, and despite recently becoming maried, he still has th urge to sleep with other women, even with a baby on the way. His ever growing heroin use leads the police to raid his room. No the only way for Ray to stay out of prison is to undergo rehabilitation and completely rid himself of heroin use.
During his rehabilitation, we find that the reason for his flashbacks is because his brother drounds as a youngster, and he feels he is to blame as he could have saved his. He continually sobs thinking of how he could have saved his beloved brother, and the constant crying and rubbing his eyes leads to Ray becoming blind.
Ray contyinues to become better and better as an artist, and because of this, his wealth grows and grows. We later find out his secret lover dies.
"Ray" is a hearwarming story, and his fears of blaming himself for his brothers death is put straight when he sees his mother and his brother in a dream, where his brother denies Ray is to blame. Also, he receives a public apology from his home town of Georgia who abnned him after he refused to perform there due to racist problems.
"Ray" is an enthrilling movie which is likely to attract all age roups. This true life story is a dedication to Mr Ray Charles who died in 2004, and Jamie Foxx's representation of him is outstanding. I would certainly urge everyone to watch the film, especially those with a musical interest. I personally loved this film, and, if asked to rate it out of five, I would have to rate it 5 out of 5.
I hope you enjoy it.