Ray (Widescreen Edition)
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Movie Reviews of Ray (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: An Apt Tribute, an Evocative Performance & Rousing Music.
Summary: 5 Stars
"Ray" is the story of the life and career of singer/pianist Ray Charles, whose music crossed charts, cultures and generations of fans. This is a straightforward biopic, but it's a good one, driven by an impressive lead performance, bolstered by a talented supporting cast, and punctuated with great music. "Ray" follows Charles' professional progress and personal life from 1948, when he played with a jazz trio in Seattle that led to his first record contract, through his emerging career and success with Atlantic Records in the 1950s, to his move to ABC and international fame in the 1960s. Periodic flashbacks reveal the formative events of Charles' childhood in rural Florida, where he was raised by his poor but resolute mother who had the heartbreaking misfortune to lose one child and watch helplessly as the other went blind.
Before settling on a style -or styles- of his own, Ray Charles claimed he could mimic just about anybody. Jamie Foxx's performance would have done him proud. It doesn't just involve mimicry, of course; Foxx gets at Ray Charles' underlying ambitions, fears, and faults. But Ray Charles' mannerisms and voice are distinctive, and Foxx adopts them naturally. Blind since he was 7 years old, but never lacking in wit or ambition, Charles talked himself into opportunities that no one wanted to give him. I found it interesting that being blind put him at a disadvantage, not so much because he couldn't see, but because it caused an inordinate number of people to try to take advantage of him. Ray Charles had great talent and a sharp business sense that served him well. He navigated using his extraordinary hearing instead of a cane or guide dog. He was gutsy when he pioneered a rousing blend of gospel and blues, and then again when he gave the same fans a country & western album. He was that rare musician who could change genres, pursue his artistic impulses, and keep his audience. But the most courageous thing he ever did may have been early in his career: Touring with a band in strange cities, Ray Charles' blindness made him constantly dependent on people whom he couldn't trust. He used heroin to cope with the stress, which eventually became an impediment. "Ray" is the story of his professional successes, personal failures, and how the man and his music embodied them all.
Movie Review: The Life's story of an imperfect man who did amazing things
Summary: 5 Stars
I went to see Ray in the theaters last night because my sister suggested it and because I was in a mood to see something "critically acclaimed". For the record, I knew very little about the man and so had very few preconceptions. What I saw made a deep impression in my mind and heart.
Ray Robinson, aka Ray Charles the singer, songwriter and musician, was blind since the age of 7. He had to deal not only with bigotry for his disability but for being black in Georgia before the civil rights movement. Throughout his life many people (both black and white) would try to take advantage of the blind man, ripping him off financially or hoarding his talent for their own gain. Ray had both the blessing and the curse of being a ladies' man, resulting in serial affairs while his wife stayed home and raised their family. It surprised me to learn that he fought an addiction to heroin for well over a decade before finally beating it in the `60s. Nevertheless, Ray carried all this baggage and more through the 40s and 50s as he made a name for himself playing piano in the Country, Jazz, etc. pop music circuits. Eventually of course he rose to become one of the most recognized and beloved musical artists worldwide.
The man that this film showed me was an incredible example of determination, charm and simple human spirit. I have heard others say that Jamie Foxx's acting was so good that they were half-convinced he was channeling Ray Charles' ghost. I'll take their word for it that it was an accurate performance, but regardless, it was also a great performance! Down the line each of the supporting actors was perfectly convincing and real, but none more so than Foxx. I will denounce the Academy if he isn't at least nominated for an Oscar.
The least of Ray's imperfections was his physical blindness --yet he had a powerful gift and the ability to reach into the collective soul of a nation. Over his long career as a musician and songwriter, Ray Charles Robinson created and performed some of the most memorable music to audiences across the country. Your color, age and creed doesn't matter; chances are, you've heard and loved at least one Ray Charles song in your lifetime. We'll never have another like him.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle.
Movie Review: The Man and the Music
Summary: 5 Stars
The fabulous music, and a performance by Jamie Foxx that captures the essence of the complex character that was Ray Charles, override the flaws that may be found in this film. Ray's roots were in the abject poverty of his youth in Greenville, Florida, where he witnessed the drowning of his younger brother, and shortly afterward started to go blind at the age of 5. Many of the events from his childhood are told in flashbacks, and there is a magical scene where he learns to use his ears to replace his eyes, as his mother watches in silence. His life on the road, his many women, and his battle with heroin addiction are depicted, but it's the music that drove his life. Ray was a musical genius who also had an astute instinct for business, and for what songs to add to his repertoire, which often broke new ground and went against the advice of the record industry experts.
Every bit of praise and every award (including the Best Actor Oscar) for Jamie Foxx is justified. Though the soundtrack uses the original recordings dating as far back as the 1953 "Mess Around," Foxx is obviously an accomplished pianist; the actor and his role are like a marriage made in heaven, and this film biography will surely become a classic. The others in the cast that surround him are excellent, with Sharon Warren as his mother, Regina King as Margie Hendricks, and Curtis Armstrong as Ahmet Ertegun among the standouts.
Director Taylor Hackwood blends the flashbacks and nightmares from the past into the thread of the story in a cohesive manner, and one is never lost in the sequences, as can easily happen with that style of storytelling. The flaws in the film would be in some of the stereotypical characterizations, but they fade into the background quickly as the power of Ray the genius and Jamie the actor rivet out attention to the screen. "Ray" also received an Oscar for Best Sound, and nominations for Best Picture, Director, Editing, and Costume Design. The songs include: "Mess Around," "I Got a Woman," "Night Time is the Right Time," "What'd I Say," "Georgia on My Mind," "Hit the Road, Jack," "Unchain My Heart," "I Can't Stop Loving You," "Born to Lose," and much more. Total running time is 153 minutes.
Movie Review: Ladies and Gentlemen: Mr. Jamie Foxx
Summary: 5 Stars
A couple of things I'd like to point out about this film:
=Ray Charles' struggles with heroin, and the effect it had on his personality and those who loved him, is legendary. In one opportunity to see him and his orchestra perform in New York that I unfortunately had to miss years ago, a friend of mine said you could hear him almost cursing out his band members from several rows away while playing on stage--this I can only assume long after he kicked the heroin habit for good. The fact that Taylor Hackford chose not to sugarcoat a considerable portion of this attests to not just his respect for his craft, but also to his incredible respect for this legend that was and is Ray Charles.
His touch--literally and figuratively--with women was also magnificently captured, as well as the grief and angst it caused his long suffering but deeply loving--and very smart--wife, who had a better idea of what she was getting into than any woman outside of the circle of such experience could probably understand.
His long standing friendship with the genius Quincy Jones was also well symbolized, as was their mutual evolutions as men and artists.
All of this is so important because, given the context of the breadth of his genius and his unimaginable level of courage, one would otherwise forget that Ray Charles was actually human--partialy thanks to a performance by Jamie Foxx that at times leaves the level of brilliant and goes straight to downright eerie.
The cinematography for this movie was beautiful. The ensemble cast of actors were incredible--especially Ray's mother, who has this as her first movie role. The costumes were thrilling; a fact easy to forget considering how well they made you forget you weren't actually in the concert halls and joints where it is taking place. The screenplay was wonderfully dramatic without being preachy or documentary-like in a sneeky way.
You walk away from this movie in awe of Ray Charles...and then only sometime after you prepare to put this DVD away while reading the credits are you reminded that you were watching Jamie Foxx portraying Ray Charles.
You will want to own this one.
Movie Review: Unbelievable movie on a unbelievable individual
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, after not being entertained by usual Jamie Foxx comedies, and not being inspired much by Will Smith's performance in Ali, I didn't have much expectations for this. But after seeing collateral, I thought, hey maybe Jamie Foxx can pull it off.
Ray Charles(Jamie Foxx) is undeniebly one of the greatest music legonds of all time. He started off small time, then a man he considered like a brother to him Jeff Brown(Clifton Powell) helped him to try to get him a national superstar. But even with his girlfriend who eventually became his wife, Della Bea, Robinson(Kerry Washington), and his newfound success, he couldn't escape his painful past, where he got more than blind. So he needed something to try to take the pain away. Then one of his friends Fathead Newman(Bokeem Woodbine) gave him some evil in the needle. What would become of a rising star that had a painful past, and alot of comming afflictions?
This movie does a excellent job of telling Ray Charles life throughout, all he went through, the life problems, the critisism, the past, and, of course, his music. This movie served the genres of drama, thriller, and biography with a fully loaded punch. I mean, after watching the film, I couldn't even remember if Jamie Foxx ever did comedy before. And the supporting cast really added a backup punch as well. The only funny part was where the girl in the studio told Ray"you wouldn't save me if my @$$ was on fire." And he said "d@mn right I wouldn't.
Ray is unbalivable in a variety of ways, and shows how a blind man in a cold world gave the finger to all the odds, and rose to the heights of greatness. Jamie Foxx definitly deserved the award. He proved he could do a role like this, and to me, he did a better job than Will Smith in Ali, Denzel Washington in Malcom X, and Samuel L. Jackson in Caoch Narter. If Ray Charles, God rest his soul, could see this, I'm sure he'd be very proud to see his life reinacted in souch a spectacular way. If anyone love the movies mentioned above, biographys, or dramas, MUST check this out.
Rest in Peace:Ray Charles Robinson(1930-2004)
Peace