CharlieB-5
Joined Jun 1999
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Reviews20
CharlieB-5's rating
There are two movies here: One is Ray Charles on stage, the other is Ray Charles in the rest of his life. The movie begins with Ray (Charles) Robinson leaving Georgia to move to Seattle, and his earlier life is told in flashbacks. The flashbacks are effective in showing the childhood traumas and lessons that drive Ray, but I was not engaged. Even Ray's battles with heroin feel a little off-key. Everything is tied up into a nice little package, and you know that you are watching an authorized biopic.
But who cares? The music is worth the journey. Ray recreated some of his earlier music, and remastered other material. You watch Ray's development from a Nat King Cole wannabe into a man who broke all the barriers in the music industry. With Jamie Foxx's incredible performance, it works. You absolutely feel you are watching the young Ray Charles, it is almost impossible to imagine a better performance. The music gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes.
Jamie Foxx's performance and Ray's music easily overcome the script's limitations.
But who cares? The music is worth the journey. Ray recreated some of his earlier music, and remastered other material. You watch Ray's development from a Nat King Cole wannabe into a man who broke all the barriers in the music industry. With Jamie Foxx's incredible performance, it works. You absolutely feel you are watching the young Ray Charles, it is almost impossible to imagine a better performance. The music gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes.
Jamie Foxx's performance and Ray's music easily overcome the script's limitations.
What is it about the late 1930s that captures the imaginations of screen writers, production designers and art directors?
Filming the movie before a blue screen makes possible a very consistent look, which is pretty...well...consistent. Girls with red liptstick. Men in hats. Planes flying across scenery that turns into maps. Formations of flying robots that look like nightmare Nazi propaganda posters. Airplanes with flapping wings that look like secret weapons of the Luftwaffe. And, oh yeah, a plot.
Jude Law's Sky Captain is poorly exposited. Where does he come from? Does he work for the government? Why is he flying a P-51 Mustang before the beginning of World War II? But he has a sidekick named Dex Dearborne , which gives him the chance to say "Get us out of here, Dex!" You know you're going to be on relatively safe ground.
The intrepid 30's career gal pal is played by Gwenneth Paltrow. She should have reviewed a few Kathryn Hepburn movies, or Jennifer Jason Leigh's delightfully over-the-top fling in Hudsucker Proxy. In any case she doesn't have enough edge, er, moxie. She plays it with a sense of entitlement, and not enough of a chip on her shoulder. Career gals from the 30s had to push hard to get anywhere in a man's world.
Law and Paltrow are on the screen so much that there relationship needs to work, but there is more fizzle than sizzle. There are a couple of genuinely funny bits, and a very cute payoff at the end of the movie, but not enough to believe there is genuine spark. Chalk it up to a script that almost gets you there coupled with actors whose personas are too cool to put it over the top.
The evil German scientist (is there any other kind?) plot is a little to pat, and the movie suffers from not having a bad guy persona to root against. Angelina Jolie gives a great turn as a captain of the dammdest RAF squadron you've ever seen. Many 14-year old boys will be falling to sleep with visions of eye patches dancing in their heads.
The novelty of watching movie made on blue screen never entirely fades, but ultimately, the plot and characters are not up to carrying the load. It's entertaining as a novelty movie, and the look worked for me, but the incomplete plot and lack of chemistry let you down.
Filming the movie before a blue screen makes possible a very consistent look, which is pretty...well...consistent. Girls with red liptstick. Men in hats. Planes flying across scenery that turns into maps. Formations of flying robots that look like nightmare Nazi propaganda posters. Airplanes with flapping wings that look like secret weapons of the Luftwaffe. And, oh yeah, a plot.
Jude Law's Sky Captain is poorly exposited. Where does he come from? Does he work for the government? Why is he flying a P-51 Mustang before the beginning of World War II? But he has a sidekick named Dex Dearborne , which gives him the chance to say "Get us out of here, Dex!" You know you're going to be on relatively safe ground.
The intrepid 30's career gal pal is played by Gwenneth Paltrow. She should have reviewed a few Kathryn Hepburn movies, or Jennifer Jason Leigh's delightfully over-the-top fling in Hudsucker Proxy. In any case she doesn't have enough edge, er, moxie. She plays it with a sense of entitlement, and not enough of a chip on her shoulder. Career gals from the 30s had to push hard to get anywhere in a man's world.
Law and Paltrow are on the screen so much that there relationship needs to work, but there is more fizzle than sizzle. There are a couple of genuinely funny bits, and a very cute payoff at the end of the movie, but not enough to believe there is genuine spark. Chalk it up to a script that almost gets you there coupled with actors whose personas are too cool to put it over the top.
The evil German scientist (is there any other kind?) plot is a little to pat, and the movie suffers from not having a bad guy persona to root against. Angelina Jolie gives a great turn as a captain of the dammdest RAF squadron you've ever seen. Many 14-year old boys will be falling to sleep with visions of eye patches dancing in their heads.
The novelty of watching movie made on blue screen never entirely fades, but ultimately, the plot and characters are not up to carrying the load. It's entertaining as a novelty movie, and the look worked for me, but the incomplete plot and lack of chemistry let you down.
Bob Fosse in the 21st Century? Chicago works. Fosse's love/hate relationship with fame and celebrity is showcased in Roaring Twenties Chicago, with the stories of 2 incarcerated murderesses (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger) and their manipulative, cynical attorney (Richard Gere). The movie moves seamlessesly between the external and the inner world of characters, expressed as musical numbers.
Great fun. Well directed and acted. Gere, Zellweger and Zeta-Jones are surprisingly good hoofers and singers. Something to relish in the moment, and hum while getting out of the parking lot.
This movie just wants to be entertaining, and when it's this well done, there ain't nothing wrong with that.
Someone with cajones should recast this as the O.J. Simpson trial.
Great fun. Well directed and acted. Gere, Zellweger and Zeta-Jones are surprisingly good hoofers and singers. Something to relish in the moment, and hum while getting out of the parking lot.
This movie just wants to be entertaining, and when it's this well done, there ain't nothing wrong with that.
Someone with cajones should recast this as the O.J. Simpson trial.