johnny vs. ray
last night we went over to ryan's ridiculously sweet house and watched Walk the Line in his movie theater (no, seriously. he has a movie theater in his house). i thought that the most enjoyable aspect of the movie was watching Joaquin Pheonix's impersonation of Johnny Cash. it was uncanny how well he was able to imitate Johnny's voice, especially. he really sang his songs quite well.
the movie was clearly well made, but it didn't really move me. i cared about Johnny, but not really all that much. he was kind of a bum i sympathized with his wife and children more than i sympathized with him. in a sense i didn't want him to marry June, i wanted him to go back to his wife, even though Reese Witherspoon played the part excellently and was very likeable.
i thought the movie was similar to Ray with the excellent impersonation, the crazy rock star life, the drug use, the sex with teenage fans, etc., but i think i may have liked Ray better. which is odd considering that i'm much more interested in Cash's life story than Ray Charles'.
i agree with your assessments...you should have been home to receive my call instead rufus.
Posted by
Anonymous |
May 20, 2006 12:26 PM
when johnny cash was read the screenplay by his son, a collaborator, his satisfaction stemmed from him being the bad guy.
i liked ray, but i felt like this was more of a story about june and johnny rather than just johnny. it was a love story, not a biography. and i think there is a level of understanding that we have to have about stardom. it turns people into god's. people praise them. it's not natural, and has to be hard to be that person. thus the actions that feel like they have no consequence, a 'what could go wrong? everything is going great' mentality. the wives seemed to understand that and be ...resemptive for the sake of there husbands and families. (mrs. charles and june cash)
Posted by
Anonymous |
May 20, 2006 3:34 PM
Ryan - you NEED to pick up Johnny Cash's autobiography. It's really fascinating, and much much better than the movie.
Posted by
Anonymous |
May 20, 2006 8:56 PM
yeah, keith. watching the movie made me really want to read that. in what sense did you find it fascinating?
Posted by
Ryan |
May 20, 2006 9:16 PM