What I say? See this movie!

Rating: Null/10 (12 February 2005)

This movie was Nominated for a few Oscars, it deserves all of them, at least compared to other films that came out this year. Jamie Foxx and a supporting cast of superior actors make this movie one to behold, I loved this movie, it is one of the best I've seen in years. The writing is almost flawless and the direction, not to mention the acting leaves little if anything to be desired. The soothing melodic voice, and intense vocals of this genius of music is put to a movie, to show Ray Charles for all of his good and all of his bad. Despite that there were some problems with the biographical perspective. The movie goes to the mid-sixties and then quite, it's almost like he did nothing after he recovered from his drug addiction. That was the one weakness, and of course his womanizing, his inability to deal with people, especially those that have done so much for him. Other than that this movie was moving, funny, dramatic, all in a very subtle way. This is the kind of movie that you look at and wonder why is it that more movies are not like this. I am not sure if Jamie Foxx will win the Oscar, but as Ray Charles he did a more than stellar job, in fact he made this movie as good as it was.
When you watch Jamie Foxx in the lead role you almost think it is a documentary on his life, you sometimes forget it's a movie. There are a number of supporting actors who you recognize, but you can't place their names. They also make this movie seem larger than life. This movie, as far as production, writing, acting and execution are flawless. This was a lot of fun to watch. There are questions as to the kind of person this movie portrayed Ray Charles as, some saying it wasn't as hard on him as it should be, it made him look like too good of a guy. I thought the movie was pretty balanced, the movie didn't make him look that good. I never knew he was a drug addict, maybe I should have, after all one of his songs was "Let's go get Stoned." One reason to watch this movie is to see just how the genius got started, how he progressed, and got to where he was. Sadly I felt like the movie should have been longer overall. I thought the film should have focused a lot more on his childhood, and a lot more on his adult life. In that respect the movie focused too much on his years in the fifties and sixties.
Still, despite the flaws this remains an excellent and well done movie. I loved this movie. But as I have had time to think about it I have realized this movie is great, but to me it is not among the best ever made. Because he movie does not focus enough on his young and older years it falls short of the comprehensive all-time great films, like Casablanca, or In the Heat of the Night, which Ray Charles did the score for. Still, this does deserve an Oscar or two, this is by far one of the best of the year, not necessarily saying a whole lot, but well worth your money. Watch it if for nothing else than the beautiful music of Ray Charles put to a movie, it is wonderful to hear it all. Jamie Foxx deserves an Oscar, if not Clint Eastwood, but if they give the Oscar to pretty boy Leonardo DiCaprio, I'm gonna write a few angry letters to the Oscars.