Not Ray!

Rating: 8/10 (15 August 2006)

When I bought the ticket for Walk the Line, I quietly said to myself, "This better not be Ray again," the Oscar-heavy of 2004. Unfortunately, a few too many comparisons can be made. Johnny Cash tragically loses his brother at a young age and feels guilty about the loss for a long time, as Ray Charles did. Drug abuse nearly ruins his career and life, again, like Ray. Walk the Line is a basic run-of-the-mill, making-of-a-legend biography, just like Ray. Big "However," this is where the comparisons end, and where Walk the Line morphs into a different genre to become its own film. It's more than a biopic - it's mostly the love story between Cash (Joaquin Phoenix, proving awesome devotion once again) and June Carter (Reese Witherspoon, restoring faith and making me almost entirely forget the Legally Blondes). My favorite scene is definitely Cash's first audition in a local studio, where he sings a truly in-the-moment rendition of "Folsom Prison Blues." The movie is terrific and really was robbed of a Best Picture nomination from the Academy this year, but it leaves you wishing you knew June Carter's past just as well as the Man in Black's... which is probably the strongest reason that Best Actress Oscar belongs to Witherspoon.