Dave's Top Eight

1. Jerry Reed...Revisited by Darrell Toney (reviewed 6/07) (5 Stars)
2. Sounds Like Sunday by Janet Paschal (reviewed 5/07) (5 Stars)
3. True To The Call by Kingdom Heirs (reviewed 3/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
4. Revival by Gold City (reviewed 10/06) (4 1/2 Stars)
5. Get Away Jordan by Ernie Haase & Signature Sound (reviewed 2/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
6. Breakin' Chains by Three Bridges (reviewed 5/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
7. Big Sky by The Isaacs (reviewed 4/07)
8. Skywriting by Mercy's Well (reviewed 7/07)

Click title to purchase at CBD.com...click artist name to read Dave's Review. A CD will automatically fall out of the Top Eight after twelve months if no CD surpasses it before then.

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November 21, 2005

Man In Black On The Silver Screen

Movie Review - Walk The Line
This biopic about the courtship between Johnny Cash and June Carter is great on many levels. I didn't mind that Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon sang the songs in this film. (Some have complained that only Johnny Cash could sing like Johnny Cash, so Phoenix should have lip-synched. To those, I say, "It's a movie." Suspending your disbelief about stuff like that just goes with the territory. Granted, I was a bit worried near the beginning of the movie when Phoenix first sang, but as the character's confidence improved, I thought he did a fine job approximating Cash's sound and mannerisms.)

My only complaint about this film is similar to a complaint I had about Ray, the story of Ray Charles. The period of Cash's history that this movie covers isn't broad enough. There's so much more that Cash did with his career in later years. I think Walk The Line comes off better, though, because the real point of the movie is in how Johnny finally convinced June to marry him. Once she accepts, it makes logical sense to end the movie there, whereas with Ray, the point where they ended the film felt arbitrary. Also, this movie has a lot of the highlights from Cash's musical career...with his most famous performance in Folsom Prison being used thematically both at the beginning and near the end of the movie.

This is a must-see movie for Cash fans. There's some scenes with Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, and other famous characters as well. Some of the Cash family aside from June come across as two-dimensional, unfortunately, but maybe it was necessary to make the movie hang together...filmgoers like for there to be a villian, for some reason. Me...I'd prefer it be treated more like a road trip...a journey that starts with some background about his childhood and ends when he dies, showing as many highlights as possible along the way. But I guess that's too simple minded for Hollywood.

Southern Gospel fans will be interested to hear that at least one quartet song is included in the film. I can't remember the title, but it was during a scene that took place in 1955 and sounded like the Blackwood Brothers to me. (It was in the background, coming from a radio.)

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posted by David Bruce Murray @ 9:12:00 PM


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