Walk the Line (IMDB:8.0|Rot:83%)
Friday night is movie night: Walk the Line at the Strand Theater. Good stuff, even if it did veer into classic VH1: Behind the Music territory (poor/ tragic beginnings, sudden success, descent into drugs and madness, redemption). In fairness, I have to admit that I have a soft spot for Reese Witherspoon. She was great in Pleasantville, and simply amazing in Election. (Hell, even Legally Blonde had its moments.) But her performance as June Carter was phenomenal, and it was nice to see her get to play a part with some depth and dimension to it. June is an extraordinarily sympathetic character, and she gets the lion's share of good lines. I liked her as much for her strength of character and low tolerance for bullshit as I did for her loyalty and dedication.
I was also really impressed by Joaquin Phoenix's Johnny Cash (apparently Johnny Cash picked him for the role). He and Reese both did all their own singing and guitar/ autoharp playing in the film, and spent a lot of time preparing for these roles. Even simplified into a 2-hour flick, Johnny Cash's life still makes for quite a story— definitely worth seeing.
Posted by rv at January 21, 2006 12:20 AM to movie