SummaryRay is the never-before-told, musical biographical drama of American legend Ray Charles. Featuring Jamie Foxx in the central role, Ray follows the inspiring story of a one-of-a-kind genius. (Universal)
SummaryRay is the never-before-told, musical biographical drama of American legend Ray Charles. Featuring Jamie Foxx in the central role, Ray follows the inspiring story of a one-of-a-kind genius. (Universal)
Every once in a while, a performance pops out of a Hollywood movie that is so brilliant and unique to the matching of actor to role that it's impossible to imagine anyone else achieving it.
Falling on the meaty, potential role of a lifetime like a ravenous lion, erstwhile comedian Jamie Foxx, so good in "Collateral," is just wonderful as the eponymous star.
Delivers platinum performances, especially Sharon Warren as Ray's tough-lovin' mother, Kerry Washington as his lily-tempered wife, and Regina King as his spitfire mistress.
Unlike his songs, the film holds something back. It goes deep into a life filled with as much trouble and pain as triumph and accomplishment but never quite gets at the root of who Ray is.
For too many minutes of its two and a half hours, Ray flips through its cinematic pages with a breathless and-then-this-happened urgency, offering up little in the way of personality (or truth) beyond Jamie Foxx's strong performance.
I was just hanging out and watching TV when a film called Ray from 2004 started at that moment. I was fascinated by the film, so I kept watching. He watched and watched until I finally watched the whole movie and I must say that it was an absolute experience. I love dark stories in movies, and this one was perhaps the darkest I've ever seen. Excellent music and especially the excellent acting performance of Jamie Foxx, who played Ray himself here. I don't even think you need to like music for this movie. This film is a masterpiece and I definitely recommend you watch it.
i hear like you see..
Ray
The structure of the feature is similar to any other biography, so there is no element of surprise and addition to that, another major conundrum is the overlong runtime, ticking for more than 150 minutes. James L. White's screenplay is smart yet somehow fails to keep the audience engaged into it despite of having some high pitched dramatic sequences. Taylor Hackford has done an amazing work on executing the script and the characters onto the screen and create something colossal out of it with the help of amazing cinematography and fine editing. The performance is where the feature steals the show and the heart of it lies with Jamie Foxx who is supported by a great cast like Karee Washington and Regina King. Ray is a character driven feature that shouts out the affection that makers had for Ray which is what helps it work like a charm.
Ray est l'exemple type du biopic classique. A savoir, on choisit une cÃlÃbrità (ici, Ray Charles) et on en fait un film sur sa vie, sans rÃaliser la moindre prouesse question mise en scène, le tout reposant sur les Ãpaules de l'acteur principal (Jamie Foxx) et Ãgalement sur la bo (c'est quand même Ray Charles!). Sans compter dans le lot un montage rapide et brouillon. Mais fort heureusement, Ray est un film qui se laisse suivre sans dÃplaisir, et ce grâce à une certaine Ãnergie, dûe justement à la rapidità du montage (en l'occurence avantage et dÃfaut à la fois), la distribution et les chansons de l'artiste. Un biopic animà et qui nous dÃvoile (tout de même) quelques vices de ce personnage (drogue, adultère...).
"Ray" is definitely worth the watch for Jamie Foxx's performance alone, but it's a far shot from becoming a classic simply because it doesn't take any unexpected strides to make itself memorable. As far as biopics go, it's miles behind "I'm Not There" and "American Splendor" (and it might be unfair to bring up "Lawrence of Arabia" or "Raging Bull")
Putting aside Charles' incredible body of music, and his impact on American (if not global) culture, I'm reviewing the movie, which is not a great one. I'm still pretty amazed, nearly a decade after this movie came out, how few people seem unperturbed by the degree of bad or over acting in this movie. Literally every single scene in this film has an example of it, and given the talent on call, the blame, as far as I am concerned, falls squarely on the shoulders of writer/director Taylor Hackford. Another issue I have is the editing/pace of dramatic scenes, which I found to be rushed, and therefore ineffectual. Perhaps laughably so. It's just hard to take this movie seriously at all, which is a big problem since it's so long. In it's rush to get to the end, the viewer is hustled along through Mr. Robinson's life like pilgrims through a museum with definite profit targets. Anything worth notice gets rushed, while everything that can be crammed in is. And then, at the end, we get crummy reading scenes that describe the rest of the movie. That's our reward for enduring this mess. More mess. In sum, "Ray" is overwrought, over-acted, corny, and too long.