Posts Tagged ‘Videos On Demand’
Buy Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines At Amazon!
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Buy Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines At Amazon!
Compare & Purchase Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines at Amazon by clicking here! List Price: —- Amazon Price: $2.99 |
Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines Description:
- Amazon Sales Rank: #4456 in Movie
- Released on: 2009-11-10
- Running time: 138 minutes
Customer Reviews:
Magnificent DVD
Finally! The 20th Century-Fox 1965 roadshow extravaganza comes to DVD. The movie looks marvelous in what must be a transfer from a restored 70mm print. On my 16X9 HDTV in progressive scan the images are quite stunning for a film of this vintage. The Dolby Digital 5.0 remastering of the original 6-track magnetic soundtrack is also a joy to the ears. This is an old-fashioned entertainment for the entire family. Thanks to its presentation on this new DVD the movie is once again a grand experience. The extras are extensive for such a moderately priced DVD too. Director Ken Annakin provides an interesting commentary track and appears in a new featurette. Somebody at Fox definately loves this movie, one that is a childhood favorite of mine. I saw it in its original release, and also in a 1969 reissue as part of a double feature with Fox’s “Planet of the Apes.” “The Perfect Mates” the ads said, “Apes and Men.” Studios just don’t don’t do things like that anymore. Anyway, this DVD is a joy!
One of the most enjoyable movies I’ve ever watched
This is an absolutely wonderful movie. I have watched it again and again. It seems to be one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen, yet it was a very good old fashioned, innocent, and more professional humor than most other comedies. I think it is a work of art and should be added to DVD format. Being that much of my family is German, Gert Fröbe was my favorite character. A funny and warm resemblance of the Prussian gentleman of the time. All the national characters were funny too. Terry Thomas was wonderful and gave me plenty of laughs. The Frenchmen and the Italian (Emilio) were great too. You will just feel naturally happier after you watch this movie. Don’t even hesitate to buy it!
A fun film, despite Stuart Whitman…
Would you like to take a ride in my ornithopter? No? How about a quick jaunt in my aerial steam carriage? Maybe a lift in my oscillating monoplane? It’s hard for many of us to imagine when airplanes were not the efficient, quick, safe, and somewhat affordable mode of transportation that they are today, but there was a time when the technology was still in the experimental stage, back in the early 20th century, and that’s when the film Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines, or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours and 11 Minutes (1965)…whew! That’s one heck of a title…
Directed by Ken Annakin, a British director who gained acclaim working on such Disney films like The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952), The Sword and the Rose (1953), and Swiss Family Robinson (1960), Those Magnificent Men (shortened for sanity’s sake) stars Stuart Whitman (Call Him Mr. Shatter) and Sarah Miles (The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing). Also appearing are Robert Morley (The African Queen), Gert Fröbe (Goldfinger), Eric Sykes, Benny Hill, Yûjirô Ishihara (Japan’s most popular film, TV, and recording star at the time), along with England’s most recognizable gap-toothed character actor Terry-Thomas (his most famous roles involve him playing an upper-class British twit, as he does here).
The story is pretty straightforward here…basically, a rich (in both money and snobbery) English newspaper owner named Lord Rawnsley (played by Morley) happens upon an idea, one which would increase his paper’s circulation greatly, of having an aeronautical race from London to Paris, with the winner to receive not only a large sum of dough, but the prestige of being the first man to accomplish such a daring feat. Applicants from all over the world begin appearing, most for the money, but some for the honor of their respective country. Orvil Newton (Whitman), arrives from America, Colonel Manfred von Holstein (Fröbe) from Germany, and so on and so on…and lest we forget native Englander Sir Percy Ware-Armitage (Thomas), along with his less than able henchman Courtney (Sykes), a pair of bounders (Sir Percy being the bigger bounder of the two) who will stoop to almost any form of chicanery in order to win the race.
As far as grand, epic comedies go (the film runs roughly 138 minutes, but there is a lengthy intermission about halfway through, for those of you with the weak bladders), this isn’t the best in my opinion, but it’s certainly not the worst. My favorite has always been It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), with others being Around the World in 80 Days (1956), The Great Race (1965), Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies, aka Monte Carlo or Bust (1969). As with any of these films, Those Magnificent Men… has a few separate storylines going on at the same time that tie themselves up by the end, the main one usually being a romantic plot, here being a tepid love triangle between Patricia Rawnsley (played by Miles), whose father is sponsoring the race, Orvil, and a local man named Richard Mays (played by James Fox, who, by the way was involved with Sarah Miles in real life, around the time of the making of this film). I had read somewhere that the makers of this film had originally hoped to get Dick Van Dyke for Whitman’s role, but couldn’t for whatever reason. Casting Whitman as the male lead was a serious boo boo, as Whitman is one of the most unfunny, uncharming, and unwatchable actors I’ve seen in a long time. Come to think of it, the entire movie isn’t really all that funny, but it does give effort and it has a lot of charm. The working replicas of the old-timey planes are really wonderful, along with the various authentic vehicles displayed, i.e. motorcars, motorcycles, etc. The aeronautical shots were excellent as was the scenery, the Cliffs of Dover, the Eiffel Tower, etc. I was kind of disappointed Terry-Thomas didn’t have a bigger part in the film, as his on screen time probably ran about 15 minutes total at most. He plays the pretentious, foppish English twit better than most any other actor I’m familiar with…Come to think of it, I thought there was an awful lot of comic talent appearing in this film, with so little of it actually used (I’m still stuck on the whole `casting of Whitman as the comedic male lead’ thing). The rest of the fliers, from various countries (which country made extremely obvious by not only their clothing but manner of speech), fills out a good deal of time. The stereotypes presented (an uptight German lacking a sense of humor, an animated Italian who has like 15 children, an overly amorous Frenchman) are goofy caricatures of themselves, and, while probably not entirely funny, they probably wouldn’t offend except for the most sensitive. The special effects in the film are pretty obvious, but the scenes to watch are the ones with planes actually flying. All in all, this is just good fun, and a really good-looking film that can be enjoyed by all.
The wide screen picture on this DVD looks really good, and the sound quality is superior. Special features include a full commentary by the director Ken Annakin (use the Force, ken, use the Force…a lame attempt at humor, to be sure), a theatrical Trailer, a TV spot, various still galleries featuring the actors, the planes, the visual effects, and storyboards. There is also a feature containing conversations with the director. I was surprised to see the amount of special features available here, and beware ye who enter the still galleries, the number of photos seems endless…
Cookieman108
Frame Review.
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Frame
Product: Frame Review. List Price: —- Amazon Price: $1.99 Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available |
- Amazon Sales Rank: #6932 in TV Series Episode Video on Demand
- Released on: 2009-06-24
- Running time: 43 minutes
The Scarab Lives Review.
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The Scarab Lives Review.
Compare & Purchase The Scarab Lives at Amazon by clicking here! List Price: —- Amazon Price: $1.99 |
The Scarab Lives Description:
- Amazon Sales Rank: #13554 in TV Series Episode Video on Demand
- Size: 1
- Released on: 2008-10-16
- Running time: 22 minutes
Customer Reviews:
Buy Detroit Mob Confidential At Amazon!
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Detroit Mob Confidential
Product: Buy Detroit Mob Confidential At Amazon! List Price: —- Amazon Price: $1.99 Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available |
Compare Prices on Detroit Mob Confidential
- Amazon Sales Rank: #12373 in Movie
- Released on: 2010-02-26
- Running time: 89 minutes
Cube Discount.
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Cube Discount.
Compare & Purchase Cube at Amazon by clicking here! List Price: —- Amazon Price: $5.99 |
Cube Description:
- Amazon Sales Rank: #15951 in Movie
- Released on: 2008-08-01
- Rating: R (Restricted)
- Running time: 91 minutes
Customer Reviews:
Don’t Look For A Reason… Look For A Way Out
I like cubes…ice cubes, sugar cubes, beef bouillabaisse cubes, Rubik’s Cubes (am I sound a bit like Forrest Gump?). So here we have a movie called Cube (1997). Actually, I purchased this a while ago, and since watched it a few times, but never got around to writing a review on it…until today. Directed and co-written by Vincenzo Natali (his first film), Cube has a relatively small cast featuring Nicole de Boer (Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil), Nicky Guadagni (Storm of the Century-the TV mini-series, not the film), David Hewlett (Chasing Cain), Maurice Dean Wint (TekWar), Andrew Miller (Last of the Dogmen), and Wayne Robson (Cold Creek Manor). What that’s? You’ve never heard of any of these actors? Well, neither did I, but then given the relatively low budget (well under $500,000) of this Canadian feature, I wasn’t expecting Brad Pitt (or even his lesser known brother Stu Pitt…geddit? Stu Pitt? Ah well…)
As the story begins (the first scene is a hoot!), we witness a small group of rather disorientated people, dressed in prison-like garb, coming together within small, square room. They have no idea how they got there, or why, and have never met each other before now. We learn the intricately designed room is a cube, one of many, and each cube has six doors (one on each wall, along with the ceiling and the floor), each door leading to another cube. Also, some of the cubes contain lethal traps (acid, razor wire, flamethrowers, etc.) activated by a variety of different types of sensors. This just keeps getting better and better…as we meet the various members of this small group, we find out that each person seems to have a particular talent, and what first appeared to be just a random grouping of people throw into a wacky death maze, now seems to be something more…like each was picked for his or her specific talents. Well, that’s seems like good news to the group, but the bad news is the pressures and the stress (along with a pinch of paranoia) threaten to tear the band of unfortunates apart, just as surely as the traps within the cube. As this plucky assemblage moves from room to room, they do find a pattern for orientation of the cubes, but is it one that will lead them to an exit? Or will it lead them to an acid soaked, sliced and diced, charbroiled demise? You’ll just have to watch and see…
Alright, I will say this…the acting isn’t that great, and the script and delivery of the dialog feels extremely clunky at times, but I was impressed and entertained with the originality of the story. As far as the story goes, we know as much about the situation the characters are in as they do, and learn things as they learn them, essentially putting the viewer in the cube, but without the possibly nastiness of suffering one of those ouchy traps. This will upset, frustrate, and even anger some viewers as people generally like to be in the know, like to have things explained, and need a reason for why things are…but I feel everything doesn’t have to have a reason, and I don’t need everything presented to me in easily digestible chunks. The film offers little to nothing in the way of what the cube is, its’ purpose, or why these individuals were chosen to be placed inside. Also, the ending is purposely vague, as to coincide with the rest of the story. This sort of reminds me of Patrick McGoohan’s popular Prisoner TV series…when it ended, some people were outraged at the ambiguousness of the ending, as they were looking for answers and yet few were forthcoming. I thought the direction was tight as Natali manages to keep things moving along. The set’s pretty minimal, as they used the same cubed room over and over, but did give it the appearance of a different room by changing the colors. Nearly the entire film takes place in this cube, except for some scenes featuring some low budget, but decent CGI work.
One should be aware, as another reviewer pointed out, that there are (at this time) two different releases of this film on DVD. The one being sold here now is the new Signature Edition (the director’s siggy is on the front), and released by Lions Gate Entertainment. The original DVD was released by Trimark, and has a slightly different cover. The newer release features a new anamorphic transfer with a new Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mix (Amazon has yet to update the DVD features on this product page). The Trimark release special features include Dolby Digital 2.0 audio, deleted scenes, comparative and alternate storyboards, production designs, set designs, special effects artwork, and a commentary featuring the director, actor Hewlett, and co-writer Andre Bijelic. The Lions Gate version has many same features (except the set design material and the voice over commentary on the deleted scenes), along with an interview with actress Nicole de Boer, and cleaned up menus. Also, they replaced the original commentary track with one featuring only the director. I mention this as if you are going to buy this used, make sure you get the version you want, either the original Trimark release or this new Lions Gate Signature release as there are differences, although the film is essentially the same. After reading many of the reviews, I see there are basically two opinions, those who really like the film, and those who hate it, suckered into watching it due to the good reviews. Well, I enjoyed the film, despite its’ obvious flaws, but to those of you who have yet to see it, rent it first. For those interested, due to the popularity of this film in the realm of home video, a sequel called Cube 2:Hypercube (2002) was released. It’s slicker than the original, not quite as good, but maybe worth a look if you liked this one.
Cookieman108
an allegory of society
I’ve read most of the reviews here and, with all due respect, I think many of them miss the point. For the time being, forget about the technicalities: about whether a monstrous, complicated structure could ever be built, about the physics of the operation, about the characters, et. al….suspend your disbelief.
Speaking of characters: there is no character development. But this is done deliberately. These aren’t single people being represented here. The characters aren’t meant to be believable. Or even real. No one in their right mind, if they woke up to find themselves stuck in a cube armed with lethal traps, would behave as irrationally as they do. So assume this allegory:
Let the cube represent a system, created by man. Call it “civilization” or “society” or whatever you want, but I’ll refer to it as the “system”. Like them, we are all trapped in this system today, this post-modern rat race full of glass and steel and concrete and plastic. I’m willing to wager everyone’s ultimate dream is to escape it, too. The 6 people in the movie represent, as best as can be explained, the 6 social groups in the system:
1) The strong, military, authority type, used to getting his own way and controlling others in the system for his own benefit, adhering to the practise of “might makes right”.
2) The intelligent, analytical scholar type; understands the logic of the system but not much else; kinda has a silent “don’t rock the boat” mentality to her, which is why she is easily swayed to do the bidding of others.
3) The paranoid, suspicious clinician type, who constantly worries about the condition of others, and has a burning desire to warn everyone of what she perceives as harmful elements in the system.
4) The apathetic, intellectual type, who probably knows more about the system and how it works than anyone else but is reluctant to tell anyone because he doesn’t see what good it will bring.
5) The naive, “ignorant bliss” type, in the form of an autistic savant, uncaringly obeying the system’s rules and having no hangups at all about it or how it functions or why its even there.
6) The rebellious, criminal loner type, out to defy, subvert, and beat the system on its own terms, without help from anyone else.
It is interesting to note that the criminal was the only one killed by the system itself (the fellow at the beginning doesn’t count. That was just a prologue to explain to the audience how the cube works). This is appropriate, since he was the only one trying to defeat the system, rather than work with it. All the other characters end up killing each other, save for the autistic, who didn’t care either way whether he escaped the cube or not, who was granted freedom (or whatever the hell that was at the end).
A great allegory of life, I found. Its almost as if the movie was saying that its not the system’s fault. Yes, the system was built by man, but by man collectively, not by any single man (remember the line: “There is noone at the top. Big Brother is not watching you.”). The system, this movie is trying to say, is not evil. The system can’t be evil. It’s not really anything. It just IS.
Men often do evil things through the system–but that doesn’t make the system evil. People often blame the system when they should really be blaming themselves. Because in a system such as this one, the most lethal traps aren’t the ones hiding in the cube, but rather the people you’re stuck in the cube with.
Unsettling and unforgettable
A mixed group of people wake up to find that they are confined in a 3D maze of cube-shaped rooms with horrific traps in some and not in others.
This movie has a highly unusual premise in the sense that you don’t know HOW or WHY but you just know that it IS and it must be dealt with – confused? See the movie and you will understand.
One facet of this movie is a play on the idea that we might have no idea why something is, but we find that we have to deal with it anyway. In this case, the characters are in a perilous situation, where doing nothing means death by starvation and doing something is likely to also result in death by ghastly trap.
The characters seem fairly stereotypical and the acting is a bit lame to begin with, but perseverence in watching this movie results in a genuinely disturbing experience. The absorbed viewer will feel hope, despair, joy, horror, anger, extreme tension and more – the feeling of being trapped, isolated and slowly going paranoid has rarely been manipulated so well as in this movie. Ironic then that all the action takes place in an inexplicable and stifling rat’s maze where very little is explicitly shown to the viewer, and yet so much is implicitly revealed in the interactions of the trapped people and how they come to terms with their plight.
Highly recommended to anyone who really likes their movies and not recommended to those who prefer their thought of the day handed to them on a plate.
The Ugly Truth Sale-$14.99!
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The Ugly Truth Sale-$14.99!
Compare & Purchase The Ugly Truth at Amazon by clicking here! List Price: —- Amazon Price: $14.99 |
The Ugly Truth Description:
- Amazon Sales Rank: #2805 in Movie
- Released on: 2009-11-10
- Rating: R (Restricted)
- Running time: 97 minutes
Customer Reviews:
Battle of the Sexes
“The Ugly Truth” represents something I never thought I’d see: A romantic comedy that both women and men will appreciate. Granted, it probably won’t be for the same reasons. Women will like it because underneath it all, it’s a fairly typical romantic comedy, the story of Girl Hates Boy, Boy Hates Girl, Boy and Girl Fall in Love Anyway. Men will like it because one of the main characters expresses much of what they think and feel on a daily basis. Everyone will like it because the story is engaging and the characters are not mere cardboard caricatures. You can actually invest in them, and you’re able to care about what’s going on. What could easily have been a routine date night movie is instead a surprisingly good movie that need not wait until date night. It’s also genuinely funny–a bit raunchy, yes, but funny just the same.
Much of the film’s success is due to the wonderful onscreen chemistry between Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. They continuously make us laugh, yet the comedy is not so broad that you can’t believe them in their roles. They make a point of interacting with one another, not as comic relief but as real people. Heigl plays Abby Richter, the romantically challenged, neurotic, controlling producer of a failing Sacramento morning talk show. Butler plays Mike Chadaway, the chauvinistic host of a public access relationship program called “The Ugly Truth.” He’s unapologetically tell-it-like-it-is in matters of men and women. There’s no such thing, he claims, as a sensitive, nurturing man who wants to connect at an emotional level. Men just want sex, plain and simple. And they only want it with attractive women.
Abby, who thinks Mike’s rhetoric is appalling, is horrified when she learns that he has been hired to her station in an effort to boost ratings. They clash at every turn … until he learns that she’s interested in dating her next door neighbor–an orthopedic surgeon named Colin (Eric Winter) who just happens to be incredibly handsome. Sensing she’s doing everything wrong to initiate a relationship, Mike offers to help Abby by having her test his relationships theories on Colin. She reluctantly agrees, and sure enough, Mike’s methods work wonders. She dresses more provocatively. She learns to stop being critical and avoid discussing her personal problems. She learns to be the embodiment of both the saint and the sinner, or as Mike puts it, “The librarian and the stripper.”
And that’s when things start to get more complex. Abby is succeeding with Colin, but only at the expense of not being herself. On the other hand, could anyone love her as herself? She is, after all, known for bringing background checks and printed topics of conversation to blind dates. As for Mike, he has very definite reasons for believing that loving relationships are a sham. They’re gradually revealed not only through carefully structured scenes, but also through Butler, who shows he can find the right balance between smug and sensitive. We see that Mike is the closest thing his young nephew has for a father, and even though he playfully gives the boy relationship advice, he’s also quick to remind him that kids should never, ever watch his show.
Heigl also manages a balancing act with her performance, specifically between strength and vulnerability. Abby overachieves at work to compensate for a lack of a love life, which initially seems funny but steadily grows desperate. For reasons she doesn’t care to admit to, she’s falling in love with Mike, and he too is falling in love with her. But what about Colin? Is he with Abby only because of the façade Mike told her to put up? There’s a scene between her and Colin late in the film that directly addresses this issue, and to my delight, it’s handled in a way that avoids just about everything that would happen in the average romantic comedy. There are no shouting matches. There are no flying fists. There are no confrontations. There’s only a quiet moment of realization that the truth is indeed ugly.
Scenes like these are wonderfully juxtaposed with moments of well written comedy. There are some very amusing moments between Cheryl Hines and John Michael Higgins as unhappily married news anchors who share the same desk and time slot. The film’s single funniest scene takes place in a restaurant and involves Abby, an extremely stimulating pair of underwear, and a control device that ends up in the wrong hands.
I can say with complete honesty (and some embarrassment) that I wasn’t expecting such a strong film. I certainly wasn’t expecting a strong film belonging to this particular genre. What floors me is that two of the three writers of this film are Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith. There are the same two that brought us “The House Bunny,” one of the worst films of 2008. They certainly got it right this time around. “The Ugly Truth” is one of the best romantic comedies I’ve seen in a long time, a delightful and absorbing tale about the fronts people display. It’s funny without lowering itself to the level of cheap gags, and this is in spite of the film’s well-deserved R rating. Heigl and Butler convincingly pull off a romance, no small feat given the contrived nature of these kinds of films. At last, a date movie both the man and the woman can enjoy.
bad taste
Not the light hearted comedy I expected at all. But chalk this up to our present freedom of expression mentality. I expected LOTS more from these two actors. What you get is constant profanity and extreme sexual references. I found it worthless as a film. Very disappointing after seeing Gerald in PS I love you. and Katherine having numerous cute and funny romantic comedies under her belt. I found it offensive and disappointing. They had chemistry but needed a script that had vocabulary….
very naughty, but extremely nice
this is a very raunchy right to the point film which is extremely hilarious as long as you have a very open mind and are not at all prudish. gerry and katherine play off each other with great ease and are very comfortable in this very funny sex comedy about how men really think about sex and relationships according to mike,gerrys character, against kathys character, who is a very uptight conventional chick. the film is all about their inevitable clashes against their varied opinions on this topic and how they survive working together on a early morning chat show. i thoroughly recommend this film for an extremely comedic time for both men and women. it is not your usual chick flick and most people will be able to connect with this film and its morales, even though they might not want to admit it.
Doctor Dolittle Review.
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Doctor Dolittle Review.
Compare & Purchase Doctor Dolittle at Amazon by clicking here! List Price: —- Amazon Price: $2.99 |
Doctor Dolittle Description:
- Amazon Sales Rank: #2440 in Movie
- Released on: 2006-07-25
- Running time: 86 minutes
Customer Reviews:
No Repeats
This is a movie I bought first, primarily for the kids because of the reviews. No one ever asked to watch it a second time. I say this because one of my kids was watching the Lion King last night, for the umpteenth time. So yes, I agree that eddie murphy impressed me again with his talent… but it just didn’t grab my kids, 3 boys and 2 girls. I had to give it a good rating of 3 rather than a 2 to encourage the making of good movies.
Funny, Funny, Funny!
I’m a huge fan of watching a lot of Eddie Murphy films. I’ve watched them ever since I was old enough to watch television. Dr. Dolittle is the FUNNIEST movie of his I believe I have ever seen! If you like to laugh you’ll love this movie!
A Review on Dr. Dolittle
The movie is a laugh out loud funny as heck movie. The Guinea Pig is the most funniest thing in the movie! This is the best movie you will ever see in your entire life so go buy it/ rent it today and you’ll get your moneys worth! Go watch the movie and you will thank me for putting all this great stuff in this review of “Dr. Dolittle”. This may not be good for your kids because of crude humor and language. But over all its pretty good!!! Thanks for reading!!!
Ray Lowest Price!
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Ray
Product: Ray Lowest Price! List Price: —- Amazon Price: $2.99 Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available |
- Amazon Sales Rank: #2899 in Movie
- Released on: 2008-09-11
- Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
- Running time: 153 minutes
A very good film but an even greater lead performance
This is a very good movie that houses an exceptionally great performance by Jamie Fox as music legend Ray Charles. I must confess that as a genre, the biopic is not my favorite, especially of figures as well known as Ray Charles. We usually receive in such films distorted portraits of them, or undeserved adulation. RAY is one of the more balanced biopics I have seen. Ray Charles is presented as a musical genius who had managed to overcome physical disabilities that would have stopped most others, but it doesn’t attempt to mute the serious and unflattering personal moral problems he had with drugs and his exploitative treatment of women. Nor is he revealed as a moral saint or loving person. Though pleasant with others for the most part, Ray is shown as a proud, independent, and slightly self-absorbed, a bit selfish in his treatment of women. As a result, Ray Charles emerges in the film as a believable human being, capable of unfortunate decisions, but also extraordinary music and the occasional powerful moral stand, such as when he refuses to perform in a racially segregated crowd in a venue in Georgia. In fact, the film is built around three foci: his early childhood when he witnessed the death of his younger brother and gradually lost his sight; his musical career from 1948 until the mid-1960s; and his heroin addiction. The film ends with his overcoming his heroin addiction, which also-as numerous music critics have noted–corresponds to the end of the peak of his career as a creative musical performer. Charles continued to make albums after getting off heroin, but all of the great songs that we associate with him were written and recorded while on heroin. For the last forty years of his career, his sets consisted almost entirely of songs he made famous in the fifties and early sixties, with covers of songs by other musicians. There has been a long debate as to whether his addiction somehow aided his musical creativity, but even if so, no one would have wished him to continue to endanger his health and life.
Jamie Fox will without any possible doubt receive an Oscar nomination for this performance. This is considerably more than a good impersonation of Charles: it is almost as if Fox channels him. As much as I loved other biopics of music legends like THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY or WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT, throughout each I was conscious that Gary Busey was playing Buddy Holly and Angela Bassett playing Tina Turner. I completely forgot that Jamie Fox was playing Ray Charles, and despite being quite familiar with him, imagined that I was actually watching Charles onscreen. Yes, he does a killer impersonation of Charles, but he manages that first on top of that provides an amazing dramatic performance. This is great acting, not merely a great impersonation. The only performance of recent years of an actor portraying a prominent entertainer as superb as this is Robert Downey in CHAPLIN.
I also really loved the look of the film. Since it ended in the mid-1960s, the entire film was essentially a period film. There was a sense of visual veracity from beginning to end. I loved the cars, the clothes (especially the ties! – am I alone in thinking that the 1950s was the great decade for neckties?), the interior decors, the furniture. The scenes in the shanty town where Charles was a child were very effective.
The cast aside from Fox was quite strong, made up mainly of relatively unknown performers. There were many other things to enjoy about the film. Of course, the music is absolutely sensational, consisting either of remasters of original Ray Charles’s recordings, or new recordings for which Charles provided the vocals. I also loved the relationship in the film between Charles and Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records. There is nothing of the stereotypical relationship between artist and executives that invests so many of the stories of musicians in the 1950s and 1960s. Ertegun is rightfully remembered as one of the truly great figures in the recording industry, someone who was in it more for the music than for the money, and who treated his artists with a degree of respect that was too frequently absent. The film does a good job of presenting Charles’s dilemma: ABC-Monument made him an offer that he simply couldn’t refuse, yet at the same time we are all aware that Charles was, in a way, screwing Atlantic over by leaving them for ABC-Monument. All in all, I loved this warts and all approach to the subject matter. There is absolutely no question that Ray Charles was one of the most astonishing performers of the fifties and sixties, and doing all he did despite his blindness is an amazing saga. He truly was a genius, even if he was a somewhat flawed person. But you have to love the way that he managed to overcome his personal shortcomings to become not merely one of the most successful but one of the most beloved musical performers of his age.
The Life’s story of an imperfect man who did amazing things
I went to see Ray in the theaters last night because my sister suggested it and because I was in a mood to see something “critically acclaimed”. For the record, I knew very little about the man and so had very few preconceptions. What I saw made a deep impression in my mind and heart.
Ray Robinson, aka Ray Charles the singer, songwriter and musician, was blind since the age of 7. He had to deal not only with bigotry for his disability but for being black in Georgia before the civil rights movement. Throughout his life many people (both black and white) would try to take advantage of the blind man, ripping him off financially or hoarding his talent for their own gain. Ray had both the blessing and the curse of being a ladies’ man, resulting in serial affairs while his wife stayed home and raised their family. It surprised me to learn that he fought an addiction to heroin for well over a decade before finally beating it in the `60s. Nevertheless, Ray carried all this baggage and more through the 40s and 50s as he made a name for himself playing piano in the Country, Jazz, etc. pop music circuits. Eventually of course he rose to become one of the most recognized and beloved musical artists worldwide.
The man that this film showed me was an incredible example of determination, charm and simple human spirit. I have heard others say that Jamie Foxx’s acting was so good that they were half-convinced he was channeling Ray Charles’ ghost. I’ll take their word for it that it was an accurate performance, but regardless, it was also a great performance! Down the line each of the supporting actors was perfectly convincing and real, but none more so than Foxx. I will denounce the Academy if he isn’t at least nominated for an Oscar.
The least of Ray’s imperfections was his physical blindness –yet he had a powerful gift and the ability to reach into the collective soul of a nation. Over his long career as a musician and songwriter, Ray Charles Robinson created and performed some of the most memorable music to audiences across the country. Your color, age and creed doesn’t matter; chances are, you’ve heard and loved at least one Ray Charles song in your lifetime. We’ll never have another like him.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle.
Ray Charles’ Complex Life Matched by Superb Jamie Foxx
I like “Ray.” The music is strong, using Ray Charles’ own tracks for both background and performance shots. The storyline is complex, flashing back to Charles’ youth as he reflected on the loss of his eyesight and the death of his brother.
From his days as a child in a poor rural community, through his early days as an unknown musician struggling to get a fair deal, to his mid-career with management problems, affairs, hits, and drugs, and then, finally, as a one of our national heroes, we see Ray Charles in full color.
We learn how he manipulated women, cheated on his wife, became addicted to heroin, found his sound, got his name, and learned to work aggressively as his own musician. He deals with racism at first by avoiding it, and then quickly, takes a harsh stand, shaming the bigots and segregationists. Now, in a state where he was once banned from playing, his work, “Georgia on My Mind” is now the state song.
Biopics of celebrities are difficult to describe because of the chronology required to produce the movies. People don’t live out plots written by screenwriters, but lives that have events that do not always make sense. Ray Charles’ life didn’t always make sense, but he lived it.
We have two views of Ray Charles. One is as a fighter, working hard against adversity to become the musician we now know. The other is as a womanizing addict who used his charm, position and trust of his wife to diminish all that was good about him. He eventually beats the drugs, holds onto his marriage, but these failures brought down my respect of him.
Jamie Foxx never impressed me before this. I found his comedy more off-color than I prefer, and expected that his version of Ray Charles would be mediocre. I heard the hype that his performance was Oscar-worthy, and watched the movie with the eyes of a skeptic. Now, I am impressed.
Jamie Foxx has a new fan. I hope he gets roles that allow him to shine like he does in “Ray.”
The DVD for “Ray” adds to the movie. Normally, a DVD brings little extra that is interesting, but watching Jamie Foxx and Ray Charles interact was touching, as was hearing Foxx describe his experience in learning the role. We learn Foxx not only can play piano, but is trained at a high level. Those are his hands on the keys, and not movie magic. He respected Charles and the difficulty of playing an icon, and earned Charles’ respect in the process.
Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com
Bill Burr: Why Do I Do This? Review.
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Bill Burr: Why Do I Do This?
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- Amazon Sales Rank: #4462 in Movie
- Released on: 2009-01-20
- Running time: 55 minutes
Had me snorting non-stop!
I just saw this on the Comedy Channel. There are many comics out there who make me chuckle but this guy had me LMAO and ROFL, for sure, but the biggest compliment I could give him was that he had me laughing so hard I got into some serious snorting throughout the entire hour. If not for the commercial breaks, my laugh muscles may have cramped up but I want to live dangerously and own the uncut, uncensored and uninterrupted version, just to see if I can survive it.
I’m not even going to attempt to describe his act; I couldn’t do it justice. Let’s just say that he aloud says the things we all are thinking.You may even find yourself laughing while cringeing a little. I am female but I will admit his take on we women is dead-on.
I am definitely putting in my pre-order now.
I just wish I had been there in the audience.
The Next Big Comic Thing
I’ve been waiting for new material from Bill Burr since his HBO special. I love this guy. He’s intelligent and funny as hell.
“Why Do I Do This” … Man oh man! It’s so true, things you think — he says. Please give him his own show. With Chappelle gone, we need another comedian who is witty, insightful into human nature and real? I laughed so hard at this stand up I thought I was going to pass out from lack of air!
If you haven’t seen his HBO One Night Stands … do yourself a favor and check for it.
This DVD will have you on the floor laughing. He’s a comedic genius.
COMEDY CENTRAL: TV SHOW PLEASE!
Great Stand-up comedy
This is a must have for any comedy fan. The aired tv version pales in comparison to the dvd. Bill Burr is one of the most intelligent and hilarious comedians around.
Trust Me HD Sale-$2.99!
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Trust Me HD Sale-$2.99!
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Trust Me HD Description:
- Amazon Sales Rank: #10281 in TV Series Episode Video on Demand
- Released on: 2010-03-19
- Running time: 63 minutes
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