Ray

[Jim of Seattle]

I haven't seen "Ray" yet. We were thinking about going tonight, and I came to this forum to see what my fellow SFers thought of it. Come ON, people! This is a BIG movie ALL ABOUT MUSIC! Why hasn't anyone commented on it yet! You have failed me, and now we have to decide whether to see it or not without the stamp of approval from Songfighters. Which means....(gasp) I have to think for myself....

[erik]

Here is what I think:

Jamie Fox gives a very commanding performance. The flashback scenes are cheezy and shoehorned into the movie; Ray Charles's psychological baggage is a terrible way to introduce backstory. The music is very cool and exciting, but then again, I like his music, what little I know of it. The music and Jamie Fox are the best things about this.

For the first hour, it really trucks along at a decent pace. And then after that, it just kind of drags. Ray Charles, continues to do the same things that he has done before, with slight variations that have no real consequence. Wow, thanks for that.

My big beef with this movie was the ending. It's hard for a biopic to have a great ending but this one really sucked:



---SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS---



They basically end the movie sometime in the late 60's, and then put up screens of text telling us that Ray Charles did lots more things in his life, and put out craploads more albums, for like 30+ more years. I mean, I was glad that the movie wasn't going to be 6 more hours long at that point, but it just seemed weird to TELL US that they were leaving out such a large chunk of his life. Then they say that the most important thing in his life was when he was allowed back into the state of Georgia in the late 70's after being banned for life for not catering to Jim Crow laws in the 60's.


I think that could have been a good ending if they had built up to it, but they didn't, it felt tacked on. Especially since it was part of the time that was brushed over by the text screens at the end of the movie.



---END OF SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS---


Overall, I think it was a decent movie, but it seems that it could have been just really awesome, if the script was really tightened up.

[Ogreasy!]

I liked it, the Music was good of course.
The guy was incredibly Ray looking and Ray acting.
I wanted to see the Studio redocrding session of "I can't stop loving You" so I could see Ray say "Sing the song, children" to the choir people
That would be hilarious.

[Caravan Ray]

Are you referring to "Ray: The Caravan Ray Story" - starring Steve Irwin as Caravan Ray, Kylie Minogue as Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe as 'the obnoxious actor who sings in a crap band'?

...or is this a different movie?