Over the past two weeks (including today), I’ve given favorable
reviews to five movies. Considering that I view myself
a tough critic, this shows an encouraging trend. After
the year got off to a mediocre first half, 2004 looks to
be a promising cinema year. Anyway, let’s get down
to the reviews:
Ray—Quite
simply put, this biopic of R&B music genius Ray Charles
is one of the most entertaining films of the year.
Along with the great, rousing Charles songs, the film features
stylish and energetic direction by Taylor Hackford.
It’s his best piece of direction since his 1982 film An
Officer and a Gentleman. The production values
on the film are also first-rate; it has a very authentic
feel as it charts Charles’ metoric musical career during
the 40’s and 50’s. You could almost smell the sawdust
on the floors of the sleazy R&B honkytonk dives where
Ray performed during those years—the film is that
vivid in its depiction of the time period.
Still,
these virtues pale in comparison to the film’s greatest
asset: Jamie Foxx’s superb peformance as Ray. Foxx’s
performance is a revelation; he simply is Ray.
He not only acts the part, but he inhabits it, giving an
expert performance even down to uncannily imitating the
singer’s quirky mannerisms. I must confess I wasn’t
a big fan of Foxx’s before this film. His performance
in Michael Mann’s Collateral was merely competent
at best, a rote performance that I felt hurt the film.
That is certainly not the case with Ray.
The film offers a breakthrough role for Foxx, and he’s sure
to clinch an Oscar nod when the nominations come out in
January.
As
entertaining as Ray is, the film is not without
its flaws. Biopics tend to have clichéd sections, and
Ray is no exception. An example of this happens
toward the end of the film in the scene where Ray’s wife
pleads with him to get off heroin. This scene is clumsily
handled and has too many echoes of previous films (i.e.,
Lady Sings The Blues). Also, at 2 ½
hours, the film is overlong; some judicious editing might
have helped. Still, even with these flaws, the film
is immensely entertaining and I highly recommend it.—***1/2
The
Incredibles—Though I agree with my colleague
Jeff Lewis that this film is “escapist fun,” I also have
some reservations about this movie. But first, a rundown
on the film’s plot: a supehero family known as the
Incredibles are forced to conceal their super powers and
go into a government relocation program when lawsuits make
superheroes personas non grata. The Incredibles are
forced back into action when an evil superhero wannabe (who
the Incredibles’ patriarch had earlier snubbed) threatens
the world with his powers and his army of “droid” robots.
There
is much to like in this film. The movie’s premise
is brilliantly clever and contains a lot of sharp and very
funny dialogue. The film’s computer animation is mind
boggling; the texture and movement contained in the animation
is truly incredible, and a delight to the eye. Yet,
with all this, I was somewhat disappointed with this movie,
particularly since the film received rave reviews.
Why? Simply put, the four characters that make up
the Incredibles are not interesting or likeable enough,
giving the film a cold, detached feeling. The high-water
mark for likeable characters in computer animation are found
in the two great Toy Story movies (also produced
by Pixar, the company that made The Incredibles).
Toy Story’s two central characters, Woody and Buzz
Lightyear, are highly engaging, likeable characters who
draw the viewers into the two films; I didn’t get this from
The Incredibles. Another problem with the
film: at two hours, The Incredibles is simply
too long and overstays its welcome. The film could
have easily shaved off twenty minutes without missing anything.
This is a problem that repeatedly plagues today’s crop of
self-indulgent filmmakers. Why can’t they make films
with reasonable running times?
Still,
even with my reservations, there’s much to recommend about
this film. I found it very enjoyable, and if you’re
a fan of animation and/or superheroes, it’s worth making
a trip to the theatre to see it.—***
See
you soon.
Steve
can be reached at steve@babblog.com. |
