Walk the Line
Nov. 19th, 2005 01:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
changeyourstars8Wow.
I went into the movie expecting to like it, expecting to enjoy the songs-- but this definitely surpassed 'like' and 'enjoy'. During "Get Rhythm" I was seriously trying not to clap along, and I loved the movie so much I didn't even mind that "A Boy Named Sue" wasn't featured.
We met up with a couple of friends of ours at the theater, Samantha and her sister Ronnie, and after the movie Sam asked what I thought of it and I said, "The movie will be mine, the soundtrack will be mine, and in a perfect world Joaquin Phoenix would be mine, too." Chris looked over at Ronnie and said, "Guess that means I'm with you," and I told him, "What are you talking about? I'm gonna have a harem!"
Which made some people nearby give me weird looks, but that's what being out in public with your friends is for. ;-)
Talk about scene-specific stuff behind the cut--
I knew that both the leads were going to do a good job, but after actually seeing it, one or both of them (preferably both) had better win an Oscar or I'm going to go punt some people. :-) And the chemistry between them was spot-on.
I've heard that there were some complaints from at least one of the Cash kids as to how their mom was portrayed, but I honestly didn't see anything wrong with the character of Cash's first wife. Not that I knew her or anything, but watching the character in the theater, I didn't get the impression that she was mean or some kind of monster or nag. The two of them both behaved badly at points, but each certainly had his/her reasons (he thought she didn't support him and he was in love with someone else; she was constantly being left alone with the kids, and watched as he got into drugs and knew their marriage was falling apart).
The scene in the shop between June Carter and that 'Christian' woman-- I don't know if it actually happened (haven't read the bio yet) or if they just put that in to display the attitude of the times, but boy, did I immediately want to smack that woman. LOL I was half-hoping that June would, but instead she just said, "Sorry for disappointing you" and I was torn between thinking, "No no no, go with 'Judge not lest ye be judged; does that ring a bell, idiot?'" and, "Dang if that's not more class than I'll ever have."
On the same topic, I adored John's response to that record-label guy, who was nattering on about, "Your audience are Christians, they don't want to hear you singing to murderers and rapists and trying to cheer them up", (which made me turn to Chris and bonk my head on his shoulder a couple of times), and then John said, "They aren't Christian, then", and I damn near cheered.
I loved Reese Witherspoon's performance so much. Her throwing the beer bottles at the guys when she found them drunk and making all of them hide behind the nearest equipment had everybody laughing, and she really pulled off playing a rather difficult part, the center to the film while John was careening all over the place trying to figure out what he wanted and how he could best get it. If she hadn't done that, hadn't made the audience understand how he could love her for so long even though she couldn't truly return it, then the movie wouldn't have worked.
As for Joaquin Phoenix . . . however much praise I give here wouldn't be enough. He started singing "Walk the Line" and my jaw just about hit the floor because I'd listened to Cash sing that song less than 24 hours ago and the similarity was freaking uncanny. You know that you're watching a great character actor when you can think of other roles they've played and some part of your brain keeps insisting, "No way, that is not the same person". For instance, thinking of Gladiator while watching this . . . if I hadn't already been a fan of his before, this movie would've converted me.
And near the end, when they were up onstage and he whispered, "Marry me", that took my hormones out of the equation because they all fainted. ;-) I'm pretty sure that a lot of other people were wearing the same huge grin that I was at that point, but I wasn't about to look away from the screen to check.
All in all-- fantastic movie, I'm going to get it as soon as it comes out on DVD, and the soundtrack will be on my amazon.com wish list within the next ten minutes.
I went into the movie expecting to like it, expecting to enjoy the songs-- but this definitely surpassed 'like' and 'enjoy'. During "Get Rhythm" I was seriously trying not to clap along, and I loved the movie so much I didn't even mind that "A Boy Named Sue" wasn't featured.
We met up with a couple of friends of ours at the theater, Samantha and her sister Ronnie, and after the movie Sam asked what I thought of it and I said, "The movie will be mine, the soundtrack will be mine, and in a perfect world Joaquin Phoenix would be mine, too." Chris looked over at Ronnie and said, "Guess that means I'm with you," and I told him, "What are you talking about? I'm gonna have a harem!"
Which made some people nearby give me weird looks, but that's what being out in public with your friends is for. ;-)
Talk about scene-specific stuff behind the cut--
I knew that both the leads were going to do a good job, but after actually seeing it, one or both of them (preferably both) had better win an Oscar or I'm going to go punt some people. :-) And the chemistry between them was spot-on.
I've heard that there were some complaints from at least one of the Cash kids as to how their mom was portrayed, but I honestly didn't see anything wrong with the character of Cash's first wife. Not that I knew her or anything, but watching the character in the theater, I didn't get the impression that she was mean or some kind of monster or nag. The two of them both behaved badly at points, but each certainly had his/her reasons (he thought she didn't support him and he was in love with someone else; she was constantly being left alone with the kids, and watched as he got into drugs and knew their marriage was falling apart).
The scene in the shop between June Carter and that 'Christian' woman-- I don't know if it actually happened (haven't read the bio yet) or if they just put that in to display the attitude of the times, but boy, did I immediately want to smack that woman. LOL I was half-hoping that June would, but instead she just said, "Sorry for disappointing you" and I was torn between thinking, "No no no, go with 'Judge not lest ye be judged; does that ring a bell, idiot?'" and, "Dang if that's not more class than I'll ever have."
On the same topic, I adored John's response to that record-label guy, who was nattering on about, "Your audience are Christians, they don't want to hear you singing to murderers and rapists and trying to cheer them up", (which made me turn to Chris and bonk my head on his shoulder a couple of times), and then John said, "They aren't Christian, then", and I damn near cheered.
I loved Reese Witherspoon's performance so much. Her throwing the beer bottles at the guys when she found them drunk and making all of them hide behind the nearest equipment had everybody laughing, and she really pulled off playing a rather difficult part, the center to the film while John was careening all over the place trying to figure out what he wanted and how he could best get it. If she hadn't done that, hadn't made the audience understand how he could love her for so long even though she couldn't truly return it, then the movie wouldn't have worked.
As for Joaquin Phoenix . . . however much praise I give here wouldn't be enough. He started singing "Walk the Line" and my jaw just about hit the floor because I'd listened to Cash sing that song less than 24 hours ago and the similarity was freaking uncanny. You know that you're watching a great character actor when you can think of other roles they've played and some part of your brain keeps insisting, "No way, that is not the same person". For instance, thinking of Gladiator while watching this . . . if I hadn't already been a fan of his before, this movie would've converted me.
And near the end, when they were up onstage and he whispered, "Marry me", that took my hormones out of the equation because they all fainted. ;-) I'm pretty sure that a lot of other people were wearing the same huge grin that I was at that point, but I wasn't about to look away from the screen to check.
All in all-- fantastic movie, I'm going to get it as soon as it comes out on DVD, and the soundtrack will be on my amazon.com wish list within the next ten minutes.
