Ring of Fire

I didn't expect to like the music in this movie. I only watched it because it was directed by Allison Anders. Her "Gas Food Lodging" and "Mi Vida Loca" are among my all-time favorites.

The title suggests a movie about Johnny Cash, whose music I never cared for. I've never had much interest in June Carter or Jewel either, but in this movie I absolutely loved Jewel singing as June Carter. And she was so beautiful! Watching her sing was as much a pleasure as hearing her. I don't know whether she resembled the real June Carter, but she looked like a superstar, which I guess June Carter was in her time. She was Elvis' girlfriend, and she married Cash when he was the biggest star in the music business.

Even better was the group of actors singing as the Carter Family. I like the old Carter Family recordings, but the actors in this movie sound like a much better group from the same era, especially Michelle Kabashinski singing as Sara Carter. I'd love to have a CD of her singing old time songs in that style.

I can only think of 3 or 4 movies whose music I enjoyed as much. The rest of the movie was sometimes enjoyable and sometimes tedious. I'm sure I'll watch the music scenes again many times on DVD, but probably skipping past all the rest.

Although some readers compare this movie to Walk The Line, I disagree. This new movie focuses more on the life of June Carter Cash & the tremendous love she had for Johnny Cash. She stood by him through his addiction and helped him recover. Jewel was excellent in her part of June Carter Cash - her mannerisms were "spot on". Although I have given it 10 stars, I found that the actor who played Johnny Cash was unbelievable as the singer. Other than that I found the movie very enjoyable and recommend it to others. Get ready to shed a few tears at the end. An interesting fact is that Johnny Cash died only four months after June Carter Cash died. I think he died of heartbreak after losing her.

This was a horrible, horrible movie!! The Ross dude was TORTURE to watch; they must have just pulled him in off the street!!! I loved "I Walk the Line," and I was so looking forward to a movie from June's perspective. This may be a movie from June's perspective, but I didn't think that Jewel would be the best actor in the movie!!! The director and the cameramen must have all been high or drunk. Worst movie I have seen in years!!!

"I fell for you like a child, oh but the fire went wild." June Carter (Jewel) is a member of country musics most famous family. After two failed marriages and a successful music career she finally gives in and marries country's bad boy, Johnny Cash (Ross). She then starts her new life singing, playing, raising kids and trying to keep Johnny clean. Some prove more difficult then others. Just about everyone know the story of these two icons. I am a huge Johnny Cash fan and even though this was a Lifetime movie I was still looking forward to seeing it. I do have to admit that Jewel did a pretty good job of playing June in this but no where close to how good Reese Witherspoon was. As far as the guy playing Johnny Cash...it would have been hard to even come close to Joaquin Phoenix but this guy was just bad. His acting was OK, but he looked and sounded nothing like him. In fact the whole movie I thought the guy looks more like Merle Haggard then Johnny Cash. As far as the actual movie "Walk The Line" dealt with Cash's drug problems fairly harsh but also had the music mixed in. This movie is more of a bio-pic of June Carter, but it's pretty much her helping Johnny get sober over and over. I know it's Lifetime and it does show how strong June was, but after the third scene of her telling Johnny he has to stop it becomes very repetitive and really starts to lose some of the emotion. Do not be like me and go in expecting a Johnny Cash movie with music, that's not what this is. Overall, Jewel does a good job but this is nothing like I expected. I give it a B-.

As a lifelong fan of JC, I watched this for the story, knowing the telling of it wasn't going to be good. It made me angry to watch this shamefully bad production, but that is the general feeling anyone with any sense has when watching anything Lifetime puts out. Maybe I'm spoiled because Joaquin Phoenix actually made an effort. Who is this loser playing the Master? Ironically, Jewell is one of my favorite singers after JC, so it was nice seeing her playing June, I feel like she did alright with what she had to work with. I'm glad I watched it, because of the story, but I really didn't enjoy it at all. Shame on Lifetime. As usual.