Ring of Fire

"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-.

Could they have possibly shaken the camera any more?

I might have somewhat enjoyed this movie if a bit of moderation was exercised when deciding when & how long to shake the camera. This technique can add tension when employed selectively but that did not happen here. The camera shook & shook & then shook some more. This technique is being overused in recent years and it is becoming quite tiresome!

Unfortunately, it felt like half of the film was shot in this, shall we call it: "Rattle Vision". Too much of this ruins the entire experience.

I've never before gotten motion sick while sitting in an easy chair, but "Ring of Fire" nearly drove me to toss my cookies into the Ring of Porcelain down the hall.

Because of the extreme queasiness I suffered trying to watch this mess, I feel compelled to rate it 3 stars out of 10. My apologies to the cast as they may have done a good job but I'll never know because most of the footage is a blur!

Story was pretty good but I am sorry. .. Jewel was too pretty to pull off June Carter....,June was kind of on the homely side to me. And sang a little load for me .And he was no where near a Johnny Cash ...Johnny was not good looking in my opinion but alot better looking then this guy...and his singing was the pits. I had to hit mute everytime he opened his mouth. I watched Walk the line a few years ago and those two pulled it off with a lot more eaze. 0nly someone who really likes jewel wound give this movie a five or better. They pretty much skipped over her marriages to anyone but Johnny. ..

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.

Jewel did an amazing job portraying the timeless beauty June Carter Cash. I don't think it's fair to compare this movie to Walk The Line or other works based on the life of the Carters/Cash Families. They were all written through different views and different people. Matt Ross did an okay job playing Johnny Cash, but the vocals were lacking in the music area from him. Jewel astounded me with not only her vocals but her appearance as well. There were quite a few spots in the movie where Ross carried himself exactly they way we were accustomed to seeing Mr. Johnny Cash. He also had some physical similarities as well. It's hard to try to mimic a man with such unique handsomeness and features.

Overall, I would totally recommend this to Carter/Cash fans and anyone else interested in a quick "behind the scenes glance" through the eyes of Mr. John Carter Cash.