bball1dad

The hallmark of a great biopic of a singer is the music. As a kid I loved "The Jolson Story". While Larry Parks played Jolson; all the songs were sung by the real Jolson. Likewise in "Ray", Jamie Foxx was great as Ray; but all the songs were sung by Ray Charles. The makers of "Walk the Line" forgot this formula. While Phoenix did avery good job portraying Johnny Cash; he has no voice. Hence, I give the movie a thumbs down because in the end Johnny was all about his wonderful voice. When I saw him and June in the late 80's, June lovingly referred to him on stage as "Ol Golden Throat". And that he was. Phoenix was "Ol Lead Throat". Also, the plot development was poor. The conflict with his Dad should have been fleshed out. The movie failed to capture how Johnny eventually "bottomed out". Also, in the 70's Johnny made his "altar walk", became a Christian and truly turned it all around. The movie never even mentioned it. I guess the secular humanist that run Hollywood simply don't embrace that message. Reese Witherspoon was great. And lets face it most Americans are not familiar with her voice so who cares if she sang.

I did not feel sorry for these defendants when I watched this film. I felt very bad for the parents who lost their son. All the hand wringing over the aggressive prosecution ignores the fact that no court has ever sanctioned the prosecutors for misconduct. These young adults clearly got what they had coming to them. The biggest joke is seeing Dershowitz. He acts as if he's the moral conscience of the nation even though he worked hard to get O.J. acquitted. The conviction for felony murder turned on whether it was a robbery. What I would like to know if the defendants had any money when they arrived at the dealer's fort to buy the pot as they allege. If they had no money that certainly shows evidence of a robbery. If it was a robbery, they are all guilty of felony murder and should rot in jail.

After all the hype, I expected to be wowed. I wasn't. About halfway into the movie, I realized this movie was a prayer vehicle and I pulled out my rosary beads and started praying the Hail Mary. This movie was the "Sorrowful Mysteries" brought to life. However, prayer for me is very rarely emotionally moving or fun and more often is work. As a pure movie, I thought it was slow and unentertaining. Too many slow motion shots and wierd close ups. The acting was so-so and I didn't care for the music. In contrast, as a movie, I much prefer the passion in "Jesus of Nazareth" by Zefferelli. However, as a prayer vehicle, I thought it was great. I've prayed the Stations of the Cross many times and here it was brought to life. The movie opened up different biblical interpretations for me. I've became more spiritually connected to St. Veronica or Simon of Cyrene.