02/17/06 Walk The Line

Walk The Line (2005), directed by James Mangold

watched w/ Leslie; theater (NC State University Cinema, Raleigh, NC); free screening

Obviously the Academy Awards always love a biopic with some great names in the lead character roles. This is one that continues to give justice to all those nominations (in the vein of say a "Pollock", or "Ray"), as well as idolize a national icon. I think it's great that these important artistic figures get the cinematic treatment, albeit posthumously. Let's be honest, it would be kind of creepy to have these life stories displayed on the big screen, warts and all, if the people were still alive. These kind of stories always have those great elements of tragic literary figures, but played out in a drug-sex-and-rock-&-roll lifestyle. Part fiction, part biography, part entertainment, part encyclopedia. Parts that creat the whole of a solid movie. Phoenix and Witherspoon both do very well in their portrayals of the famous Cash's. C'mon, the Man In Black is one of the coolest mo-fo's around. Anyone who can create such a seminal recording live at a maximum security institution (a la Folsom Prison) is deservedly a bad-ass.

5 out of 5 stars