Ray Charles was a man who took the limits of his skin color that kept him down at the time along with his disability and used it to his advantage with his pure musical genius, his ability to reach beyond the musical genre and discover all sorts of facets of music experimenting. The film directed by Taylor Hackford is a bittersweet inspiring tale of Ray Charles’ life, love, and struggle with drug abuse. Charles played by Jamie Foxx in an amazing performance, is portrayed with the humanity and flaws that give this film the reality it needs and never pulls back. Charles himself picked Foxx after a rigorous test of piano skills and approved him personally, and the film manages to convey all of Foxx’ skill in its entirety.
Tag Archives: R
Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
Though the film is clearly lacking in many things, what it doesn’t lack is an opening that is bland. I liked the beginning more than the film as a whole, mainly because it succeeds in setting forth what is about to happen despite robbing us of terror. The opening is very close to what the opening of the remake of “Dawn of the Dead” was except it doesn’t take the same risks and supply the same frantic nihilism, however it does succeed in tension from the workers going back into the hive being overrun by zombies, right down to the calm neighborhood interrupted by a car crash which essentially sets the stage for the “plot” of the missing daughter of the scientist of the hive and fades away to Jovovich in her delicious glory on the stretcher where we last left off from the ending of “Resident Evil.”
The Rundown (2003)
There’s an ironic scene in the movie where the rock passes Arnold Schwarzenneger in a very brief cameo and he says “Have Fun”, a declaration in its own way poetic as the rock makes his way into the gallery and pantheon of action stars of the past with “The Rundown”. Dwayne Johnson can act, and here he plays reluctant superhero Beck, a free agent on the rundown of a fugitive in the Brazilian jungle who owes some people money. Travis, is a man whose father wants him back home to pay off his debts and Beck, tired of violence, gives him options on either going easily or roughly. Of course Beck chooses the latter, and now Beck must face off against a vicious mob boss who wants Travis to lead him to a priceless relic, and against the natural dangers of the jungle, and Travis who is less than submissive.
Runaway Jury (2003)
“Runaway Jury” is the type of film that makes me happy to be such a hardcore movie fan, beautiful cast, well acted, well directed, and taut, this is a prime courtroom thriller. Based on the book by John Grisham whose name has become synonymous with courtroom dramas, rather than focusing solely on the drama in the courtroom, we also focus on the people behind the curtain, the defense and the prosecution who pick jurors one by one and decide which would be most suitable. The difference in this process are the two people behind it; Wendell Rohr and Rankin Fitch played by heavyweights Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman, Rohr (Hoffman) is a fiercely moral lawyer who plays by the rules along with his newest assistant Lawrence Green (Jeremy Piven) who can read body language and voice tones, he gets his job by convincing Rohr he’ll be needed during this trial if he intends on winning and defeating Fitch.
Ripley's Game (2002)
Acclaimed actor John Malkovich takes on the role this time of Tom Ripley, the chameleon whom now lives in a mansion in Italy with his beautiful wife and lush aristocratic lifestyle. An old acquaintance from the past returns to his life, and asks that he help him knock off enemies. Ripley wants no part of it, but he does have someone in mind who will, with the right persuasion. Ripley is one of the main characters of this story, someone whom we follow throughout the story. He’s a sick, demented character through his humble facade. Ripley twists and turns everything for his own benefit.
Ripper (2001)
Director John Eyres does manage to capture the appropriate mood for a film with a concept such as this. The set pieces range from grim, to bleak, to bright, to sometimes very sleek, plus he manages to take an old tired horror device: a dark and stormy forest and manages to make it a bit tense with some suspense clearly evident to the audience awaiting the identity of the killer. Jack the Ripper, the famous or infamous serial killer has been fodder for horror movies for decades, and as always is the case, every new movie attempts to put a different spin on the serial killer, attempts to turn and twist, and flip the serial killer into a new movie, but alas, there are very few movies that can take the most interesting serial killer of all time and turn him into a good film.
The Recruit (2003)
There are those films with big stars that you know are because the actors love the part, then there are the films that actors are in, and you know it’s for simply money. There can be no other explanation for actors such as Al Pacino and Colin Farrell to star in this other than that simple reason. There’s a mood director Roger Donaldson is going for desperately but fails with every leap trudging through the plot with a tried attempt. He attempts to go for the Tom Clancy mood and motif with the murky and sometimes sharp cinematography, but little does he know that the script is the ultimate down fall to this film. There’s nothing to like about this movie from its plot holes to immense lapses in logic; for instance, how is it that Clayton goes from a top computer programmer, to a moon lighting bartender right into the CIA without any training beforehand?