Walk the Line
SD and I finally saw WTL last night on DVD. And, it was pretty funny because it occurred to us almost simultaneously at the halfway point ... man, I don't think Reese W. had done anything out of the ordinary to grab the best actress this year, puzzling. Joaquin P. certainly was deserving of a Oscar nod, if not the award, however we haven't seen H&F or Cap yet.
Walk the Line (DVD): B
Without overly spoiling it for those who have yet to see it, it is a biographical picture of the man in black. I think if there are obvious themes, they are the lifelong chase that JR has over June ... his battles with substance abuse ... and his difficult relationship with his father. In many ways, the picture is 2/3rds ugly with him dealing with his demons related to these issues.
Only the thread of his pursuit of June is fairly solid, the other two threads aren't as well constructed ... so it is mushy at times a feels a tad bit drifty into the stereotypical 'subst-abuse' pic ... you know the kind, where you can't really relate to much to the main character because they are so lost and they do so much stupit shirt
However, I think for the most part, the movie is good. The performances really carry the movie ... By design, the movie moves ahead in terms of years, and all you get is scenes from the year ... some scenes move the narrative ahead, some don't really add to the threads
I guess this is good and bad because, on the downside, it just feels like we are rushing ahead to some watershed, which kind of pays off, but not really ... on the positive side, the movie feels largely easy to digest in terms of its short scene design because it doesn't really bog down.
I guess I always have a problem with bio pics ... primarily, is there a point that the storyteller wanted to get across ... or is it merely existence, and there really is no point than to show you different points in the subject's life. For me, I think it was supposed to be a love story, but it never showed how June would find things to love about JR ... who spends a good 2/3rds of the movie being a jackass
And the high points of the picture beside the performances, when I think about it, are the musical performances. They bring positive energy to certain segments where otherwise the movie would be largely dark.
In the final analysis, the movie is entertaining enough and a very solid choice ... is it great? no, not really, but it does do just enough. I think it is about a B