TIFF - Walk the Line review
It was fun being able to attend a world premiere last night during the film festival. We were stuck with an obnoxious couple in the line who spoke to each other as if it was scripted. It was very surreal, he would stare right at me and say something, I would attempt to reply, but my words would not faze him. He simply carried on his "routine" with his wife. Weird.

We entered Roy Thompson Hall and grabbed excellent seats, just behind the Air Canada reserved row. I suggested one of the TIFF volunteers should have attached barf bags to the backs of seats in front of them. Heather thought it would be hilarious if a couple of them got up to show us where the emergency exits were in the case of an emergency. We had a great laugh (we're also easily amused!).

Like most films during the festival you're stuck in a line most of the time. Once you have been seated you're stuck waiting for the actors and dignitaries to arrive before curtain/projector. In other words the movie started around 40 minutes after the scheduled 6:30 screening time. Perhaps the Air Canada reps should have announced that the delay was due to a mechanical issue, or some luggage was unaccounted for.

Finally, the lights went down and Noah Cowan walked to the podium on the stage. He appeared to be very tired, and I'm sure he must be! He read his scripted thank you notes to the sponsors, and introduced the film and it's cast and crew.

The row of photographers stood in front of the stage like teen girls at a Beatles concert, salivating for that perfect shot! Out walked the stars of Walk the Line, Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon (did they cast on goofy names or what?). The audience went nuts and the flash bulbs fired away.

Heather and I both really enjoyed the film. It was freaky to know that all of the singing in the movie was actually performed by the cast. Joaquin did a good Cash; he really looked the part too. Witherspoon, who I thought strangely cast (at first) did an awesome job. Witherspoon hit all the right notes to create an authentic sounding June Carter.

Now the film itself was good, but not great. Put it this way - it's been done before - kind of. Picture if you will a film about a famous musician, grown up poor in the U.S. south. His sibling dies in a tragic way. He dedicates his life to his music. He is a horrible family man, who both sleeps around on his wife and gets heavy into drugs. The artist struggles to over come the addiction, overcomes the addition, and finally lives happily ever after. Am I talking about last year's big Academy Awards darling, Ray? Nope, but you get the idea.

Overall the film is worth seeing, especially if you dig Johnny Cash, which we both do! The movie isn't that memorable, but the acting and music is worth it. There are some shots that are stylish, but not enough of them. The Folsom Prison scenes were cool, they reminded me of the Jail House Rock scene from The Blues Brothers.

Walk the Line will probably do well in the theatres, but I'm guessing even better as a DVD if the proper "bonus materials" are included. Of course, you can wait until you're hungover on the couch on a Sunday years from now watching TV. That's where I was when I watched: The Buddy Holly Story, La Bamba, Great Balls of Fire, and any number of Elvis movies.

The story was interesting, but we still want to know the story behind "A Boy Named Sue"!

http://davemadethis.blogspot.com/2005/09/tiff-walk-line-review.html
-----------------------------------------------


Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen and Dylan bigger, louder onscreen
TORONTO: The lives and sounds of Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and dozens of other music legends, both real and fictional, struck a chord with audiences at the Toronto International Film Festival this week.
Director Martin Scorsese presented never-before-seen onstage footage of Dylan and interviews with people close to him in his documentary ‘No Direction Home: Bob Dylan’ about the American singer’s life in the early 1960s.
Canadian music icon Cohen was honoured with two documentaries about him: a tribute concert that featured Rufus Wainwright and U2 in ‘Leonard Cohen I’m Your Man’ and ‘Ladies and Gentleman, Mr. Leonard Cohen.’
And, director James Mangold premiered his ‘Walk the Line’ on Tuesday about the man in black and his true love, with actor Joaquin Phoenix playing Johnny Cash, and Reese Witherspoon playing June Carter.
“People don’t remember how good the music was (back then)... There’s some real blood and guts in that music,” Mangold said, whose biopic was the most acclaimed of the bunch.
“There was something really adventurous going on at that moment with young people lashing out.”
Johnny Cash was “always riding this river of shadows in his writing that was so revealing about his feelings,” Mangold said. He scratched “the edge of something really frightening and an ambivalence about violence and sadness that was really brand new to the world at that moment,” Mangold said, referencing one of his lyrics about shooting a man in Reno to watch him bleed.
The movie, framed by Cash’s 1968 Folsom Prison concert, is reminiscent of the 2004 blockbuster Ray about Ray Charles.
Phoenix and Witherspoon, who grew up in Nashville and said she wanted to be a country music singer at six years old, spent six months rehearsing their characters’ songs – including Cash’s trademark deep voice. “You learn so much about him through his lyrics,” Phoenix said.
“He conveys so much with just a few lines. That was the gateway into discovering John. I feel like I found the speaking voice through the singing voice and really learned a lot about him through his music.”
The love story depicted in the new film covers their early years together before June Carter finally accepted Johnny Cash’s 40th marriage proposal in 1968 in front of an audience on a stage 200 km northeast of Toronto. “They were each an antidote for the other. John had a hole in his heart... and June was an antidote... John was a real ambassador for her to the edge or away from a safe place as part of the first family of country music,” Mangold said. – Reuters
Last update on: 15-9-2005
http://www.bahraintribune.com/ArticleDetail.asp?CategoryId=7&ArticleId=82781

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RCJAYHAWK13,

Thanks for posting!! I can't wait til November!!

I spent a lot of this weekend listening to Johnny Cash.

iTunes is my friend - I have been listening to JC too

im so excited!! my friends better come see it with me, if not i will just go by myself

quote:

Originally posted by x lindsey:
im so excited!! my friends better come see it with me, if not i will just go by myself

me 2, I doubt my firends will wanna see it..but I'll make them anyway

I don't think I'll have very many friends that will go for it, but I already made my BFF promise to see it with me, since she's a semi-Tyler fan. She isn't as obsessed as me though

quote:

Originally posted by TylerHiltonFan7:
I don't think I'll have very many friends that will go for it, but I already made my BFF promise to see it with me, since she's a semi-Tyler fan. She isn't as obsessed as me though

I know as much as I try, my bfs won't like TYler as much as I do....they are always like oh, you are talkign about him again, whatever...so I think i'll see walk the line alone

My friend told me that she'd go with me, but the way she cancels on everything, I doubt it. So it might be just me and my mom. Who knows, DC Trackers might do something

I'll be seeing it opening day and Harry Potter can wait a day or two

I would be seeing the movie even if Tyler wasn't in it -- Johnny Cash is good stuff -- and I see every movie Reese Witherspoon is in - she is a great actress So, Tyler is just a bonus for me

Same here! Joaquin is my favorite actor and Reese is my favorite actress. Then there's Tyler? This is like a dream movie

Oscar Chances...

'WALK THE LINE' Nov. 18

The icon:

Legendary singer-songwriter Johnny Cash

The actor:

Joaquin Phoenix, of Gladiator, The Village and Signs

Degree of difficulty:

High. Phoenix, who is distinct on his own, had to look a little like "the Man in Black." But he also had to sound like him. A lot like him. His speaking voice sounds nothing like Cash's, but Phoenix plays him as a man with a lot of hurt and soul. And his singing gets very close to Cash's baritone.

Oscar chances:

Has to be a nomination in there, though will the Academy want to reward two music-icon best-actor impersonations in a row? Even if Phoenix sings and Jamie Foxx didn't?

Extra credit:

It's Joaquin's utter mastery of Cash's stage pose, the way he worked a microphone, that makes this performance work.

'WALK THE LINE'

The icon:

June Carter, of the Carter Family, the "First Family of Country Music"

The actress:

Reese Witherspoon

Degree of difficulty:
Darned high. Who knew Reese could sing? Even if she is a native Southerner, her handling of Carter's Appalachian twang and ability to look good, even in 1960s country-music hairstyles (think BIG), are spot on.

Oscar chances:

Hollywood loves her. Ought to be a nomination here. She's due.

Extra credit:

Witherspoon even learned to play Carter's instrument of choice, the mountain-music autoharp, for the film.

ONE WEEK

I JUST WON TICKETS TO SEE WTL ON MONDAY!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe it, I never win anything!!! I got 8 tickets!! This is so awesome!!

Well in that case, it's only one weekend for you!! Congrats, you are so lucky!!