Ray vs. Walk the Line

Hey everyone! I finally got around to watching the movie, Ray. Last year it won an Oscar for Jamie Foxx as lead actor. Watching it, I couldn't help comparing it to Walk the Line, another movie about another famous but troubled singer, Johnny Cash. There were many similarities between the two men, and unfortunately many differences between the two movies. A compare and contrast was called for:

• Brothers: Both lost a brother as children, and both were haunted by the loss and felt responsible for it throughout their lives.
• Childhood family: Both had difficult childhoods. Cash had a bitter father who put him down, but Charles wins the worst childhood easily as he grew up a black child in the segregated South, was raised by a caring single mother, was dirt poor and became blind.
• Musical Impact: Cash and Charles both broke new ground and were enormously talented, but Charles came out the winner here - first to make the transition from R&B to pop and first artist ever to own his own master recordings (not sure I understand the significance of this, but they made it a big deal in the movie). However, Cash's live recording from Folsom Prison topped The Beatles on the charts, so that's saying something.
• Drugs: Cash was entralled by pills of all kinds, while Charles's was heroin. Both abused drugs for years, ended up being briefly imprisoned because of it, then went through painful withdrawals
• True Love: Cash - June Carter. Charles - it looked like heroin to me, but the movie posited that it was his music. I can go for this AFTER he finally quits using. And this isn't until like the last scene of the movie.
• Acting: Foxx did a good impersonation of Charles and had some good moments, but this proves to me that Leo was robbed at last year's Oscars. My fav parts of Ray were the flashbacks and Foxx wasn't even in them. Don't get me wrong, Foxx is a great actor, but I think he was a heck of a lot better in Collateral than in Ray. Phoenix doesn't give an impersonation - he disappears into the person of Johnny Cash. Phoneix may not look exactly like him, but after seeing him on screen for 5 seconds you're completely absorbed in the character and riveted to the screen. As for the supporting casts, Charles was involved with lots of women, his band and his handlers, and all these supporting parts are fine but no one else really stands out in Ray. The obvious standout in Walk the Line is Reese Witherspoon as June Carter. She's right there with Phoenix, holding up the movie.
• Singing: Phoenix and Witherspoon do their own singing. Foxx lipsynchs.
• Movies: Ray is a good biopic. Walk the Line is a wonderful movie. Ray almost felt like a documentary. It took you piece by piece through 30 years of his life. It felt like they were checking off concerts and events. Watching it at home was especially difficult for me. I stopped it at least 7 times to do other things. At 2 hrs and 45 min, Ray was waaaaay too long - it could have knocked off 45 min and I would have rejoiced. Walk the Line had 100% of my attention and it could have gone on for another hour and I would have been thrilled.
• Easy Winner: Walk the Line

-sunday