Walk the Line 2 disc SE

[Shane Martin]

There were 2 versions of this dvd that came out. The single disc and the 2 disc SE. I bought the 2 disc'er for ~$22.

Acting is phenomenal, story is engrossing and the movie is quite good. Not perfect but quite good. This is a must see even if you don't enjoy the genre or Cash.

Dvd wise: The PQ is STUNNING. I dare say reference quality.
SQ is also first rate. It's presented in DTS 5.1(on the 2 disc). Not sure on the single disc.

:4: out of :5:

[George Bellefontaine]

In Canada the 2 disc set was $32 so I opted for the single disc at $24. Hope to watch it some evening this week.

Re: DTS. Yep, this is also available on the single disc.

Got a feeling this is a movie we will agree on, Shane.

[Nick M]

Rented it.

I thought it was a good film, but didn't see any Oscar worthy material. Seemed like it borrowed heavily on Ray (which I absolutely loved). An enjoyable time, but I don't think I'm going to buy it. To me it also seemed to lack genuine emotion, especially on Cash's part. Cash's father was excellent though.

:35: out of :5:

[Burke Strickland]

No buyer's remorse for having purchased the single disk edition. The picture quality as seen via front projector (haven't tried it on a TV) and soundtrack on the single disc edition are certainly good enough to include in my collection. Although I really enjoyed the movie, I couldn't see paying double to get an "extras" disc that would probably never get played.

Overall, the sound track had suitably "authentic" and "natural sounding" effects to give a "you are there" feeling. The surround sound during the concert scenes was very effective in making you feel like you were part of the audience, although, of course, most of the people in the original audience wouldn't have gotten nearly as good a look at the performers. :>)

Both sequels and movies that are not part of the same franchise but have a plot line similar to that of a successful predecessor are a Hollywood tradition about as old as the Oscars. While both "Ray" and "Walk The Line" are about singers who overcame adversity including drug use, and rose from humble beginnings to reach stardom, and both films use flashbacks to relate the fate of a sibling to the main character's later actions and motivations, the stories are enough different -- because the details of the main characters' lives were different -- to let each one succeed on its own.

Although it is true that many follow-on productions are mediocre in comparison to the first one out of the gate, that is simply not the case here. Both "Ray" and "Walk The Line" are basically showcases for the acting talent, not "perfect" movies in all the other categories (for instance, the way the flashbacks were tied in was a bit heavy handed) and both films are well worth multiple viewings, IMO, for the performances.

In "Walk the Line", both Joaquin Phoenix and Resse Witherspoon "were" their characters -- very convincing to me -- and I found their portrayals of J.R. (Johnny) Cash and June Carter and the story of their lives totally engrossing. If successfully "living inside the character" was worthy of an Oscar for Jamie Foxx (no argument there) then these two performances are "Oscar caliber" as well. The Academy obviously thought so too.

Cash's father was excellent though.

I assume you mean the portrayal of Cash's father was excellent (which it was). As depicted in the movie, the man was a washout as a father and not a pleasant person to be around -- until J.R. Cash finally stood up to him shouting "Where were YOU? when the father tried once again to blame J.R. for his brother's fatal accident as if he were his older brother's keeper -- and J.R. invited him back to visit the grandkids with their relationship then being on a different basis, having grown beyond needing the old man's "approval". If that isn't "genuine emotion", then you're never going to see it in a movie.

Burke

[Nick M]

I thought Cash's father (Robert Patrick) stole the show (and I don't mean to say he was the protagonist of the film). Without his performance in the Thanksgiving scene I don't think it would have been worth squat. Reese as June was great, but personally I think Joaquin wasn't the best person to play Cash.

I can think of 1000+ scenes where I felt raw emotion seeping from the pores of the actor much better than Joaquin's portrayal of Cash. For instance, almost every scene in Gladiator as Commodus. To me it felt as though alot of the scenes were simply acted as Cash.

As a whole, I felt that it was much too alike with Ray's styling, even the layout of the scenes and storyline. On the otherhand, I felt Walk the Line was a distant second as far as the flow and editing of that layout was concerned. A good example of this is the poor attempt at showing the events leading up to cutting his first album.

Nothing to get heated about, just my personal opinion (which has a tendency to differ from the mass). Overall I thought it was a good movie, but definetly not on par with Ray, nor even in the same ballpark as the Oscar winning Crash (regardless of genre).

I'd still recommend people to atleast rent it.

[George Bellefontaine]

Wife and I watched this last night. As Shane said, PQ is excellent, as is the sound. Loved the story, the performances of both Witherspoon and Phoenix, and the music. This dvd is an absolute must own for an Johnny Cash fan, and I'm one of them. :T

[bamaredwingsfan]

I really liked the movie, i was never a big johnny cash fan, but after the movie i liked him alot more. :T

[George Bellefontaine]

I really liked the movie, i was never a big johnny cash fan, but after the movie i liked him alot more. :T

Same thing happened to me after watching RAY. I had liked his work but never owned much of his stuff. After I saw the film I went out and bought everything available at the time.