So, I just went to see Walk the Line. Finally. It's one of those films that slipped through the cracks last fall (partly on account that it opened on the same day as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), but that I really wanted to see. Fortunately the wasteland of release dates that is January/February (I mean, unless Underworld: Evolution is really your thing) solicitates me catching up with all the films that I didn't get to see in November/December or that opened in limited release in December and are just opening up in the wider markets now. Up on tap for the next week is Terrence Malick's The New World and Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Capote.


So, Walk the Line; it's a really good movie. I liked it an awful lot. I liked it better than most of the biopics I've seen in ages. Much better than Ray. Jamie Foxx did an amazing job in that film, but Joaquin Phoenix doesn't seem like he's doing an imitation as much as peforming a character. He's not so much concerned with making one completely believe it's Johnny Cash on screen, as he is in making you believe the story that's being told. I appreciated that. He's a great actor. Reese Witherspoon is fantastic too. One believes that Johnny would fall for her and that she would become his best friend who would save him from his own personal demons of pills and booze. She is also just adorable. As of the moment, I'm rooting for her come the Oscars.

Plus the story of Johnny Cash is, to me, just very compelling. And I love the music. I'm home listening to Live at Folsom Prison as I speak (I think "Cocaine Blues" might be one of my favourite songs). It's also amazing that both Joaquin and Reese did their own singing for this film. Outstanding. And T Bone Burnett (O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Cold Mountain) did the music arrangements and choices and he continues to be the best in the business.

And finally, I think Walk the Line might have one of the best sets of posters I've seen in a long time. What do you think?