Dr. Lecter wrote:
Enlighten me.
What do you mean?
Why I think Ray is great? Mostly because it has a sense of urgency and energy underlines the entire movie. There are a couple cheesy bits of course (Sharon Warren is particularly hammy, as is some of the early sequences in Seattle) and it's a story told in very, very broad and obvious strokes but a lot of the performances just really strike a chord. Jamie Foxx's of course, but there is also some great work here from Kerry Washington and especially Regina King who makes the "Hit the Road Jack" section of the movie just come to life.
I personally thought the Cinematography and production values, the colors used, the angles, the editing, all made up for a very energetic film. Sure it wasn't the *best* of everything that year, but if you combine everything together into one film and cook it all up on the end of a spoon, it makes for a rather tasty injection (did I just type that?).
On top of that, it said something significant about Ray Charles. One of the big problems I have with Walk the Line is that it didn't really say anything about Johnny Cash or his music or the impact he made in the world. It doesn't even begin to address his activism and political agenda. Although it was *extremely* well acted by the leads, it just didn't have anything else to say.
Yes, Rwanda had it's "importance" and a great acting job done by Cheadle. It was also trying to tell a mighty complex film, and in ways both succeeded and failed. But on a separate wavelength, as far as Ray is concerned, it just hit every note that it was aiming for. And that is also impressive.
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