New DVD review: "Ray"
Film: B+
Jamie Foxx: A+
DVD: B-
In "Ray," director Taylor Hackett's 15-year labor of love to Ray Charles, one of the 20th century's musical geniuses, Jamie Foxx delivers a performance that is too good.
Too good?
That's an odd idea in need of an explanation.
Imagine a college theater production starring Robert De Niro.
Unfortunately we have an A-level performance in a B-level film.
The story of "Ray" focuses on several aspects of Charles's life: his rise to fame and the experimentation and originality that made it possible; his struggles with heroin and childhood memories that haunt him through adulthood.
Foxx is the driving force that carries and elevates this film. Without Foxx, the movie would have simply been a blip on the cinematic radar.
There are two facts that only make Foxx's accomplishment all the more compelling. First, he actually played the music in the film (he went to college on a classical piano scholarship). Second, Foxx acted the film blind, fitted with silicone eyelids that put him in the dark for as much as 12 or 14 hours a day.
Certain elements just mar the film --- relatively weak supporting work, questionable dream sequences and most of all, a cheesy, almost made-for-TV-movie ending.
The DVD itself also leaves much to be desired. It presents both the theatrical cut of the film and an "extended" version. Unfortunately the presentation of the longer version is flawed. Instead of actually creating a second version, the scenes are simply jammed back in. When one of these scenes appears, the film freezes for a few moments before loading it. One scene actually --- apparently accidentally --- repeats itself multiple times.
The second disc of features also disappoints. It provides a few short featurettes and the deleted scenes that have been re-inserted into the movie. A much longer, more in-depth documentary seems to be in order given the subject matter and the long odyssey it took to bring the film to the screen.
The special features are at least redeemed by an interesting, engaging commentary by Hackett. (Though, his pretentiousness yields a few laughs when he seriously refers to the film as a "ghost story.")
New DVD review: "She Hate Me"
Film: C+
DVD: C
Spike Lee is, by nature, a risk-taker and experimenter. Even when his films do not come together, like a loaf of bread that fails to rise, the leftover pieces are usually still tasty.
His most recent film, "She Hate Me," stumbles into this category. It involves Jack Armstrong, a 30-year-old, black vice president who loses his job after acting as whistleblower in an Enron-type scenario. Jobless and with a frozen bank account, his ex-fianc+â-¬e and her lesbian lover pay him $10,000 to impregnate them. Soon he's impregnating tons of lesbians for cash.
There are about a half dozen movies here that don't all come together in this entertaining Frankenstein monster of a movie. Lee has fallen prey to this urge before, most notably in 1991's "Jungle Fever."
DVD-wise the disc features some deleted scenes, a pat-on-the-back featurette and a director commentary. Lee gives great commentaries and this one is no exception. (Though it's nowhere near as funny as his look back on "School Daze," his second feature.)
"You Must Buy This DVD Right Now" DVD review: "Do the Right Thing" Criterion Collection
Last Friday, Ossie Davis, a great man and talented actor, died at the age of 87. One of Davis' most famous roles was that of the lovable "Da Mayor" in Spike Lee's brilliant and controversial "Do the Right Thing."
One of the best films of the '80s is also an incredible DVD. It receives the full Criterion treatment --- two discs worth of extra materials, most interesting of which is a new introduction and conclusion from Lee reflecting back on the film more than a decade later with some biting words for his critics.
Visit http://swimmingincelluloid.blogspot.com for an explanation of the film and DVD letter grade scales and a link to the teaser trailer of Tim Burton's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" starring Johnny Depp.
Comments? Criticism? Movie thoughts? E-mail David Swindle at swimminginbrokenglass@gmail.com
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