FILMS FOR THOUGHT
By: Alex Holzum
The time has finally come; the topic for this blog is a musical! Walk the Line is the musical biography of the legendary, Johnny Cash. Johnny is played by Joaquin Phoenix and June Carter is played by Reese Witherspoon (love her). This musical used to come on FX all the time and I absolutely hated it. I thought it was boring, I did not understand it, and the guy sang super slow and it annoyed me...essentially I was an idiot. My realization of how great this movie is, came to be when my sister somehow mistook my dislike of this movie for love and ended up buying it for me for Christmas. I watched it again and loved it.
Jonny Cash led a fantastically, and sometimes tragically, entertaining life. The opening scene is heart breaking and ties you in for the rest of the movie, for sure. We get to see how badly Cash wanted to perform for a living and how difficult it was for him to get his start. This movie takes us through some of the best historical time periods when Cash fought in the war and interacted with some of music's greats such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley. It is a very real depiction of the temptations that celebrities deal with such as infidelity, drugs, and narcissism. Of course there is the complex relationship of Johnny Cash and June Carter to throw into the already full pot of cinematic gold.
But wait, there's more! The music in this movie is very different from what I typically listen to, but I really enjoyed that part of the movie as well. My personal favorite is "It Ain't Me Babe". Here's a link to listen to it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp67xm9Kth8 . I will probably be shunned for thinking this but I found that Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon's adaptations of the songs were better than the originals. Of course the time period has a lot to do with this opinion because I probably would have thought differently if I was alive during the hype of Folsom Prison Blues. This movie was nominated for a myriad of Oscars and Reese Witherspoon won best actress (once again, LOVE HER).
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS ONE. Here's a link to a trailer if you would like more info!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsvZGwd8vrI
Jonny Cash led a fantastically, and sometimes tragically, entertaining life. The opening scene is heart breaking and ties you in for the rest of the movie, for sure. We get to see how badly Cash wanted to perform for a living and how difficult it was for him to get his start. This movie takes us through some of the best historical time periods when Cash fought in the war and interacted with some of music's greats such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley. It is a very real depiction of the temptations that celebrities deal with such as infidelity, drugs, and narcissism. Of course there is the complex relationship of Johnny Cash and June Carter to throw into the already full pot of cinematic gold.But wait, there's more! The music in this movie is very different from what I typically listen to, but I really enjoyed that part of the movie as well. My personal favorite is "It Ain't Me Babe". Here's a link to listen to it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp67xm9Kth8 . I will probably be shunned for thinking this but I found that Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon's adaptations of the songs were better than the originals. Of course the time period has a lot to do with this opinion because I probably would have thought differently if I was alive during the hype of Folsom Prison Blues. This movie was nominated for a myriad of Oscars and Reese Witherspoon won best actress (once again, LOVE HER).
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS ONE. Here's a link to a trailer if you would like more info!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsvZGwd8vrI
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