Ray (2004)

The movie Ray was an incredibly big critical hit in 2004 and earned a spot in film history as the first African-American biopic to be nominated for 6 Academy Awards and in my opinion rightfully the movie truly earned those Academy Award nominations simply for the stunning editing techniques. This film is a biographical film that is based on the real-life blind musician Ray Charles and his successes and downfalls that also revolves around the wicked, self- indulgent effect that fame can have and how it causes his social life to quietly fall down a hole. The fact that the film deals with the cause of fame means that it is very honest, realistic and confronting in my opinion because of how some people are naive to the consequences of being famous. The message of this is also carried along in a very well made flow throughout the development of the film as we get to know Ray Charles and his past and we get to know some of Ray Charles's inner demons that show us that even the most perfect people can have flaws. The film itself is very well made purely because of the even pacing, exciting editing and ear- pleasing music, and with all that a dedicated performance by Jamie Foxx is given to execute it. This will probably be one of the more exciting biopics you will see in your life, so why not give this a watch?

This film is absolutely amazing. Not only with an absolutely stunning performance from Jamie Foxx, but with a poignant, yet heartwarming story, great acting, and great music. Jamie Foxx shines beautifully as Ray Charles, and there is nobody else that could've done it better, since he not only acted very well, but he also sang and actually played the piano. The story is absolutely fantastic in this film, as it's not only thought-provoking, but it's poignant and heartwarming. It surely goes on a great flow that works almost perfectly. And the music in this film is amazingly composed and sounds not only high quality, but overall very catchy, just like the original versions by Ray Charles himself. I recommend this film to those who are fans of Ray Charles, as well as to those who haven't seen it yet, as this film will more than likely pleasantly surprise anyone who hasn't seen it yet, like it has done to me. This is one of the best biopics I have seen and easily one of, if not Jamie Foxx's best film, as it's got much more than enough to impress many.

An uninspired, standard biopic that follows a familiar arc featuring poverty, fame and drug addiction, Ray tells us less about the man, and more about Hollywood formulas applied to music legends. Jamie Fox's Oscar winning impersonation of Ray Charles is excellent, but the character is one-dimensional and Fox's performance is all surface. The film features so many of Ray's songs that it feels like a jukebox musical. The film itself is undistinguished and overlong with a secondhand feel thanks to Taylor Hackford's strictly by the numbers direction and a screenplay that refuses to part with a single cliché. An A&E Biography would have been better and more authentic.

The story is nicely well balanced and powerful. The movie creators did a great job in creating those powerful scenes that exposes the real character. I honestly didn't have any significant experience in knowing Ray Charles' life events or works, but having seen Get On Up before I saw this movie, I'm pretty sure that the latter was partially inspired by this movie in terms of honesty and balance. The movie nicely explore the beginnings and the childhood in a way that doesn't bore down viewers using the alternating back and forth story flow. The acting overall is indeed one worthy of an Oscar. Jamie Foxx's role is so natural that it's very clear that he's really affected by the character he played.