Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon and Ginnifer Goodwin in the James Mangold movie ‘Walk the Line’

Biopic movies have had a place in cinema since I began taking movies serious enough to rank movies. Country musician Johnny Cash received such treatment based in part on his autobiographies Man in Black: His Own Story in His Own Words of 1975 and Cash: The Autobiography, with Patrick Carr, of 1997 plus. Walk the Line (2005) received that plus deeper treatment with additional screenwriting from Gill Dennis and director James Mangold. Friend of the Matt Lynn Digital blog Cobra listed Walk the Line at #16 on his listing of top 20 movies as recently as 2018.

(From left, Reese Witherspoon as June Carter and Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash in the James Mangold movie Walk the Line).

The movie itself begins with scenes of family life for the Johnny Cash from 1944 in Dyess, Arkansas. We meet Johnny Cash‘s mother Carrie, his abusive father Ray, and his brother Jack. Robert Patrick, Shelby Lynne, Lucas Till and Ridge Canipe portrayed Ray, Carrie, Jack and Johnny at this point of the movie, with tragedy befalling Jack and Ray severely resenting Johnny for it. Joaquin Phoenix would go on to portray Johnny Cash as an adult.

(Ginnifer Goodwin as Vivian Cash in the James Mangold movie Walk the Line).

It’s 1950 when Johnny Cash joins the U.S. Air Force. Cash takes a liking to writing songs while stationed in West Germany, developing Folsom Prison Blues before returning to the United States when discharged in 1954. Cash would marry his first wife, Vivian Cash as portrayed by Ginnifer Goodwin, before the couple moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Vivian inspired Cash‘s first hit song I Walk the Line.

(From left, Larry Bagby as Marshall Grant, Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Dan John Miller as Luther Perkins in the Larry Mangold movie Walk the Line).

The absence of success as a door-to-door salesman as a means of supporting his family, in part, led Cash to seek an audition with a small band for Sam Phillips, the owner of Sun Records. While Cash, Luther Perkins and Marshall Grant first aimed to play gospel music, it was Folsom Prison Blues that won the trio a contract and financial success. Among others, the three would begin touring with Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins, as portrayed respectively by Waylon Payne, Tyler Hilton and John Holiday. Dallas Roberts portrayed Sam Phillips.

(From left, Robert Patrick as Ray Cash and Shelby Lynne as Carrie Cash in the Larry Mangold movie Walk the Line).

The touring introduces Johnny Cash to June Carter, as portrayed by Reese Witherspoon. The influence Carter has on Johnny Cash is a source of friction for Vivian Cash. Feelings of love develop between the pair, though attempts from Johnny to initiate a romantic relationship with June are initially rebuffed. A large portion of the film is dedicated to this dynamic, the children between the separate marriages for the pair, and the familial drama that remains between Ray and Johnny Cash. The eventual intimacy, drug and alcohol overuse by Johnny, an eventful Thanksgiving on that path, and a dynamic journey to ultimately get there provides depth to the personal story that is told by Walk the Line.

(From left, director James Mangold, actor Joaquin Phoenix and actress Reese Witherspoon in the James Mangold movie Walk the Line).

Walk the Line is well crafted entertainment with a strong underlying narrative. The drama is true to the music style of June Carter and Johnny Cash, with feelings of love and social norms of the larger society factoring into the tale. Learning more about the music and the biography of the early part of Cash’s family and career was worthy of my time, too. I rate Walk the Line as directed by James Mangold at 4.0-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix and Connie Nielsen in the Ridley Scott movie ‘Gladiator’

The historical drama Gladiator (2000) as directed by Ridley Scott turns 23 this year. The film centers on power, revenge and conflicts when those interests intersect with the will to choose the course of your life and the future of your own family. The power dynamics in this Roman period piece are to be reckoned with as well.

(From left, Richard Harris (prone) as Marcus Aurelius, Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus and Connie Nielsen as Lucilla in the Ridley Scott movie Gladiator).

The movie begins with a profound declaration of succession planning in leadership of the Roman empire. Marcus Aurelius, as portrayed by Richard Harris, confides to Maximus Decimus Meridius on the completion of a successful military conquest that he, Aurelius, would like to see the empire ruled by Maximus and the Roman senate upon his death.

(From left, Oliver Reed as Antonius Proximo and Russell Crowe as Maximus Decimus Meridius in the Ridley Scott movie Gladiator).

Learning of this fact, Commodus takes the news poorly, first hinting his profound disappointment to his recently widowed older sister, Lucilla. Acting rashly, amorally, cruelly and counter to the rationale of his father and emperor, Commodus murders Marcus Aurelius, kills the wife and child of Maximus at their home, and sets a trap to further end the life of Maximum Decimus Meridius. Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix and Connie Nielsen portrayed Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commodus and Lucilla, respectively.

(From left, Ralf Moeller as Hagen, Djimon Hounsou as Juba and Russell Crowe as Maximus Decimus Meridius in the Ridley Scott movie Gladiator).

Framed with the betrayal of his emperor, his country and his family, Maximus escapes death and rides home to find and bury his family. Stumbled upon by a slave traders, Maximus is captured and sold to gladiator trainer Antonius Proximo, as portrayed by Oliver Reed. It is in the throes of that training and competitions in local tournaments that Hagen and Juba, fellow gladiators, form a friendship with Maximus Decimus Meridius as three of the elite gladiators. Djimon Hounsou and Ralf Moeller portray Juba and Hagen, respectively.

(From left, Sven-Ole Thorsen as Tigris of Gaul, Tommy Flanagan as Cicero and Spencer Treat Clark as Lucius Verus in the Ridley Scott movie Gladiator).

With Commodus claiming the role of emperor following his killing of his father, a series of games for 150 days to commemorate his dead father brings the gladiators entrusted to Antonius Proximo to Rome. A fierce competition against Tigris of Gaul, as portrayed by Sven-Ole Thorsen, brings interesting conflict between not just these two, or a group of tigers, but further against Commodus, Maximus’ loyalty to Marcus Aurelius, and the opinion of the Roman people. The plot that follows including Lucius Verus, the nephew of Commodus through Lucilla, Cicero and the gladiators gives much depth to the gladiatorial games in addition to the larger meaning of family, loyalty and the degree of corruption people will accept in government. Spencer Treat Clark and Tommy Flanagan portrayed Lucius Verus and Cicero, respectively.

(From left, actor Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott during a break in filming for the Ridley Scott movie Gladiator).

The tale presented in Gladiator includes a modern storytelling approach with an approach to sets, clothing and cinematography that were truly top notch. While the storyline itself appears to raise a storyline with fictional characters to drive an underlying truth of a time period for the present day, the conflict and framing of eternal questions of corruption versus honor struck a really strong bell on multiple levels. I recommend this movie, granting Gladiator as directed by Ridley Scott 4.0-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, January 21, 2023

Joaquin Phoenix and the film ‘Joker’

The film Joker (2019) works. Joaquin Phoenix starring in a gritty, physically demanding, emotional gut punch of a role as Arthur Fleck demands your attention. While given credible support in roles supporting him, make no mistake that Joaquin Phoenix as star of this character study surpasses the critical appreciation granted Christian Bale for Batman Begins (2005). While in the conversation, it is hard for me to say Phoenix’ Joker surpasses that of Heath Ledger from The Dark Knight (2008).

(Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck in the film Joker).

While thinking quite highly of the film Joker and the role Joaquin Phoenix played, this commentary is largely intended to keep the story of the experience to myself. Robert De Niro starring in a role reminiscent of Johnny Carson‘s The Tonight Show brings credibility to a sense of time and place in setting to a time of the maybe the 1970’s with the fictional city of Gotham standing in for New York City.

(Robert De Niro as Murray Franklin in the film Joker).

Arthur Fleck faced the gritty hardship of experiencing the difficult sides of a life that lacked stability, a future, and other elements that brought the Joker, as a character and villain, into conflict with the character Batman we know through the myth of the comic books, the multiple television series, and the multiple movie franchises. Arthur’s relationship with Penny Fleck, as portrayed by Frances Conroy, is given appropriate treatment in Joker.

(Frances Conroy as Penny Fleck, Arthur’s mother, in the film Joker).

Further, critical roles were given convincing voice in giving the role of Arthur Fleck an escalating series of events, each deepening Fleck into his culmination as sociopath Joker. Bringing Gotham with him in parallel offers a tangible sense of what guides the Batman we see on the reverse side of the coin. Those leveling criticism of this film as juvenile, bleak, clichéd, derivative or not angry enough miss a large point that this was a character study. Part of what made the slow burn of Quention Tarantino‘s film Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood (2019) film work made Joker also work.

(Joaquin Phoenix with director and co-screenwriter Todd Phillips from the film Joker).

Todd Phillips directed Joker. Scott Silver joined Phillips with screenwriting credits. My feeling of this movie, following my first viewing on Sunday of opening weekend, is that the film deserves the 4.0-stars on a scale of one-to-five that I am granting it. The audience score (91% favorable) rather than the score of critics (69% favorable) from Rotten Tomatoes on Sunday evening at roughly 10:30 PM Eastern Time, is more in line with my experience.

Matt – Wednesday, October 9, 2019