Movie Review: Walk The Line

I was re-watching the teaser trailer for the upcoming Freddie Mercury film, Bohemian Rhapsody, with a friend the other day. I said how much I was looking forward to watching it and before we knew it the conversation shifted to other musical biographical films we loved. The one film we both agreed on was this 2005 award winning movie about one of the greatest country singers of all time, and the woman that changed his life. As always a spoiler alert is being issued. I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE.

Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix, nominated for an Oscar for his part) had a tough life growing up after the death of his brother Jack. He would enlist in the Air Force in 1950 and be stationed in West Germany. Having always loved singing Johnny would purchase a guitar in 1952 and begin writing songs just to find solace; one of the songs being “Folsom Prison Blues”. Johnny would later marry his girlfriend Vivian Liberto (Ginnifer Goodwin) and had four children with her while working as a door to door salesman. Music still kept calling Johnny and, after organizing a band, would perform and earn a contract for Sun Records, owned by Sam Phillips (Dallas Roberts). While touring, Johnny meets June Carter (Reese Witherspoon who won an Oscar for her part). The two develop a close bond; with Johnny quickly falling in love for her. Despite feeling the same way (and divorcing two husbands with one child each throughout the course of the movie), June refuses to be with Johnny; even after they have a passionate night together. In addition to the rejection Johnny begins abusing drugs and alcohol and his performance begins to become affected. Johnny would later be arrested for purchasing drugs and, in addition to noticing how close Johnny and June are, Vivian divorces him. June, after pleas from his mother, helps Johnny get back on his feet and the two finally begin a relationship; it inspires June to write perhaps Cash’s most famous song “Ring of Fire”. Johnny discovers most of his fans are prisoners and decides to record a live concert album inside one of the prisons; specifically Folsom Prison despite the protests from the record producers. The album would become a huge success and Johnny and June would later marry; the film concludes with him famously proposing on stage and her accepting.

I know I probably gave away a lot of the film, but everything is a part of music history. Johnny Cash is one of the most successful country artists of all time and, if I may say, one of the most unique voices I’ve heard. His story is something to watch on screen. I thought then as I do now that Joaquin Phoenix was perfect as Cash; while I think he looked more like Elvis rather than Cash his performance made up for it. The true standout of the film is Reese Witherspoon as June Carter. While I think her role as Elle Woods will go down as her most iconic part, when it comes to acting I think Walk the Line has been Reese’s best role to date; winning multiple awards including the Golden Globe and Oscar. The chemistry between Phoenix and Witherspoon is infectious as was the real love between Johnny and June (of course there was a lot of drama getting to that happy ending.) Walk The Line was also nominated for four other Oscars including Best Actor, Costume, Film Editing and Sound. Being a musical there has to be a great soundtrack to go with it; and this Grammy winning album did not disappoint. Phoenix and Witherspoon provided their own singing and I have to admit I was surprised to hear how good they were; while they did not sound exactly like Johnny and June it came pretty close. While I am not certain how accurate the film is I would say Walk the Line is one heck of a drama/musical biographical movie. If you enjoy those movies put this on the must watch list.

TV Show Review: Once Upon a Time

Everyone probably grew up reading fairy tales such as Snow White, Peter Pan, Cinderella and so many others, but did you ever wonder what would happen if they came to the modern world. From 2011 until 2018 with a short lived spin off on ABC, Once Upon a Time took the stories we all know and love and twisted it, possibly showing that the hero and villain may not be who you think they are and the difficult journey. Spoilers ahead as usual. I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE.

In season 1 we are introduced to the world of Storybrooke, a small forgotten town in Maine. Henry Mills (Jared S. Gilmore) finds Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) a bail bonds collector and Henry’s biological mother who gave him up after serving time in jail. Henry has a book titled Once Upon a Time where he believes the residents of Storybrooke are actually characters from the book. However, according to Henry they do not remember because they have been cursed by the town mayor, and Henry’s adoptive mother, Regina Mills (Lana Parrilla) whom he believes is The Evil Queen. Henry is convinced Emma is the only one who can break the curse because she is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, in the town he believes they are Mary Margret Blanchard (Ginnifer Goodwin) a meek school teacher and David Nolan (Josh Dallas) a married man who has been in a coma for a very long time until he finally wakes up when Mary Margret reads to him. Emma doesn’t really believe Henry, but after growing attached to him as well as a few other residents sticks around, much to Regina’s dismay as well as Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle) who Henry believes is the evil Rumpelstiltskin. Of course Henry is right as we divulge into the past lives of the characters, finding out why Regina cast the curse to hurt everybody, how Snow and Charming met and even how Rumple found love with a woman named Belle (Emile de Ravin). Other characters we meet alternate versions of are as Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio, Red Riding Hood, Granny, the seven dwarfs, Mad Hatter and so many more.

In season 2, the curse is broken and magic has come back thanks to Rumple, but problems continue. Residents remember who they were in the past, and struggle to become just who they truly meant to be, having been frozen in time for nearly 28 years. Meanwhile other characters are introduced including Killian Jones aka Captain Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) a villain who has a score to settle with Rumple and develops a flirtatious relationship with Emma, Cora aka the Queen of Hearts (Barbara Hershey) Regina’s mother who is just as if not more evil and Neal Cassidy (Michael Raymond-James) Rumple’s long lost son, Emma’s former lover and Henry’s father (yeah try and work that family tree). Other people also come to Storybrooke trying to destroy magic, while at the end many of the main characters have to travel away in order to save Henry.

In season 3 the main characters travel to many magical places after villains emerge such as Peter Pan (Robbie Key) who has a history with Rumple among others as well as Zelena aka The Wicked Witch of the West (Rebecca Mader) trying to make Storybrooke their own, and in Zelena’s case as well as gain revenge against Regina, her long lost sister. At some point Emma and Henry leave Storybrooke after another curse is cast; forcing residents to return to the Enchanted Forest with no memories of Storybrooke only to return after Killian, who has fallen for Emma and she as well, to reach out and get help for Zelena’s evil plans. Other characters make their debut including Robin Hood (Sean Maguire) and his merry men who falls in love with Regina and she does as well, Ariel, Tinker Bell and so many others.

In season 4 things get colder as Elsa, Anna and Kristoff are introduced as a women identified as The Snow Queen makes her plans known for Storybrooke and Emma. Later on Rumple, having been forced out of Storybrooke by his wife Belle, returns along with other villains: Maleficent, Cruella DeVil and Ursula trying to get their own happy endings searching for the Author, the only one who can make it possible. However the darkness in Rumple is too much to contain and one of the heroes may be forced to make a sacrifice.

In season 5 with one of the heroes forced to become dark the gang travels to Camelot in order to get the darkness out. It does work, but at a huge cost, forcing the gang to then travel to the Underworld (essentially hell) in order to save a friend. We reunite with some people we have met over the seasons as well as meet Hades (Greg Germann) who wants to keep our heroes in hell while he takes over Storybrooke. Many characters do get a happy ending, but some do not even make it that far as another realm opens up bringing in long forgotten charterers.

In season 6 characters who stories have long since been forgotten try and make names for themselves. We also get a glimpse at a world where Emma is not the savior. Meanwhile a prophecy about Emma made long before she was born may come to fruition when the most evil villain of all The Black Fairy arrives for The Final Battle which may result in the end of the light magic. There is also a musical episode I enjoyed very much.

In season 7 things have changed as a now adult Henry (Andrew J. West) along with Regina, Hook and Rumple are cursed in a town called Hyperion Heights with no memories and no powers. The only person who seems to be awake is Lucy, Henry’s daughter with another version of Cinderella. We also meet other version of characters we love such as Alice, Robin Hood, Tiana, Lady Tremaine, Dr. Facilier and more.

I know I may have given some stuff away, but this is actually a hard show to explain because there is not only so much information but there are so many with history, other versions of characters; basically take what you know about fairy tales and throw it out the window. It can be confusing, but oh man was it a good watch. Admittedly some episodes were better than others, but every single person I thought did an amazing job. It would be hard to single out just one character I liked, or loved to hate, more than others. If you have not watched this show, catch up on Netflix. I promise it will not disappoint you.

Movie Review: Disney’s Zootopia

Decided to go a little more modern for a Disney review today. I have learned to never really doubt Disney when it comes to their movies, and Zootopia is no exception. When I saw the trailers I thought, “OK they have animals acting like humans, I’m sure they have got something planned.” Boy did they ever as this movie is the latest Disney hit to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, it as well won the Golden Globe, Critics Choice and so many more for best animated movie. If you have not seen it spoilers ahead. I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE.

Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) has always wanted to be a police officer despite everyone from Bunnyburrow, including her parents Bonnie and Stu (Bonnie Hunt and Don Lake) telling her because she is a rabbit she would not make it. She graduates from the police academy top of her class and is placed at the best department in Zootopia; basically the biggest city of this world. However because she is a bunny Judy’s superior Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) has her become a parking attendant. Judy reluctantly takes the job and gets hustled by con artist fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman). Judy becomes determined to become a “real cop” and convinces the chief to put her on the case of fourteen missing predators in Zootopia. Bogo only does it after pleas from Mrs. Otterton (Octavia Spencer) in finding her husband, assistant mayor Dawn Bellwether (Jenny Slate) praises the assignment and tells the mayor Lionheart (J.K. Simmons) and on the condition that if Judy can’t crack the case in 2 days she will resign. Discovering Nick had seen Mr. Otterton Judy forces Nick to become her partner in solving the case. They both discover something much bigger is a foot and become friends along the way. Keep an ear out as well for Shakira as the biggest pop star in Zootopia Gazelle.

Let me start off by saying I loved this movie; it’s Disney I did not expect anything less. I thought the voice acting was perfect. I adore Ginnifer Goodwin in a couple of movies and her role on ABC’s Once Upon a Time and I could not think of a better person to voice Judy. Jason Bateman as Nick also worked out; he had a good voice for playing someone very shady and sarcastic. The rest of the cast is spectacular, the writing is fantastic, the song “Try Everything” is a great listen; overall Zootopia is a great Disney movie so put it on the animated film recommendation list, but there is one thing that sticks out the most in the movie: the message it had. Prey and predators were living together in harmony until the case began to blow up. Stereotyping and prejudice may have been around, but it only increased and got worse. While even after the movie ended things got better we all know it never truly ends; much like in our world. There will always be stereotyping and prejudice, I hate to admit it, but if this movie shows anything it is not everyone is defined by what they look like and if we get to know a person there will be more than meets the eye. I wish we can live in a world without these evils, and that is my dream one day. It is just going to take a little time and a whole lot of love.