At the center of any good biographical feature film is a great performance, such as Oscar nominee Jamie Foxx's body-and-soul channeling of soul music's original ivory-twinkling innovator Ray Charles in Ray. But a great performance does not make a biopic great. To rise above the kind of "true stories" that are the fodder of several assembly-line TV movies every year, a biopic needs to be like Charles--departing from formula and daring to be different. Director Taylor Hackford doesn't manage that here in what feels like a two-and-a-half-hour highlights reel from Charles' life. But as a primer on Charles' musical brilliance, adultery, and addiction (with lip service paid to controversy over lyrics and segregation struggles), though presented with a prefabricated story arc and little detail (Charles fathered 12 kids, only three or four of whom are even mentioned here), Best Picture nominee Ray could be a lot worse. At least it has a passionately devoted, dead-on lead performance that not only nails the late blind soul king's swaying jitterbug body language, but also seems to capture his very essence as a man and musician--backed by a whole lot of fantastic, toe-tapping, heart-pumping R&B. Recommended. [Note: Available in either widescreen or full screen versions, DVD extras include both the theatrical and extended (with 25-plus minutes of additional footage) versions, audio commentary by director Taylor Hackford, 14 deleted scenes with optional commentary (28 min.), the 10-minute featurette “Stepping Into the Part” featuring Jamie Foxx and Ray Charles playing piano together in July 2002, two extended musical scenes (4 min.), the four-minute tribute featurette “Ray Remembered,” the three-minute behind-the-scenes segment “A Look Inside,” and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for one of 2004's most talked-about bio-pics.] [Blu-ray Review—Jan 18, 2011—Universal, 153 min., PG-13, $26.98—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2004's Ray features a great transfer and a 5.1 DTS-HD soundtrack. Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Taylor Hackford, an introduction by Hackford, “Ray: An American Story” making-of featurette (29 min.), deleted scenes (28 min.), extended musical scenes with an introduction by star Jamie Foxx (26 min.), the production featurettes “Stepping Into the Part” with Foxx (11 min.), “The Women of Ray” (10 min.), and “The Filmmakers' Journey” (10 min.), “Ray Remembered” (4 min.), “A Look Inside Ray” behind-the-scenes featurette (3 min.), a “Scene Companion” picture-in-picture track (with interviews, bios, and more), “The Music of Ray” feature that allows viewers to identify tracks and create a custom playlist, trailers, and the BD-Live function. Bottom line: a winning Blu-ray debut for this Oscar winner.] (R. Blackwelder)
Ray
Universal, 152 min., PG-13, VHS: $23.98, DVD: $29.98, Feb. 1 Volume 20, Issue 2
Ray
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