|
OFCS Rating: 71% Fresh |
|
| "Some of the performances of Ray Charles's greatest hits send you right over the void at the center of the movie." |
| Blogcritics.org |
| Alan Dale |
| "Suffers from over-emphasis on personal demons, too many flashbacks and a tacked-on ending -- but Jamie Foxx is incredible." |
| ReelTalk Movie Reviews |
| Betty Jo Tucker |
B- | "Ray does provide a sweet reminder of the power of Charles’s music, and if that’s all the film can really offer, that isn’t such a bad deal after all." |
| FilmJerk.com |
| Brian Orndorf |
| "Ray collapses lore and desire into metaphorical, emotional, and narrative economy, occasioned by a groundbreaking song." |
| PopMatters |
| Cynthia Fuchs |
4/5 | "This is a great time at the movies, an unforgettable story about a true legend." |
| eFilmCritic.com |
| David Cornelius |
C+ | "“Ray” starts out well… and then falls into the entrenched paths of just about every other overwrought, over-long musical biopic ever filmed." |
| EDGE Boston |
| David Foucher |
B | "Won me over because of Jamie Foxx's powerful performance where he inhabits Charles--capturing
the singer's characteristics." |
| Ozus' World Movie Reviews |
| Dennis Schwartz |
2/4 | "A disappointingly unoriginal and one-note biography of a man and his life that were anything but." |
| TheMovieBoy.com |
| Dustin Putman |
3/5 | "(...) Una lograda actuación y buena música no hacen, necesariamente, una gran película. Y Ray es uno de esos casos." |
| Uruguay Total |
| Enrique Buchichio |
B+ | "It's the music that keeps me drawn into the film, followed closely by Jamie Foxx's soulful (in both senses of the word) performance." |
| EricDSnider.com |
| Eric D. Snider |
2/4 | "Couldn't we just watch a Behind-the-Music and get the same greatest hits package in 100-less minutes than another dry, maybe-worthy-for- movie-of-the-week- status, biopic?" |
| eFilmCritic.com |
| Erik Childress |
3.5/4 | "...[a] heartfelt and hauntingly poetic biopic. Hackford’s potent examination of Ray Charles is profoundly revealing and courageous" |
| Movie Eye |
| Frank Ochieng |
B- | "Slick, oversized (at 153 minutes), ostensibly warts-and-all but actually quite reverential, the movie is nonetheless quite enjoyable, thanks [to]...Foxx's galvanizing turn." |
| One Guy's Opinion |
| Frank Swietek |
3/5 | "Ray boasts a great smorgasbord of music and a fine performance by Jamie Foxx but is hobbled by a mediocre screenplay and its long playing time." |
| Spirituality and Practice |
| Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat |
2/4 | "Sluggish, conventional, and almost completely lacking in energy." |
| ReelViews |
| James Berardinelli |
3/5 | "The 2004 Oscar season kicks off with a great performance by Jamie Foxx and great music -- wrapped in a not-so-great movie." |
| Netflix |
| James Rocchi |
3.5/4 | "Foxx is brilliant, and sturdily supported by [James L.] White's script all the way" |
| Perihelion Journal |
| Jay Antani |
2.5/4 | "Maybe it’s the hype but I’m not feeling the love." |
| Aufmuth.com |
| Jeanne Aufmuth |
7/10 | "Although this glittery film doesn't really break any new ground, it's still a nice tribute to a man who did." |
| Window to the Movies |
| Jeffrey Chen |
| "It's a bravura performance, but we never feel that we really know who Ray Charles was, or even that Foxx does." |
| Pajiba |
| Jeremy C. Fox |
7/10 | "I haven’t seen anything quite this mesmerizing since Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York." |
| Planet Sick-Boy |
| Jon Popick |
3/4 | "'Jamie Foxx brinda una de esas interpretaciones que, aunque suene a cliché, quedan para la historia'
" |
| Moviola |
| Jorge Avila Andrade |
5/5 | "click to read full review [Greek]" |
| Movies for the Masses |
| Joseph Proimakis |
5/5 | "." |
| 3BlackChicks Review |
| Kamal 'The Diva' Larsuel |
4.5/5 | "Jamie Foxx's spectacular performance (hindered by the inability to act with his eyes) anchors a rich, strong film." |
| Cinerina |
| Karina Montgomery |
4/5 | "This bio-pic isn’t about Ray Charles’ moral highlights. It was about his revolutionary development of his own music, and how he took control of his own destiny." |
| 7M Pictures |
| Kevin Carr |
3.5/4 | " Ray Charles will be missed, but there will always be his music, and now this film." |
| Montreal Film Journal |
| Kevin N. Laforest |
C | "Foxx, like Will Smith in Ali, has perfected a party trick rather than a performance. Give him some sunglasses, let him rock back and forth, and he does a great Ray Charles." |
| FilmStew.com |
| Larry Carroll |
B- | "Foxx is terrific and the music is great, but Ray is an overlong, meat and potatoes biopic with a not particularly likable hero" |
| Reeling Reviews |
| Laura Clifford |
4/4 | "Emerges as an honest and loving tribute to one of the few, true legends of modern music." |
| Mark Reviews Movies |
| Mark Dujsik |
B- | "Ray is a flawed film, but Foxx’s captivating acting and a bustling soundtrack smooth the rough spots." |
| Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
| Mark Pfeiffer |
8/10 | "Jamie Foxx is magnetic as Ray Charles
but does not show us enough inner conflict. The
film is at its best showing the roots of the
character." |
| rec.arts.movies.reviews |
| Mark R. Leeper |
| "[Foxx is] astonishing... using his whole body... to express himself eloquently..." |
| Flick Filosopher |
| MaryAnn Johanson |
3/5 | "Feels like it's trying to cover too much ground." |
| Goatdog's Movies |
| Michael W. Phillips, Jr. |
4/4 | "The film leaves us with an impression that Ray Charles was one of the artists who mattered most in the history of recorded music." |
| Aisle Seat |
| Mike McGranaghan |
B+ | "The movie's two greatest strengths are Foxx's performance and Charles' music...but it never surmounts the biopic hurdles that separate stories from formulas.
" |
| Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies |
| Nell Minow |
1.5/4 | "Foxx's mannered performance fails to convey the complexities beneath Charles's trademark twitches.
" |
| Slant Magazine |
| Nick Schager |
3/5 | "A busca por concisão em uma cinebiografia é importante, mas não pode ser alcançada sacrificando-se a complexidade da história e tornando-a artificial, que é o que ocorre aqui." |
| Cinema em Cena |
| Pablo Villaca |
| "This is one of the great performances of the year. Foxx has the voice and mannerisms down pat." |
| Critic Doctor |
| Peter Sobczynski |
2/5 | "Jamie Foxx's impersonation of Ray Charles completely fails to live up to the hype.
" |
| Film Threat |
| Phil Hall |
4.5/5 | "Anchored by Foxx's astonishingly powerful performance, this moving and engaging biographical film ... is also director Hackford's finest film." |
| Shadows on the Wall |
| Rich Cline |
B+ | "Taylor Hackford's affecting Ray manages to sidestep nearly all [biopic] roadblocks...Here, against all expectations, he's delivered a gold standard...artist biopic.
" |
| TheFilmJournal.com (Ohio) |
| Rick Curnutte |
B | "Benefits greatly from a wealth of powerful supporting performances, in addition to Jamie Foxx's star-making turn." |
| Laramie Movie Scope |
| Robert Roten |
3/5 | "a greatest hits compilation that’s missing a few tunes" |
| Filmcritic.com |
| Sean O'Connell |
9/10 | "Jamie Foxx will be one of this year's hottest Oscar contenders for his charismatic portrayal of this pioneering musical genius." |
| Modamag.com |
| Susan Granger |
3/4 | "Foxx is going to win the Oscar in a couple of months." |
| Film Freak Central |
| Walter Chaw |
3.5/4 | " "Ray" is truly one of the best films this year." |
| BlackFilm.com |
| Wilson Morales |
7/10 | Read review |
| Movie Gazette |
| Anton Bitel |
3.5/4 | Read review |
| Big Picture Big Sound |
| Joe Lozito |
| Read review |
| Wolf Entertainment Guide |
| William Wolf |
|
OFCS Rating: 71% Fresh |
|
