For the most part, Walk the Line
is simply a standard-to-good biopic, but the performances — especially by Reese Witherspoon as June Carter — elevate it to another level.
The film is a lot of fun for fans of classic rock and roll. Playing “spot the future icon” is a lot of fun when, say, Elvis is recording his demo song (one that few music fans would immediately recognize) or offering young Johnny Cash some uppers, in a moment of dubious historical reality, but great foreshadowing for the King of Rock and Roll.
Likewise, while the music isn’t quite as good as the originals — sometimes dramatically not as good — it’s credible enough and a lot of fun to listen to.
The film’s heart, though, is Witherspoon, who conveys with a glance knowing Joaquin Phoenix’s Cash for years, not the months the film took to make, and who subtly portrays a woman older than herself without relying on ridiculous special effects makeup or dialogue cues. Her portrayal of “the other woman” agonizing over her place in Cash’s marriage is believable and touching. I suspect her days of films like Legally Blonde II are behind her.
A great deal of fun and strongly recommended for fans of Reese Witherspoon or classic country or rock and roll music.
I thought I had seen awful movies. I’d seen Highlander II. I’d seen Deep Blue Sea. I’d seen Instinct. But I never truly looked into the face of the abyss until I’d seen this movie.
This film makes me doubt the existence of a benevolent God.
Under no circumstances see this movie.
From the California Department of Education:
The 2005 Similar Schools Ranks that were released by the California Department of Education (CDE) on March 21, 2006 are being revised because of a calculation error.
The error is limited to only the 2005 Similar Schools Ranks. The 2005 Statewide Ranks, Academic Performance Index (API) Base, and Growth Targets are unaffected.
The error was caused when the variable other/unknown ethnic was inadvertently left out of the calculations. The Similar Schools Ranks compare a schools API to 100 schools on the following characteristics: pupil mobility, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, percentage of fully credentialed teachers, percentage of English learners, average class size, whether a school operates a multi-track year-round educational program, percentage of grade span enrollments, percentage of students in gifted and talented education program, percentage of students with disabilities, percentage of reclassified fluent-English! -proficie nt students, percentage of migrant education students, and percentage of students in reduced class size for a full day.
The 2005 Similar Schools Ranks for all schools have been removed from the CDE Web site and will be reposted in approximately three weeks as the recalculated data become available.
There’s a whole lot of school districts across the state quietly taking back a whole lot of cheering.
Pills, when they come in familiar orange bottles, tend to be 30 at a time. My medicine is actually four weekly packs of seven days worth of pills (21 per week). My insurance company, perhaps ignoring the fact that I don’t have an orange bottle specially filled by my pharmacist, won’t refill my prescription until the date matches the one last month when I last got my prescription refilled, so I’m on a pill vacation for a few days.
The good news is that I’ve now determined that the pills are, in fact, keeping my blinding pain in my feet and arms at bay. There’s also the lovely icepick that’s been inserted beneath my left shoulderblade. The bad news is how I’ve learned this information.
Well, the SPJ have posted the winners of the 2006 news writing awards (I know, because a lot of the Daily Press winners don’t write anything but), and Peter is on the list, as are Stuart Kellogg, Gretchen Losi, Kate Rosenberg and LeRoy Standish.
Congratulations to everyone and I’ll see you all in Riverside in May.
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