Grade: A- | Genre: Biopic/Drama/Musical
Summary: Johnny Cash picked Joaquin Phoenix to play him in his biopic. Cash is looking down from heaven very pleased with his choice right about now.

'Tis the season of good movies, and it's about time after the previous famine of this year. Two biopics have released me from the doldrums of utter boredom recently. One flick that transported me was Capote, and now Walk the Line has made a believer out of me again. In both biopics the actors seemed to approach the roles from different paths, however, both movies deliver amazing, gut-wrenching performances. The major difference with Phoenix's performance was his wise decision not to attempt to speak exactly like one of America's symbols of rough and ready manhood, Johnny Cash. Phoenix knew where to "walk the line," so to speak. Hoffman became Capote, morphed into him, and that was appropriate for Capote was not worshiped like Cash. Phoenix's genius is that he captured the great man's soul, his essence, and gave it to us on film, and that is also the brilliance of this movie. The story it is a tad conventional but then most great love stories are. While it is not word for word Cash's biography, the film delivers a complicated love story and a look into the early life of an American troubadour. This film does not disappoint. James Mangold provides a faithfully reconstructed life of Cash, although he bends the facts just enough to make it more palatable for those who adore Cash.