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<FONT COLOR="#800000"><FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Verdana">Welcome back for a great year at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre!<BR>
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</FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Verdana"><B>This week at the Kenworthy-<BR>
</B><BR>
<FONT COLOR="#800000"><H2>Ray (PG13)<BR>
</H2></FONT><B>Friday, January 7<BR>
7:00 PM<BR>
Saturday & Sunday, January 8 & 9 <BR>
3:50 PM and 7:00 PM<BR>
</B>$5 adults, $2 children 12 and younger <BR>
KFS passes accepted for Sunday movies<BR>
<B>(See Review below)<BR>
* * *<BR>
Also in January at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre . . .<BR>
</B><BR>
<B>Enduring Love (R)<BR>
</B>Jan 14 at 7PM<BR>
Jan 15 - 16 at 4:30 and 7PM<BR>
<BR>
<B>The Motorcycle Diaries (R)<BR>
</B>Jan 21 at 7PM<BR>
Jan 22 - 23 at 6 4:15 and 7PM<BR>
<BR>
<B>Stage Beauty (R)<BR>
</B>Jan 28 at 7PM<BR>
Jan 29 - 30 at 4:30 and 7PM<BR>
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<B>Regular Movie prices</B>: $5 adults, $2 children 12 and younger. <BR>
KFS passes accepted for Sunday movies<BR>
<BR>
508 S. Main Street, Moscow, Idaho<BR>
For more information, call 208-882-4127 or visit www.kenworthy.org<BR>
<B>* * *<BR>
This week’s review-<BR>
<BR>
</B><FONT COLOR="#800000"><H2>Ray<BR>
</H2></FONT><BR>
Directed by Taylor Hackford; <BR>
Written by James L. White, based on a story by Mr. Hackford and Mr. White<BR>
Running time: 2 hours, 32 minutes<BR>
This film is rated PG-13(Parents strongly cautioned). It has sex, drug use and some profanity.<BR>
<BR>
<B><I><U>As reviewed by A. O. Scott writing for the New York Times<BR>
</U></I></B><BR>
<I>“Portrait of Genius, Painted in Music”<BR>
</I><BR>
When Ray Charles died in June, he had ascended to the most rarefied level of fame; no longer merely a celebrity, he had become an institution. There is no doubt that he deserved this status, or that he enjoyed it, but universal esteem is not always a blessing for an artist. <BR>
<BR>
Great popular art speaks for itself. "I'm not one to interpret my own songs," Charles wrote in "Brother Ray," "but if you can't figure out 'What I Say,' then something's wrong. Either that, or you've never heard the sweet sounds of love." And "Ray," at its best, partakes of both the directness and the incomparable sophistication of his music. Apart from the flashbacks to Charles's youth in rural north Florida (where he was born Ray Robinson in 1930), the film concentrates on a two-decade span - roughly from the late 1940's until the mid-60's - during which he made his way from rough-and-tumble clubs and chitlin'-circuit dance halls onto the top of the pop and R&B charts.<BR>
<BR>
Along the way, we get a sense of the fertility of African-American popular culture in the era of segregation, and of the hustling, nickel-and-diming and endless negotiating that permeated all levels of the music business. Musical genius that he was, Ray Charles was also a sharp businessman. His experience taught him to be tough, ruthless and suspicious of everyone, traits that Mr. Foxx presents without apology. <BR>
<BR>
"Ray" while not a great movie, is a very good movie about greatness, in which celebrating the achievement of one major artist becomes the occasion for the emergence of another. I'm speaking of Ray Charles and Jamie Foxx, of course, though at this point I'm not entirely sure I can tell them apart.<BR>
<BR>
<B><I><U>As reviewed by Mick LaSalle writing for the San Francisco Chronicle<BR>
</U></I></B><BR>
It takes all of five seconds, tops, to believe that Jamie Foxx is the young Ray Charles. In "Ray," a warts-and-all musical biography of the late entertainer, Foxx gives a complicated portrait of a man who grew up poor and blind and found his way to the pinnacle of stardom and esteem. According to "Ray," he didn't do it by smiling and being a nice guy. He did it by smiling and being cold-blooded, as well as prodigiously talented. <BR>
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Foxx not only captures the essence of Charles' exterior but suggests his psychological structure, as well. Acting is usually all about looking the other actor in the eye and responding honestly, but as Ray, Foxx has the handicap of having to act with eyes closed. He uses this to his advantage, suggesting that Ray's blindness contributed to an eerie distance in his personal dealings. At key moments, without looking perturbed or concerned -- as if almost muttering to himself -- Ray is shown cutting loved ones out of his life. He doesn't see the pained faces. It's just one less voice in the room. <BR>
<BR>
Ray's saving grace is his courage. When we meet him, he's 17 and getting on a bus to go from his hometown in Florida to Seattle, where he knows no one. If Ray is insular, it's because life has forced him into an inner attentiveness that doesn't let him drop his guard. On his first date with his future wife, he walks her home, then assures her he can make his way back because he has memorized how many blocks left and right he has to go to get to his hotel. Even as he's focused on the girlfriend, he's aware of every step. <BR>
<BR>
Throughout, the movie flashes back to Ray's childhood, a saga of Depression-era poverty and tragedy. When Ray's mother -- fiercely played by newcomer Sharon Warren -- realizes her son is going blind, she insists that the boy learn to be self-reliant. Warren's performance bursts with the pain, anger and hope of a mother who knows she can't protect her son against life and is determined to give him a fighting chance. As played by Warren, Ray's mother is an extraordinary woman who sets the pattern for the other women in Ray's life, all of them intense and passionate -- especially Della Bea (Kerry Washington), who becomes Ray's wife, and Margie Hendricks, a backup singer who serves as a kind of de facto wife for Ray when he's on the road. <BR>
<BR>
Though the elements are there -- success, drug abuse, redemption -- "Ray" doesn't conform to a neat VH1 "Behind the Music" structure. Ray's dependency on heroin settles in over a period of years, concurrent with his gradual rise to fame. His womanizing is instinctive and remorseless. There's really no neat pattern to Ray's life, and the movie is right not to impose one. Yet after a while there's a sameness: Same drugs, same women, same problems. When, two hours and 20 minutes into the film, it's still only 1965, "Ray" begins to feel like a story told in real time. <BR>
<BR>
<B><I><U>As reviewed by Jon Niccum writing for The Lawrence Journal-World<BR>
</U></I></B><BR>
Like Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix or Patsy Cline, Ray Charles was one of those rare performers who seemed to be universally liked and respected, regardless of one's musical preference.<BR>
<BR>
The blind, black pianist was the first to combine R&B and gospel into a powerhouse, radio-friendly style. And the husky voiced singer also found legions of fans within the country music world.<BR>
<BR>
Everybody loves Ray.<BR>
<BR>
Yet the impressive biopic "Ray" must be commended for not turning the film into a slobbering tribute or an inspirational picture about a blind man overcoming adversity. Writer-director Taylor Hackford pulls few punches in this unflinching and often unflattering depiction of Charles' life story.<BR>
<BR>
While the Grammy winner is revealed to be a charming, shrewd, intelligent innovator, he is also portrayed as a greedy womanizer who for decades preferred heroin over friends and family ... but not necessarily over music.<BR>
<BR>
Jamie Foxx gives the performance of the year as the late Charles. This is one of those rare biographical turns where the actor so completely immerses himself in the role that it ceases to be an impression and becomes more like a spiritual possession.<BR>
<BR>
Hackford, who's guided actors to Oscars in the past (notably Louis Gossett Jr. in "An Officer and a Gentleman"), pulls some fine performances from his cast. Newcomer Sharon Warren makes an impressive film debut as the young Charles' working-class mother, particularly in rather heartrending scenes where she has to teach her son to be independent.<BR>
<BR>
Regina King ("Jerry Maguire") is commanding as one of the backup singers/mistresses who predictably wants her affair to have a more permanent union. Also good is Curtis Armstrong as prim Atlantic Records mogul Ahmet Ertegun, one of the men who recognized the scope of Charles' talent and allowed him to develop it. Hard to believe this is the same actor who played Booger in "Revenge of the Nerds."<BR>
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The genuinely rousing music numbers tend to tie the work together. Classic cuts such as "Mess Around," "I Got a Woman" and "What'd I Say" come across as fresh as the day they were tracked. The majority of the recreated numbers are pulled straight from Charles' classic recordings, although the suave Foxx (a Julliard-trained pianist) sings a couple tunes on his own.<BR>
<BR>
While the look and feel of the film ring true, it ultimately relies on the strength of Foxx's performance to distinguish it from other "Behind the Music"-type endeavors.<BR>
<BR>
"Ray" makes a convincing case that Foxx may have the same level of acting chops that Charles had on the microphone and keyboard.<BR>
<BR>
<I>Film reviews researched and edited by Peter Haggart – who upon seeing this film immediately went out and bought the sound-track CD.<BR>
</I>* * *<BR>
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</U></FONT><FONT COLOR="#800000"><B><BR>
</B></FONT>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<BR>
PAMELA PALMER, <B>Volunteer<BR>
</B>Mailto:ppalmer@moscow.com<BR>
Film and Events Committee <BR>
Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre<BR>
<BR>
http://www.kenworthy.org<BR>
To speak with a KPAC staff member, <BR>
call (208) 882-4127<BR>
Mailto:kpac@moscow.com<BR>
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