Cadillac Records (2008)

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Cadillac Records review
by JimBell in JimBell Blog

is neutral about it.

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"Although Cadillac Records (2008) has some excellent acting and some of my favourite music, it has no juice. It never comes alive. I never really cared about the characters. Part of the problem is the editing jumping here, there, and everywhere. But deeper than that the movie doesn’t seem to have a compelling story. Len Chess, a Jewish immigrant from Poland, is struggling and maybe discriminated against, and he starts a club featuring black blues musicians and goes on to build a recording studio, the famous Chess Records. But I didn’t feel the struggle, and I didn’t understand why he turned to Delta bluesmen. The drama is Chess’s changing relationship with the musicians on his label. Muddy Waters and Little Walter like the approach which some nowadays would call paternalistic, but Howlin’ Wolf insists on being his own man, not friends with the white businessman. Chess explains that when he started, a black man could not have started a record business, b ... " [More]

Etta James and Beyonce, Blind C ...
by Karina in Karina on SpoutBlog

hasn't rated it.

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"So Etta James doesn’t like Beyonce’s redition of her signature song, “At Last”, and that reminded me that I’ve never linked to Andrew Chan’s piece on Cadillac Records, the only serious appraisal of the film that I saw concurrent with its release. To quote at length, Chan has nothing but praise for Beyonce: In the film’s climactic number, Beyoncé seals the deal with her rendition of “I’d Rather Go Blind”…as an actress and a singer, she finds ways to make her interpretation both faithful and fresh. Sung directly to an impossible, already-married love interest, label founder Leon " [More]

Etta James and Beyonce, Blind C ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

For Your Consideration: 5 Alter ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

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"The Academy’s list of 49 tunes deemed eligible for the Best Original Song Oscar this year seems like a lot for the Music Branch to pick through. That is, until you notice that more than one-fifth of those contenders are from the same film (High School Musical 3, which, thanks to a new rule, is only allowed, at most, two nominations in this category) and you recall that last year’s list included many more songs (59) to choose from. The talent involved this year, however, is tremendous, at least in terms of those performers who sing the tunes on the soundtrack (many of whom had a hand in the songwriting). These artists include Mariah Carey, Etta James, Beyonce Knowles (who played Etta James), Norah Jones, will.i.am, Jack White and Alicia Keys, Danny Elfman, Emmylou Harris, Chaka Khan and Regina Spektor. Add to those big names su " [More]

9 Best Performances from Stars ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

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"Who would you rather hear sing Etta James’ signature tunes, the real deal or Beyonce Knowles? If you prefer the latter, then you’ll want to see Cadillac Records and even buy the film’s soundtrack, both of which feature Beyonce performing a few of James’ songs, including a nearly spot-on copy of “At Last” (listen to it here). Other actors in the film (and on the soundtrack) who do their own singing while portraying legendary music artists include Jeffrey Wright (as Muddy Waters), Mos Def (Chuck Berry) and Columbus Short (Little Walter). It’s a strange idea to pay tribute to a singer with a biopic or ensemble music historical and then replace that singer’s voice with another, more amateur vocalist. Yet Hollywood does it all the time and, surprisingly, the new performances usually turn out pretty good. Just listen to the following nine actors and actresses who managed to do justice to the artist they were portraying.