Biopics are one of my favorite genres of films. However unless you get just the right actor to play the person, it can be dead in the water before it even gets going. James Mangold did exactly that when he handed Joaquin Phoenix the role of a lifetime as legendary singer Johnnie Cash.
This musical biopic of one of country musics most enduring performers begins with the story of a young boy who grows into a man full of guilt, anger, and sorrow, before his redemption and the love of his life leads him to greatness. Cash's early life of hardship in Arkansas and his strained relationship with his father seem to have damaged his psyche and self esteem. Constantly…

I ignored country music while I was growing up. In the 1960s, I was more tuned in to the "Age of Aquarius" and psychedelics than "Folsom Prison Blues" and amphetamines. It wasn't until I reached 30-something that I started to appreciate the soulfulness of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and, of course, "the man in black," Johnny Cash. So the time period of this biopic, from Cash's youth in Arkansas during WWII to his marriage to June Carter in 1968, covered new ground for me, including his first marriage, his touring with Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison, and his severe addiction to prescription drugs.

Joaquin Phoenix put in an Academy Award level performance as Cash, but it was Reese Witherspoon…