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Emmanuelle Chriqui
Jeffrey Wright
Adrien Brody
Beyoncé Knowles
Gabrielle Union
Cedric the Entertainer

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Explores the life and times of Chess Records, the Chicago studio home to legendary musicians Muddy Waters, Etta James, Chuck Berry, Willie Dixon, Howlin' Wolf and more. -- Chris Kavan

12/09/2008 (0 of 0 found this helpful)

Oscar Worthy?

By Pervenia P. Brown

Is Cadillac Records Oscar material? For certain actors—yes.

In a film about Chess Records and its recording artists, I expected its cast to embody the persona of legendary artists’ who made groundbreaking strides and carved out a place for themselves in the music industry. How skillfully did the cast exemplify characteristics of their iconic personalities?

Without a doubt, Columbus Short is a natural as Little Walter. Short threw himself wholeheartedly into his role. Not only did he connect with the psychological aspects of his character, Short exemplified, with such distinctness, a man and a musician struggling with a lifetime of inner demons. And, his confrontation with the police reveals that struggle. Short gave a powerful performance that was sim...

Rating of
2.5/4 

11/25/2008 (0 of 0 found this helpful)

Cadillac Records

Cadillac Records has a lot of potential for Oscar season. It had everything Walk the Line had, only multiply that by five. We are not talking about one story, but stories centered around about five top blues artists from the fifties period.

Some people would say it's about Leonard Chess, since "Chess Records" gave out Cadillacs to its artists. That is probably why the movie is called Cadillac Records. The movie seems to center on Muddy Waters, before also exploring the careers of Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James, and Chuck Berry.

In the beginning it started out well. But when some of the musicians were supposed to be playing, the camera focused on the actors' faces, then it cut to a close-up of fingers on guitar, and no wide shots, meaning that not all actors were actually p...

Rating of
3/4