Beyond the physical resemblance, Jamie Foxx is so good, so earnest, so authentic as Ray Charles that you practically forget he’s an actor and start to feel he IS Ray Charles. Charles, who died in June, gave director Taylor Hackford his blessing to a warts-and-all treatment of his life, so the film unflinchingly depicts his heroin addiction, womanizing and cold abandonment of old allies when it suited him. Charles’ glorious music propels the film, which stumbles at times with some choppy editing and feels like a drastically foreshortened story. Foxx’s stirring, soulful performance is augmented by an excellent supporting cast that includes Kerry Washington, Regina King, Curtis Armstrong and Richard Schiff. Rated: PG-13 for depiction of drug addiction, sexuality and some thematic elements. Running time: 152 min. Rating: 3 out of 4 stars.

– David Germain, AP Movie Writer
‘Saw’

This serial-killer tale is inanely plotted, badly written, poorly acted, coarsely directed, hideously photographed and clumsily edited – and all these ingredients lead to a yawner of a surprise ending. Director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell have come up with nothing more than an exercise in unpleasantry and ugliness. The movie is vicious to no end, loaded with gruesome torture devices and scenarios that Wan and Whannell somehow thought audiences would want to see. Whannell co-stars with Cary Elwes as men who awaken chained in a dank lavatory by a killer carrying out sick games to test victims’ morality. Danny Glover and Monica Potter co-star, with all the actors – Whannell most of all – delivering feeble performances. Rated: R for strong grisly violence and language. Running time: 103 min. Rating: 1 out of 4 stars.

– David Germain, AP Movie Writer