Just perfect...

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

the one minus about this is there is a factual error....there is no way the song "Man in Black" could've been written about Watergate because the song came out in 1971....the Democratic break-in thing didn't even occur until 1972...other than that it was an attempt by Columbia records to make it up to Cash's family for Rick Blackburn not re-signing him in the 80s....and of course to make money.....warning....Merle Haggard looks like death itself.Even Snoop Dog is a Cash fan, which I didn't know until seeing this...the performances are all good especially the simple performance of "Redemption". Another downfall to me was it didn't pay enough attention to the San Quentin album but overall this is a good product

Johnny Cash's America (2008) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Very good documentary taking a look at the life and career of Johnny Cash. Through TV appearances, concert footage and various interview segments, we hear comments from Cash himself as well as his daughters, son, sister and musicians including Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, Sheryl Crow, Merle Haggard, Vince Gill, Tim Robbins, Snoop Dogg, Loretta Lyne, Kris Kristofferson, Al Gore and many more. Fans of Cash are certainly going to enjoy this documentary even though the majority of die-hard fans will probably know the stories. Just about every aspect of Cash's life is explored from his early days, which included his brothers death, to the drugs, his relationship with the Carter family, his political views, his days going to Folsom Prison and everything leading up to his final masterpiece Hurt. I think that overall the documentary really gives you a good insight to the times of Cash, how he wrote his music and just his overall feelings about life in general. The documentary does shy away from some of the darker moments but it does look at the various drug problem he had over the years. It was especially entertaining hearing from his sister as well as a daughter when she shares her thoughts about the first time she saw the video for Hurt and what her dad told her. The relationship between Dylan and Cash is looked at in some detail and we get some studio stuff that the two did for Dylan's "Nashville Skyline" album. I think the diverse interviewees just shows how many different types that Cash's music reached.