Jamie Foxx

Jamie Foxx, star of WB's hit sitcom "The Jamie Foxx Show," returns to his roots as a stand-up comic tonight at the Lyric Opera House.Foxx received his first break when he was plucked from an open casting call to join the ensemble of Fox television's ground-breaking sketch comedy series "In Living Color." His career has continued with recent film roles opposite Vivica Fox in "Set It Off" and "In Living Color" ex-castmate Tommy Davidson in "Booty Call."Jamie Foxx appears at the Lyric Opera House, 140 Mount Royal Ave., at 7: 30 tonight.

Jamie Foxx is no stranger to great music. The actor and singer won an Academy Award for his portrayal of soul legend Ray Charles in "Ray," and critics loved Foxx's performance as tortured cello prodigy Nathaniel Ayers in "The Soloist." Though Foxx's own albums have become club staples and sold millions of copies, he knows that artistically, they might pale in comparison to Charles' or Ayers' music. Foxx is fine with that. Right now, he just wants to make music that will appeal to as many people as possible and fill large venues like Merriweather Post Pavilion, where he performs Saturday.

His eyes shut tight, his head crooked to one side, Jamie Foxx slows down his voice, sweetens it up a tad, and slides effortlessly into a dead-on imitation of Ray Charles, complete with the blues-rock great's trademark stutter, exaggerated head roll and silkily seductive cadences. "Eh, eh, you know, I did this thing," he says, haltingly, with a sly grin, and suddenly there's another person in the room, a blind man who revolutionized American music, who was once called by no less an authority than Frank Sinatra: "the only genius in our business."

The twin heroes of The Soloist have to stare down almost every evil modern society can throw at them: mental illness, urban decay, hubris, abuse of power, narcissism, even the declining fortunes of America's newspapers. And while they don't exactly emerge triumphant, they win enough battles to give us all hope. Robert Downey Jr. is Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, and he's desperate for a story. Out trolling one afternoon, he hears violin music coming from the area surrounding a statue of Beethoven.

Jamie Foxx is no stranger to great music. The actor and singer won an Academy Award for his portrayal of soul legend Ray Charles in "Ray," and critics loved Foxx's performance as tortured cello prodigy Nathaniel Ayers in "The Soloist." Though Foxx's own albums have become club staples and sold millions of copies, he knows that artistically, they might pale in comparison to Charles' or Ayers' music. Foxx is fine with that. Right now, he just wants to make music that will appeal to as many people as possible and fill large venues like Merriweather Post Pavilion, where he performs Saturday.

Jamie Foxx is so mesmerizing as Ray Charles, so totally at ease inside the skin of perhaps America's greatest musical genius, at least of the last half of the 20th century, it's a shame his performance isn't surrounded by a better film. For outside of Foxx's performance, Ray is strictly by-the-numbers stuff, a highlight reel of Ray Charles' life that hits the highs and the lows, but offers little insight into the man, his talent or his place in music history. Director Taylor Hackford (An Officer and a Gentleman)

Jamie Foxx began a successful comic career on TV, starring in "In Living Color" and "The Jamie Foxx Show." While he did some supporting bits in films like "Booty Call" and "The Players Club," it was last year's "Any Given Sunday" that really pushed the young performer into the spotlight. But Foxx may find his carefully planned trip to movie stardom more elusive than planned. For one thing, he needs to pick his properties more carefully. "Held Up" is a real dud, with few laughs, no characterization, little story, a cluster of stereotypes and cliches and just plain nothing for Foxx to do. He plays a successful Chicago businessman named Michael Dawson who is vacationing with his fiancee, Rae (Nia Long)

Top 40 Singles 1. OutKast, "Hey Ya!" 2. OutKast, "The Way You Move" 3. Nickelback, "Someday" 4. Baby Bash, "Suga Suga" 5. 3 Doors Down, "Here Without You" Urban Singles 1. Alicia Keys, "You Don't Know My Name" 2. Twista featuring Kanye West and Jamie Foxx, "Slow Jamz" 3. Beyonce, "Me, Myself And I" 4. Avant, "Read Your Mind" 5. OutKast, "The Way You Move" Alternative Singles 1. Linkin Park, "Numb" 2. Offspring, "Hit That" 3. Jet, "Are You...

"I'm an Oscar winner but I'm still ghetto," Jamie Foxx told the full house at 1st Mariner Arena on Sunday night. And for nearly three hours, the comedian-actor-singer, who won an Academy Award for his stellar portrayal of Ray Charles in 2004's Ray, mixed explicit comedy with, well, explicit balladry. It was all forced and certainly disjointed as the Texas native tried to segue from slightly juvenile comedy routines about sex to serious crooning about - you guessed it - sex. But here's the problem: Foxx is more engaging as a manic, somewhat-silly comedian than an R. Kelly-style urban crooner.

Talent that floods off the screen and leaves you ecstatically drenched in emotion and street wit. That's what Dreamgirls, a brash heartbreaker of a musical, provides for most of its swift and enthralling 131 minutes. It's there every second Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy take the screen. And it's there whenever writer-director Bill Condon unites music and storytelling in a torrent of imagery that revives both the social tumult of the 1960s and the glorious pop culture that grew out of it. Jamie Foxx and Beyonce Knowles are the top-billed stars, but Hudson and Murphy are the heart and soul-man of this movie.

Will Smith: a star you can bank on, says Forbes Will Smith was voted the most bankable star in Hollywood in a survey of industry professionals by Forbes.com. The financial magazine's Web site gives the actor a score of 10 out of 10 for his bankability in its first "star currency" list, compiled by surveying more than 150 industry professionals. Following Smith on the list: Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio, who all tied for second with a score of 9.89. Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Denzel Washington, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson rounded out the top 10. The survey, which acknowledged that it was "subjective," also took into account the 40-year-old star's ability to attract financing for a project.

Intuition Jamie Foxx (J Records, **) CDs Shortly after taking home an Oscar for his unforgettable portrayal of Ray Charles in the movie Ray, Jamie Foxx released his second studio album, 2005's Unpredictable. It was an out-of-the-box success, selling more than 500,000 copies the first week in stores. The CD, featuring the smash title track and "DJ Play a Love Song," quickly went double platinum. Three years later, the actor-cum-singing sensation delivers Intuition, the follow-up to his pop breakthrough, in stores today.

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE -- (Columbia) Beatles tunes are the backdrop for a musical romance between young lovers (Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess). Julie Taymor directs. DEEP WATER -- (IFC) Documentary examines a disastrous 1968 around-the-world yacht race. THE FEAST OF LOVE -- (MGM) Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear and Radha Mitchell lead the cast in director Robert Benton's ensemble romance. THE GAME PLAN -- (Disney) Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a quarterback forced to take in a daughter he never knew he had. THE KINGDOM -- (Universal)

"I'm an Oscar winner but I'm still ghetto," Jamie Foxx told the full house at 1st Mariner Arena on Sunday night. And for nearly three hours, the comedian-actor-singer, who won an Academy Award for his stellar portrayal of Ray Charles in 2004's Ray, mixed explicit comedy with, well, explicit balladry. It was all forced and certainly disjointed as the Texas native tried to segue from slightly juvenile comedy routines about sex to serious crooning about - you guessed it - sex. But here's the problem: Foxx is more engaging as a manic, somewhat-silly comedian than an R. Kelly-style urban crooner.

'UNPREDICTABLE' JAMIE FOXX Multitalented Jamie Foxx has earned almost every accolade available to a modern performer. He's been loved as a comedian, honored as an actor and praised as a vocalist. The Oscar winner and Grammy nominee combines his many talents for a music and comedy show Sunday at 1st Mariner Arena. Foxx's Baltimore show is one stop on his 30-city "Unpredictable" tour. Fresh from an acting role in the critically acclaimed Dreamgirls, Foxx has put together a combination of songs from his hit album Unpredictable and the comedy talents that lifted him to stardom.

Talent that floods off the screen and leaves you ecstatically drenched in emotion and street wit. That's what Dreamgirls, a brash heartbreaker of a musical, provides for most of its swift and enthralling 131 minutes. It's there every second Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy take the screen. And it's there whenever writer-director Bill Condon unites music and storytelling in a torrent of imagery that revives both the social tumult of the 1960s and the glorious pop culture that grew out of it. Jamie Foxx and Beyonce Knowles are the top-billed stars, but Hudson and Murphy are the heart and soul-man of this movie.

Miami Vice, the new-millennium movie version of the seminal '80s TV hit, packs hard-grained texture and tingling moods into a bullet-riddled scenario. It sheds the series' famous and influential pastel look and plunges its cast of villains and warriors into the 21st century. Colin Farrell, a brooder with a glint in his eye, doesn't mimic either Don Johnson's heat or his cool as Sonny Crockett: He makes the role his own with an enigmatic volatility that fills the screen. And Jamie Foxx as Crockett's partner, Ricardo Tubbs, gives the franchise a huge upgrade from Philip Michael Thomas.

Capsules by Michael Sragow and Chris Kaltenbach. Full reviews at baltimoresun.com/movies. The Ant Bully -- brings home the perils of being a meanie - it's about a kid who, after flooding an anthill, is reduced to ant-size and taught the error of his ways. The film is nothing special but at least it has a message about tolerance and forgiveness that bears hearing. One could do a whole lot worse than this kid-friendly metaphor for the ugly world out there. (C.K.) PG 88 minutes B- Barnyard, -- in which a feckless cow learns about responsibility, includes a few moments kids might find funny.

Miami Vice, the new-millennium movie version of the seminal '80s TV hit, packs hard-grained texture and tingling moods into a bullet-riddled scenario. It sheds the series' famous and influential pastel look and plunges its cast of villains and warriors into the 21st century. Colin Farrell, a brooder with a glint in his eye, doesn't mimic either Don Johnson's heat or his cool as Sonny Crockett: He makes the role his own with an enigmatic volatility that fills the screen. And Jamie Foxx as Crockett's partner, Ricardo Tubbs, gives the franchise a huge upgrade from Philip Michael Thomas.