Cadillac Records

The music is good, the suits are sharp, but it's the outstanding performances that wow. Walker is electrifying as Howlin' Wolf and Beyoncé - playing Etta James - has never been so sultry and sexy.

Perhaps there were insurmountable legal restrictions. But the movie still serves as a dandy primer for rediscovering a lot of great music.

Anyone who likes pop music or wonders how bands like the Rolling Stones got rolling will enjoy the ride.

Sadly the movie conforms to all the music-biopic stereotypes we've seen in Walk the Line, Ray and Dreamgirls.

The music is great, so energetic and vital it leaves the drama looking unfocused in comparison. Beyoncé, singing her heart out, is the pick of a very impressive line-up.

It's got a good beat and you can dance to it. And on this week's Rate-A-Record card, I give [Cadillac Records] a 98.

Darnell Martin takes some dramatic licence with the tale of Chess Records. But it's an enthralling story nonetheless, and the outstanding ensemble cast - together with a primal, heart-thumping blues soundtrack - make it a blast from start to finish.

It turns out to be grittier and more lowdown than that Ray Charles bio.

The movie's major problem is its relatively superficial approach to postwar Chicago, which perhaps accounts for director Martin's playing fast and loose with the historical record.