The Problem With (Most) Music Biopics
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- Опубликовано: 10 янв 2024
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A first look at Back to Black, the forthcoming biopic of Amy Winehouse, has been released ahead of the film’s release in April.
Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, whose study of the early years of John Lennon, Nowhere Boy, brought her considerable acclaim, the film features newcomer Marisa Abela as Winehouse, the London soul singer who rose to fame with debut album Frank in 2003 and 2006 follow-up Back to Black.
Pop singer and actress Selena Gomez has been cast as singer Linda Ronstadt in an upcoming biopic. The production team for the film, which is currently in pre-production, will be comprised of James Keach (who nabbed an Oscar for his efforts on the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line") and Ronstadt's manager, John Boylan. Keach also produced the 2019 documentary "Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice." 
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I MEANT J ROBERT OPPENHEIMER NOT ROBERT J FUUUUCK LMAO
Also sam taylor johnson isn’t the guy that directed 50 shades, it’s the woman who did…
yeah that’s my bad too lol I read Sam and assumed it was a dude
and apparently she’s like kinda terrible in her own way??? wild
@@felicia1183 aaron taylor johnson?
@@kaylasaysyeah she’s 23 years older than her husband Aaron Taylor-Johnson (known for Kick-Ass and Quicksilver in Avengers 2 among other roles) and even worse, they met when he was 19 and she was 42 directing a film he starred in. Knowing that pre-production for movies in terms of casting can sometimes take several months to a year before production let alone release, he might’ve been a year or two younger when they actually were introduced to each other so it’s pretty damn gross.
As far as Amy Winehouse, we got that documentary about her that gave everything we need to know about her. She doesn’t need a biopic.
I agree
was thinking the same thing. her life deserves so much attention, just in another form of media
The trailer for this movie made me cringe. The actress playing Amy is a big miss. Why was this movie made?
Probably her father wanting money and fame (premiers)
I'd argue that the documentary showed too much. Her life was way too exposed during her short life. Let her rest.
So I looked up the Amy Winehouse cake thing and oh wow... It was so incredibly horrifying and heartbreaking. Holy motherfreaking shirtballs.
I did the same and wish I hadn't. Almost made me gag. It's so mortifying and I can't believe anyone would be okay with doing something like that. Neil is an awful person.
@@Missjunebugfreak honestly, I had never even heard of her before her death, but she didn't deserve that.
I'll take your word for it and not look it up. It's disappointing because I thought Neil was a kind person.
Same! Mortified. Kayla was right
Bad at first glance. Horrifying once I understood it was after her death... 😢
It always bothered me the hypocrisy of the media regarding Amy Winehouse, when she was alive she was the butt of the joke, every tv show was like: oh she's such a mess, she's high again, she's drunk again hahahaha.... then she died and they were: such a tragic death, she was so beautiful, she's an angel now, such a great talent blah blah blah.
That's what media does all the time. They can also start accusitions against you, turn into a witch hunt and then pretend like they did nothing when it's proven to be false but the damage has been done. They're free to be as despicable as they want.
That’s how the media is unfortunately. They’ll be absolutely horrible to an artist while they’re alive but once the artist passes away, they praise them and speak highly of them and mourn over their death.
Back to Black’s director is actually Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s groomer wife. So I don’t think this movie can get any worse, frankly.
And none of Amy Winehouse friends or close family except for her dad endorsed it. It’s just a cash grab and another piece of media that will further taint her image of what people saw her as.
I was about to comment this.
I looked this up assuming it was an exaggeration and then I saw they stated their relationship WHEN HE WAS 18 AND SHE WAS 42 EUUUUUUUGH
@@smarmalade5938 It's valid to think someone exaggerates when talking about an age gap relationship. It's become a weird taboo amongst Gen Z.
But yeah, Sam and Aaron's relationship and marriage is definitely a problematic one.
They actually lied because she was a family friend of his parents. Meaning she met him much younger. @@smarmalade5938
I think one of the ways Rocketman got around that jukebox formula of just playing the hits chronologically in the order they came, was showing how these songs were applicable to Elton John's life, and the biopic was SO much stronger for that. For example, "I Want Love" is more of a late stage Elton song, but it's not used to stretch out Elton's life till 2001, when the song was released. They use it within the first ten or so minutes of the film to demonstrate how every member of Elton's family growing up (including himself) was emotionally stunted in some way post-World War Two, and set the stage for how music helped him break free. Definitely worth a watch for how they were able to creatively break those horrible biopic tropes!
Rocketman surprised me in how the filmmakers perfectly used Elton's songs to tell the story through the fantasy element rather than just montages of him performing the song. I'd be curious how "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" would've been like for Rocketman if it was in the movie
It's basically like a jukebox musical, wherein the pre-existing songs are used to heighten the specific emotional beats of the scene rather than being there purely for recognition's sake. It's a more creative method of doing a story like this, and reason why Rocketman is one of my favourite music biopics
Rocketman should have gotten the hype Bohemian Rhapsody got!
Rocketman is the best.
Elton's experience in musical theater definitely strengthened the film. It made the film more emotional like a musical would be.
The Neil Patrick Harris Halloween cake (without joking in the slightest) is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen. Fuck that!! Needs a TW warning
Genuinely wish I hadn't looked it up. Wtf is wrong with people?
What is it @@annablackwell444
Wait but I love monotonous details about the RUclipsr economy
Next video idea
no this is true
Rocketman is one of my favourite biopics. Instead of going with the cliché wikipedia formula movie like most biopics do that it can get tiresome, the filmmakers mixed the biopic elements with musical fantasy sequences that made the movie so refreshing, entertaining and a nice departure from the formula that most biopics have these days. They did something different in telling Elton John's story and i admire it. You don't see that much biopics about musicians that took the musical fantasy approach like Rocketman does
so true! And Rocketman was miles, miles better than Bohemian Rhapsody, and Taron Egerton was way better than Rami Malek
I loved Rocketman!
@@NaticzkaKaminskaHenryDolphin Taron showed how you don't need to be a comical impersonation of an artist (or even try to uncanny valley look like them), to embody the spirit of a person. Taron does not particularly look like Elton, even back in the day- but every time he was on screen, you knew he got who this guy was, from his pre-Elton John, "Reginald Dwight" days, to letting fame overtake him because he seems to have a crushing need to be loved and liked, to throwing that to the wind when he realized he didn't need to be liked anymore to be a good person. 1000 times better than poor Rami Malek looking like he was constantly struggling with his fake teeth every shot.
@@laurena9563 Very true, I have the same view. Malek was flat, bland, and cartoonish. I will never understand why he won an Oscar for this - one of the worst leading actor Oscar wins in history.
@@NaticzkaKaminskaHenryDolphin I'll be one hundred percent honest- I was enraged at the time that Malek got an Oscar for this when less than a year later, Taron clearly had a far superior performance- the movie is one of the few biopics I feel actually has a rewatchability factor.
Biopics like Pricilla and Spencer, which focuses on a specific part of the subjects life instead of their whole career, are usually much more intriguing. To focus the message/theme in a more constrained timeframe leads to more creativity and introspectivness on the essence of the subject. For biopics about musicians; Love and Mercy is the best I've seen.
That’s also better in historical figures films. That applies to all biopics, biopics in general are better set in just one part of their life’s, like Elizabeth and Elizabeth the golden Age.
I loved both of these films
I love Amy Winehouse. Back to Black was on heavy rotation for me. Do I want an Amy Winehouse biopic? Hell no. There's really nothing there to make a biopic. Her personal struggles made her a target by everyone and overshadowed how talented she truly was. It feels like the highest degree of Oscar baiting.
And Selena was and is a superb biopic. It celebrated her life without focusing on her tragic murder.
It's clearly going with the "IT'S THE PAPARAZZI'S FAULT" angle (which is true), but EVERYONE failed that girl. Her family enabled her as long as the money was coming in, her "husband" was a piece of trash who brought her down with him, Amy convinced herself that toxic love was true love, and everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, had an Amy Winehouse joke or two on either late night television or in their back pocket back in the day. I doubt they'll go as hard into either how her family failed her (Her family are involved and profiting), or how popular culture literally let her trip over herself for the public's "amusement." I think the only famous person I saw treat her with an ounce of respect was Tony Bennett, even when she was not doing as well and they were recording a duet together.
@@laurena9563 there really is no story to tell. What made Amy such a standout as a songwriter was the fact that she was very open and honest about herself. She already told her story. It sucks that even in death people want to use her.
Plus she was not left alone in life or death with people mocking her and she sadly wasn't the only one. 2000's tabloids were notorious for that bullshit
@@devonmunn5728 So true.
@@laurena9563 Thank you!
Rocketman is a very good biopic and one that isn't talked about enough that I deffo feels needs talking about more is Tick Tick Boom. Unlike ones that are chronicaling the person's whole life and like lead up to their greatness this one is a snapshot of a very specific time period of this person's life. It is about composer Jonathan Larson and a project he was working on in the lead up to turning 30 and all the anxiety and existential dread he felt about turning 30 and being a creative person in the creative sphere and feeling like he needs to do something now to create a legacy so we see the makings of this failed project that never got of the ground. Sadly Larson passed away at age 33 from an undiagnosed heart problem and on the opening night of what came to be his actual legacy Rent. But it is a fantastic movie and Andrew Garfield as Larson was inspired casting. It is a very brilliant movie and one I always recommend to people.
This is one of my favorite movies of all time and I think its a really poignant release after Cats and the era of Tom Hooper's "realism" Oscar bait musicals. It felt like we were getting musicals that enjoyed being musicals again.
To be fair, Tick Tick Boom is a musical written by Jonathan Larson himself that was then turned into a movie. It's in the "movie musical" catagory of most people's heads, despite being at the intersection of movie musical and musical biopic. (also for that matter, musical biopics could usually be classified as jukebox musicals, which tick tick boom definitely is not)
Yes!! Kayla did mention this movie in the middle of her Lin-Manuel Miranda video so I think she’d agree with everything you say.
(I might have to have a re-watch this weekend.) ❤
I didn’t know about the NPH thing, I looked it up and holy shit it is so much worse than I thought it would be
NPH is undeniably talented, but I've always given NPH the side-eye since I found out about how he treated Amy's legacy literally within months of her death. Insensitive, at BEST.
It was shocking.
Oh Kayla you would LOVE Rocketman. It basically reinvets the music biopic genre by turning Elton John's road to sobriety into a musical. Because it's focused on a story that isn't just Elton's rise to fame all of the music played serves a specific narrative purpose and doesn't feeled shoehorned in like Bohemian Rhapsody.
Taron Egerton does fantastic and it doesn't shy away from painting Elton John as the bad guy as his substance abuse pushes people away from him and it's such a fun ride.
Agreed! She loved Tick Tick Boom so I bet she'd really love Rocketman.
Just googled the Neil Patrick Harris cake and...WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE, WHY WOULD ANYONE THINK THAT WAS AN AMAZING CAKE DESIGN FOR HALLOWEEN. The cake design btw is the decomposing corpse of amy winehouse.
I think they were gunning for a zombie type thing but all it looked like was a decomposing corpse. They even named it the corpse of Amy Winehouse.
Its not even cake. It was a meat platter. Kind of makes it even worse
@@sophro9302 WHAT??...that's just disgusting
I used to like him
my favourite biopic is Gia (1998) featuring Angelina Jolie! Based on the life of Gia Carangi, a model in the 80’s who went on to pass away from HIV related complications. For the time it was released, it was incredibly controversial and polarising and I really do think it’s one of Angelina’s best acting roles. It’s one of my favourite movies of all time and it’s beautiful and very heartfelt and sincere, you finish the movie feeling immense empathy for Gia and for her family. She was mostly “forgotten” about by the late 90s due to her fall from the fashion world and slow descent into drug abuse and eventual death relating to HIV, which was and still is a highly sensitive topic, but I admire the movie’s attempt in reviving her and making sure she wouldn’t fade from existence.
Rocketman feels like a Baz Luhrmann movie done RIGHT. My issue with Luhrmann’s movie is that they often prioritize style over substance. Rocketman, on the other hand, could’ve been a very traditional biopic, but it instead chose to be a stylish, flashy musical which fits with Elton John’s very flashy, flamboyant personality and style. The “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting” and “Rocketman” sequences in particular have lived in my mind rent free since I saw it 5 years ago. Really good shit.
Is it that good? I need to watch it! I love Taron and Elton John. Got to see him in DC a few years ago and the man is AMAZING on the piano! And his voice has held up too!
@@KatieLHall-fy1hw 100 percent you need to watch it. It is everything Bohemian Rhapsody thought it was, and in my opinion, one of the few biopics that holds up to repeat watches!
@@KatieLHall-fy1hwit’s absolutey worth checking out. It’s evwrything I think musical biopics should be, but it being unique/its own thing is what makes it special
@@KatieLHall-fy1hwYES‼️‼️‼️ IT IS, WATCH IT RN
Fwiw I once heard someone say something to the effect of “You will never hear the word ‘story’ more than a writing meeting with Baz Luhrmann.”
I know his style often takes up a lot of the discourse, but I found that on subsequent viewings, the Elvis movie genuinely has a lot to say.
Rocketman was HIGLY overlooked that year and it makes me sad. Imo it was the perfect blend of sharing both an artist's personal life and their accomplishments. I think what helped with that though is Elton himself was around during the process in making the film
It’s so good 🙏
Not only was he involved in making the film, he was very insistent that they didn't sugarcoat his portrayal and instead went for a warts-and-all approach, which made for a much more honest and sincere and satisfying experience
@@christianwise637Dexter Fletcher at the end directed RocketMan and Bohemian Rhapsody ( it was started by Brian singer Fletcher finished the job).
And I’m saying this because I heard in an interview at that end in both cases respected musicians wishes. Taylor and Brian May are involved in bohemian rhapsody and asked Fletcher to do the find of film saw Livley feel good homage to the band while Elton John wanted that more raw depiction of his life.
I know bohemian rhapsody has many problems but it worked as a great feel good movie, when I left the theater after the film finished left me feeling excited and kind of euphoric in s good way like you feel after at the end of a great concert.
The bohemian rhapsody film doesn’t work much as a straight up biopic but works as an excercise to bring new fans to the band because the focus is the music,
the music is as much as a protagonist as Rami Malek
rocketman = the perfect movie ❤
This just reminded me why May December and Killers of the Flowermoon hit so hard. People telling stories about other people will never not exist. The way we exploited the lives of others can feel so second nature that we forgot about the real people / impact of those stories.
may december contradicts itself cause the film was made without consent of the real life story of an individual.
That cake was ten times worse than I thought his career should have ended there
There's a real problem in our society of people waiting until they feel it's "cool" enough, in their opinion, to respect someone and allow them dignity.
I just looked up the NPH meat platter and HOLY SHIT it was so much worse than I expected, thank you for the warning, WTAF 😱😬
you were right about the cake jesus fucking christ 😭
"directed by this piece of shit" absolutely valid 💀
Another biopic that I rly enjoy other than rocketman is yesterday. It is honestly the furthest away you can get from the formula while still being able to be considered a biopic. Rather than following the lives of the beetles the movie asks the question of what if they never existed and only one dude remembers their existence. It truly captures their story in a unique way.
I've actually always loved Linda Ronstadt (She is an amazing singer in both Spanish and English, she was my top Spotify artist this year, and I've always felt she's ridiculously underrated); but it feels like it'll end up being like the Amy Winehouse biopic. A lot of these singers are once in a generation artists that had some sort of it factor that is ridiculously hard to replicate, so unless there's a more unique way of telling the stories, such as Rocketman or the Brian Wilson biopic, Love and Mercy, it either feels like a bad impression, or like Kayla touched on, a "When are we going to see this famous song in the timeline" biopic.
She was my top 5!!!
She was also my number one artist on Spotify! She's truly an amazing human being. That being said, I really have no desire too, Watch a biopic about her. We already have an incredible documentary about her called the sound of my voice.
Bob Dylan already has a great bio pic called I’m Not There which is way outside the box of the typical music biopics. It had 6 different actors Dylan (under a different name) at each stage of his life
I was not prepared to see the NPH cake
Paused the video to look up the cake. Holy fuck, I nearly gagged. 😰
That Amy winehouse cake… I wasn’t ready for that at all. Fuck NPH, fr
5:07 What’s Love Got To Do With It belongs on this list. Angela Bassett KILLED it. As she always does.
I never watched Bohemian Rhapsody because I always got the vibe that it was too "clean"
Holy crap I looked it up and that Amy Winehouse cake left me shook.
Back in Black will be an interesting watch since its director Sam-Taylor Johnson (aside from Fifty Shades) also directed Nowhere Boy, a biopic about John Lennon's early life (a pretty solid movie imo)
One music biopic I really loved was Love & Mercy from 2014 which was about Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys. It looked at two important periods of his life and had a good balance of showing his process creating music and his personal life by meeting his wife and escaping his controlling psychiatrist. Highly recommend checking it out!
*Looks up Neil Patrick Harris Halloween cake expecting something dumb, then seeing what it actually is* WHY?!
I remember hearing about the Amy Winehouse cake thing with NPH and every time I remember it, I feel sick to my stomach. 🤮 I’m also glad you gave love to the Selena Quintanilla biopic because I love it too. Honestly, while this is not a movie but a TV show, I feel like Fosse/Verdon which is about broadway actors and choreographers Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse did such a great job of not focusing too much on their personal lives but their impact on musical theater which IMO was great!
This was the first time I've ever heard of it. The only thing I know of of that fucked up cruelty is some woman dressing up as her with a fake syringe and tie on her arm and this was in 2008, when Amy was alive
@@devonmunn5728 oh god that’s so terrible. 🤮 😞
I didn't think it would be that bad so I Google it and holy sh!t was wrong.
There was a video essay in the last year or two I believe by Elliott Roberts that touched on this- that mostly biopics are stuck in playing the greatest hits and so strictly that they refuse to miss out ANYTHING from the artist's life, and therefore feels just like a slog to get through, and that the best biopics make the smarter creative choice to focus on either a particular point in a famous person's life (Like the shoestring budget made-for-TV movie but Paul McCartney-approved Two of Us which basically focuses on the dynamic of one weekend or so between Paul and John Lennon post-Beatles breakup in the late 1970s), or play with the timeline for a more sincere depiction of who someone is (Like Rocketman, or Love and Mercy). Those are the three biopics I've actually rewatched and feel like they have staying power, because they don't try to cram in EVERYTHING from a person's life, where we have to sit through the ENTIRETY of an iconic performance to a far lesser effect in the last thirty minutes of the movie (Bohemian Rhapsody).
Elliot Roberts has such a good channel
Nothing in the world could've prepared me for that Amy Winehouse cake like what the actual FUCK
I love Rocketman! Instead of it being an extended Greatest Hits music video, I loved its storytelling and how it chose to focus on a subject rather than trying to tackle Elton John's entire life. The movie being a story that he was telling in group therapy was an amazing storytelling device, and the part where he's trying to heal his inner child.
Underrated biopic is Control, which is about Joy Division. It was directed by the band's photographer. Absolutely genius how the entire film was shot in black and white, just like most of their photos. I don't think the movie glorified Ian Curtis, but made him very human and showed all his struggles that drove him to his death.
All of my family are originally from Corpus Christi where the real Selena and her family were based. I think the reason Selena as a bio pic was as solid as it was had a lot to do with the family having a lot of input on the script as well as it being filmed in released within a relatively short period of time after her death. My mom and dad actually attended quite a few of her concerts back in the day and my mom has always said J-Lo’s mannerisms and south Texas accent is as close to the real Selena as you could get.
pretty sad how her father still takes advantage of her even after her death tho. ex: recent netflix series about selena
@@Mariana-gm9nz I agree. The family’s not well liked within the local community. A few years back a festival was held called Fiesta de la Flor in Corpus that was essentially celebrating Selena’s legacy. They had local performers, food vendor, artists etc. I went to the first one held in 2015 and there were people from as far as Spain that came just for the event. Corpus is a smaller city there’s not a ton in the way of attractions that bring in tourists other than the beach and Selena. The Quintanilla family promised it would be an annual festival that would bring lots of business and money to the city. Long story short the festival only lasted about 5 years despite it bringing in about 10 million dollars. The reason was never specified by Selena’s family but that coupled with the way her image has been slapped on every cheap piece of merch just makes me sad her legacy has been bled dry by her family.
Biopics are for teenagers so they would start listening to “old” music. The last biopics i loved were Walk the Line and The Runaways and it was because i was 16 and felt cool imagining the old times
I love "Rocketman"! Definitely my favorite. Another great one is "Control" about Ian Curtis from Joy Division. It's mostly a story of his struggles with epilepsy and depression and it worked to the film's advantage.
can confirm the nph halloween cake was very much worse than i expected it to be
Steve Jobs (the movie with Michael Fassbender) is a good biopic in my opinion, albeit not a music-related one. Because it's not a greatest hits collection, but decides to focus on three moments in his life that might not've happend like that, but reflect the characters really well.
As a huge Amy Winehouse fan, since 2006, thank you for speaking facts about her. You’re absolutely right about the hypocrisy surrounding her since her death.
This biopic is coming from her father. He was so enraged by the way the documentary portrayed him, he’s been fighting to fix HIS reputation rather than care about his daughter’s legacy and he hopes to accomplish that with this biopic. All of Amy’s friends are upset about this and were left out from the process because they called him out on the inaccuracies he was putting into the film. It’s ultimately a cash grab and a way for Mitch Winehouse to fix his image. A biopic made for all the wrong reasons about a person who deserved so much better.
Oooo GOD you were not lying about NPH’s birthday cake 😨😨😨😨
The NPH cake was indeed so much worse than I ever imagined
Music biopic I highly recommend: Love & Mercy, about Brian Wilson, musical genius and lead guitarist/songwriter/composer/arranger of the Beach Boys. It takes the unique approach of weaving two periods in Brian's life together: the 1960s where a younger Brian (Paul Dano), is working on the album "Pet Sounds" and his unfinished masterpiece "Smile," and one in the 1980s where an older Brian (John Cusack), meets his future wife Melinda and with her support casts off an abusive psychiatrist who weaseled his way into controlling Brian's life. The storylines complement each other beautifully and make for an engaging watch.
I’ll have to watch that one!
I think Bohemian Rhapsody might be one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The fact it has any Oscar, ESPECIALLY for editing, pisses me off.
I saw it for free and I still wanted my money back.
This is a petty detail for how much was wrong with that movie, but the thing I hated the most as a John Deacon fan who wrote many of Queen's biggest hits is how clearly due to him being the only member of Queen effectively "retired," they made him into the "happy to be there" doofus in order to play up Brian May and Roger Taylor's ridiculous requirements for additional screen time to Freddie. That entire scene where they're basically like, "AND JOHN. YOU CONTRIBUTE TO THE BAND BY BEING. HERE." literally had me gaping like this wasn't the man to write "You're My Best Friend," "I Want to Break Free," and "Another One Bites the Dust."
The editing made me laugh, it was not good it got an oscar bc of the hype it was getting, I was hyped bc seeing the love queen was getting but I was lying to myself when I said that I liked it
@@laurena9563 ily for saying this, john was treated so badly in the movie, as if he was nothing, even though I dont know the details I'm sure his relationship with Freddie was so special in real life, john was a shy guy, who had a passion for music and I think without someone like Freddie he would've never found that side of him were he could be creative and play and dance on stage, and same for freddie, the boys did everything we love about queen, it's a team work, also the whole feud between roger and freddie ????????????
@@SnapeArgento He was quiet, but let's be real- John Deacon wrote more lasting hits than Roger, which made me laugh considering Roger was promoting himself in that movie like he was an amazing songwriter, and the joke in the Queen fandom is that the one all Roger song that's known is literally "I'm in Love with My Car." So that's why I was like, "Seriously, why are you treating John like dead weight? He wrote 1000 times better songs than you," sorry not sorry, Roger. 💀
Oh man I totally forgot about that! The editing was horrendous and I flabbergasted it won THAT award
Had to look the cake. WHAT - and I cannot stress this enough - THE FUCK was that????? WHY????
I googled the Neil Patrick Harris cake and OH MY GOSH
I loved Amy, I miss her so. She was so derided, vulnerable and fragile. Rest in peace Amy.
*FOREST GUMP* is my favourite biopic
The Amy documentary made by her friends a while back will probably be better and made with more love. this biopic feels like it was greenlit by her dad
Completely agree, Kayla!!! Music biopics have become so formulaic, the only reason they make them is because is the next best thing to a known property or IP. My favorite music biopic is 32 Short films about Glenn Gould, a total experimental film which does justice to the complexities of the great canadian pianist!! Thanx!!!
I didn’t find it necessary for there to be a biopic of amy Winehouse when the documentary, Amy did it perfectly. It’s the same feelings I have in regards to I wanna dance with somebody vs Whitney. I would much rather watch the documentary than a biopic.
I also had the same feelings about bohemian rhapsody because I was driving home and I realized my favorite part was the real footage of Queen doing don’t stop me now at the credits
Also favorite biopic is Amadeus even though it’s not accurate at all but as a film, it’s perfect
Still disappointed that the producers of the Amy winehouse biopic rejected Lauren Jauregui after she auditioned solely bc she was American and they wanted a British actress it’s weird bc British actors/actresses play real life American icons and historical figures all the time
To be fair if she couldn't do the accent why would they cast her? Bad accents are VERY distracting.
@@Laura.VB.I mean I guess there are lessons for that and as far as I’ve seen videos of Lauren she did a pretty fine British accent with my pre vocal dialect coaching/training it can be better
I looked up the cake and imagine my surprise when I saw that safesearch had blurred the images. Anyways, I looked at it, and I really wonder how the hell you can do that to a real person who just died and think « yeah that’s a nice Halloween decoration »
We already got a bob dylan biopic. Cate Blanchett got an Oscar nom for it!
did she play bob dylan?
@@lollabunyxxx ye, it was like 10(?) eras of Bob Dylan, portrayed by different acotrs
@@lollabunyxxx one of the versions of him
@@ToCam-fl8ry I never heard of that and just saw that clip, now imma watch the whole film
What’s Love Got to Do With It and Ray are two of the greatest biopics ever made. And one of the worst I’ve ever seen was probably Elvis from 2022.
I understand if Baz Luhrmann’s style isn’t for you, but I genuinely think that the Elvis movie is better than a lot of people give it credit for. Whereas a lot of biopics are content to be feature-length Wikipedia entries, Luhrmann uses Elvis’s life to explore ideas, like how you need to engage with the world around you to make vital art and the danger of mistaking luxuries for love.
IT MAKES ME SO MAD HOW I WENT TO SEE BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY IN THEATRES INSTEAD OF ROCKETMAN!!! I literally was so bored in the thestre the whole time and watch Rocketman at home. It is now one of my top 10 movies of all time. It’s just so much fun and such of rollercoaster time!
Rocketman is worth a watch for sure. Elton John definitely had a message with his story & used the film to showcase his journey with sobriety. & Taron provides beautiful vocals. It's a high fantasy musical with dance numbers & unique story montages. I love it!
For me Rocketman is the best movie musical, I adore it. It is never boring, acting is fenomenal and the songs are used as organic progression of the story, telling us emotions and actions of characters, and not being just pinpoints we have to put there, because they are popular. I love coming bach to it and I will many times in the future
AGREE WITH YOU 100% ROCKETMAN BEST MOVIE EVER MADE
…..THE CAKE?!
For fucks sake Amy Winehouse wasn't left alone in life or death. Like that one girl (don't remember her name) dressing up as her with a fake syringe in 2008 and then Neil Patrick Harris making a cake of her dead body, and to add just months after her death is just sad how cruel people can be, but it really isn't anything new. People have always been this cruel, its just now you see it more often
Hahaha- it’s official, I’m an old person because I’m “excited” for a Linda Ronstadt biopic! With Selena? Who else?!? But I do love an HBO documentary series on 70s musicians.
LR WAS EPIC! Mexican/German descent, battling eating disorder, romance with a politician, telling her label to suck it & did a Mexican folklore song as a single… Whuuuut?!?👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Kayla- always a great job on your videos 👍🏽
I'm still waiting for a Karen Carpenter biopic and I'm 34 lol
Took the words right out of my mouth! I have a disdain for certain biopics, ESPECIALLY Bohemian Rhapsody. I remember 2019 award season so vividly since I don’t know HOW that movie won what it did. And sadly, I think that film was a lesson for some biopics after that on what not to do, because Rocketman was by far better.
I had no idea about that Neil Patrick Harris cake. Celebrities live on a different planet, I swear. Gervais had it right when he said none of them have any idea about the real world.
Rocketman is worth watching, and I would argue re-watching too. It’s a feast for the eyes and takes a more fantastical approach to telling the story which works given what a colorful person Elton John is. And if you want to talk about music biopics that hit the mark, please watch Coal Miner’s Daughter, which is about Loretta Lynn. It’s incredible and Sissy Spacek practically disappears into the role.
Most underrated biopic performance = Jennifer Hudson in RESPECT!!! Soo overlooked
Selena Quintanilla’s biopic was and still is my favorite. It was a family favorite so I have watched this movie too many times but I still love it
You should watch Rocketman. It is a much more grounded and honest depiction of its central character than Bohemian Rhapsody and also more stylized. Plus, it’s a movie musical so a lot of the songs are performed as non-diegetic musical numbers. I think you’d like it
Ed Wood is a great example on how to run wild with a biopic and yet maintain its core.
Yes! I was a huge Ed Wood fan (still am) before the biopic, whoch is superb & honored his work without missing the absurd in his life story.
Rocketman follows a more jukebox musical formula, it is absolutely worth checking out. Elton John worked closely on it and you can see his love and work with musicals seeping into this movie. Taron killed it, he needs to be singing more. Tictic boom is another biopic I'd strongly recommend, Andrew killed it
Party Monster is my favorite biopic, if that applies. One of my all time favorites, period! Even though Michael Alig wasn't a huge fan of his portrayal.. I thought Macaulay Culkin (and Seth Green) did a FANTASTIC job. Plus many real life Club Kids were apart of its creation.
RIP Angel.
Great stuff, Kayla!
You're kind of the remedy we've been needing in terms of video reviews and commentary. We've either been stuck with super over the top nerdfests practically scientific twisting on every facet of some plots character in some episode of something something, or Permacringe Red pill, blue pill, current issue lens critiques, that despite their intended intensity can come out really boring.
You have a nice clip, stuff is insightful, you take side trips that are not too long, and make it back to the main theme in time to wrap up. You're my new favorite movie and media commenter. Commentator? Commentorioraitus,?
I don't know. You call it. Well done, whatever the case.
this is so kind, thank you!
Just popping in to say I am cautiously excited for the Gay Pirate video. I am both touchy and unsurprised about it getting canceled. I wish we could get s3 since it was the planned ending anyway but after seeing how s2 was crammed and rushed and weird I’m not sure what “planned” ending we would get anyway. I love the show with all my heart but hearing David Jenkins say he always planned for those 8 episodes to be exactly like that (as opposed to the pet theory that he’d written 10-12 out and then had to cram when he got a shorter season) broke me. That ending SCREAMS “we probably aren’t getting a third season so let’s park our boys here at a happy ending and make a vague promise we’ll get them back when s3 starts”
Elliot Roberts has a great video about Love & Mercy, the biopic of Brian Wilson. And another about the two Steve Jobs biopics. He really digs into how a lot of film makers struggle to hone in on a particular time/period of a person's career and attempt to cram an entire life's work into 2 hours at best. However both Love & Mercy and Steve Jobs manage it well.
My favorite music biopics I’ve seen would probably be Ray and Walk the Line. Both spanned a long time, yet never felt messy or convoluted. Now, Walk the Line does focus mainly on his relationship with June…but seeing that they were both musicians and huge part of each other’s lives, I think it worked pretty well.
man walk the line was so good!
Love being on time to a new release 🎉
as a huge Linda Ronstadt fan myself, I feel like I would love to see a biopic of her, but I feel that in this day and age, it doesn’t really do the artists any justice. The films have become the actor trying their hardest to mimic the artists’ mannerisms and singing their songs, and granted, it can really be done well. But these days biopics seem to lack a real plot to the actual movie because it’s too awkward to capture someone’s entire life in one production. So in short, I’m excited to see a film about one of my favorite artists, yet nervous to see the way it’s been executed ?? thanks for reading if you made it this far lol
Love for The Iron Claw! That movie was my biggest movie surprise of 2023.
The closest thing to a great biopic movie are the movies that tell the story but change the name. Like Dreamgirls vs Dianna Ross & The Supremes.
Also the biopics that I really enjoyed are The Malcom X, I, Tonya, and Ray Charles biopics. Truly incredible movies with uber talented actors.
Great video! I prefer the few musician biopics that focus on a specific time in a musicians life and aren't a visual summary of their whole existence so Love & Mercy (about Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys) and Sid & Nancy (about Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen) are my two favorite musician biopics. Elliot Roberts has a good video about why Love & Mercy is the perfect biopic
Rocketman is definitely worth the watch. It's probably my favorite biopic. Elton John has an extensive catalogue and the song choices and placement are both in service of featuring some of his biggest hits but also creating a cohesive narrative. There are major hits that get a footnote at best and great but less notable hits with big emotional moments because they best serve the narrative. Also, as many others mentioned, they approach it like a musical, which gives variety to song integration.
Mainly, to me, what sets Rocketman apart is that it has something specific to say about Elton John. My prof yesterday said "general choices make general art" and that's what so many biopics suffer from. Instead of a general timeline of his career, Rocketman asks "what does love mean to a lonely gay English boy who grew up to be a widely adored rockstar?" It's not a timeline of his career, but what lead him to seek help and love himself. It also gives a lot of love to Bernie Taupen, who may not be known in name as much as but is just as important as Elton to their music. I'm glad they won the Oscar for best original song together fir Rocketman. "Love Me Again" is my good mental health bop.
THANK YOU for pronouncing 'biopic' correctly. I'm gonna scream if again I hear it rhyming with "myopic"
I liked Coal Miner's Daughter (about Loretta Lynn) but I saw that when I was a child and admit to have more recently grown tired of the genre; the most recent biopic to have broken through that feeling is Rocketman (about Elton John) which I thought narratively and visually took an unconventional and interesting approach.
I think that Nowhere Boy is probably one of the better music biopics. Takes one period in John Lennox’s life that isn’t well known to a lot of people and gives insight on the history of his early life and musical origins as well as the formation of the Beatles. I think when they focus on a small part, or chronicle their eras of work, it can work a lot better.
just to add to the rocketman praise-- that movie perfectly toes the line of exposing the subject's flaws but doing so in a way that is compassionate, not just exploitative of their suffering for the sake of winning oscars (which was especially crazy to see given that the subject was a gay man and we know how pro-gay suffering the oscars are!!!)
would imagine this had something to do with the fact that elton john was majorly involved in the creative process and has also seemingly worked the hell out of whatever 12 step program he ended up in. like he demonstrated a truly rare and impressive ability to both understand how his traumas deeply affected every facet of his life, but also take responsibility for the ways in which his own actions made things worse, and ultimately ended up at the conclusion that self compassion is what will heal you and save you in the end. beautiful beautiful film that i will never be over for as long as i live
loved the video. personally i'll always prefer a good documentary than a biopic to learn about artist/historical figures lives
amy's movie is also directed by the groomer wife of aaron taylor-johnson
And from what I've heard, Amy's parents (Particularly her dad), was heavily involved in it. Which usually wouldn't be an issue, but from everything I've heard, her Dad was an enabling leech off of her fame and pretty heavily failed her as a parental figure. It's not fun thinking of him profiting off of her even in death.
Oh god no! this just give me another reason to not see it! 🤮
@@laurena9563 Mitch Winehouse is utter scum. He was exposed for his exploitation and greed in the Oscar-winning 2015 documentary on Amy. So now he’s using this biopic as a puff piece to try and clear up his image.
@@izzyc127 Literally in "Rehab" the tongue-in-cheek lyric written was "I ain't got the time, and if my daddy thinks I'm fine." It can obviously be taken as someone's boyfriend, but apparently it was written by Amy to be literally about her father? 😬 The podcast "You're Wrong About" goes into this, and how basically the old man was pretty much "AMY IS FINE" as long as the cash was rolling in. 😬
@@laurena9563Her dad, Mitch, is the absolute worst. He was exposed for his exploitation and greed in the 2015 Oscar-winning documentary on Amy. So now he’s using this biopic as a puff piece to try and clean up his image.
Why did you tell me to look up that cake it. I'm watching this at midnight. 😱
I loved the bio pic that they did about Jerry Lee Lewis with Winona Ryder and Dennis Quaid. It’s an old one but I still watch it at least once a year it’s that good.
I love the I Tonya biopic. It’s been years since I watched it but I remember being captivated by it. Thanks for another great video
Just like to point out Selena Quintanilla was *Mexican-American. Born and raised in Texas. I'm excited to see Selena Gomez play Linda Ronstadt not only because I love Linda Ronstadt's music, but also because I think the casting is on point as they're both of Mexican descent. I know Selena Gomez was mainly raised by her mom but maybe this is a chance for her to connect to her Mexican heritage. As a third-generation Mexican-American from a border town in South Texas, I look forward to anything close to representing me, so I hope it's not a letdown lol
Does Amadeus count as a biopic? I know it’s highly fictionalized, but it is about real people. If it does, it’s my favorite biopic. Great movie. Highly recommend it!
We don't need another Dylan biopic - especially not with Chalamet. The best Dylan biopic already came out called: I'm Not There. Such an original take on the genre and so true to Dylan - also doesn't shy away from the less pleasant sides of his persona.
My all time favorite biopics are The Jacksons: An American Dream and What’s Love Got To Do With It. 🙌 They’re both so iconic.
I was too young when Amy Winehouse died but I loved her songs. I recently read her entire wikipedia page and I think the most tragic part of her, that I hope the movie shows, is that she didn't get to make a lot of music before she died. Her official discography is small but she was just that talented. She deserved so much better than what she was given
Not sure why we would need a Bob Dylan Biopic when I'm Not There knocked it out of the park! That being said, I always thought Jeremy Allan White would make a good Bob Dylan, back when I was watching him on Shameless. He had an energy on that show that always made me think of the Freewheelin Bob Dylan cover. I guess he could still play that part, depending on what era they wanted to cover. I think that makes the best biopics, when a specific era of a person's life is covered, instead of trying to cover their whole lives, from birth to death. That's the kind of formula Walk Hard parodied years ago.
hell yeah! you raised some very good points, i particularly liked the part about people disingenuously respecting and admiring Amy Winehouse after the fact. I think we do this with lots of problematic celebs after they die.