What are Yea Forums's thoughts on music biopics?
Music biopics are only good if they are selective with the material they cover, and when they try to cram the entire story of an artist in ~2 hours the movie falls apart.
For example, Love & Mercy is a fucking great movie. It only covers two parts of Brian Wilson's life, the recording of Pet Sounds/SMiLE in 1966 and his struggle with mental health in the late 80s. Because it restricts itself with what it covers, it's able to delve deeper into Brian as a character and ends up way more successful.
Bohemian Rhapsody was fucking dumb. Everyone was a caricature, the movie moved way too fucking fast for anything to make sense, and it was overall a mess. It tried to tell the story of Queen over 15 years but because it's a movie and not a 9-part documentary it only got the highlights. Doesn't help that the script was written by people with the same reading-level of video games journalists.
It also helps if the musicians the movie is about aren't shit.
that sums up what I had to say
I agree
that movie about John Lennon's teenagehood was pretty good too because it really just covered the short period of time when he got back in contact with his mom and started making music with his friends and met Paul
I think the thing that Bohemian Rhapsody, Lords of Chaos, and The Dirt have made painfully clear is that these biopics are almost inevitably extremely shallow. Of the three, it seems like The Dirt has gotten the best reception, but I don't actually think it's any better than the other two. I'd actually say it's worse. But it isn't upsetting people because Mötley Crüe were a very shallow band, so it doesn't fail to tap into the depth of the music the same way the other two fail to really convey the stories of Queen and Mayhem.
That said, there are some great music biopics, notably Gainsbourg, Green Book, Love & Mercy, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Walk the Line, Almost Famous, and 24 Hour Party People. Reflecting on those, I think their success comes from the fact that rather than trying to give a false sense of telling the entire biography of their subjects, they give snapshots that tell deeper truths about them. Some trailers for those:
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i think [spoiler]he was cute[/spoiler]
The only good music biopic is Walk Hard.
That might be witty if you picked a better movie
Walk Hard is a satire of music biopics
I'm aware.
Then what the fuck did you mean by your post
It's not a very good parody of biopics. Check out This Is Spinal Tap or The Rutles. Walk Hard is a dumb, pedestrian movie IMO.
Did Yea Forums like Walk the Line?
I'll start caring when they make one for Trout Mask Replica with actors that can actually play the songs.
Joaquin Phoenix is an amazing actor, totally carried an otherwise unremarkable story with good music.
Fair enough. I think it fits a different role than Spinal Tap or The Rutles since it parodies modern biopics rather than the bands themselves.
It's still better than most music biopics because most music biopics are also pedestrian garbage, Bohemian Rhapsody especially.
that was pathetic. he basically got you to admit that you were just talking shit. and in the most awkward exchange possible
what
This is how I felt about The Doors biopic by Oliver Stone. It was inaccurate as hell too. I don't think a movie has pissed me off like The Doors movie did. The When You're Strange documentary is much better if you want a true story about the band and Jim.
The budgets required for good film production guarantees that any major biopic will be a dishonest, dumbed down, politicized, hollywood late-birth abortion. They are in every instance a disgrace and an insult to the artist. Don't watch them.
A biopic about Trout Mask Replica does sound really good. I wonder how it would be structured, though.
I would make John French the protagonist, his perspective would cover pretty much everything people care about.
Not a biopic but there's a great doc called dead hands dig deep about this guy ed vorsheim. More fucked up than gg by a mile, definitely worth a watch
Agreed, Don was such a weird and enigmatic person it would be hard to write a biopic around him.
I liked straight outta Compton
They should make a biopic about MatPat’s wife Stephanie.
I haven't seen many. 'Bohemian Rhapsody', however, was quite garbage. they dumbed down the story so much to make it a family movie, it's almost pointless even watching unless you're a mega queen fan.
i thought love and mercy was a missed opportunity. they should've just stuck in the 60s since cusack's scenes are so much weaker than dano's, not just that, they feel really schmaltzy, the scenes with the wife feel like a chick flick. not only that, they forget to mention that the wife is basically landy 2.0 since brian is being forced to tour under her and the manager's care
skipping over smiley smile's production was also fucking stupid, seeing a burnt-out stoned brian learn to accept smile's defeat would've been great, and seeing the weird production methods on smiley smile would've been cool (recording on old radio equipment or in a pool) i just wish they didn't focus on 80s brian and the least interesting parts of it. i would've loved to see them make brian wilson's album in 88 or something. it just sort of ends on a slow part of brian's life after landy. they could've showed us 70s cuckoo brian, asking people to introduce him to john lennon. or they could've showed us depressed burnt out beach boys, with dennis going fucking mental and streaking on stage while brian asks to be buried in a coffin
the only 10/10 biopic i’ve seen is straight outta compton