best music biopic

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THRILLHO

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best music biopic
« on: November 05, 2018, 11:56:01 PM »
so i havent seen Bohemian Rhapsody yet but im only hearing mixed things. Queen is my 2nd fav group and i have low expectations for the movie. but all the hype around it got me wondering what are some of the best rock/music/artist bios youve seen? here are some of my favs in no order

Amadeus
Straight Outta Compton
Love & Mercy
Ray
Walk the Line
Doors
Nowhere Boy
8 Mile


here are some i haven't seen but i've always heard about or didnt like. Jimi All Is Love has a great performance from Andre 3000 as Hendrix but the film is CRAP.
La Bamba
Selena
Great Balls of Fire
Get On Up
Jimi All Is Love
Whats Love Got To Do With It
Sid and Nancy
All Eyez On Me
Elvis


the thing that really irks me is what they change from reality to make a more dramatic movie. i get why they do it but it's not historical fiction, it's a biopic.
« Last Edit: November 05, 2018, 11:57:35 PM by THRILLHO »

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THRILLHO

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Re: best music biopic
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2018, 11:59:47 PM »
not sure that Killing Bono fits my criteria but i loved it and would love to see the U2 actors do a U2 biopic. As long as they dont have Bono quit U2 and then come crawling back to make AB or something....

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guest87

Re: best music biopic
« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2018, 02:59:43 PM »
Control - Ian Curtis
The Karen Carpenter Story


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THRILLHO

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Re: best music biopic
« Reply #3 on: November 06, 2018, 04:31:02 PM »
i saw Control listed on one site as top 30, i'd never heard of it

or Backbeat? a Beatles one from the 90s??

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Shank Asu

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Re: best music biopic
« Reply #4 on: November 07, 2018, 03:17:12 PM »
Control was pretty good.  I think New Order themselves deserve a film made about them as no other band has ever lost their lead singer and then go on to greater stardom like they did.

I loved the The Doors (the film) when I was younger but now i see how bad it truly was.  Everybody involved with The Doors including their friends and associates, HATED that film.  It's unfortunately another example of history as told by Oliver Stone.

Sid and Nancy was a good film (love Alex Cox) but it is a struggle to sit through watching two wastoids acting wasted for two hours.

All Eyez On Me- horrible

Elvis and Sinatra have a bunch of bad (made for TV) films made about them but I actually like

This Is Elvis.

The Buddy Holly Story is good.

Walk the Line is good.

La Bamba is good.

8 Mile isn't a biopic and was way overrated. 

Amadeus is great but not sure it counts as a biopic (and Milos Forman rejected one of my scripts for he's on my shitt-list)

Ray was pretty good.

Want to see the recent Jimi Hendrix film.

I recommend two films- 24 Hour Party People which tells the story of Factory Records and the music scene in Manchester.  Great film and underrated.
And my friend Bill Fishman (who is a legendary music video director with just a few fetures to his name) did a indie film about The Turtles and their trip to London on the eve of the release of Sgt. Peppers and when they met The Beatles and Hendrix.  Lennon was so crude to them that one of the members of the band actually quit and never played music again.  It's called My Dinner With Jimi and worth watching if you can find it.

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THRILLHO

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Re: best music biopic
« Reply #5 on: November 08, 2018, 12:30:54 AM »
ill go ahead and let 8 Mile count as its Eminem's story, minus the names. ALL these movies fabricate the truth so ill give 8M a pass. it's not bad.

All Is By My Side <i realized i got the title wrong now> is godawful but worth 1 viewing to see Andre nail the Hendrix performance.

Ray/WTL are pretty vanilla imo, but i guess it's cuz i've never had any real connection to Cash's music and i like Ray's but i'm not really seeking it out, ever. Foxx kills it as Ray but WTL i'm just meh about.

If i don't connect with the music <or just the story of NWA cuz i love Ice Cubes' career in general> i don't really care about a biopic. I gave Amadeus a chance as it was streaming and loved it, despite how annoying a twat Amadeus was portrayed as. I suppose it's a life-to-death story as most of these biopics are but i count it in the same way i'd count Love and Mercy even if it just skips to the "were already famous now heres the rest of the story from this point on" storyline. Or Nowhere Boy being about Lennon pre-Beatles. Killing Bono would count as it's not U2's story but Neil's.

why do you hate the Doors movie? cuz it's not the real story? i think the film is fine and is def Kilmer's best role.

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THRILLHO

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Re: best music biopic
« Reply #6 on: November 08, 2018, 12:34:05 AM »
oh ya i dl'd Elvis and Me for my wife <a HUGE Elvis nut> and i to watch. it's not good and my god they'd have to twist the hell outta the story to make it ok with audience since Elvis was like what ? 21? when he started dating 14 y/o Priscilla? all these rock stars are pretty detestable. Elvis, Morrison, Lennon <esp. Lennon>. well no Hendrix and Brian Wilson are a-ok.

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MPare1966

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Re: best music biopic
« Reply #7 on: November 08, 2018, 07:31:40 AM »
You guys do list some good movies.

I will add one that’s not really a biopic, but a very good film about the music biz in the seventies: Almost Famous
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Kmama07

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Re: best music biopic
« Reply #8 on: November 08, 2018, 08:58:54 AM »
You guys do list some good movies.

I will add one that’s not really a biopic, but a very good film about the music biz in the seventies: Almost Famous
One of my faves!
I like the OP list of fave movies as well and would add The Buddy Holly Story.
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THRILLHO

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Re: best music biopic
« Reply #9 on: November 08, 2018, 10:09:00 AM »
Almost Famous was good in terms of movies about music, and interesting since it's a story about Led Zeppelin.

i've never even heard of the Buddy Holly Story til now.

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Shank Asu

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Re: best music biopic
« Reply #10 on: November 08, 2018, 12:31:24 PM »
Almost Famous was good in terms of movies about music, and interesting since it's a story about Led Zeppelin.

i've never even heard of the Buddy Holly Story til now.

I believe Stillwater from Almost Famous is actually based on The Allman Brothers Band.  Cameron Crowe did actually write an article for The Rolling Stone as a teen when he went on tour with them.

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Shank Asu

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Re: best music biopic
« Reply #11 on: November 08, 2018, 12:44:18 PM »
ill go ahead and let 8 Mile count as its Eminem's story, minus the names. ALL these movies fabricate the truth so ill give 8M a pass. it's not bad.

All Is By My Side <i realized i got the title wrong now> is godawful but worth 1 viewing to see Andre nail the Hendrix performance.

Ray/WTL are pretty vanilla imo, but i guess it's cuz i've never had any real connection to Cash's music and i like Ray's but i'm not really seeking it out, ever. Foxx kills it as Ray but WTL i'm just meh about.

If i don't connect with the music <or just the story of NWA cuz i love Ice Cubes' career in general> i don't really care about a biopic. I gave Amadeus a chance as it was streaming and loved it, despite how annoying a twat Amadeus was portrayed as. I suppose it's a life-to-death story as most of these biopics are but i count it in the same way i'd count Love and Mercy even if it just skips to the "were already famous now heres the rest of the story from this point on" storyline. Or Nowhere Boy being about Lennon pre-Beatles. Killing Bono would count as it's not U2's story but Neil's.

why do you hate the Doors movie? cuz it's not the real story? i think the film is fine and is def Kilmer's best role.

Ooh I forgot about Straight Outta Compton which i thought was entertaining but full of shitt.  Doctor Dre NEVER got chased and pulled over on Hoolywood Blvd by a mob of cops with guns drawn and a helicopter on him in the 90's.  Tat would have been the story of the month on Mtv.  It was very one dimensional take of the characters.

I don't hate The Doors film- they're one of my top 5 bands and i still re-watch the film, but it's just full of BS that never happened and isn't the story of The Doors.  If you have access to the deluxe DVD, watch the documentary feature, it's amazing.  The real life band members and associates let Oliver Stone have it and then the actors are talking shit about Val Kilmer- I don't think they liked him after filming the movie together.  Stone even says after doing research and speaking with all of the people involved with the group and their friends and family he told the story that he wanted to tell.  The real Doors wanted Ian Astbury of The Cult to play Morrison.

Also forgot about Love & Mercy which just didn't work because they tried to put two stories into one film.  Love the Beach Boys though- there's so many stories to tell with that band.

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THRILLHO

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Re: best music biopic
« Reply #12 on: November 08, 2018, 09:17:57 PM »
wait that was your issue with SOC? dude. Dre punched a female reporter live on MTV and the movie wanted to act like that didnt happen. Cube got asked about that during the press for the tour and said "man you want that in your NWA movie go make your own"

see L&M works brilliantly bc it is 2 stories told in 1 film and it works. it's one of the few atypical ways to tell a rock story. plus it was the first time the public was let into what Wilson was up to in the 80's with the shrink etc. his bio I Am Brian Wilson <not the one he uhh.."wrote"..with Dr. landry, the new one> is a must read.

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Codeguy

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Re: best music biopic
« Reply #13 on: November 08, 2018, 10:59:01 PM »
Honestly, I can't think of a single rock biopic that made me like an artist more.

I understand the Queen biopic demonstrates that Brian May was the real Queen  >:(
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Kmama07

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Re: best music biopic
« Reply #14 on: November 09, 2018, 08:00:57 AM »
Almost Famous was good in terms of movies about music, and interesting since it's a story about Led Zeppelin.

i've never even heard of the Buddy Holly Story til now.
Check it out!
Released in 1978 starring Gary Busey(who is phenomenal as Buddy Holly)
What's also great about this biopic is the actors all did their own singing as well as played their own instruments for the production
Hey, hey, sha la la