By John Corrado A24 has just released the first trailer for their upcoming Anthony Bourdain biopic Tony, which stars Dominic Sessa as the celebrity chef. The main reason I’m intrigued by this one is because it’s directed by none other than Canadian filmmaker Matt Johnson, who is coming off the recent critical success of his… Read More First Trailer for Matt Johnson’s Tony
By John Corrado Amidst the modern biopic boom, the Michael Jackson biopic has finally arrived. Directed by Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer trilogy, Training Day), and starring the late King of Pop’s real life nephew Jaafar Jackson, who is uncanny as his uncle, Michael is about the rise of Michael Jackson, and really only the rise.… Read More Movie Review: Michael
By John Corrado Director Craig Brewer’s Song Sung Blue is now available on Blu-ray, following a run in theatres. The film, of course, netted Kate Hudson an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, which I personally feel is well-deserved. Hudson stars in the film alongside Hugh Jackman, who portray the real life husband and wife Neil… Read More Blu-ray Review: Song Sung Blue (Collector’s Edition)
By John Corrado The official trailer has just been released for Michael. This is director Antoine Fuqua’s glossy biopic of late pop star Michael Jackson, who is being played in the film by Jackson’s real life nephew Jaafar Jackson, who looks quite good in the role. The resemblance is uncanny. The film has had its… Read More Official Trailer for Antoine Fuqua’s Michael
By John Corrado The music biopic has become a way for films to capitalize off the recognizable song catalogues of their respective musical artists. This brings us to Song Sung Blue, which does a similar thing with the music of Neil Diamond (it’s named for one of his catchiest songs, after all). But, despite following… Read More Movie Review: Song Sung Blue
By John Corrado Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 album Nebraska is and was not like other Springsteen albums. Stripped down, acoustic, recorded in a bedroom on a 4-track tape recorder, it was a collection of ten deeply personal songs that had him baring his soul in a poetic, sometimes cryptic way. It’s fitting, then, that director Scott… Read More Movie Review: Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
By John Corrado Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson stars in The Smashing Machine, a very good biopic of early UFC fighter Mark Kerr, that finds the wrestler-turned-actor giving it his all in his first big, meaty dramatic role. The film, which also serves as the first solo outing of director Benny Safdie, after splitting from his… Read More Movie Review: The Smashing Machine
By John Corrado Swiped is director Rachel Lee Goldenberg’s glossy biopic of Whitney Wolfe (played by Lily James), a co-founder of ubiquitous dating app Tinder and the creator of Bumble. We first meet Wolfe at a Los Angeles meet-up for tech investors, trying to get financial backers for an app that connects orphanages in other… Read More Movie Review: Swiped (Disney+)
By John Corrado The first trailer has just been released for Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere. This is, of course, the Bruce Springsteen biopic (kind of unmistakable now that they added his name to the title), starring Jeremy Allen White as the iconic musician. It’s directed by Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart). We get a glimpse… Read More First Trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
By John Corrado In his latest film I’m Still Here, which received a surprise Best Picture nomination at the Oscars, Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) offers a portrait of life during Brazil’s military dictatorship in the 1970s through the lens of mainly being a family drama. Salles’ film serves as a biography of… Read More Movie Review: I’m Still Here
By John Corrado Director James Mangold arguably perfected the modern biopic structure with Walk the Line, his Oscar-winning 2005 portrait of country singer Johnny Cash. Mangold now returns to this genre and time period with his Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown (in fact, Cash is even featured here as well, as a contemporary of Dylan’s). Dylan, one… Read More Movie Review: A Complete Unknown
By John Corrado The third entry in Pablo Larraín’s unofficial trilogy depicting the interior lives of famous women (following the one-two punch of Jackie and Spencer), Maria is the Chilean filmmaker’s portrait of the Italian opera singer Maria Callas. Larraín aims to do for Callas what he did for Jacqueline Kennedy and Princess Diana in his previous films, which boasted… Read More Movie Review: Maria
By John Corrado The choice to make a Donald Trump biopic at this point in time, when the man himself is already so ubiquitous and overexposed in our media landscape, is both an obvious and somewhat curious one. In our polarized age, the mere presence of a film like this raises questions about what audience… Read More Movie Review: The Apprentice
By John Corrado Searchlight Pictures has just released the full “official trailer” for A Complete Unknown, director James Mangold’s (Walk the Line) upcoming biopic of Bob Dylan starring Timothée Chalamet. The film charts his rise from folk singer in New York’s Greenwich Village to infamously “going electric,” as we see a bit in this trailer… Read More Full Trailer Released for A Complete Unknown
By John Corrado The movie Lee is a biopic of photojournalist Elizabeth “Lee” Miller (played by Kate Winslet), who worked as a photographer for Vogue magazine during World War II. The film serves as the feature directorial debut of cinematographer Ellen Kuras (who first worked with Winslet on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), and… Read More Movie Review: Lee
By John Corrado The 2024 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 5th to 15th, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. The latest film directed by The Greatest Showman’s Michael Gracey, Better Man is a biopic of British pop star Robbie Williams, from his boy band days to his solo career.… Read More #TIFF24 Review: Better Man (Gala Presentations)
By John Corrado ”Peace through strength.” That was the famous adage of President Ronald Reagan when it came to his foreign policy approach, and taking on the “evil empire” of the Soviet Union during the final stages of the Cold War. This motto also provides the backbone for director Sean McNamara’s Reagan, a new biopic that… Read More Movie Review: Reagan
By John Corrado Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (Nowhere Boy, Fifty Shades of Grey), Back to Black is a biopic of British singer Amy Winehouse, who passed away at age 27 from alcohol poisoning. The film is named after her (still incredible) Grammy-winning 2006 album Back to Black, which catapulted her from working-class Camden girl to… Read More Blu-ray Review: Back to Black (Collector’s Edition)
By John Corrado Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard), Bob Marley: One Love is a biopic of iconic reggae artist Bob Marley that features a dedicated performance by Kingsley Ben-Adir, but is otherwise a mixed bag. Ben-Adir, who masterfully portrayed civil rights leader Malcolm X in One Night in Miami, now takes on the… Read More 4K Ultra HD Review: Bob Marley: One Love
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Director Michael Mann returns with Ferrari, a biopic of Italian automaker Enzo Ferrari, that focuses more on his relationships and personal life. The film is set in 1957, a decade after Enzo (a silver-haired Adam Driver) opened the factory with his wife Laura Ferrari (Penelope Cruz) in post-War… Read More Review: Ferrari
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