Listening to Music While Reading Textbook Taking Notes
Even though nosotros're making great strides when information technology comes to returning to some semblance of normal, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has changed the live music landscape. If you're looking for a way to laurels some of music's virtually memorable icons — or simply in search of a way to recreate the feeling of a live operation at home — biopics might just be the respond. From the late Chadwick Boseman's incredible performance in Get On Up (2014) to Jennifer Lopez's unforgettable portrayal of Selena, here are some of the best music biopics streaming right now.
Bessie (2015)
The made-for-HBO film Bessie sees director Dee Rees teaming up with Queen Latifah to tell the story of American dejection singer Bessie Smith. When the moving picture hit screens, audiences and critics alike flocked to their TVs to watch Bessie Smith's (Queen Latifah) transformation from struggling songstress into "The Empress of Dejection." In fact, by 2016 it became the virtually-watched HBO original film of all fourth dimension and garnered 4 Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Television Motion-picture show.
Praised universally for Queen Latifah'southward star performance — also as Mo'Nique's supporting role as fellow blues icon Ma Rainey — Bessie was described in The Blackness Film Canon as "one of the best and most unabashedly honest portrayals of Black womanhood and sexuality put on screen." Ren Jender, a writer for Bitch Flicks, echoed that sentiment, saying that although the biopic follows the genre'due south usual beats, a film about "a queer Black woman (Smith was bisexual) [made] by an out queer Black woman… is unusual" and, therefore, needed.
Produced by former members of N.West.A., Straight Outta Compton illustrates how the now-iconic hip-hop grouping came to be — and how, even from their beginning, the group revolutionized music and popular culture. In add-on to showcasing electrifying musical performances, the motion picture also takes an honest, harrowing await at police brutality in Southern Los Angeles — something that feels ever-relevant today.
And even though the actors who starred in Compton were relative unknowns at the time, their performances exit a lasting impression worthy of the film's groundbreaking music group. Writing for Variety, Scott Foundas noted that, "[If] Compton is undeniably of the moment, it'due south likewise timeless in its depiction of how artists and writers transform the world effectually them into angry, profane, vibrant and singular personal expression."
Selena (1997)
This biopic recounts the tragically short, but undoubtedly incredible, life and career of Tejano music star Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. The film is possibly near well-remembered for Jennifer Lopez'due south breakout operation, which Roger Ebert called, "star-making." And he wasn't the only one to applaud JLo'southward acting chops.
In his review of the flick, film critic James Berardinelli wondered "if Selena's family, upon watching this performance, felt an eerie sense of déjà vu." Needless to say, if you're looking to exist wholly transported by a biopic, Selena is a must-lookout man. And, if the 1997 film isn't enough, exist certain to check out the new Selena: The Series on Netflix.
Ma Rainey's Blackness Bottom (2020)
Based on Baronial Wilson's play of the aforementioned name, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom marks a career best for Oscar-winner Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman, who fabricated his last appearance in the flick. For those who aren't familiar with the legendary dejection vocalist, Ma Rainey was a trailblazer dorsum in the 1920s: She sang on over 100 blues records and became one of the kickoff Black artists to sign with Paramount.
In the film, Ma Rainey and her band gather at a Chicago-based recording studio in 1927, and the tensions in the film are something of a microcosm of the icon's life. In an interview with the The New York Times, Davis noted that Rainey was "a adult female who was unapologetic virtually her sexuality, unapologetic about her worth." And the picture show certainly captures both of those things: Unlike other recent musician biopics, Ma Rainey'due south bisexuality isn't erased — and, in the confront of dismissal, Ma Rainey always knows her worth.
Become On Up (2014)
Get On Up provides viewers with a window into the life of James Brownish by highlighting some of the moments that made him into 1 of the most iconic singers in history. In fact, the film establishes simply how awe-inspiring and beyond-his-era Brownish's contributions to music were.
Undoubtedly, the motion-picture show is worth your time for Chadwick Boseman's legendary performance alone. Called a "fittingly dynamic homage" to the Godfather of Soul, Go On Upwardly may become the music right, but information technology has been rightly criticized by writers like Aisha Harris, who notes that the movie "fall[s] short" when it comes to covering Brown's "well-documented social activism, a a significant and oft contentious aspect of his character" (via Slate).
La Bamba (1987)
La Bamba tells the story of rockstar Ritchie Valens, whose career and life were cut short due to a plane crash. The Chicano singer famously turned "La Bamba," a Mexican folk song, into a rock and roll striking. And he was only 17 years onetime when this all happened.
From Valens' (Lou Diamond Phillips) complicated family unit dynamics to the style race impacts his life, La Bamba captures the exuberant highs and tragic lows of this tardily, groovy music icon'due south life. "This is a good minor movie, sugariness and sentimental, about a kid who never actually got a chance to bear witness his stuff," Roger Ebert noted in his review for the Chicago Sunday-Times. "The best things in it are the most unexpected things."
Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
This 1972 classic sees Diana Ross, lead vocalizer of the song group The Supremes (a.k.a. Motown'south most successful act during the 1960s), portraying jazz singer Billie Holiday. Ross is joined by an incredible ensemble bandage, which includes actors similar Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor, and the part would secure her a Best Actress nomination at the 1973 Oscars.
In fact, Lady Sings the Blues was nominated for a full of five Oscars — even though information technology contended with some mixed reviews. Quite a few critics noted that the film isn't a very factual delineation of Vacation, merely it was also quite universally acknowledged that Ross' performance is worth the price of admission. Roger Ebert wrote that Ross gives "ane of the great performances of 1972" and noted that it "has about of the clichés we expect — simply practise we really heed clichés in a moving-picture show like this? I don't think then."
Walk the Line (2005)
Based on ii autobiographies authored by singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, Walk the Line tells the story of Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) and his married woman, June Carter Cash (Reese Witherspoon). From Cash's farm boy origins to his memorable performance at Folsom Land Prison, the film tries to comprehend it all — even the unflattering moments.
"Knowing Johnny Greenbacks's albums more than or less by heart, I airtight my eyes to focus on the soundtrack and decided that, yes, that was the phonation of Johnny Cash I was listening to," Roger Ebert wrote in his review. "The endmost credits make information technology clear information technology's Joaquin Phoenix doing the singing, and I was gob-smacked." While Phoenix was nominated for an Oscar, it was Witherspoon who won an Oscar for her career-defining portrayal of June. All in all, it's a must-run into biopic.
Ray (2004)
Without a uncertainty, Ray Charles' definitive biopic is bolstered by a truly incredible ensemble cast. Jamie Foxx, who earned a well-deserved Oscar for portraying the legendary musician, is joined by Emmy winner Kerry Washington; NAACP Image Accolade winner Clifton Powell; and Oscar and multi-Emmy Award winner Regina King.
The film traces Charles' life, from childhood to the moments that cemented him as a soul-music pioneer. Rolling Stone'south Peter Travers wrote that, "Jamie Foxx gets so far inside the man and his music that he and Ray Charles seem to breathe as one." Needless to say, if y'all're a fan of Charles' piece of work — or a music lover — Ray is a must-see biopic.
The United States vs. Billie Vacation (2021)
Director Lee Daniels says his life was changed by the 1972 film Lady Sings the Dejection, which saw Diana Ross portraying jazz singer Billie Holiday. And this formative viewing experience eventually led him to craft his own Holiday biopic. Ready in the '40s and '50s, The U.s. vs. Billie Vacation focuses on the afterwards years of the artist'south career and explores her condition as a civil rights leader.
The then-Federal Agency of Narcotics (FBN) pressured Vacation to stop singing "Strange Fruit," a song that the moving-picture show describes as a "lyrical, horrifying clarification of a lynching." In addition to casting a light on the vocal'due south (and Holiday'due south) connections to protest and resistance, the motion picture allows Andra Twenty-four hour period to give a "career-defining performance" as the "unapologetic Black creative person" who has since become a blues legend.
I'grand Not In that location (2007)
Directed past Todd Haynes (Carol, Velvet Goldmine), I'one thousand Not There is self-described as "inspired past the music and the many lives of Bob Dylan." In short, it might be the almost unique approach to making a biopic that nosotros've seen in awhile. Throughout the picture, six actors depict Dylan'south public personas.
The lineup includes Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger and Ben Whishaw. Just, undoubtedly, Blanchett received the near acclaim, garnering awards from the Venice Film Festival and Golden Globes every bit well as an Oscar nomination. Called a "deliciously unconventional feel," I'g Not There may be innovative, but it does capture Dylan'southward spirit.
What'south Honey Got to Exercise With It? (1993)
Based on the life of Tina Turner, What'due south Dear Got to Do with It stars Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne as Tina and Ike Turner respectively. The film traces Tina's rise from local St. Louis performer to R&B superstar — and it doesn't shy away from Ike's growing jealousy either.
With powerhouse performances from both Bassett and Fishburne, What's Dear Got to Practise with It is more the boilerplate biopic — it's "a powerful, joyful, raw, energetically acted" one (via Chicago Tribune). Still, both Ike and Tina had some reservations: Ike felt that he had been completely vilified, while Tina felt she'd been turned into a victim, telling Oprah Winfrey in 2018, "I didn't realize they would change the details so much."
Source: https://www.ask.com/entertainment/music-biopics-hit-right-note?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740004%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
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