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From Oscar-bait prestige dramas to weirdly inventive wildcards, the 2020s have already given us plenty of biopics to debate. Join us as we rank the biggest movies based on real people, real careers, and real historical moments, including "Oppenheimer", "The Apprentice", "Spencer", "Elvis", "Tick, Tick... Boom!", and more!
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00:00If you do want to get that job down at the factory, I'm sure your father can pull a few
00:03strings for you. Okay, take care now. Bye-bye. Love you, Alfie. Yep.
00:07Welcome to Ms. Mojo. And today, we're ranking the biggest biopics of the 2020 so far from
00:14worst to best. For this list, we're looking at movies based on real people,
00:18real careers, and real historical moments. You don't get to say no to me. It's my job
00:24to say no to you when you're wrong. So you have the job now?
00:27Well, I'm considering it. Number 30, House of Gucci.
00:33You should reconsider your wardrobe choices, pal. You are Gucci. You need to dress the part.
00:41It's chic. My father's problem is he's stuck in the past. He refuses to take Gucci into the next
00:50century. House of Gucci should have been a layup. Fashion, money, murder, betrayal, Lady Gaga,
00:57Adam Driver, and Al Pacino, not to mention Jared Leto doing whatever that was. On paper,
01:03that's a full meal. On screen, it's more like five different movies fighting over the check.
01:08I don't need anyone. I'm Paolo. Paolo Gucci.
01:18And I am going to start my own life.
01:23Sometimes, director Ridley Scott wants his film to be a sleek crime drama. Sometimes,
01:29it wants to be a campy family meltdown. Sometimes, it feels like everyone was given a different accent
01:34coach. Gaga commits hard, and there are flashes of juicy tabloid fun. But for a story this scandalous,
01:41House of Gucci is weirdly uneven. It's big, expensive, and never boring for too long. It
01:47just can't decide whether it wants to strut, sneer, or sob.
01:50I did that for you. I was being constructive. I'm not going to apologize for that. No thanks.
01:57Number 29. Hillbilly Elegy.
01:59You have no clue. I was second in my whole class. Out of 400 people, did you know that? I
02:05could have
02:05done whatever I wanted, but I didn't have somebody taking me to the library and telling me I could go
02:11to college and gonna help me pay for it. Class anxiety, childhood flashbacks, Oscar clip monologues,
02:18Hillbilly Elegy throws a lot at the wall. The problem is that too much of it lands with a thud.
02:23Oscar-winning director Ron Howard's film is based on the best-selling memoir of future Vice President
02:29J.D. Vance. As a movie, though, it often looks less like a lived-in family story and more like
02:35a prestige drama trying too hard for raw authenticity.
02:38Do you even care what you do to Lindsay? J.D., shut up. You leave Lindsay out of this.
02:42You did the same thing to Mamaw. Mom, you just took and took from her until she was practically
02:46bankrupt. Yeah, she was a goddamn saint. All she ever did was bail you out, Mom.
02:51Just when it mattered.
02:52Amy Adams gives a committed performance, and Glenn Close finds some tough, lived-in moments as Mamaw.
02:59Both were even nominated for Oscars. But the script keeps turning people into symbols rather than
03:04respecting reality. In short, there's a more honest, less overworked version of this story
03:10somewhere. But this one keeps yelling over it.
03:13What'd you do to him?
03:13Nothing. He said some shit. I got mad.
03:17Did you hit him?
03:18It's not serious. What was I supposed to do? Let him get hit by a car if he wasn't being
03:21such a little
03:21shit?
03:22You've always got a reason. It's always someone else's fault. At some point, you're gonna have
03:27to take responsibility, or someone else is gonna have to step in.
03:32Who? Huh? Who?
03:33Number 28. Blonde
03:35I read the script. The whole script. It's such a strange, disturbing story. This mentally
03:48unbalanced woman almost killing a little girl. Like a novel by Dostoevsky where you feel sympathy
03:55for the criminal.
03:56Ana de Armas gives Blonde a lot more soul than the movie gives Marilyn Monroe, and she was
04:02rewarded with a well-deserved Oscar nomination. Her performance is fragile, focused, and often
04:08genuinely moving. But the film around her keeps pushing Marilyn through one brutal set piece
04:13after another.
04:27To be clear, Blonde was never trying to be a straightforward biography. It's based on Joyce Carol Oates' fictionalized
04:35novel, so distortion is baked in. But even with that in mind, director Andrew Dominic keeps reducing a
04:41complicated woman into a suffering caricature. The cinematography is striking, and de Armas
04:47is undeniably all in. Still, Marilyn Monroe had wit and ambition. Blonde, not so much.
04:54Marilyn Monroe will not be coming in today to impersonate and demean herself, and you will have to shoot around
05:01her.
05:02Number 27, Back to Black.
05:04How can some people not get this? It's genius.
05:09Oi! Driver!
05:13Yes, madam?
05:15How come some people don't like jazz? They're mad.
05:18You ever met a sane jazz fan?
05:20No.
05:22Well, maybe we're the mad ones, then.
05:24Back to Black has a real performance at its center.
05:27Marissa Abella doesn't just put on the beehive and call it a day. She finds Amy Winehouse's
05:33humor and restless energy in small flashes. Instead of digging into her artistry, her voice,
05:39her writing, and the media machine that fed on her, though, the film keeps returning to familiar
05:44rise and fall beats.
05:46I might have had a blackout, Dad.
05:48The blackout's okay, then, is it? I mean, it's ridiculous talking, Mitch. It's stupid.
05:51I'm not stupid, Nick. And I'm fine. I know, I've stressed everyone out. I'm sorry.
05:57I don't need to go to rehab. Music is my rehab, Dad.
06:04The relationship drama takes up a lot of oxygen, and the rougher, more self-aware Amy is always
06:10slightly out of frame. It's not an unmitigated disaster, and Abella does more than her share
06:16to keep it watchable. But for an artist who sounded like nobody else, Back to Black plays
06:21it too close to the music biopic rulebook.
06:24Thank you to everyone at Island Records.
06:27EMI Publishing, to Ray Ray and Joe, to Mark Ronson and Salaam Remy, to my mom and dad.
06:39And for London, this is for London, because Camden Town ain't burning down.
06:46Number 26, Whitney Houston, I Want to Dance with Somebody.
06:50If I'm not a black artist, when am I?
06:52You tell me.
06:53Look, I don't know how to sing black, and I don't know how to sing white, either.
06:57I know how to sing.
06:59Music is not a color to me. It has no boundaries.
07:03Why somebody that says some dumbass like that? I mean, who said that?
07:06That's just bull.
07:07And it makes me angry, actually. It's hateful and uninformed.
07:10Naomi Ackie had a thankless assignment. Play Whitney Houston in a movie where the real
07:15Whitney's voice, image, and legend hover over every scene. Still, it's easy to see why it
07:21was a star-making turn. She brings warmth and dignity to the role, and when the movie
07:26hits huge moments, it's hard not to want to, well, dance with somebody.
07:42The songs still work because obviously they're Whitney songs, but this biopic often feels like
07:48a very polished tour through the bullet points. Big career moment, personal struggle, iconic track,
07:54repeat. It wants to celebrate Whitney, which is understandable, but celebration can flatten
07:59the story when it gets too cautious. The result is respectful and accessible, but never surprising.
08:05I know I'm not where I used to be, but I know how to get there. I'm not going away.
08:13I can't lose
08:13this. This? This one night? Yes. Yes, this one night. Me singing for them? I can't live without it.
08:23I'm gonna be ready.
08:25Number 25. Michael.
08:27You're confident. You're strong. You're beautiful. You're the greatest of all time.
08:36Michael knows exactly what sells the ticket. The music, the moves, the myth, and Jafar Jackson slipping
08:42inside of his uncle's studded glove. The resemblance is striking, the choreography is impressive,
08:48and the familiar songs do what familiar songs do. But the movie shies away when it has to deal
08:53with Michael Jackson as a person. I'm not a kid anymore. My nose is too big.
09:00I'm not sure that's true.
09:03You see, my face isn't symmetrical for the photographs and all. I have to be perfect.
09:11You're the boss.
09:12It's slick, fan-friendly, and clearly built to protect the spectacle. That makes it entertaining
09:18in bursts, but also frustrating. Complicating things further, a significant portion of the
09:24film had to be scrapped and reworked due to legal issues. Michael gives you the moonwalk,
09:29the screams, the spotlight, and the machine. What it doesn't give you is the uncomfortable
09:33space behind the curtain.
09:35I'm not a child anymore, Joseph. And you're not my manager.
09:39Here we go.
09:40I have to start living my own life on my own, just like everyone else.
09:48You ain't like everyone else.
09:50Number 24. Bob Marley, One Love.
10:04Having the music on your side is no small thing. Here, Kingsley Ben-Adir brings reggae
10:10titan Bob Marley a quiet strength, and the movie's focus on the Exodus era gives the story
10:16more shape than the usual cradle-to-grave sprint.
10:38Still, for someone as politically, spiritually, and culturally significant as Bob Marley, the
10:43movie is careful. Too careful. It gestures toward Jamaica's unrest, Rastafari's death,
10:48faith, and Marley's global importance, but it rarely digs as deeply as it could. One Love
10:54has warmth, respect, and rhythm, but neglects to add any new insight to its subject's well-established
11:00legacy.
11:01I never know so much struggle from the day I born. Everything does happen, you know?
11:13What them think? We can't bring peace. We can't even get a little piece for Ms. Adam.
11:18Number 23. The United States vs. Billie Holiday.
11:22You probably don't like any of my music, do you?
11:29You're under arrest, Ms. Holiday.
11:34And you're a lying black son of a bitch.
11:38Andra Day is the reason this messy film stays standing. As Billie Holiday, she has sensuality,
11:44exhaustion, and a lived-in voice. It doesn't always balance the complicated pieces of Holiday's
11:49life cleanly. But when the film locks onto its strongest idea, it hits. Billie Holiday wasn't
12:06just a troubled singer with a legendary voice. She was an artist whose truth made powerful people
12:12nervous. Lee Daniels' direction can be overly blunt, and Day cuts through the chaos with a raw
12:18and immediate performance. Even when the movie wobbles, she does not.
12:22I say they want the names of my suppliers.
12:30They don't want no names.
12:36They want to destroy me.
12:38Number 22. Respect.
12:59Having Jennifer Hudson gets this biopic a long way. Aretha Franklin personally wanted Hudson for
13:05the role. And when Hudson sings, the movie suddenly justifies its existence. She brings power and palpable
13:11emotional force to the performance scenes, especially when the film lets the music carry the story. With that
13:17said, Aretha's life was full of trauma, reinvention, activism, and hard-won authority.
13:24I want to produce the album, too.
13:32All right. Okay. Okay.
13:36Respect touches those pieces, but it tends to move through them in a polished way, despite its somewhat
13:41imposing runtime. It's handsome, sincere, and easy to watch, but often loses sight of the fact that Aretha
13:47Franklin wasn't a standard issue subject.
13:59Number 21. Being the Ricardos.
14:03Fred Sehun, my grandfather, was a member of the party. This was in the early 30s. I was in my
14:08early
14:0920s. He never used the word communist, but he cared about workers, the working man. He raised my
14:14little brother and me, and I wanted to please him. So I checked the box.
14:20Nicole Kidman doesn't always disappear behind Lucille Ball, but she does capture the intelligence behind
14:25the comedy. The timing, the control, and the pressure of being the funniest woman on television.
14:31Director Aaron Sorkin builds the movie around one chaotic production week, with politics,
14:36pregnancy, and marital trouble all crashing together.
14:39And you should remind props that I need garden shears in the opening scene.
14:42Copy. Let's go.
14:43We have to establish right away that I'm setting a fancy table.
14:46You don't have to explain it to him.
14:47We'll have flowers in a vase. I'll cut one of the flowers.
14:49He doesn't care.
14:50It'll be too short. I'll cut the other flowers. They'll be too short, and so on.
14:54Got it.
14:54So I need garden shears.
14:55Copy.
14:56Regular scissors aren't strong enough to cut through the stems.
14:58He's thinking a lot about killing you now.
15:00That structure, and Sorkin's well-established writing style,
15:04also means everyone talks like they're one sharp comeback away from winning a legal deposition.
15:09Still, the movie has a quirky pulse to it. Kidman, Javier Bardem, and J.K. Simmons were all Oscar
15:15nominated, and Sorkin's behind-the-scenes mockumentary angle fills out Lucy's world.
15:20It's all over.
15:22It's over now.
15:24They love you.
15:25I love you.
15:28No one's gonna mess with you ever, Lucy.
15:31I thought they were gonna boo.
15:33You wanna do a show?
15:35Have you been cheating on me?
15:37What?
15:38Have you been cheating on me?
15:40Is this a bit?
15:41No.
15:42Number 20.
15:43Springsteen, Deliver Me From Nowhere.
15:45You know, I still think it's worth considering, like, a change of scenery.
15:50Maybe a place in the city or something.
15:56Hey, dog.
15:58Hard to pry me out of my small town, Johnny.
16:01You know, the city scares me.
16:03A Bruce Springsteen movie that skips the easy stadium rock victory lap and digs into the making of Nebraska
16:09is already making the smarter choice.
16:11Deliver Me From Nowhere is about the dark side.
16:14Being alone with a tape recorder, a few dark songs,
16:17and the suspicion that the thing you're making won't be easily understood.
16:21I'm just singing in the shower.
16:22Singing in the shower.
16:24You know I'm not a mixer.
16:25Of course I know.
16:26I don't know shit about recording or whatever.
16:29I'm not making a record, Mikey.
16:31I don't want to engineer a producer judging this stuff.
16:34I just...
16:35I want it to feel like I'm in the room by myself.
16:38The movie isn't built around the boss as a human jukebox,
16:41which makes for an interesting rendition of a familiar tune.
16:44At times, though, it's almost too restrained for its own good.
16:48Creative isolation can be powerful, but it can also be hard to successfully dramatize.
16:53Still, the film understands that the stripped-down stuff can be as powerful as the anthems,
16:58with its rawness a welcome breath of fresh air.
17:01We might need to give the label something to work with.
17:04I don't even want to be on the cover, okay?
17:06I don't want to have to explain it.
17:07I don't even know if I can.
17:09All right?
17:15There's just one more track I have to lay down.
17:17Number 19.
17:19Elvis.
17:34Elvis is subtle in the same way a rhinestone jumpsuit is subtle.
17:39Boz Lerman throws everything at the screen.
17:42Screaming fans, split screens, Vegas excess, tragedy,
17:46and Tom Hanks making a truly wild meal out of Colonel Tom Parker.
17:51Austin Butler's Oscar-nominated take on Elvis Presley has the charisma you need,
17:56but also the exhaustion, confusion, and sadness hiding under the surface.
18:01I can't move with one of these.
18:02And that is the point.
18:04Mr. Allen agreed only as long as there is no wiggling of those hips.
18:08I can't figure it out.
18:09My own mother approves of what I do.
18:12You have read the papers, my boy?
18:15Yeah, I've read the papers.
18:16The papers say that I shot my mother and smoked marijuana.
18:19The movie is best when it shows Elvis as both a cultural force and a trapped performer,
18:25boxed in by fame, management, and his own myth.
18:28It's too flashy to be clean, and too melodramatic to be truly honest.
18:33But even when Elvis is overdoing it,
18:35at least it's overdoing it with Lerman's signature style.
18:38Dr. King was shot eight miles from Graceland while I was out here singing to turtles.
18:45And all this.
18:46And all you can think about is how many goddamn sweaters I can sell.
18:49I am a promoter.
18:51That is what I do.
18:52Number 18, Better Man.
18:54Did you have a good time?
18:55Yeah.
18:56Smash it.
18:57How is it?
18:58Great.
19:02I, um, I've got something to tell you.
19:06So have I.
19:08You're in that band.
19:10What?
19:11You got in.
19:13You're in that band.
19:14A Robbie Williams biopic where Robbie is played as a CGI chimpanzee should be a disaster.
19:20Instead, the choice gives the movie a weirdly perfect hook.
19:24The English megastar's self-image becomes the visual language of the whole film.
19:28Be with the floor show, kicking with your torso.
19:30Boys getting high and the girls even more so.
19:33Wave your hands if you're not with a man.
19:35Can I kick it?
19:36Yes, you can!
19:37The usual music biopic beats are predictably still there.
19:41Boy band fame, solo stardom, ego, regret, comeback.
19:45But Michael Gracie's film makes them feel more personal by refusing to present Robbie as just another pretty boy pop
19:51star in a leather jacket.
19:53Sure, the chimp thing takes some getting used to, but it kind of fits.
19:57For better or worse, Better Man takes a ridiculous swing and commits to it.
20:01For once, the marketing gimmick actually pays off.
20:04This is the last song of the evening.
20:09It's sadder than that.
20:12It's much sadder than that.
20:15Thank you for being a wonderful audience tonight and making my dream come true.
20:22Number 17.
20:24The Smashing Machine
20:25Probably looking at my eyes.
20:29How'd that happen?
20:31Well, have you ever heard of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the UFC?
20:36They were kind of like the first in combat sports.
20:38Is that boxing?
20:39Well, there's a little boxing in it.
20:41The first thing in the Smashing Machine's favor is that it doesn't treat MMA like a highlight reel.
20:47Benny Safdie's first film without his brother Josh is about former fighter Mark Kerr.
20:52But it's less interested in making the cage look cool than in showing what a body,
20:56a relationship, and a mind look like after absorbing that much punishment.
21:00Do you hate each other when you fight?
21:03Absolutely not.
21:05Absolutely not.
21:06No.
21:06Sorry to interrupt.
21:08Dr. Cortez can see you now.
21:09Thank you so much.
21:12It was great to talk to you.
21:14It was great to talk with you too.
21:16Dwayne Johnson strips away his usual movie star armor here,
21:20giving Kerr a heavier presence than people may expect from him.
21:23Emily Blunt brings real tension to the domestic side of the story,
21:27where the damage doesn't stop when the fight ends.
21:30Basically, it's a sports biopic with bruises instead of speeches.
21:34I know that you've been questioning whether I am the fighter that you thought that I was.
21:43And one of my biggest regrets in life is the answer to that question.
21:50I wasn't.
21:51Number 16, The Eyes of Tammy Faye.
21:54This fine vehicle with the leather interior and the chrome on the wheels
21:59is a gift from God for us to do his work.
22:05But how can we afford it, Jim Baker?
22:08As Tammy Faye Baker, Jessica Chastain relies on the makeup, the voice,
22:13the televangelist bombast, and emotional openness,
22:16all without turning Tammy into a cheap punchline.
22:19She gets that Tammy Faye was easy to mock from a distance,
22:22but harder to dismiss up close.
22:24Jerry Falwell is a powerful man, Tammy Faye.
22:29Jim Baker is a powerful man.
22:35Jim Baker.
22:41Yes, he is Tammy Faye Baker.
22:46Andrew Garfield also makes Jim Baker's charm feel slippery from the start,
22:51which helps the rise and fall structure land.
22:54And director Michael Showalter builds on the deft balance of comedy and drama he nailed with the big sick.
23:00Ultimately, the film can be a little too eager to rehabilitate Tammy.
23:04But Chastain, in an Oscar-winning performance, gives the whole thing a big beating heart.
23:10You used to take care of me, Tammy.
23:13You stopped taking care of me.
23:15I don't want to take care of you, Jim.
23:17I don't want to be your mother.
23:19A woman needs a man in a relationship.
23:23I am a man.
23:24You're a boy.
23:25I built all this.
23:26I built you an empire.
23:27You built you an empire.
23:29Number 15.
23:30Song Sung Blue.
23:31All right, I'm not a songwriter.
23:33I'm not a sex symbol.
23:34But I just want to entertain people.
23:36And I want to make a living.
23:37I know, me too.
23:38I don't want to be a hairdresser.
23:40I want to sing.
23:40I want to dance.
23:41I want a house.
23:42I want a garden.
23:42I want a cat.
23:43So here's what I'm thinking.
23:45I need a hook.
23:46I need something big.
23:47I need something new.
23:48And as you put it, nostalgia pays.
23:52The built-in charm here comes from the fact that it isn't about the global superstar,
23:57but the people singing his songs in smaller rooms.
24:00Hugh Jackman and an Oscar-nominated Kate Hudson play Mike and Claire Sardina,
24:05the Milwaukee couple behind Lightning and Thunder,
24:08a real-life Neil Diamond tribute act.
24:10Let me hear that, get me near that crunchy canola sweet.
24:20Drop your shrinking, stop your drinking, crunchy canola's me.
24:26The movie's sentimental softness feels honest to the material.
24:30After all, these aren't icons being mythologized by a studio machine.
24:34They're working entertainers using Diamond's music to make some sense out of life.
24:38There's something refreshing about a music biopic that finds drama in the homage instead of the legend.
24:44Yeah, Lightning speaking.
24:46Uh, let me check.
24:49Are we doing anything on Friday?
24:50No!
24:51Um, no, it sounds great.
24:55Okay, see ya.
24:58Wow.
25:00I guess we're opening for Pearl Jam.
25:04Number 14, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
25:24Ma Rainey's Black Bottom isn't trying to cover every chapter of Ma Rainey's life.
25:30And thank goodness for that.
25:32Instead, it uses one recording session to get at something bigger.
25:35Art, ego, and who actually gets paid when black genius becomes profitable.
25:40Viola Davis is tremendous as Ma,
25:42who's fully aware that the studio needs her more than it wants to admit.
25:46I promised a boy he could do the part, so he gonna do it.
25:49And that's all there is to it.
25:52You don't stutter all the time.
25:53Get a microphone down here for him.
25:55We don't have time, Ma.
25:56We can't.
25:57If you wanna make a record, you better find the time.
25:58I ain't playing with you, Irvin.
26:00Now I can walk out of here right now, go back to my tour.
26:02I don't need to go through all this.
26:03Go get the boy a microphone.
26:07Chadwick Boseman's Oscar-nominated final film performance
26:10gives the movie its rawest edge as Levy,
26:13whose ambition, charm, and pain keep on colliding.
26:16You can feel the stage roots,
26:17but that isn't really a weakness when the language is this strong.
26:21Levy, what were you doing?
26:22Why are you playing all of them notes?
26:23You're playing ten notes for every one you're supposed to play.
26:25Don't call for all that.
26:27You're supposed to improvise on a thing.
26:29That's what I was doing.
26:29You're supposed to play the song like I sing it,
26:31the way everybody else play it.
26:33Playing the song, I was playing the way I felt it.
26:35I'm trying to sing my song, and you messing up my ear.
26:38You call that playing music?
26:40Yeah, I know what I'm doing.
26:41Number 13, King Richard.
26:44It was 1977, I had watched this tennis match,
26:47and I seen him get this girl, Virginia Razeeq, $40,000 for four days' work.
26:52And since I knew I'd only made $52,000 all year,
26:55I knew I was in the wrong business.
26:57Went home that night, told the wife,
26:59we need to make two more kids.
27:01Venus and Serena Williams changed the game of tennis.
27:04But long before that,
27:06they were kids training on public courts
27:08while their father, Richard Williams,
27:10pushed a plan that sounded impossible until it wasn't.
27:13Will Smith imbues Richard with confidence and warmth,
27:16and the movie is also careful not to let Venus and Serena
27:19disappear inside their father's story.
27:22Oh, tough break at Wimberton.
27:23I see what happened to you, Mac.
27:25You go win again.
27:26Just keep your head up.
27:27Mr. Williams, this is not a good time.
27:30Look, I just want you to watch them.
27:33Look, Mac is gone.
27:35Mac is gone.
27:35The way Pete hoofing up on him,
27:36he may never come back.
27:38But Pete, you don't mind if he just watch him
27:40hit a few balls, do you?
27:41It's okay with me.
27:42When it works, it really works.
27:44The training scenes, the family dynamic,
27:47the pressure, the belief,
27:48and the feeling that the future is being built
27:50one swing at a time.
27:52Unfortunately, the film's legacy
27:53may always be tied to the Oscars ceremony
27:56where Smith won Best Actor
27:57thanks to his controversial behavior.
28:00Venus Williams, do you care who you play?
28:04No, Daddy.
28:05Venus Williams, are you gonna beat
28:07whoever on the other side of that net?
28:08Yes, Daddy.
28:10Venus Williams, do you wanna take this deal?
28:18No.
28:19Well, there it is.
28:20We're not taking the deal.
28:21Let's go get something to eat.
28:22Number 12, Rustin.
28:24I'm the one that's been preaching passive resistance
28:28since before you were born, so hit me.
28:30Byers, I can take care of myself.
28:31The pacifist is opposed to using violence
28:33but must be prepared to receive it.
28:36Only aim left.
28:38A policeman in 42 already took care of the right.
28:41An unsung hero of the American civil rights movement
28:44finally gets the kind of overdue screen spotlight
28:47treatment history often denied him.
28:49As one of the key organizers behind
28:51the 1963 March on Washington,
28:53Bayard Rustin was brilliant, strategic, charismatic,
28:57and constantly forced to work around
28:59the prejudice aimed at him,
29:01including from within the movement itself.
29:03You sit behind the desk
29:05as you've sat for over 30 years
29:06convincing yourself that you're committed to
29:08saving the world
29:09when the only thing you're committed to
29:10is your own safety and superiority.
29:13Bayard enough.
29:14Railing against Jim because of the color of his skin.
29:17I'm not railing against Jim
29:19because of the color of his skin.
29:20I'm railing at Jim
29:22for being arrogant and ill-informed.
29:24Coleman Domingo is the engine here
29:26and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom director,
29:28George C. Wolfe,
29:29lets his performance drive the proceedings.
29:32The movie follows the time-honored
29:33prestige biopic path,
29:35but the subject has more than enough force to carry it.
29:38The best scenes show the actual work of activism,
29:41phone calls, compromises,
29:42and sheer nerve.
29:44Do I want this?
29:45No.
29:46But if we want to make sure
29:47100,000 people show up,
29:49we need help.
29:50And in order to get their unions
29:51and their money,
29:52changes have to be made.
29:55If sisters Dory and Joyce
29:57went out to Westchester
29:58or the Upper East Side,
29:59I know you come back
30:00with not only enough money for one bus,
30:02but three.
30:03Number 11.
30:04One Night in Miami.
30:05Yes, Cassius Marcellus Clay
30:08is the new heavyweight champion of the world, boy.
30:11Yes, he is.
30:11And I don't even have a scratch on my face.
30:19Oh my goodness.
30:22Cash.
30:22What's on, Cash?
30:23What?
30:23Cash, what?
30:26Why am I so pretty?
30:29Four Giants,
30:30One Night,
30:30No Easy Answers.
30:32One Night in Miami
30:33has one of the best tricks
30:34a biographical drama can use.
30:36It stops trying to tell everyone's whole life.
30:39Instead,
30:39debuting director Regina King's film
30:41imagines One Night with Malcolm X,
30:44Muhammad Ali,
30:45Jim Brown,
30:45and Sam Cooke
30:46after Ali's 1964 victory
30:49over Sonny Liston.
30:50You need the game
30:51just like I need boxing.
30:54We're all just gladiators, Cash,
30:57with our ruler sitting up there
30:58and his box giving us
30:59the thumbs up or the thumbs down.
31:01Well, I don't want no damn ruler,
31:04all right?
31:05Shit,
31:05there's only so much running
31:06one man can do.
31:07Oh, speak for yourself.
31:08That setup lets the movie move
31:10through heavy thematic territory
31:12without rushing through
31:13a checklist of achievements.
31:15Kingsley Ben-Adir,
31:16Eli Gore,
31:17Aldous Hodge,
31:18and an Oscar-nominated
31:20Leslie Odom Jr.
31:21each bring a distinct presence
31:23to their roles
31:24without ever feeling
31:25like cheap impressions.
31:26Yes, you can feel
31:27the play underneath it,
31:28but this is one night
31:29worth sitting through.
31:30Jimmy,
31:31I am implying
31:32that brothers like Sam
31:33and you
31:34and Cassius,
31:35you all are our greatest weapons.
31:37I am not anyone's weapons, Malcolm.
31:45You need to be, Jimmy.
31:47You need to be
31:48for us to win.
31:51Number 10,
31:52The Trial of the Chicago 7.
31:54You all right?
31:56I was until I saw that.
31:58Most of them are on our side.
32:00Love you, Abby!
32:01See?
32:02Watch out!
32:04Jesus Christ,
32:05how did you do that?
32:07Experience.
32:09Before bringing
32:09Being the Ricardos
32:11to the big screen,
32:12Aaron Sorkin dramatized
32:13the trial of anti-war activists
32:16charged after protests
32:17around the 1968
32:19Democratic National Convention.
32:21The cast is stacked.
32:23Sacha Baron Cohen,
32:24Yahya Abdul-Mateen II,
32:26Mark Rylance,
32:27Eddie Redmayne,
32:28Jeremy Strong,
32:29Frank Langella,
32:30and more.
32:31May I speak?
32:31No, sir.
32:33He just said my name.
32:34You're a defendant in this case.
32:36You're likely to hear your name.
32:38I have a right
32:39to counsel
32:40and his honor knows that.
32:41Don't tell the court
32:42what it does
32:43and does not know.
32:44Be seated.
32:46Everyone gets a lane,
32:47from Abby Hoffman's
32:49showmanship
32:49to Bobby Seale's rage
32:51at being dragged
32:52through a trial
32:52without proper representation.
32:54Released in the middle
32:55of another bitterly
32:56divided election year,
32:57Sorkin's Chicago 7
32:59used a story of protest
33:00and political prosecution
33:02to underline
33:03a still-relevant notion
33:04that a courtroom
33:05can become another
33:06kind of protest stage.
33:08I'm concerned
33:09you have to think about it.
33:10Give me a moment,
33:11would you, friend?
33:12I've never been on trial
33:14for my thoughts before.
33:16Number 9.
33:17The Iron Claw
33:42The Ring
33:43is only part of the story.
33:45Sean Durkin's film
33:46follows the Von Erich family,
33:47whose public success
33:49in professional wrestling
33:50was overshadowed
33:51by devastating private losses.
33:53Zac Efron gives
33:54one of the decade's best
33:55wait,
33:56he had that in him
33:57performance
33:57as Kevin Von Erich,
33:59a man built like armor
34:00who keeps trying
34:01to protect everyone around him.
34:03You're pushing too hard.
34:06You need to rest.
34:09I'm almost there.
34:11You think it's gonna slow down
34:13when you become world champion?
34:14I'm fine, Kev.
34:16Seriously,
34:16I'm just sick.
34:17How about you?
34:18I don't think you should
34:20go to Japan next week.
34:21Jeremy Allen White,
34:22Harris Dickinson,
34:23and Stanley Simons
34:24make the brothers
34:25feel distinct,
34:26while mind hunter
34:27breakout Holt McCollany
34:29gives the family patriarch
34:30a hard,
34:31suffocating presence.
34:32It's hard to see clearly
34:34in this dark moment.
34:38But we cannot let
34:40this tragedy define us.
34:44Our greatness
34:45will be measured
34:46by our response
34:47to adversity.
34:48The movie doesn't need
34:49to overdo the tragedy
34:50because the tragedy
34:51is already overwhelming.
34:53Its best moments
34:54are simple.
34:55Brothers laughing,
34:56training,
34:56and dreaming,
34:57all the while realizing
34:59the family legend
35:00is crushing them.
35:01We still have a chance
35:02to bring the world
35:03heavyweight championship home
35:05if one of you
35:06will step up
35:07and wrestle in his place.
35:10Everything we have
35:12ever worked for
35:12in the ring
35:13is riding on this moment.
35:18I'll do it.
35:19Number 8
35:20Tick Tick Boom
35:39Tick Tick Boom
35:41gets creative anxiety
35:42exactly right.
35:43It follows Jonathan Larson
35:45before creating
35:46his game-changing
35:47musical Rent
35:48back when he was
35:49waiting tables,
35:50writing songs,
35:50and chasing a breakthrough.
35:52Andrew Garfield
35:53is ridiculously good here,
35:55more than earning
35:56his Oscar nomination.
35:58I can't do it again, Mike.
35:59I can't stomach
36:00five more years
36:01of waiting tables,
36:03five more years
36:04of writing things
36:05that no one
36:05will ever see
36:06while Broadway
36:07just churns out
36:07mega musicals
36:08without a hint
36:09of even the slightest
36:10thing original
36:11or, God forbid,
36:13something to actually
36:14say about the world.
36:17Are you done?
36:18Hamilton creator
36:19and first-time filmmaker
36:20Lin-Manuel Miranda
36:22directs with a real
36:23affection for theater kids
36:24and enough honesty
36:25to depict the cost
36:26of living inside
36:27your own ambition.
36:29The songs aren't just
36:30numbers dropped
36:31into the plot.
36:31They're how Larson
36:32processes his fear
36:33that he might be
36:34running out of time.
36:35The movie has energy
36:36to burn,
36:37but it's the bittersweetness
36:38that sticks.
36:39We know what Larson
36:39will create.
36:40We also know
36:41what he won't
36:42get to witness.
36:43It's for the next one.
36:48You want any ideas?
36:54Just questions.
36:57That seems like
36:58a really good place
36:58to start.
37:00Number seven,
37:02Mank.
37:02I'd be shocked
37:03to see me here too,
37:05if only I knew
37:06where he was.
37:07You wrote one
37:08of our Lon Chaney's
37:09among many.
37:10Pictures?
37:11Writers.
37:12At MGM movies
37:13or a team sport?
37:14Mank.
37:14Which may be
37:15why I'm at Paramount.
37:16Since when
37:16don't Paramount
37:17use writers
37:18by the truckload?
37:19But all at once,
37:20not in relays,
37:21help spread the blame around.
37:23Mank is old Hollywood
37:24as a smoky,
37:25boozy ghost story.
37:26David Fincher's
37:27Gone Girl follow-up
37:28chronicles the titular
37:29Herman J. Mankiewicz
37:31as he works on the script
37:32for Citizen Kane.
37:33At the same time,
37:34he brushes up
37:35against politics,
37:36William Randolph Hearst,
37:38writerly bitterness,
37:39and glamorous rot
37:40under the golden age
37:41of Hollywood.
37:42The guild's in its infancy.
37:44It needs you.
37:45You're telling me.
37:46What writer failed to notice,
37:48the Screenwriters Guild
37:49needs an apostrophe.
37:51As Groucho always said,
37:53never belong to any club
37:54that would have someone
37:55like you for a member.
37:57Gary Oldman plays Mank
37:59as self-destructive
38:00and smarter than is good for him.
38:02But Amanda Seyfried
38:03nearly steals the movie
38:04as Marion Davies,
38:06who comes off
38:06as much more perceptive
38:08than history's lazy caricatures allowed.
38:10Shot in black and white
38:12and packed with industry poison,
38:14Mank is about the people
38:14Hollywood uses,
38:16flatters, humiliates,
38:17and then grants legend status.
38:19Notably rich and powerful
38:21can't win over an audience
38:22unless notably rich and powerful
38:24sees the evidence
38:25of his ways in the final reel.
38:27Notably rich and powerful
38:29and making no goddamn excuses for it
38:32is only admirable in real life.
38:35Isn't that right, Louis?
38:36Number 6, Judas and the Black Messiah.
38:40He can have on a three-piece suit
38:41or dashiki
38:42because political power
38:43doesn't flow
38:44from a sleeve of dashiki.
38:46Political power flows
38:47from the barrel of a gun.
38:49We in the Black Panther Party
38:50don't believe in no culture
38:51except revolutionary culture.
38:53What we mean by that
38:54is a culture that will free you.
38:56This under-seen COVID-era thriller
38:59centers on Fred Hampton,
39:00chairman of the Illinois
39:01Black Panther Party,
39:03and William O'Neill,
39:04the FBI informant
39:05who infiltrated his circle.
39:07Daniel Kaluuya
39:08is magnetic as Hampton,
39:09his power to make a room
39:10lean forward
39:11completely believable.
39:22And Lakeith Stanfield's betrayal
39:25never feels abstract.
39:26It's personal, ugly,
39:27and tied to something
39:28much bigger than one man.
39:30The movie is smart enough
39:31to place Hampton's story
39:32inside a larger system
39:33of surveillance,
39:35fear,
39:35and state force
39:36aimed at Black radical politics.
39:38It's gritty, gripping,
39:39often maddening,
39:40and painfully laser-focused.
39:43I don't believe
39:43I'm gonna die in no curry.
39:45No.
39:46I don't believe
39:47I'm gonna die
39:47sleeping on no ice.
39:49No.
39:49I don't believe
39:50I'm gonna die
39:50because I got a bad heart.
39:53No.
39:53I believe I'm gonna die
39:54doing what I was born for.
39:56Yes.
39:56I believe I'm gonna die
39:57half the people.
39:59Yes.
40:00I'm gonna die for the people
40:01because I live for the people.
40:04Number five,
40:05A Complete Unknown.
40:06How many roads
40:08must a man walk down
40:11before you call him a man?
40:17A Complete Unknown works
40:19because it doesn't try
40:20to solve Bob Dylan,
40:21and good luck with that anyway.
40:23James Mangold's film
40:24focuses on a specific stretch
40:26of Dylan's life,
40:27his arrival in New York,
40:28his relationships with Joan Baez
40:30and Pete Seeger,
40:31and the creative restlessness
40:33that pushes him
40:33toward electric music.
40:35I'm not sure they want to hear,
40:37but I want to play, Jenny.
40:38Who's they?
40:40You know,
40:41the men who decide
40:43what folk music is.
40:45An Oscar-nominated
40:46Timothee Chalamet
40:47put his heart and soul
40:48into capturing Dylan's essence,
40:50and you can see it all on screen.
40:52The movie is at its best
40:53when music becomes an argument
40:55about politics,
40:57truth,
40:57and who gets to tell an artist
40:58what they're supposed to represent.
41:00In short,
41:01it lets Dylan remain
41:02a little unknowable.
41:03For this subject,
41:04that's not a dodge.
41:05That's the whole game.
41:16Number four,
41:17Spencer.
41:32Instead of trying to cover
41:34Princess Diana's whole life,
41:36director Pablo LarraÃn
41:38drops us in a Christmas holiday
41:39at Sandringham,
41:41and turns the place
41:42into a beautiful prison.
41:43Kristen Stewart
41:44in her first Oscar-nominated role
41:46is extraordinary as Diana.
41:48She doesn't just do the voice
41:50in the tilt of the head.
41:51She captures the feeling
41:52of being watched,
41:53corrected,
41:53and judged,
41:54consumed from every angle.
41:56Their lenses are terribly powerful
41:59these days, ma'am.
42:00Their lenses are more like
42:01microscopes, actually.
42:05And I'm the insect
42:06in the tish.
42:09You see,
42:10they're pulling my wings
42:10and my legs off
42:12one by one,
42:14making notes
42:15on how I react.
42:16It's dreamy,
42:18sad,
42:18and deliberately claustrophobic.
42:20Some viewers wanted
42:21a cleaner history lesson,
42:23but Spencer is after
42:24something deeper
42:24than factual recap.
42:26It's about what it feels like
42:27when privilege becomes a prison,
42:29and every hallway has eyes.
42:31Oh, Maggie,
42:32it's all just a bit of fun,
42:33isn't it?
42:36Men,
42:38husbands,
42:39sex,
42:40mistresses,
42:42deceit,
42:44succession,
42:46it's currency.
42:49That's all we are.
42:50Number three,
42:52Weird,
42:52the Al Yankovic story.
42:54Ooh, my little hungry one,
42:56hungry one,
42:57open up a package
42:59of my bologna.
43:06Ooh, I think the toast is done,
43:08the toast is done,
43:09time but with a little
43:10of my bologna.
43:13Rather than telling
43:14the true story
43:15of Weird Al Yankovic
43:16in earnest,
43:17Weird reimagines his life
43:19as a completely ridiculous
43:20rock star saga.
43:21You've got
43:22disapproving parents,
43:23instant fame,
43:24cliches galore,
43:25a fabricated
43:26Madonna romance,
43:27and more.
43:28Have you heard
43:28my new single,
43:31Like a Virgin?
43:32Oh, I've heard it.
43:34And I'm curious,
43:35is that song
43:37autobiographical?
43:39Yes.
43:40I technically am a virgin,
43:42except for the fact
43:43that I've had a lot of sex.
43:45I mean,
43:47a lot.
43:49Daniel Radcliffe
43:50is the secret weapon
43:51because he plays it
43:52dead serious.
43:53That's why the joke works.
43:54Everyone behaves like
43:56they're in a prestige drama,
43:57even when the movie
43:58is obviously lying
43:59to your face.
44:00It's also perfectly suited
44:01to Al himself,
44:02since his whole career
44:03is built on affectionate parody.
44:05Weird doesn't spoof
44:06one artist's life.
44:07It roasts the entire
44:09biopic formula.
44:10Do you know why
44:11they call it
44:12the music business?
44:14Uh, why?
44:16Because it's a business.
44:17It's a business!
44:18Use your head, kid.
44:20Nobody wants to hear
44:21a parody song
44:22when they can hear
44:23the real thing
44:24for the same price.
44:26What's the point?
44:27Yeah, it makes
44:27no financial sense
44:29whatsoever.
44:29Number two,
44:30The Apprentice.
44:32What is your business,
44:33Donald?
44:34Real estate.
44:35I'm a vice president
44:36of a Trump organization.
44:38Oh, you're Fred Trump's kid?
44:39That's right.
44:40He's Fred Trump's kid.
44:42It sounds like
44:43your father's
44:44a little tangled up
44:45and looks like
44:46he could use a good morning.
44:48Oh.
44:49Right, tell us about it.
44:50Right now,
44:51the government
44:51and the NAACP
44:52are suing us.
44:53The Apprentice
44:54doesn't try to spell out
44:55the whole Donald Trump saga,
44:56which is probably
44:57its smartest choice.
44:59Instead,
44:59it serves as an origin story,
45:01focusing on his
45:02early New York years
45:03and relationship
45:04with infamous prosecutor
45:05Roy Cohn.
45:06An Oscar-nominated
45:07Sebastian Stan
45:08avoids easy caricature.
45:10His Trump is ambitious,
45:12observant,
45:12and gradually learning
45:13how to manipulate people
45:15to his whims.
45:15Let's talk about this.
45:17Come on,
45:17don't do this.
45:18Go find someone else.
45:19I'm not a trophy wife.
45:20You're gonna ruin your life
45:21if you don't marry me.
45:23Why?
45:24One second.
45:25Listen,
45:25I'm...
45:26Why is that?
45:26Because I'm rich,
45:27I'm handsome,
45:28I have a great family,
45:29I'm gonna be the number one
45:30building in New York.
45:31Listen to me.
45:32You're gonna have a life
45:33you can't even dream of,
45:34Ivana,
45:34with me.
45:35Jeremy Strong,
45:36also Oscar-nominated,
45:38is striking as Cohn,
45:39quietly intimidating
45:40without leaning into exaggeration.
45:42The movie works best
45:43when it shows Trump
45:44absorbing Cohn's
45:46ruthless playbook.
45:47Attack first,
45:48admit nothing,
45:49and make insecurity
45:50a public performance
45:51of dominance.
45:52The world is a mess.
45:54Okay?
45:55The world is a mess,
45:56Tony.
45:57You have to fight back.
45:59You have to have
45:59a tough skin.
46:00Attack,
46:01attack,
46:01attack.
46:02If somebody comes
46:03after you with a knife,
46:05you shoot them back
46:06with a bazooka.
46:11Before we continue,
46:13check out this single
46:14from Current,
46:15EDM Transform.
46:16Check out the full track
46:18and album below.
46:26Number one,
46:28Oppenheimer.
46:29I'm starting to see
46:30where you got your reputation.
46:33My favorite response,
46:36Oppenheimer couldn't
46:37run a hamburger stand.
46:39I couldn't.
46:42But I can run
46:44the Manhattan Project.
46:46Christopher Nolan
46:46doesn't walk through
46:47J. Robert Oppenheimer's
46:49life and call it a day.
46:50He turns it into
46:51a fractured story
46:52about the notion
46:53that the genie
46:54doesn't go back
46:54into the bottle.
46:56Cillian Murphy
46:56is incredible
46:57in the title role,
46:58giving Oppenheimer
46:59a haunted quality
47:00that grows heavier
47:00as the movie goes on.
47:02General?
47:03I'm very proud of you
47:04and all of your people.
47:05It went all right.
47:07Apparently,
47:08it went with
47:08a tremendous bang.
47:11Oh,
47:12everyone here
47:12is feeling reasonably
47:14good about it.
47:16It's been a long road.
47:18The Trinity Test
47:19is the showstopper,
47:20but the aftermath
47:21is what really lingers.
47:23The recipient
47:23of seven Academy Awards,
47:25including Best Picture
47:26and Best Director,
47:27Oppenheimer understands
47:28that biography
47:29isn't just about
47:30what someone did.
47:31It's about what
47:32their choices
47:32made possible.
47:34We freely used
47:36the atomic bomb.
47:37In fact,
47:37Doctor,
47:38you assisted
47:38in selecting the target
47:39to drop the atomic bomb
47:40on Japan,
47:41didn't you?
47:42Yes.
47:42Well,
47:42then you knew,
47:43did you not,
47:43that by dropping
47:44that atomic bomb
47:44on the target
47:45you selected
47:46that thousands
47:46of civilians
47:47would be killed
47:47or injured.
47:48Is that correct?
47:49Which 2020's biopic
47:50deserves the top spot?
47:52Make your case
47:53in the comments
47:53and keep it civil,
47:54unless you're
47:55defending House of Gucci.
47:56I don't know,
47:56but you'll see
47:57As you know,
47:58let's go.
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