All tagged Biopic
When I first saw Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing I was greatly affected, not just because it is a cinematic masterpiece of epic proportions, but because it said something broader about the world at large.. Lee handles the subject matter of racial tension in a thoughtful and powerful way in all of his films, but I bring up the 1989 classic because it changed my life for the better.
There are almost too many similarities between these two films to list, but here goes: Both were produced and released by MGM, both were made in the fifties, both were musicals, and both feature women who performed with the Ziegfield Follies…
This is also a film about American upward mobility, and what it is to be American; since it is also talking about Wallace’s Infinite Jest. For those who love Wallace this is essential viewing, and a good precursor for anyone who toes the line between brushing off huge works and diving into them head first.
Few people know just how ridiculously cursed The Beach Boys were. Whether you’re looking at their histories of drug use, domestic abuse, drummer Dennis Wilson’s connection to the Manson murders, or the events of Brian Wilson’s life, the band undoubtedly had it rough.
John Lee Hancock has become the go-to director for biographical films. Since 2002 he has directed The Rookie, The Alamo, The Blind Side, and Saving Mr. Banks, all of which have centered on the stories of men who achieved greatness, and the women who made it possible.
Bernie Madoff, the former chair of the NASDAQ stock market, literally defrauded 4,800 people out of $64.8 billion dollars, and he did it by operating a simple Ponzi scheme. The level of public trust that he was operating under cannot be expressed. It would be like if the President colluded with Russia. That big.
This was during the fifties, a time when women weren’t valued for their opinions. Add to that fact that she was crusading to end prayer in school, a highly contentious and inflammatory stance in fifties America, and you have to admit the woman possessed grit.
While the subject of the film is upsetting, it's not stirring enough to warrant any nominations. It's a run of the mill biopic dealing with an interesting if tepid subject. Second, it's a strange kind of film, for various reasons. It makes sense for Burton to gravitate towards this film, as it deals in curiously odd looking paintings
