Top Ten Thursday: Biopics

A good biopic is expansive, detailed and more often than not extremely biased.  Often released around Oscar season, biopics are usually inundated with respected actors and directed by notable persons in Hollywood.  Today I offer my list of favorite biopics, many of which were not Oscar contenders and a handful that were.  It is all in the hopes that the upcoming Abraham Lincoln movie will be glorious.

10.) The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

A poem of a film, The Passion of Joan of Arc set the standard for all biographies made after.

9.) Andrei Rublev (1971)

The Tarkovsky masterpiece on the unconventional experiences of a artistic monk is a film of grand proportions.

Review Here





8.) The Pianist (2002)

Roman Polanksi's biopic about Polish musician Wladyslaw Szpilman will drain your heart each and every time you watch the film. 

7.) An Angel At My Table (1990)

Simply put, An Angel At My table is how one should make a biography about an author.  I would be hard pressed to find a more cinematic study of an author than Jane Campion's biopic on Janet Frame.

6.) My Left Foot (1989)

My Left Foot introduced the world to Daniel Day-Lewis as cripple Christy Brown, garnering the actor his first of what will likely be several Oscars.

5.) Richard III (1955)

"A donkey,  a donkey, my kingdom for a donkey."

4.) The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (2007)

This French stream-of-conscious biopic is a lesson in artistic cinema that left viewers mesmerized upon its release.








3.) Raging Bull (1980)

The black and white story of Ray La Motta made Scorsese a household name and Robert De Niro a man's man actor.

2.) Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Perhaps the most controversial biopic on the list, the story of T.E. Lawrence burns off the screen with excitement.

1.) Amadeus (1984)

This music heavy biopic is as much about the title character as it is about Antonio Salieri, and its excellent composition earned it a slew of Oscar nods.

Honorable Mention

Schindler's List (1993)
The King's Speech (2010)
The Social Network (2010)
Moneyball (2011)