The Big Picture · Review · Discussion · Top Five
June 24, 2022/ 79 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins · Adam Nayman
Sean and Amanda review Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, then Adam Nayman joins to make the case for Walk Hard and each host ranks a top five music biopics.
19 films across 5 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
‘Elvis’Sean and Amanda
Baz Luhrmann's first film since Gatsby, and his most maximalist: 2 hours 40 minutes that both drag and blur past. Austin Butler is the reason to see it; Tom Hanks' accent-heavy Colonel Parker framing turns Elvis into a supporting player and, both hosts agree, sinks the movie.
‘Walk Hard’ and the state of the music biopicwith Adam Nayman
A $20M box-office flop turned cult object; a note-for-note demolition of Walk the Line and Ray with real affection. The songs (Dan Bern and Mike Viola of the Candy Butchers, plus Marshall Crenshaw) are good enough to pass as the real thing. Elvis even restages the shirt-ripping scene Walk Hard already parodied.
Nayman's spiritual sibling to Walk Hard: a band with no principles that becomes whatever the decade demands.
The Lonely Island's millennial take; Spinal Tap → Walk Hard → Popstar as an 'instructive little trilogy' about the packaging of pop.
Amanda's Top Five Music Biopics
No. 1 - straight down the middle, cradle to grave, and it works; Phoenix and Witherspoon do their own singing.
No. 2 - shared with Sean. Conveys the genius, not the man; Salieri's envy carries it.
No. 3 - two Brian Wilsons (Paul Dano, John Cusack) that dodge the Wikipedia through-line.
Sean's Top Five Music Biopics
No. 1 - Todd Haynes' seven Dylans; deconstruction over reconstruction, with Cate Blanchett the best of the seven.
No. 5 - Soderbergh's Liberace; skips the rise and lives entirely in the excess.
Adam Nayman's Top Five Music Biopics
No. 1 - Alex Cox; the last 15 minutes are almost unwatchable, and it gets away with it completely.
No. 4 - Winterbottom and Coogan; an annotated, self-mocking Manchester scene film.
Also mentioned raised along the way
In the Elvis review The Great GatsbyMoulin Rouge!Once Upon a Time in HollywoodCloud AtlasThe TerminalForrest Gump
Biopics the panel name-checked RayRocketmanBohemian RhapsodyRespectStardustThe Doors
Parody lineage Airplane!AirportKnocked UpSuperbad
Careers, casting and asides El NorteMy FamilyCarrieGorillas in the MistJersey BoysBronco BillyWhite Hunter Black HeartRevengeTristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull StoryRepo ManMankVelvet GoldmineSuperstar: The Karen Carpenter StoryThe Velvet UndergroundInside Llewyn DavisTop GunTop Gun: Maverick
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV / docuseries WestworldThe Beatles: Get BackIrma Vep (2022 series)The TripElvis Presley: The Searcher
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