There's something tremendously compelling about watching world-class talent re-enact
major moments in human history, whether they're playing gangsters, popes, or queens. And thanks
to Netflix, many of those very stories are available at the push of a button.
Historical biopics are often all lumped into the same tonal category, and when we think
of the genre we often think of very ornate, slightly stuffy costume dramas with elaborate
recreations of famous faces. Done right, though, biopics can be the stuff of legend, and that's
exactly what you get when you take some time to watch Ip Man.
The man of the title is a legendary Chinese martial artist best known in the West as the
guy who trained Bruce Lee in Wing Chun Kung fu. The film follows Ip in the 1930s, during
the Sino-Japanese War, as he attempts to keep himself alive so he can protect his friends
and feed his family while facing Japanese oppression.
Donnie Yen is graceful, captivating, and brilliant in the title role, playing Ip as a man determined
to contain his own martial energy until the last possible moment both for the sake of
saving his own strength and the safety of those around him. When he finally does explode
into pure martial arts might, it's absolutely dazzling. There's a reason Yen has since come
back to star in three more Ip Man movies, and it all starts right here.
In 2002, a writer named Julie Powell set out to cook every recipe in Mastering the Art
of French Cooking over the course of a year, while writing a blog about her experience.
The blog became a sensation, and within a few years Powell was a bestselling author
and her book was optioned for film. A film based on a cooking blog seems like a questionable
proposition, but that's where the great Nora Ephron comes in.
In Ephron's hands, Julie & Julia becomes a merger of two stories, intercutting Powell's
life experience while starting and writing her blog with Julia Child's experiences in
postwar France that led her to become a chef, author, and TV presenter.
"Perfection! And even if it isn't, never apologize. No excuses. No explanations."
By intertwining the stories, Ephron makes Julie & Julia not just a celebration of food,
but a story of two women who somehow find a way to save themselves from listless lives
through the sense of purpose that food culture gives them. Amy Adams and Meryl Streep are
both tremendous in the respective title roles, and the film is easily Ephron's greatest visual
triumph.
Sometimes the best approach for a biopic is a comprehensive look at the life of the person
in question, making one film that spans decades. Other times, a more focused approach is called
for, drilling into a single important event in a search for meaning, humanity, and entertainment.
The End of the Tour takes the latter approach, and it's an extremely rewarding decision.
The film centers on David Lipsky, a Rolling Stone writer who spent several days with novelist
David Foster Wallace in 1996 as the latter was finishing up his Infinite Jest tour. The
two men travel together, talking about everything from the virtues of junk food to addiction
to mental illness.
"Feeling as though every axiom in your life turned out to be false and there was actually
nothing. And you knew nothing."
Through this relatively narrow lens, we get a compelling picture of Wallace as a person
and as a creator, without ever elevating him to mythic status. The End of the Tour is a
beautifully crafted little road movie, and stars Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel are
working at the top of their game.
The problem with making a movie that's about the making of another movie is that fans of
the original film are always going to react with skepticism. Sure, your making-of fictionalization
might be interesting, but can it ever possibly be as interesting as the film you already
know and love?
"Well hey, man, I put on a girdle. What I got to do? Come on, brother. They're waiting
on a Dolemite movie. Let's bring Dolemite to the screen."
Fortunately for everyone, Dolemite is My Name does not suffer from this problem, despite
the tremendous entertainment value that Dolemite still holds decades after its release. Craig
Brewer's film follows Rudy Ray Moore, a struggling comedian who finds success with a stage persona
he borrowed from a homeless man.
Armed with new material and a new sense of confidence, Moore decides that his character,
Dolemite, deserves his own movie. When conventional means of filmmaking and financing fail him,
he makes the film himself. What follows is a wonderfully effective comedy that's also
a heartwarming story of determination, confidence, and speaking your dreams out into the world.
It's also the best work Eddie Murphy's done in years.
If you only know Martin Scorsese as the gangster movie guy, it might seem a little excessive
of him to make yet another crime drama this late in his career, especially one that runs
over three hours and makes heavy use of digital de-aging technology to keep several of his
favorite actors in the whole thing. But there are two things wrong with that. For one thing,
Scorsese is and always has been more than just a gangster filmmaker. And for another,
The Irishman is really, really good.
"What's that about?"
Based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses, the film tells the story of Frank Sheeran,
a low-level criminal who rises through the ranks of the American mob to such a degree
that he develops a friendship with infamous union leader Jimmy Hoffa, and ultimately plays
a part in Hoffa's disappearance. The film follows Sheeran's rise through several decades
with all the visual dynamism and emotional complexity we've come to expect from Scorsese,
and by the end it's a kind of epic summation of everything he has to say about crime, sin,
redemption, and more. It's a long journey, but it's worth it.
When a film or television series has the budget to swing it, the Vatican is a perfect place
to stage a cinematic story, which helps explain the allure of recent efforts like The Young
Pope. It's a visually gorgeous backdrop, but the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church
also offers a sense of deep intrigue that we can project all manner of mysteries on,
be they mysteries of faith or mysteries of pure human frailty. Add in a true story and
two brilliant actors playing off each other, and you've got a can't-miss movie.
The Two Popes is a fictionalized account of the meeting between the two most recent Pontiffs
of the church, Benedict the Sixteenth and Francis, when the former was a flagging Pope
on his way out and the latter was a cardinal considering retirement. Their meeting seems
fated, but the consequences of their conversation will shake both of them as the church attempts
to weather one of the most tumultuous storms in its recent history.
Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce both received Oscar nominations for their work in the film,
and when you watch it you can see why. They're perfectly matched, both doing some of the
best work of their careers.
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