So you have seen Oppenheimer and now you crave more stories through Hollywood. Maybe you want something in the same vein, like historical films about tortured icons who sometimes wear nice costumes, or maybe you want something more modern, like the future changing before our eyes. .
It’s no secret that Hollywood loves biopics. Just look at all the Oscar ceremonies from the past two decades. We are tired of not having to open the history books! WhileOppenheimer continues to explode the box office, we’ve put together a list of other movies based on true stories to provide you with a list of anecdotes to tell until the end of time.
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10. jfk (1991)
Since its theatrical release, Oppenheimer has been frequently and fairly compared to jfk by Oliver Stone. Both movies manage to make dry, barren dialogue in a courtroom one of the most gripping cinematic moments ever. Oppenheimer centers on Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) and Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.) protecting their careers, jfk revolves around the investigation into the assassination of John F. Kennedy. With a cast including Kevin Costner, Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Oldman (who also appears in Oppenheimer), jfk skirts part of the story in favor of sensationalism, relying on conspiracies rather than truth. Despite this, the three hours of the film fly by.
To see on VOD.
9. Harvey Milk (2008)
With Harvey Milk, Sean Penn won a Best Actor Oscar for playing the iconic and groundbreaking Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. Directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Dustin Lance Black, this biopic looks at Harvey Milk’s early years, his rise in the San Francisco political circuit through a campaign of gay inclusion and building a community of base, until his premature assassination by a colleague. Of course, this is a classic biopic in terms of structure (very far fromOppenheimer), but Harvey Milk tells a story so striking and devastating that it sadly seems to resonate even today.
Watch on MUBI.
8. Imitation Game (2014)
While Oppenheimer was hard at work on the A-bomb in New Mexico, behind the scenes in England codebreakers were scrambling to try and crack the German codes that could give them an advantage over our greatest enemy. . Alan Turing, whose post-war treatment as a homosexual remains one of history’s greatest stains, was the cryptologist who helped decrypt the Enigma machine the Nazis used to send messages. The film follows him and his team at Bletchley Park as they try to get ahead and help win the war. A classic war movie that Brits know and love, but Benedict Cumberbatch’s sensitive portrayal of Turing, along with supporting roles by Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode and Rory Kinnear, make this a film well worth watching.
To see on Paramount+ and MyCanal.
7. Malcolm X (1992)
MALCOLM X, Denzel Washington, 1992
Malcolm X is a complex figure in history. Controversial for his advocacy of violence and religious doctrine, he was also instrumental in the civil rights struggle of the black community in America in the 1950s and 60s. Directed by Spike Lee, this biopic starring onstage Denzel Washington leans heavily on the theatrical side, blending stylized, choppy directing with a deft understanding of the weight of the figure in question. Malcolm X doesn’t try to condense the story as it happened, but rather re-educate a community that, in the 90s, had perhaps forgotten what they stood for.
To see on VOD.
6. An exceptional man (2001)
John Nash may not be as well known as Malcolm X, but this mathematician, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, was instrumental in our understanding of game theory, the mathematical model of logical interactions. In An exceptional man, Nash, played by an Oscar-nominated Russell Crowe, is tasked with finding patterns and codes in magazines in order to intercept Soviet messages. It is only when a diagnosis of schizophrenia is revealed that it becomes clear that all has not gone as planned.
To see on Paramount+ and MyCanal.
5. The wolf of Wall Street (2014)
The wolf of Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, centers on one of the darkest figures in business of the past 50 years, Jordan Belfort. After the Wall Street crash, Belfort realizes he can play with the system to come out on top, regardless of the victims he leaves in his wake. The law ends up catching up with him and his castle of excess and ego crumbles. DiCaprio is excellent as Belfort, as is Margot Robbie as his wife Naomi Lapaglia. The film is also very funny, for what it’s worth.
To see on MyCanal.
4. Truman Hood (2005)
The world never really recovered from the loss of Philip Seymour Hoffman. He won the Oscar for Truman Capote. The film centers on the eccentric novelist behind stories such as De cold blood And Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Truman Capote is both historical and stranger than fiction. It traces the writer’s trip to Kansas to write In cold bloodhis latest novel about a series of murders and the unlikely friendship he forms with the prime suspect, which has made him America’s greatest novelist.
To see on VOD.
3. Hidden Figures (2016)
Some biopics prey on the infamy of a larger-than-life person in the public consciousness. Others tell stories that might otherwise have been lost to history forever. Hidden Figures is certainly one of the latter, exploring the lives of three black female mathematicians who helped send John Glenn into space. The space race is often associated with the idea of men wearing half-rimmed glasses and rolled-up sleeves, but Hidden Figures, starring Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae and Octavia Spencer, reminds us that not everything is like in the history books. Naturally, this film is to cry.
See it on Disney+.
2. The Social Network (2010)
Recent history is always history, especially when it comes to the dawn of social media, something that makes life 18 times faster than it was before. At this point everyone knows The Social Network, the biopic by David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin on the advent of Facebook. Its stars, Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake, have been rocketed into the stratosphere for their roles as tech brothers who have earned millions. Although it entered internet legend as the ultimate internet movie, it is remarkable that it remains a very good movie even today, when our social networks are collapsing around us due to of the hubris of Silicon Valley culture that the plot of this film explored.
To see on FILMO.
1. first-man (2018)
Neil Armstrong is a difficult character to portray in a film. Sure, he was the first person to walk on the moon, which is pretty remarkable, but as a person he was deeply quiet and reserved. Ryan Gosling lends his specific brand of introspection to this portrayal of Armstrong, positioning him as the silent workhorse in the midst of the space race. Damien Chazelle is directing the film, teaming up with Gosling again after La La Land, and lends a kind of musical quality to the exploration of the unknown. We don’t envy anyone tasked with trying to replicate one of history’s most iconic moments, the moon landing, but Chazelle does it with an impact that almost makes you feel like you’re witnessing it for the first time. first time.
Watch on Prime Video.
Originally published on British GQ.