Favorite Movies - Biography

by ExoticaCat | created - 18 Mar 2012 | updated - 18 Mar 2012 | Public

My favorite movies in the genre of Biography, not in particular orders. Will add or remove them as time goes by.

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1. Patton (1970)

GP | 172 min | Biography, Drama, War

86 Metascore

The World War II phase of the career of controversial American general George S. Patton.

Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Stephen Young, Michael Strong

Votes: 107,960 | Gross: $61.70M

2. Amadeus (1984)

R | 160 min | Biography, Drama, Music

87 Metascore

The life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.

Director: Milos Forman | Stars: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Roy Dotrice

Votes: 428,106 | Gross: $51.97M

3. Seraphine (2008)

Unrated | 125 min | Biography, Drama

84 Metascore

In 1912 German collector Wilhelm Uhde rents a flat in Senlis to write and take a break from Parisian life. He hires a 48-year old cleaning lady, Séraphine. Some time later, he notices a small painting on wood at a local notable home.

Director: Martin Provost | Stars: Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur, Anne Bennent, Geneviève Mnich

Votes: 6,545 | Gross: $0.88M

4. Camille Claudel (1988)

R | 175 min | Biography, Drama, History

Camille Claude impresses already-famous sculptor Auguste Rodin. He hires her as an assistant, but soon Camille begins to sculpt for herself and she also becomes his mistress. But after a while, she would like to get out of his shadow.

Director: Bruno Nuytten | Stars: Isabelle Adjani, Gérard Depardieu, Madeleine Robinson, Laurent Grévill

Votes: 7,396 | Gross: $0.20M

5. Into the Wild (2007)

R | 148 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama

73 Metascore

After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life.

Director: Sean Penn | Stars: Emile Hirsch, Vince Vaughn, Catherine Keener, Marcia Gay Harden

Votes: 658,203 | Gross: $18.35M

6. Downfall (2004)

R | 156 min | Biography, Drama, History

82 Metascore

Traudl Junge, the final secretary for Adolf Hitler, tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII.

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel | Stars: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler

Votes: 375,249 | Gross: $5.51M

7. Hunger (2008)

Not Rated | 96 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

82 Metascore

Irish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.

Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham, Stuart Graham, Laine Megaw

Votes: 73,556 | Gross: $0.15M

8. Moneyball (2011)

PG-13 | 133 min | Biography, Drama, Sport

87 Metascore

Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to assemble a baseball team on a lean budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players.

Director: Bennett Miller | Stars: Brad Pitt, Robin Wright, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Votes: 464,647 | Gross: $75.61M

9. The King's Speech (2010)

R | 118 min | Biography, Drama, History

88 Metascore

The story of King George VI, his unexpected ascension to the throne of the British Empire in 1936, and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch overcome his stammer.

Director: Tom Hooper | Stars: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Derek Jacobi

Votes: 707,994 | Gross: $138.80M

10. The Pianist (2002)

R | 150 min | Biography, Drama, Music

85 Metascore

During WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.

Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox

Votes: 912,380 | Gross: $32.57M

11. Monster (2003)

R | 109 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

74 Metascore

Based on the life of Aileen Wuornos, a Daytona Beach prostitute who became a serial killer.

Director: Patty Jenkins | Stars: Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern, Lee Tergesen

Votes: 161,836 | Gross: $34.47M

12. The Last King of Scotland (2006)

R | 123 min | Biography, Drama, History

74 Metascore

Based on the events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime as seen by his personal physician during the 1970s.

Director: Kevin Macdonald | Stars: James McAvoy, Forest Whitaker, Gillian Anderson, Kerry Washington

Votes: 196,040 | Gross: $17.61M

13. Frida (2002)

R | 123 min | Biography, Drama, Romance

61 Metascore

A biography of artist Frida Kahlo, who channeled the pain of a crippling injury and her tempestuous marriage into her work.

Director: Julie Taymor | Stars: Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina, Geoffrey Rush, Mía Maestro

Votes: 95,337 | Gross: $25.89M

14. Shine (1996)

PG-13 | 105 min | Biography, Drama, Music

87 Metascore

Pianist David Helfgott, driven by his father and teachers, has a breakdown. Years later he returns to the piano, to popular if not critical acclaim.

Director: Scott Hicks | Stars: Geoffrey Rush, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Justin Braine, Sonia Todd

Votes: 56,706 | Gross: $35.81M

15. Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)

PG-13 | 100 min | Biography, Drama, Romance

72 Metascore

A young peasant maid working in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer becomes his talented assistant and the model for one of his most famous works.

Director: Peter Webber | Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, Judy Parfitt

Votes: 82,667 | Gross: $11.63M

16. Out of Africa (1985)

PG | 161 min | Biography, Drama, Romance

69 Metascore

In 20th-century colonial Kenya, a Danish baroness/plantation owner has a passionate love affair with a free-spirited big-game hunter.

Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Michael Kitchen

Votes: 86,367 | Gross: $87.10M

17. Che: Part One (2008)

Not Rated | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History

In 1956, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara and a band of Castro-led Cuban exiles mobilize an army to topple the regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista.

Director: Steven Soderbergh | Stars: Julia Ormond, Benicio Del Toro, Oscar Isaac, Pablo Guevara

Votes: 47,954 | Gross: $1.80M

18. Che: Part Two (2008)

Not Rated | 135 min | Biography, Drama, History

64 Metascore

In 1967, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara leads a small partisan army to fight an ill-fated revolutionary guerrilla war in Bolivia, South America.

Director: Steven Soderbergh | Stars: Demián Bichir, Rodrigo Santoro, Benicio Del Toro, Catalina Sandino Moreno

Votes: 35,052

19. The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

R | 126 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama

75 Metascore

Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, popularly known as Che, along with his friend Alberto Granado, decides to take a road trip across South America. His experiences on the journey transform him.

Director: Walter Salles | Stars: Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo de la Serna, Mía Maestro, Mercedes Morán

Votes: 104,785 | Gross: $16.78M

20. Milk (I) (2008)

R | 128 min | Biography, Drama, History

83 Metascore

The story of American gay activist Harvey Milk, who fought for gay rights and was elected as California's first openly gay official.

Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna

Votes: 179,862 | Gross: $31.84M

21. The Sea Inside (I) (2004)

PG-13 | 126 min | Biography, Drama

74 Metascore

The factual story of Spaniard Ramon Sampedro, who fought a 28-year campaign in favor of euthanasia and his own right to die.

Director: Alejandro Amenábar | Stars: Javier Bardem, Belén Rueda, Lola Dueñas, Mabel Rivera

Votes: 85,254 | Gross: $2.09M

22. Midnight Express (1978)

R | 121 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

59 Metascore

Billy Hayes, an American college student, is caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and thrown into prison.

Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Brad Davis, Irene Miracle, Bo Hopkins, Paolo Bonacelli

Votes: 88,251 | Gross: $35.00M

23. My Left Foot (1989)

R | 103 min | Biography, Drama

97 Metascore

Christy Brown, born with cerebral palsy, learns to paint and write with his only controllable limb - his left foot.

Director: Jim Sheridan | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Brenda Fricker, Alison Whelan, Kirsten Sheridan

Votes: 79,797 | Gross: $14.74M

24. Copying Beethoven (2006)

PG-13 | 104 min | Biography, Drama, Music

59 Metascore

A fictionalized account of the last year of Beethoven's life.

Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: Ed Harris, Diane Kruger, Matthew Goode, Ralph Riach

Votes: 14,119 | Gross: $0.35M

25. Capote (2005)

R | 114 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

88 Metascore

In 1959, Truman Capote learns of the murder of a Kansas family and decides to write a book about the case. While researching for his novel In Cold Blood, Capote forms a relationship with one of the killers, Perry Smith, who is on death row.

Director: Bennett Miller | Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Clifton Collins Jr., Catherine Keener, Allie Mickelson

Votes: 140,780 | Gross: $28.75M

26. Blow (2001)

R | 124 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

52 Metascore

The story of how George Jung, along with the Medellín Cartel headed by Pablo Escobar, established the American cocaine market in the 1970s in the United States.

Director: Ted Demme | Stars: Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Franka Potente, Rachel Griffiths

Votes: 275,078 | Gross: $52.99M

27. Hilary and Jackie (1998)

R | 121 min | Biography, Drama, Music

78 Metascore

The tragic story of world renowned classic cellist Jacqueline du Pré, as told from the point of view of her sister, flautist Hilary du Pré-Finzi.

Director: Anand Tucker | Stars: Emily Watson, Rachel Griffiths, James Frain, David Morrissey

Votes: 10,740 | Gross: $4.87M



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