6 Great Biopics About Terrible People

Rhys Graeme-Drury

A lot of biopics are about heroic, influential or lauded historical figures who irrevocably changed the course of history; think Gary Oldman’s turn as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy in Jackie or Daniel Day Lewis’ Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln. While these films are all well and good, I often find the most interesting biopics centre around bad people; those who are divisive, despicable and downright nasty. Boy, I can’t wait for the inevitable Donald Trump biopic once he leaves office – you just know it’s gonna be great.

In honour of Margot Robbie’s new film I, Tonya, which follows the life of American figure skater Tonya Harding, I’ve turned my attention to great biopics about terrible people.

The Program (2015)
Director: Stephen Frears
Starring: Ben Foster, Chris O’Dowd, Jesse Plemons

It’s the ultimate Icarus tale; The Program chronicles the rise and fall of competitive cyclist Lance Armstrong, offering us an inevitable biopic that’s as fascinating as it is frustrating. With Ben Foster donning Armstrong’s lycra bike shorts, this is one biopic that was overlooked by audiences when it first opened, but it’s examination of Armstrong’s unrelenting urge to win at all costs is compelling, to say the least. The Program goes behind closed doors to reveal the details of Armstrong’s doping efforts, from bullying and intimidating those around him, to the gradual justification of his own cheating. While it does fall into many of the typical biopic pratfalls, The Program does go to great lengths to unpack the headspace of someone able to deceive as Armstrong did.

Downfall (2004)
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Starring: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Ulrich Matthes

The ultimate biopic about a bad person; Downfall follows the final days of Adolf Hitler, a man who needs no introduction. Even though it received acclaim upon its release, and a nomination for Best Foreign Language film, I find this film a little problematic as it establishes a shred of sympathy for its subject. Hitler, played with aplomb by Bruno Ganz, comes across as a frail human figure, rather than a terrifying supervillain, which one could argue diminishes the atrocities he ordered. On the other hand, that he can be portrayed as a human yet still invoke evil in his supporters tells us a lot about the era and the setting of Hitler’s Germany. It’s a chilling and compelling contradiction.

Oh, and the film spawned one of the best classic memes of all time. Enjoy.

Steve Jobs (2015)
Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen

How insufferable, self-centred and unlikeable can your lead character be before the audience turns against you? That was the question swirling around my head throughout Danny Boyle’s biopic of Apple cofounder and technological visionary Steve Jobs. Armed with biting repartee penned by Aaron Sorkin, Michael Fassbender’s compelling performance as Jobs pushes audiences to reject him. From his cold dismissal of his own daughter, to squeezing friend Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) out of the business he helped found, it’s a complex portrayal that doesn’t exactly paint Jobs in the best light. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that this film is a riveting watch, and the execution is second-to-none.

The Founder (2016)
Director: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Michael Keaton, Nick Offerman, Laura Dern

Here we have another money-grabbing tycoon who goes to extreme lengths to screw over honest people and make a fortune – the real American dream. The Founder sees director John Lee Hancock tackle the life and times of Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton), a travelling salesman who uses every ounce of his business acumen to outsmart the McDonalds brothers (Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch) and steal their billion-dollar idea, taking a wholesome burger joint with a quirky process, and turning it into a multinational corporation. Hancock’s film works as well as it does because of this dark, underlying edge and a magnetic, often overlooked performance from Keaton.

The Social Network (2010)
Director: David Fincher
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer

A film in the same mould as Steve Jobs, David Fincher’s landmark  biopic of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) is as close to perfect as you can get. And yet, at its core is another detestable and single-minded upstart who goes to great lengths to alienate everyone around him, landing himself in legal hot water in the process. Eisenberg’s terrific performance is complemented by another ripping script from Sorkin, which brilliantly illustrates the irony of the founder of a social network acting in such an antisocial manner. Systematic and scathing, The Social Network is a collaboration that illustrated the compelling nature of unlikeable people in a way few other films have before or since.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie, Jonah Hill

Sex, drugs and stock markets; Martin Scorsese’s depiction of provocative Wall Street power broker Jordan Belfort was so gleefully grotesque and raucous that it split audiences down the middle. There were those that revelled in the overblown indulgence, and there were those that despised its glorification of Belfort’s decadent lifestyle. Of course, Leonardo DiCaprio, who gives possibly his best career performance, insists the film doesn’t glamourise Belfort, but instead critiques the society that allowed a man of his ilk to flourish. Whichever side of the fence you sit on, you have to admit – Scorsese, DiCaprio and Margot Robbie crafted a raucous and insatiably good biopic about a whole bunch of truly terrible people.

Images courtesy of Roadshow Films/Roadshow Entertainment (The Wolf of Wall Street), Universal Pictures/Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Australia  (Steve Jobs), Sony Pictures/Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (The Social Network) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Movie Review – T2 Trainspotting

“Choose watching history repeat itself,” says Renton, updating his “Choose life” mantra, but if Trainspotting was the high, T2 is all about dealing with the comedown.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½
Corey Hogan

Twenty years after stealing their enormous drug deal earnings and abandoning his gang in Edinburgh, Renton (Ewan McGregor) returns home from an extended stay in Amsterdam. He reunites with his old friends Simon “Sick Boy” (Jonny Lee Miller) and Spud (Ewen Bremner), who are initially contemptuous for his betrayal, but Renton convinces the trio to go into business together. They agree, though the still-scorned Simon secretly plots his revenge against Renton. Meanwhile, the psychopathic Begbie (Robert Carlyle) escapes from the prison he’s spent the last two decades in thanks to Renton, and learns of his return to Edinburgh…

Busy schedules, a very public feud between director and star, and the general fear of not doing the original justice have held back a sequel to Danny Boyle’s breakout classic Trainspotting for two long decades, but at long last the highly anticipated T2 Trainspotting is here. And unlike most belated sequels to beloved films that are better off left alone, T2 does the best you can ask of something of its type – it honours the original, while providing closure and standing on its own feet as a good film; even if it can’t quite reach the greatness of its begetter.

This isn’t a drug film, or a film about youthful thrills, spills and chills like the first. This is a film about the long-term consequences of all of that; how all the decisions of a drug and crime-fuelled early adulthood come back to bite in middle age. It’s an all-too-real look at facing the music that knowingly holds a mirror up to its audience to make you think “What the fuck have I done with my life?”

Our characters spend a sombre period coming to grips with this, but soon enough the boys agree it’s never too late to reinvent yourself. That’s when things kick into gear and T2 becomes a rollicking good time. Renton and Simon’s friendship/rivalry forms the core of this story, with betrayal constantly hanging over the pair like a cloud.

Bremner is sadly not given much to evolve Spud beyond his lovable idiot routine. Carlyle, on the other hand, is the stand out; his batshit insane Begbie is even more terrifying this time as he hunts Renton with murder in his eyes, yet shows a vulnerability around his family that actually makes you feel for the guy.

There’s an even mix of old and new music on the updated soundtrack, and remixes of both that sum up how T2 feels. It never forgets its beloved roots, but it’s surprising, thrilling, and unexpectedly becomes something funny and fresh on its own. If not entirely necessary or quite as good as Trainspotting, it’ll make you more than happy enough to choose life again.

T2 Trainspotting is available in Australian cinemas from February 23rd 

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures 

Movie Review – Trainspotting

Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose to revisit Danny Boyle’s junkie classic before T2 hits cinemas this month.

Corey Hogan

Twenty-something year old Renton (Ewan McGregor) decides it’s time to kick his addiction to heroin and pull himself out of the bowels of the reprehensible Edinburgh drug scene. Redemption is far easier said than done, especially with amoral friends like Renton’s: con artist Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), dimwit Spud (Ewen Bremner), athlete Tommy (Kevin McKidd) and violent psychopath Begbie (Robert Carlyle). The ruthlessness of reality and lingering allure of smack push Renton back into his old habits, and force him to confront all the predicaments and pandemonium that come with them.

Describing Trainspotting to someone unaware of its colossal impact and legacy is a challenge; “the everyday lives of a bunch of loser junkies” hardly sounds like the makings of a British classic. And yet it rattled the integrity of Hollywood storytelling, propelled Ewan McGregor to the A-list and gave a shot in the arm to the career of now Oscar-winner Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours). How? Well, Trainspotting is probably better described as a hilarious, shocking, breathtaking slice of life. It’s a lethal shot of charm and despair, a seductive and repulsive head-trip through Irvine Welsh’s twisted world-view; a void trapped somewhere between a laugh and a scream.

Trainspotting boldly opens with one of the single most disgusting scenes in the history of film. Renton quits heroin cold turkey, though “cold turkey” to someone as hooked as him involves sticking opium suppositories up his behind to ease the transition. This inconveniently loosens his bowels, the contents of which he’s soon forced to empty in the “Worst Toilet in Scotland”. Then, so desperate for his fix, Renton does the unthinkable and dives headfirst into this hole of horrors to retrieve the opium lost in his excretion. It’s sickeningly surreal, equal parts hilarious and horrifying, and impossible to look away from despite how nausea-inducing it is. It sets the tone for film and the many highs and lows to come in the chaotic disorder that is the everyday lives of a bunch of loser junkies.

And highs and lows is what Trainspotting is all about. Not just the high of the drug and low of the comedown, but thine highs and lows of life, of youth in particular; the high of living carefree and the low of accepting responsibility. Boyle uses this up and down to great effect as his narrative structure too, keeping great momentum in the unpredictable rollercoaster of impulsive behaviour.

Trainspotting has withstood the test of time better than just about any youth-oriented film of its era. The subject may be sickening, but the magnetic characters, rollicking soundtrack, belly laughs and unforgettable images surrounding it are anything but. And with Boyle and co. returning to their roots this month with a long awaited sequel, there’s no better time to choose Trainspotting.

Image courtesy of Polygram Filmed Entertainment 

Movie Review – Steve Jobs

Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin bring us a fascinating and unconventional tale of an enigmatic douche that changed the world whilst wearing a black turtleneck. No, I’m not talking about Sterling Archer – I mean Steve Jobs.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Rhys Graeme-Drury

Steve Jobs isn’t your conventional biopic. Rather than plodding through its subject’s entire life story, director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin have crafted a poetic film where three important moments from Steve Jobs’ (Michael Fassbender) career have been captured like indelible Polaroids.

Each segment captures Jobs’ personal relationships, career path and legacy at each important milestone, whether its his own technological advancements or the tenuous relationships he shares with everyone around him – from his aide Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet), Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) or the mother of his child Chrisann (Katherine Waterson).

Given that Sorkin pens this film, you can expect some clever wordplay throughout. At times, the rat-a-tat sparring the characters exchange can feel a little dizzying as vicious barbs and snarky wit fly back and forth at breakneck speed. The swift verbal jousting keeps the film trotting along at a decent pace though, for both better and worse.

At just a smidge over two hours, the film feels a little rushed as Sorkin attempts to cram everything we need to know about Jobs into his distinct three-act structure. Everything is essential and nothing is wasted, but the film (and its characters) could’ve benefitted from being given extra room to breathe. Regardless, it’s practically criminal that Sorkin didn’t pick up an Oscar nomination for his stellar work on the sharp screenplay.

Punctuated with soaring highs and crushing lows, the film looks to cover the entire spectrum of Jobs’ tenacious and uncompromising persona. It’s here that the full extent of Fassbender’s performance comes to light; he’s rude, fierce, frustrating and fascinating all at the same time. The film doesn’t make Jobs out to be a complete monster or an untouchable saint, and Fassbender works this captivating ambiguity into every line of dialogue and movement.

Despite not being the third, fourth or even fifth choice for the role during pre-production (Christian Bale, Ben Affleck and Leonardo DiCaprio amongst many others were all considered at one point or another), Fassbender totally owns every second of screen-time in this film. It’s a very wordy role that showcases a very different range of talents to more physical and introspective Oscar performances from DiCaprio and Eddie Redmayne. That being said, he’s no Ashton Kutcher (kidding).

Winslet is a little hit-and-miss as she struggles to wrap her mouth around a tricky Polish accent; Rogen showcases a more sincere side as the underappreciated co-founder; and rising Aussie star Sarah Snook lands a few decent laughs with her limited screen time.

Boyle does a serviceable job behind the camera, but had his name not been plastered across the stark white one-sheets, you’d be hard pushed to connect this film with anything he’s worked on previously. When I think Danny Boyle, I think lurid colours (Trance), grimy urban jungles (Trainspotting) and rapid flash cuts that make you jump (28 Days Later). Steve Jobs feels very clean and procedural by comparison, with only a few of Boyle’s distinctive fingerprints left behind on the sleek brushed-steel surface. It’s solid, but nothing spectacular.

Boyle and Sorkin delve into the mind of Steve Jobs and present us with a complex lead that you love to hate; snappy dialogue, a dense plot and some terrific acting make this a worthwhile biopic that avoids some common pratfalls. The direction lacks flair and the pacing doesn’t let up, but on the whole, this is one biopic that can be enjoyed by Apple nerds and intrigued newcomers alike.

Steve Jobs is available in Australian cinemas from February 4th

Images courtesy of Universal Pictures 

Movie Review – Ex Machina

Smart, scintillating, and scary – Ex Machina is one of the most discomforting and intelligent films of 2015 so far.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Review by Tom Munday

In Ex Machina, typical office drone Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) wins a week of pristine luxury with his company’s charismatic, game-changing CEO Nathan (Oscar Isaac) at his tantalising abode in the middle of nowhere. The dynamic, however, is tested after Caleb is tasked with communicating, via Turing Test, with a humanoid Artificial Intelligence being named Ava (Alicia Vikander). Surrounded by Nathan’s peculiar assistant Kyoko (Sonoya Mizuno), Caleb, Nathan, and Ava become embroiled in each other’s psyches.

Writer/director Alex Garland, no stranger to ambitious genre cinema thanks to 28 Days Later and Dredd, has constructed a thought-provoking and impactful sci-fi-thriller with a twist, or ten. Made for just $13 million, Garland and co. efficiently turn Nathan’s uber-modernised home/research facility into a dangerous, labyrinthine maze. The facility’s polished, futuristic aesthetic crafts a balance between original vision and derivative touches. In the vein of Stanley Kubrick, Christopher Nolan, and Danny Boyle, Garland’s eerie, atmospheric style welds you to the seat throughout its appropriate 108-minute run-time. The transition from awe-inspiring to discomforting separates Garland’s work from that of any bigger name. Thankfully, light comedic reprieves come thick and fast; Nathan and Kyoko’s dance number is weird, wacky, and wonderful.

Ex Machina’s underlying intensity builds throughout the crackling keep-you-guessing narrative. Divided up via “Ava: Session…” titles, Garland’s taste for hyper-violence and psychosexuality hurls the audience into a twisted vision of the not-too distant future. Acclaimed cinematographer Rob Hardy captures Nathan’s enviable Scandinavian surroundings immaculately. Like similar Garland-Driven vehicles (Sunshine and The Beach, in particular), paranoia and deception become powerful weapons in the hands of his sniveling, irritable subjects. Testing his characters and audience, Ex Machina strives at subverting and criticizing blockbuster conventions. It proves less really is more.

This sci-fi thriller, despite its overwhelming technical accomplishments, only plunges into the shallow depths of its thematic allure. Juggling Artificial Intelligence and social networking amongst other monolithic topics, its top-heavy introspection merely says what we are already thinking. Sadly, like most recent, similar sci-fi flicks, it fails to craft new perspectives or concepts. Its insight into human interaction and pornographic titillation, cynically points the finger without reason. Conversations between Caleb and Nathan thrust the techno-fear messages front and centre. In addition, the third act is a head-scratcher for right and wrong reasons.

The central trio brings gravitas and charm to this cold, distant Twilight Zone-like tale. Gleeson, son of character-actor Brendan, fuses innocence and sliminess throughout his intriguing lead role. Coming off About Time and Unbroken, this flick might just hurl him into the A-list stratosphere. Gleeson and Isaac, though fitting into familiar roles, convincingly play off one another. Isaac’s raw charisma elevates his moustache-twirling villain character. Vikander also steps into the spotlight with an immeasurable performance, capturing many jaw-dropping ticks and mannerisms. Her character’s signature look, complete with mesh-like torso and intricate circuits, accentuates the movie’s taste for originality and detail.

Despite its minor flaws, Ex Machina’s attention to detail, interesting characters, and glorious style elevate it above recent sci-fi schlockers (Jupiter Ascending, Chappie). This sci-fi thriller, unlike many, is not afraid to tackle the past, present, and future simultaneously. Before seeing it, whatever you do, please ignore the spoiler-ific trailers!

Ex Machina is in Australian cinemas as of Thursday May 7

Images courtesy of Universal Pictures