The Best Films Based on Real Life Movies to Watch

To the untrained eye, a TV interview is just that: an interview, a simple (and at times rehearsed) back-to-back between a reporter and their subject. But Scoop is a thrilling reminder of how complex this process can get, beginning with the legwork to the questioning, and even after airing. In the UK, that quest for […]

La Cocina is pretty chaotic. Amidst the hectic rush hour at The Grill, writer-director Alonso Ruizpalacios brings a group of tired, impoverished workers that yearn for a better life into a cramped kitchen in America that gets flooded with cherry cola halfway through the movie in an outstanding long take. While some scenes still retain […]

Sometimes, there are events so absurd that it must be put into cinematic form. This is because these unusual experiences can be necessary warnings or hopeful reminders about what life can offer. The Penguin Lessons seemed to be the latter, at first. It’s a cute story about a depressed teacher who saves and then continues […]

As a supernatural horror, The Pope’s Exorcist doesn’t bring anything new to the table. It employs more or less the usual elements you’d expect from the genre, and to be fair, it does occasionally fright you with its bloody jumpscares and demonic screeches. But as a drama, the film is surprisingly watchable thanks to a […]

Sweetwater has a precious story in its hands, along with a sparkling cast of tried-and-true actors and a generous budget that allows them to go all in with the movie’s 1950s setting. But the parts are far greater than the sum here, because all together, Sweetwater is a mess. It promises to be a biopic […]

Prayers for the Stolen takes more time to observe life in its rural town, than to showcase the action and violence inflicted by the cartels that pass by. It’s a needed perspective. This move drives home how long these cartels were left unaddressed, as the women of the town have gotten used to the danger […]

Between Air, Pinball, Blackberry, and Tetris (is nothing sacred anymore?), 2023 has seen its fair share of business biopics. Unfortunately for The Beanie Bubble, it’s coming at the tail end of a trend that has overstayed its welcome in theaters. The Beanie Bubble isn’t very different from its predecessors in that it depicts its product […]

Exploring morality, conscience, and the death penalty, There Is No Evil tells four interconnected stories about men tasked with carrying out executions. The film excels at creating a sense of unease and tension as their reality contends with their beliefs about capital punishment and loyalty to the state. Director Mohammad Rasoulof (known for his films […]

The real life case that inspired this movie is quite chilling. It’s probably the reason why, instead of depicting the crime in the usual manner, The Sparring Partner is mostly centered around the court proceedings instead. This approach structures the film in a novel way. Like plenty of other films, the legal drama delves into […]

Journalist LLoyd Vogel (Matthey Rhys) scoffs at the prospect of a profile commission, or a “puff piece”, as he calls it. His self-respect and professional ruthlessness has driven people away and this assignment may well be a test from his editor. But it is serendipity that brings Lloyd to American TV host Mister Roger (Tom […]

We’re not aware of the reason why Pad Man didn’t just adapt Arunachalam Muruganantham’s life straight up. The biopic replaces their names, but the general story is the same, with Lakshmi creating a cheaper way to make sanitary napkins despite social stigma. Admittedly, it has all the cheesy biopic story beats. It gets frustrating to […]

This is the true story of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old Black man in Oakland, California, who was shot dead by police in the morning hours of New Year’s Day 2009. Incidentally, 2009 was also the time when smartphones started going mainstream, and so the incident was not only captured by CCTV but also many […]

Given the topic, there’s no surprise that Beauty and the Dogs is a harrowing watch. The gang rape itself is thankfully not depicted, but the journey to getting help– trying to get medical attention, going from station to station, and finally getting a report done in the very station the police perpetrators are parked in– […]

Michael Keaton is the founder of McDonald’s. Well, not exactly, because this movie is the story of how the man he plays, Ray Kroc, took over the company from two very innovative brothers named Mac and Dick. Played by John Carroll Lynch and none other than Nick Offerman, the brothers put up a fight while […]

Zodiac is an edge-of-your-seat thriller that knows exactly when to be slow and when to pick up the pace. Director David Fincher delivers what he was admired for in movies like Se7en and Fight Club (and more recently Gone Girl), and that is an intelligent, not necessarily satisfactory, gripping film. The ensemble cast including a surprisingly fitting Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr. gives a great […]

Bryan Cranston, best known for his role as Walter White in the Breaking Bad series, stars as Robert Mazur, a federal agent, who goes undercover to infiltrate the trafficking network of Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. With the film based on Mazur’s memoir, Bryan Cranston gives an impressive lead performance that captures the intense distress […]

Lion is the award-sweeping movie based on the true story of a kid in India who gets lost in a train and suddenly finds himself thousands of kilometers away from home. 25 years later, after being adopted by an Australian couple, he embarks on a journey through his memory and across continents to reconnect with […]

Like many films about beloved pets, your enjoyment of A Street Cat Named Bob depends on how much you love the titular animal. As such, cat people would delight in how cute the actual true-to-life ginger feline looks on screen, while dog people would disapprove at the gruff way dogs are portrayed here. But for […]

Here’s a based-on-a-true-story courtroom drama that transcends the limits of its genre by virtue of an incisive and unexpectedly prescient script. Twenty years before 2016 sent us hurtling through the looking glass and into a post-truth era, the idea that you could deny the facts as you pleased teetered terrifyingly on the brink of legitimacy […]

With no dialogue, no intertitles, no hired cast, and barely a semblance of a plot, The Man with a Movie Camera doesn’t seem like the kind of film that today’s viewers would seem to enjoy. The film even warns you beforehand that it doesn’t have these things. But as the theater opens, the seats unfold, […]

It’s not easy to talk about dysfunctional families, especially when that family is your own. Talking about the reprehensible parenting, but also the love, the understanding behind their neglect, and the few moments when they actually had your back, can be a hard balancing act, which makes Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle a challenging […]

The award-winning third feature by director Ava DuVernay, Selma, was released around the 50th anniversary of the historically significant marches (Selma to Montgomery) that aided the civil rights movement’s efforts to assure African-American citizens can exercise their constitutional right to vote, harassment-free. The film has been celebrated not only as an artwork, but also as […]

The Children’s Hour was one of the few sympathetic depictions of a lesbian character at a time when same-sex relationships were illegal. That being said, the film doesn’t really focus on forming a couple. It’s also about how destructive the rumor mill can be, but really, the film is  mostly an indictment of how terrible […]

Based on Michael Lewis’ 2011 non-fiction book, The Big Short follows several disparate Wall Street insiders who predicted the housing market crash of 2007-2008, and bet against the market for huge financial gains. It’s a fascinating look into the inner workings and disrepair of the modern banking industry. A great cast of big names (Bale, […]

With his outstanding record of resisting the Nazis, Max Manus seems like a pretty cool guy. The well-travelled soldier volunteered for his country when he could have stayed an ocean away, and he helped organize the resistance against the Germans when he could have just kept his head down. It’s no wonder that he was […]

Christine is about Christine Chubbuck, an awkward and complex reporter who was the first person ever to commit suicide on live TV. Rebecca Hall is terrific as Chubbuck and goes to great lengths to communicate the personality of her subject matter. The movie might seem slow at times, and her acting off, but it’ll all […]

The grief in James White is palpable. It’s inspired by writer-director Josh Mond’s own experience of losing a parent, and it shows, especially through how personal this drama gets. It’s heart wrenchingly honest about its protagonist and how unprepared he was, not just in taking over his mother’s care, but in actually becoming an adult. […]

Crime films usually have cops chase down robbers, not become them. This quirk in Andre Stander’s life makes him the perfect subject for a biopic, as this life-changing career shift must have had a compelling motivation. It’s certainly a great reason to make awesome action sequences, daring escapes, and, of course, the swindling scenes. It’s […]

While terrible in nature, there’s always a curiosity towards serial killers, even if only in hope to identify and protect one’s self from a potential one. The Young Poisoner’s Handbook depicts one such killer named the Teacup Murderer, but while the usual serial killing tropes are present (e.g. the fascination towards death, the disregard for […]

Based on the true story of Daniel “Rudy” Rettinger, this biographical movie follows young Rudy as he pursues his childhood dream of playing football for Notre Dame, despite significant obstacles and copious discouragement from those around him. The movie works not by hitching the action to any major sequences of ball play, but rather to […]

If you’ve been paying close attention to Royal Families in general, then get a snack and settle in, because A Royal Affair’s got it all for you: the steamy scenes, dirty, affair-laden hands, the corsets, and a stunning backdrop of 18th Century Europe. Quite literally deranged and mentally incapable King Christian of Denmark (Mikkel Boe […]

Frida is a biographical depiction of the life of famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, portrayed with unabridged passion and zest by Salma Hayek. It follows her early life (including a debilitating trolley accident that would haunt her physically), through her burgeoning passion for painting, her often tumultuous marriage to fellow artist Diego Rivera, and her […]

Based on a true story, Freedom Writers follows Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank), a new teacher tasked to educate a class of at-risk students in a racially divided community. By encouraging expression, empathy, and ambition, Erin helps them navigate and even go beyond the prejudice and violence that have long defined their experience. Though it sounds […]

While many of the Hollywood films about the Vietnam War depict Americans as the good guys, there are a few that depict the less savory side. One such film includes Casualties of War, which depicts some of the real life atrocities that occurred at the time. Director Brian De Palma brings his signature flourish to […]

A dramatic recreation of the last 10 years in the life of famed pianist Liberace (Michael Douglas), told primarily from the perspective of his young lover Scott Thorson (Matt Damon). Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the film follows from naive young Thorson’s early introduction to Liberace through his 6-year romance and live-in relationship with the celebrated […]

Chadwick Boseman who you might now know as the Black Panther had his break out role in 42, the true story of the first Black major league player Jackie Robinson. A story of expected struggle but also a humbling and humane account that is full of warmth. Jackie Robinson’s coach is played by Dustin Hoffman, […]