Ourweekly columnStaff Pickstakes you back to a time when video stores reigned supreme andthe "Staff Picks" section was the placetofind outwhat films were worthy of one's time.Of course, our version of Staff Picks has a decidedly skintillating angle, as we suss out the films from a particular subgenre are the best to find great nudity. This week, with musician biopics becoming all the rage again, why don't we take a look at five of the better—and more skin-filled—examples of the genre?
The musician biopic revival kicked off in earnest with thesurprise smash hitrelease of Straight Outta Compton in 2015. Grossing over $200 million at the box office and earning an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, the film reignited the blockbuster music biopic craze. Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman continued the trend, both films winning Oscars, and with an Aretha Franklin biopic due later this year, followed by Baz Luhrmann's Elvis biopic next year, the genre shows no signs of slowing down.
Obviously with the existence of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, which is one of the most note perfect spoof films in the history of film, it's hard to take most musician biopics seriously in this day and age. 2015's Love Mercy un-ironically recreated Brian Wilson's Smile session meltdowns after they were taken to task eight years earlier, while Bohemian Rhapsody opens with Freddie Mercury pulling a Dewey Cox and thinking about his entire life before he goes onstage at Live Aid. The better ones shirk this trend, particularly the ones that came before the mid-aughts boom of the genre with Ray and Walk the Line, Walk Hard's primary targets. The best ones don't have any trace of spoof-ability, carving a path that can't be poked fun at through either brazen anachronisms or major artistic liberties.
While this could have easily been broken down into "Composer Biopics" and "Band/Musician Biopics," we thought it would be nice to just combine the two as both sides of the Music Biopic coin have some stellar examples that fit our purposes. So we've got two classical biopics, two rock biopics, and a hip-hop biopic for you this week in our Staff Picks...
Lisztomania (1975)
With subtext now completely out the window in his career, Brit badboy Ken Russell released two films starring The Who's Roger Daltrey in 1975. While the Daltrey-starring adaptation of the band's rock operaTommyis a mostly skinless affair with Daltrey given little to do beyond parading around shirtless, their other collaboration was an absolute bonkers bacchanalia of sex and gigantic phalluses...
Not five minutes later, the notorious lothario gets an up close and personal introduction to the feminine wiles ofAnulka Dziubinska, courtesy of beloved British character actor Aubrey Morris...
Also, keep your eyes peeled for another actress whose big break came in that same year'sRocky Horror Picture Showwhen the Pope catches Liszt in bed with redheaded beautyNell Campbell...
While probably the least historically accurate film on our list, it's got some absolutely bonkers stuff going on that's worth your time...
