Biopics (Mostly) Suck Podcast

Everyone needs a break now and then. After 21 episodes, it is time to rethink our approach to making this podcast. Enjoy what we have made and we will be back soon. Keep in touch on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the handle @MostlySuck. Be sure to visit our website at www.biopicsmostlysuck.com, and oh, yeah, if you like what we are doing, tell your friends. Take care!

Petey Green was a drunk, and ex-con, a radio and television show host, a social advocate, and a voice of the Washington DC black community. If you don't know about Petey Green, you will be a fan once you listen to this episode. But, what did the filmmakers leave out? It was the very thing that drove Petey Green - and provided his legacy.​

​Dawn and John join Rob for a discussion that celebrates Petey Greene, and highlights the important work he did in the Washington DC community which the movie missed.

Molly Bloom ​fell out of pursuing skiing as a profession and fell into running high stakes card games in Los Angeles. The celebrities that would attend were a means to attract players with money to lose. She ran a good game until the wheels fell off of the bus. There was the time she took a stake in the game (this made it illegal). Then there were the drugs. Oh, and getting beat up by a mobster. And then there was the Russian mob. Then she wrote a book about the whole experience, which was followed by her arrest, her trial and her being severely in debt to the U.S. government because they siezed her money and would not give it back unless she shared details about the players in her games.

​Aaron Sorkin wrote and directed this tale of a money and celebrities without a hint of salaciousness and while presenting a heroine who is a celebration of an empowered woman. ​That term is never used in the film, and there is no reason why it has to be used. Why does it have to seem odd that a woman can be in charge of her own destiny, without giving up her body for it and without having a man there to clear the way for her? Rob and Dawn talk about all of that as we tell the true story behind this movie based on a true story.

Alan Turing should be hailed as an international hero. Instead, he was castrated by his government for being gay. He played a key role in decoding messages from the Nazi's during World War II, and by some estimates, shortened that war by two years and saved millions of lives with his genius.​

​The question before us for this episode is "Does 'The Imitation Game' give Alan Turing his due?" Does it provide a depiction of the man that is fair? And, let's not go with the "But movies always take liberties." approach. We know they do. But there are times when they leave the worst impression by doing so. For this episode, sharing the true story behind this movie based on a true story is a cause to bring the people in this story their due.

Is that a bit of strong coffee for a movie podcast?Why, yes, I think it is.

What would you do for the person you love? Would you give them something you don't want them to have? Would you rob a bank for them? Would you kill for them?​

​"Dog Day Afternoon" is about the bank robbery, but it is wrapped up in the Gay Liberation movement that was kicked off just a few years earlier with the Stonewall Riots. It folded in an increased public consciousness about the rights of people in the prison reform system. It blended instant celebrity provided by news media coverage. This movie is a stew of influences and ends up being a mirror we hold up to ourselves. We may not like what we see. And the truth provides a clearer reflection than dramatization can provide. If you're ready, let's get started.

One of my favorite films that few people have heard of is this achingly beautiful story about a man who studies wolves in the arctic. The themes are complex, the actors are brilliant, and the film is unique in its depiction of man and nature. ​

​While this movie is based on the book that is based on a true story by Farley Mowat, how true is that true story?How do you grade a movie when the true story it is based on is less than truthful?Who determines what a natural resource is?Why doesn't John like this movie and why do he and Dawn have an aversion to nature?

The Beats. Iconoclastic representations of freedom. Romanticized. Criticized. Eulogized. But, what did it mean to be a Beat?

​"Howl" does not tell you because it is a biography of a poem. A poem that exercised the freedom ofspoken word and thought. A poem that reinforced that same freedom as the subject of an obscenity trial. A poem that has spoken to people for nearly sixty years.

​This is our two-part examination of a film. "Howl" While seemingly simple due to its scripts written from transcripts, bears some examination to set the context for the time period in which it exists. John Helix sets that context for us in Part One as we talk about the movie. In Part Two, we will examine the facts and compare them to the film.

The Beats. Iconoclastic representations of freedom. Romanticized. Criticized. Eulogized. But, what did it mean to be a Beat? "Howl" does not tell you because it is a biography of a poem. A poem that exercised the freedom ofspoken word and thought. A poem that reinforced that same freedom as the subject of an obscenity trial. A poem that has spoken to people for nearly sixty years.

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This is our two-part examination of a film. "Howl" While seemingly simple due to its scripts written from transcripts, bears some examination to set the context for the time period in which it exists. John Helix sets that context for us in Part One as we talk about the movie. In Part Two, we will examine the facts and compare them to the film.

What do you know about "Norma Rae"? I mean, aside from the five second clip which is shown at the Oscars every year of Sally Field standing on top​ of a table holding a sign that says "UNION".

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Did you know she was a real person?Did you know that the movie helped union efforts in the United States (briefly) before Ronald Reagan came into office?If you are reading this on Labor Day, did you know that unions are the reason you likely have today off? There are so many questions. Thankfully, myself, Dawn and our friend and union organizer Lolita are hear to provide the answers.

What happens when you plan a great episode and forget to hit the record button? You end up with no episodes to release and a date coming up quick. What to do, what to do. I know! Let's do a personal journey episode. If I ever use the term "influencer" please put me out of my misery.​