Thursday, May 12, 2011

Thursday Top Threes: Biographies/Biopics!

B: guestblogger in da house! so, what are your favorite biographies or biopics?

Burkie:
1. Jim Thorpe: Indian Athlete by G. Van Riper. this was one of a series of juvenile biographies that i read. i read most of them, but the one about Jim Thorpe got me hooked on this series, on biographies, and on reading in general. i must have read it at least a dozen times.
2. Lawrence of Arabia. the 1962 movie starring peter o'toole. a stunningly beautiful movie starring a stunningly handsome actor (yes, i said it), about a fascinating man. if you've never seen it, i highly recommend it.
3. Shakespeare (The Illustrated and Updated Edition) by Bill Bryson. i love bryson's writing and i love shakespeare, so this is a no-brainer for me!

Jennifer: I don't really read biographies...not that I don't like non-fiction, I just don't have time. No biopics came to mind right away either, so these are sort of random.
1. Bright Star. I'm not really into poetry either but I loved this film about the last few years of John Keats' life. Abbie Cornish is fantastic as Keats' fiancée Fanny Brawne.
2. Amadeus. It's been a long time since I've seen this but I still remember quite a lot of it, especially Mozart's ridiculous giggle.
3. Becoming Jane/Miss Austen Regrets. Mostly fictionalized but people love to speculate on what Jane Austen was like and I'm happy to join in.

Mira: Somehow my edits disappeared. :(
1. Shakespeare in Love: A fictionalized rendition of Shakespeare's life but oh-so-good. Plus I love how they mixed in the storylines/characters of the plays into his supposed "real life."
2. Walk the Line: Did not really know much about Johnny Cash, his music, or his life. But I really enjoyed the powerful story told here and thought that the actors chosen to play Johnny and June were fantastic!
3. Remember the Titans: I'm a sucker for feel good sports movies. And you make it based on a true story? Even better! Plus, I love how they show you what happened to the different kids afterward. A close fourth was Miracle.

3 comments:

Fanny said...

I actually really like biopics, so it was kinda hard narrowing it down to three.

1. King's Speech. I watched this one recently so it's freshest in my mind. Colin Firth does a magnificent job of portraying George VI. I went through all sorts of emotions watching him overcome his speech impediment and his relationship with his brother.

2. Dangerous Beauty. It's about Veronica Franco, a 16th century Venetian courtesan. In a time when women married young and were not educated, she gained access to a whole different world by choosing this alternative lifestyle and was able to outsmart men. Only thing I didn't like was all the nudity.

3. The Diary of Anne Frank. It was one of my sister's books that were lying around the house and I picked it up because I was curious as to what the older kids were reading. I was completely wrecked afterward.

burkie said...

i really want to see the king's speech. perhaps i'll do that this weekend! i rarely read non-fiction myself, and most of the biographies that i've read were in my childhood. Bright Star looks interesting. and i certainly approve of Shakespeare in Love and Walk The Line! i though of another all-time favorite of mine: Hans Christian Anderson, starring danny kaye. great songs and a touching performance.

Jennifer said...

I really liked the King's Speech as well...not sure why I didn't think of it!

Bright Star is on Netflix streaming =)