With this month’s release of the highly-anticipated Michael Jackson movie Michael (2026) and next April’s anxiously-awaited four-film cinematic event on The Beatles, audiences may think biopics are only about male pop stars.
Of course, there’s a host of other celebrated subjects just waiting to have their stories streamed. The trick is knowing which ones to click and which ones to skip.
CLICK 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂
Eden
Directed by Ron Howard; written by Noah Pink
Free to Netflix subscribers
Although it looks epic, Eden (2025) is the first indie effort from mainstream moviemaker Ron Howard, who takes a refreshingly dark turn from his pedestrian canon. Equal parts visceral thriller and historic biopic, the pre-World War II story follows misanthrope Dr. Friedrich Ritter (Jude Law) and his partner Dore Strauch (Vanessa Kirby) as they try to forge their own utopia on a remote Galápagos island. But when a German family seeking refuge and a self-proclaimed Baroness (Ana de Armas) moves in to build a luxury hotel, the quest for heaven quickly goes to hell. Law is commanding as always, yet doesn’t give off starving vegetarian vibes. Similarly, Daniel Brühl is a bit too attractive to play the aging Heinz Wittmer. But these are minor issues since everyone in the cast—especially Sydney Sweeney as Margret Wittmer—is as excellent as Mathias Herndl’s immersive cinematography.
Nuremberg
Directed and written by James Vanderbilt
Free to Netflix subscribers
While Nuremberg (2025) is not a traditional biopic per se, it offers sharp insights into the personalities of Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) and war criminal Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe). Based on Jack El-Hai’s book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist (2013), James Vanderbilt’s engaging screenplay echoes the dynamics of The Silence of the Lambs (1991) with Kelley trying to outwit Göring, awaiting trial. The cat-and-maus tension excels thanks to Crowe’s captivating presence. In a career-best turn, he’s both charismatic and terrifying (why the Academy gave One Battle After Another‘s Sean Penn a Supporting Actor nomination and win for his cartoonish villain over Crowe’s fascinating antagonist is maddening). As Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, Richard E. Grant proves there are no small parts—unless played by Wrenn Schmidt. Overall, the film does a fine job in educating its audience without being sentimental or strident. Most chilling is its inclusion of archival footage which adds gravity to the pivotal prosecutions of 1946.
Other biopics worth a watch are Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980), The Queen (2006), The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021), Till (2022), One Life (2023), and Oppenheimer (2023) as well as Federico Fellini, Kenneth Branagh, and Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical works 8½ (1963), Belfast (2021), and The Fabelmans (2022), respectively.
CLICK/SKIP 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
Song Sung Blue
Directed and written by Craig Brewer
Free to Peacock subscribers
In an unapologetic throwback to the corny dramas of the 1980s and ’90s, Song Sung Blue (2025) is a tribute to the tribute band Lightning & Thunder. Based on the 2008 documentary of the same name, this earnest biopic showcases Kate Hudson’s acting and singing range. More impressive is her willingness to reveal facial wrinkles which add a realistic beauty to her portrayal of Claire Sardina. When the Milwaukee native isn’t surviving life’s challenges, she’s performing Neil Diamond’s greatest hits with her wig-wearing husband Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman). While Jackman’s performance is anything but subtle, his renditions of “Sweet Caroline” and “Cracklin’ Rosie” make the film undeniably entertaining.
Swiped
Directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg, who wrote the script with Bill Parker and Kim Caramele
Free to Hulu subscribers
Downton Abbey’s Lily James and Dan Stevens reunite to respectively play real life tech entrepreneurs Whitney Wolfe Herd and Andrey Andreev in Swiped (2025). As the co-founder of Tinder and founder of Bumble, James sounds like she’s doing a poor impression of Kate Winslet doing an American accent. Despite her strange voice, the 110-minute biopic provides some clever lines. Alas, it offers more Wikipedia facts than a meaningful feminist message.
Additional biopics hovering on the click/skip edge cover war photographer Lee (2023), swimmer Nyad (2023), conductor/composer Maestro, the tennis world’s King Richard (2021), Hollywood’s Marilyn Monroe in Blonde (2022), and Italian designers via House of Gucci (2021).
SKIP 🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁
Blue Moon
Directed by Richard Linklater; written by Robert Kaplow
Free to Netflix subscribers
Set at Sardi’s in 1943, Blue Moon (2025) centers around embittered lyricist Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke), a self-proclaimed recovering alcoholic and omnisexual. Hart was also notoriously short and Hawke’s diminutive depiction is as convincing as José Ferrer playing Toulouse-Lautrec on his knees in Moulin Rouge (1952). But unlike that colorful musical, this flat flick plays like a filmed play. It takes place on opening night of the Broadway hit Oklahoma! composed by Hart’s former writing partner Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott), who is now collaborating with the more reliable Oscar Hammerstein II (Simon Delaney). Cameos of Stephen Sondheim (Cillian Sullivan), E. B. White (Patrick Kennedy), Weegee (John Doran), and George Roy Hill (David Rawle) pop up but it’s Margaret Qualley‘s Elizabeth Weiland who breathes life into an otherwise smug and stagy pic that goes nowhere quick.
Other biopics to avoid include misguided efforts on Victorian scientist Ammonite (2020) and last century’s doomed Lady Spencer (2021).