Biopics have a bad reputation these days.

Ever since Bohemian Rhapsody enjoyed an amount of awards-season and box office success indirectly proportional to its overall quality and thematic depth — one of its major problems? It almost seemed terrified of the fact that Freddie Mercury was gay — the genre, a longstanding staple of cinema, has taken a beating from moviegoers and critics alike. Perhaps deservingly so: filmmakers and studios tend to bet on the drawing power of their (usually famous) subjects, forgoing creative storytelling for staid formula. 

The latest movie to follow the Bohemian path is Michael, the Michael Jackson bio that managed to sell tickets to the tune of more than $1 billion worldwide, despite the deeply conflicted narrative surrounding it. The film never addresses the pedophilia claims and lawsuits against its subject, and anyone hoping to counter such whitewashing by watching documentary series Leaving Neverland won’t find it available to stream in the U.S. due to lawsuits won by Jackson’s estate. Which is a long way of saying that Michael may wield a lot of behind-the-scenes power, but ultimately is a lousy biopic.

In fact, duds in the genre tend to be of the music-personality variety. Bob Marley: One Love, Amy Winehouse bio Back to Black, and Aretha Franklin story Respect — to name a few — adhere to dreary formula, while Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere shows some narrative ambition by focusing on one small piece of its subject’s life, but ultimately delivers thin, empty drama. Outside of that, Marilyn Monroe flick Blonde experimented with the form with nigh-disastrous results (birth-canal cam, anyone?); several Mark Wahlberg BOATS (Based On A True Story) movies about ordinary folk doing extraordinary things, e.g., Father Stu, Joe Bell, and Arthur the King, were underwhelming; and the less said about Reagan, the better.

But we’re not here to pile on. In fact, the true counter to Michael seems to be Anthony Bourdain biopic Tony. The Dominic Sessa-led drama currently is riding high in Rotten Tomatoes approval ratings: 93 percent from critics, 92 percent from audiences. Tony is currently streaming on VOD platforms — which, if we’re being hopeful — might set the genre on a more laudable path. And it inspired us to ac-cen-tu-ate the positive and compile this list of post-Bohemian Rhapsody biopics that don’t suck:

• We’ll lead with the biggest well, DUH movie on the list, considering it fell only a few million shy of grossing a billion bucks, on its way to winning seven Oscars, including best picture and director for Christopher Nolan. The size, scope, and ambition of this story, about the man who invented the atomic bomb, outclass all in its stead. Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. lead a staggeringly talented cast (Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, it goes on and on), and for a movie that’s roughly 95 percent people in rooms talking, it never, ever falls shy of being grippingly cinematic. Of course, the remaining five percent is the Trinity bomb test sequence, which is breathtaking and horrifying in equal measure.

  Where to stream oppenheimer

• Now, let’s contrast a story of great historical consequence with one bearing none whatsoever. Once upon a time in the 1970s, an average guy named Roger Sharpe fought tooth-and-claw to lift the ban on pinball in New York City. Yeah, it was once considered immoral, primarily by uptight doofuses. Anyway, Sharpe is played by Challengers star Mike Faist, who wears a ridiculous mustache and characterizes the guy as an eternally upbeat fella who sees pinball as a metaphor for life: The ball always drains down the hole, so you’ll never win, but you have to have fun while the ball is in play. And you’ll have loads of fun watching this terribly underrated gem.

  Where to stream pinball: the man who saved the game

• Rock-star biopics inevitably mythologize their subjects whether they intend to or not. But Rocketman leans into it, turning the story of Elton John’s rise to fame into a full-blown extravaganza of a musical, complete with elaborate creatively staged sequences that significantly transcend the usual concert-performance stuff. Sure, at heart it’s a jukebox musical, but its big, garish style reflects the heart of its subject with an accuracy other biopics often lack.

  Where to stream Rocketman

• Daniel Kaluuya gives an Oscar-winning masterclass performance playing Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton. He orates like few before or since, and director Shaka King channels Michael Mann as he oversees visceral and intense scenes of conflict. This film tends to get lost in the shuffle due to its Covid-era release; it, and especially Kaluuya’s efforts, deserve better.

  Where to stream Judas and the Black Messiah

• Full disclosure: I had my dukes up for this one. I mean, It Boy Timothee Chalamet was playing Bob Dylan, and the whole project seemed calculated to raise the hackles of traditionalist Dylanites who’d be honked off at this pretty boy doing karaoke and singing atonally through his nose. Truth is, the movie sidesteps convention by toying playfully with the opacity of the Dylan persona and legend, and the musical performances speak to the film’s themes at the same time they pack a considerable punch.

  Where to stream A Complete Unknown

• More full disclosure: I don’t like pro wrestling. But this movie leans away from the goofy kayfabe of it all by offering a fully engrossing dramatization of the relentless tragedy of the Von Erich brothers, taught to be wrestling lifers by their father, played by a truly inspired Holt McCallany. Jeremy Allen White, Zac Efron, and Harris Dickinson are extraordinary as the guys in the ring, who are leotarded showboats beset by so much emotional hardship, you’ll never doubt their tears are real.

  Where to stream The Iron Claw

• Sure, Bradley Cooper tries so hard to render this Leonard Bernstein bio a Piece Of Art, and stumbles a bit here and there. But his robust and ambitious visual storytelling is undeniable, and his on-screen performance, empowered by extraordinary work from Carey Mulligan as Bernstein’s long-suffering wife Felicia Montealegre, is effortlessly charismatic. If only more biopics were willing to take risks like this one does.

  Where to stream Maestro

• John “Divine G” Whitfield was one of the founders of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program, developed during his quarter-century of incarceration. The never-less-than-extraordinary Colman Domingo plays Divine G with grace and power as he helps fellow inmates cope with their trauma, yearning and misdeeds by staging and performing a play in prison – and acting across from him are real-life RTA alums giving truly, deeply moving performances. To see this film is to never forget it.

  Where to stream sing sing

• Pablo Larrain directs this delightfully nuts quasi-bio of Princess Diana like it’s a horror film. Kristen Stewart stars as the reluctant Royal who’s trapped within Palace procedures and traditions — but she’s relatable to commonfolk since she’s also stuck in an unhappy marriage with children she wants to protect from emotional harm, and the world’s most disapproving mother-in-law. The suffocating scenario peaks with a dinner sequence depicting the most miserable instance of soup-supping in cinema history. It’s an awful shade of green, the soup. So, so gross. Kafka’s estate probably should’ve earned a few points from the box office of this one.

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  Maybe this one should’ve been on our list of the best movie spoofs, since it uses the life of music-parody superstar “Weird” Al Yankovic as an excuse to give the ol’ music-biopic formula a righteous Walk Hard-style rogering. A bewigged Daniel Radcliffe lip-synchs and pretend-accordions his way through the title role, and the movie captures the goofy spirit of its subject. The fact that it’s a Roku Channel original adds an extra layer of LOLs.

  Where to stream Weird: the al yankovic story

John Serba is a freelance film critic from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Werner Herzog hugged him once.