The Brand Biopics are taking over! 

This conclusion went way harder then I expected damn

If there was a Chiquita banana biopic it would be the most violent film ever produced rivaling the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan

Elliott is falling into the category of RU-vidrs where right as I start to think “hey, it’s been a while since they uploaded, I wonder what they’re working on” right on queue, new video that day

The Social Network ends with a song by The Beatles. Blackberry ends with a song by The Kinks. That's perfect.

In context about Air's budget, the reason why it was that expensive was that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck relaunched their production company and in every of that company's production, they wanted to give a proper incentive to the people making those films. To summarize, the budget was huge because Damon and Affleck wanted to give their crew a fair an equal paycheck, aside from their actors.

the current Hollywood message is "remember how great capitalism is?"

I've been a fan of Matt Johnson for a while. I got to go to the NY premiere of Black Berry. It was amazing and I'm really happy people dig it. The film really deserves it. Not to mention Matt hungout after the movie for 2 hours talking and taking photos with anyone and everyone. He was awesome.

I would like to see a movie about album cover designers. That time when the design of the album cover was part of the experience. Actually for me it would have to be a series.

My favorite of these movies is The Founder because it stacks Ray Kroc’s visionary business sense and world-changing ambition against his ruthlessness toward the people who got in his way, not the least of which being McDonald brothers whose product he outright stole from under their feet, and leaves it to the audience to decide which of these sides of his legacy outweighs the other (also Michael Keaton is a national treasure)

This video has got me genuinely curious as to how far away we are from getting youtuber biopics. Not gonna lie though, I'd watch the hell out of a Numa Numa Guy movie.

man that ending for Blackberry really hit close to home. I was bought BB Storm by my dad, only to ends up selling it in about a week after because how bad the phone operates.

He’s transitioning from beatles propaganda to movie critics. I’m still here just amazed

I remember taking my girlfriend to see BlackBerry at our local Alamo Drafthouse, and the theater was surprisingly packed and on top of that the entire theater was LOVING the movie!!! One of the best theater experiences I’ve ever had ❤️

I’m ready for the Ringo Starr ranking! Love your videos ❤

I DJ'd the after party for the cast and crew of the Pinball movie. From the producers, to the actors, to the directors, all of them were really nice and chill, mainly grateful for accomplishing a fun flick. Great to see that kind of energy reflected on screen

If they ever did a Pink Floyd biopic (which, I mean come on, yes!) the way I would have it break formula is have it basically just be the story of Roger Waters’ and Syd Barrett’s friendship, Syd’s decline, and Roger’s reaction to it, so it wouldn’t even be that much about the band so much as two friends whose personal and artistic bond birthed the legendary music we know, the tragedy that created the melancholic beauty of Floyd’s soundscapes. Shit, even a paint-by-numbers biopic for PF would be leagues more watchable than some bloody film about an ulcer-inducing cheese crisp.

I'm actually glad I spoiled the ending of Blackberry for myself, I feel like it really sold me on the film's vision. It's absolutely masterful writing, it's so poetic. Im gonna watch it now!

Time and time again we see that films made by actual creatives vs by corporate studios are usually better. Great video as always!

I've only seen two of these, being Tetris and Blackberry. The latter of which I'd consider one of my favourite films of the year. As a Canadian it was just great to see a Canadian film that didn't suck (we have so few of those) and also took this "brand biopic" trope in a unique direction. Glad you liked it too!

great great video. i love matt johnnson's work and blackberry is a great addition. one of my favorite things he's ever said was at the end of a q&a, describing why all his films feature people who fail. he starts by describing the myth of gilgamesh, then says: so he goes home and as he gets over this one sand dune, ... and he starts to cry. he goes “this place is amazing. i cant believe that it’s mine.” and he goes back to his castle and he’s happier than hes ever been in his whole life. and he dies a happy man. and he didnt get anything he wanted. and i thought: this is my life. i will continue to fail at the thing that i want the most, and there’s something quite beautiful about that. and thats how i see these characters in these movies. they really want something impossible-whether it’s a show at the rivoli, or to make a real school shooting movie, or to fake the moon landing, or even to invent the perfect smartphone- and they fail so badly because… they just dont have it. they just dont have the thing you would need to really do it. but it’s okay. yknow? it was something beautiful that they tried.

One thing that Ben Affleck said about Michael Jordan not being that present in AIR is because Michael himself is an eminence that trying to hire an actor that looked, moved and sounded like the real thing would be distracting for the audience that would like to see if the actor playing Michael can pull it off. At the end, the movie is about Nike, not Michael, it is not a biopic. And i think that works in it's favor. Also, Michael himself gave his blessing to the movie because he said that the only way the movie could be done was if his mother would be played by Viola Davis. So yeah, it all worked for him as well.

Speaking of biopics, I honestly believe that the best biographic picture is... that movie about Weird Al! Mainly because it's not true: Al himself said that only 27% of the film is the truth. But! Surprisingly it catches the soul of this brilliant musican - it's a parody biopic about a parodist, filmed in era of shitty biopics. Truly a masterpiece, go check it out!

I genuinely think that you're one of the best script writers on RU-vid. Your structure, your formula is so good for anybody who wants to make this kind of thoughtful analytical content. It's always an all around satisfying treat to experience your essays, like a perfect bite. That (for me at least) is one of the highest compliments I can give to somebody about this kind of work. I hope you enjoy cooking up these perfect bites as much if not more as we all do when we close our eyes and get goosebumps for a few seconds whilst we process them and maybe even shed a tear by the end. ❤

I was blown away by Blackberry. When you said it was made for $5 Million, my jaw dropped. I’m kind of hoping that critics bring it back later on in the year and it gets award consideration, because it was super interesting and I thought the acting was genuinely some of the best of the year. LOVED the ending.

The thing I’m wondering is when the heck are they gonna start making musical biopics on pop punks bands like Green Day or blink 182, cause I’d honestly would love that.

Tetris movie was sick. Soundtrack and story telling - even with truthbending - was gripping.

BlackBerry seems like it’s more about why the company failed than succeeded which makes it infinitely more interesting than the others

I love that you’re branching out from Beatles related videos (not that I wouldn’t immediately click on the next one you posted!!), but you’re videos are just so engaging to watch. I love hearing your opinions and insight. This is the type of video essay I’d normally click on, so seeing it from you makes me incredibly excited to watch 🩷

This made me want to watch Blackberry and thank you for the inclusion of the spoiler free timestamp

FUN FACT: The reason we don’t see MJ’s face in the movie is because Ben Affleck said that if they casted a person to portray him, the actor would take away the spotlight from what the actual movie was about… the shoe.

it's been crazy seeing matt johnson get mass media coverage after spending over a decade being someone I would qualify as "your favorite creator's favorite creator" - he has set the bar for independent filmmaking with conviction. I'm eager to see what people who are influenced by his style and drive create going forward! also excited for ntbts season 3

Another good part of BlackBerry for me was just how great it is to finally see a movie made in canada that actually deals with canadian culture! great analysis!

Nostalgia as a coping mechanism was the biggest epiphany. Wow.

Tetris has to be one of my favourite movies this year, it’s one of the most fun and entertaining movie I’ve ever seen.

That Ben Affleck zoom in was PERFECT! And loved the use of “connective Tissue”, you have a very engaging vocabulary in your videos and that’s why we love them🌸

I literally thought the Flamin Hot trailer was a joke when I first saw it.

Oh Prozd is in Blackberry, dang I might have to watch it just for him.

i just watched blackberry thanks to you, i loved it! 🥰

Really excited to see you talk about Blackberry!

Really glad you covered/enjoyed BlackBerry! Completely agree with your views on it's stylistic and character choices. Great video Elliot :)

wildly underrated channel

I've only seen Air and Blackberry out of this list. Air was a more bog standard biopic but the performances were good and I enjoyed it well enough. Blackberry was for sure more creative and had a lot of comedic elements. One of my favorite films of the year to this point.

I will say, I really get a kick out of the juxtaposition between all of these brand biopics and then just.... Oppenheimer

Can you do a video on Oppenheimer? After watching the Steve Jobs one, I think you would do a great analysis.

I liked Air and Tetris not because I care about the products but because the movies were entertaining. I couldn't care less about Blackberry, but I really want to see it for the actors and story. At the moment I'm very excited about the netflix documentary about Robbie Williams coming up and cautiously excited about a biopic about him they're filming right now.

Can’t wait for the biopic about Isaac Newton coping with the crushing guilt of inventing gravity

Another great video! Love your style and vibes. You’re gonna get a lot bigger on this platform :)

dude, tetris was a movie i didn’t expect to like. but i honestly really loved it

I would love to see the movie industry focusing more on original films....

The segment on the Pinball film reminded me of the movie American Splendor, which also interpolates biopic filmmaking with documentary interview segments (though in American Splendor's case the interviews are of the actual people it's about). I enjoyed that movie a lot, so I'm pretty interested in the Pinball movie, too. I don't think I would've even heard about it if you hadn't talked about it in this video, so thanks for that. And of course, your segment on Blackberry also makes me want to check it out more. I'd heard of the creative team's output fairly often before (thanks in no small part to YMS's recommendations), but that whole segment here piqued my interest even further. I didn't even know about that Wii Shop Channel sketch from their early videos: thanks for mentioning that, I checked it out and it's pretty funny!

Wow I dont know if anyone sees it but is Elliot more like energetic and more of humor in this video in this video comparing to his previous videos (and I like it : D)

I wasn’t expecting you to post a vid like this but i’m glad you did because I noticed this too!

Since a long time, hollywood is facing a major criativity crisis, the production companies jump from trend to trend in order to get something out of it. it is very rare to find new IPs on the movie medium this days. They usually adapt comics, videogames, remake/ reboot old franchises and... Now are focusing on adapting real life stories of brands and companies.

I feel like, of all of these, Blackberry is the best because it's a story and not a giant commercial. It tells the story of a product and how it came to be, but it also shows how it failed and doesn't treat it like a brilliant product. It acknowledges that it's a product with issues. I also like Pinball because it's not really about the product, but a odd little story surrounding the product.

Love your videos man, always get excited to see you've uploaded!

One of these days there’s going to be a biopic about the making of Pampers, and I’m going to call out the trailer backlash for being no different than that of The Social Network.

I remember watching ur first video when it was just posted. Your channel has grown so much, I’m proud!

loved this video! laughed a ton, the slight style change is really cool

Great video! Didn’t expect it to get so heartfelt :,)

THis was fantastic Elliot. You're a gem, I really hope you continue making videos about the movies and media you seem so passionate about. Something I love is listening to another person go on about things they love. When you mentioned the ending bit with how these little products can be seen as an escape, that really did hit home. There was a time when I'd have all these toys, and I'd think they would be a part of my life forever. Now who knows where they catch dust between milestones in life that have me moving from place to place. You're right in that the Barbie movie might just be a cash grab, but so what? If there is true artistry put behind it, and if there is someone that wants to capture that sense of imagination we had as a kid, why not? What's so bad about reminiscing over it. Thank you for making this video, it really gave me an insight into movies I would not have otherwise come across beyond a joke on the internet about why someone would make such a movie about tetris or pinball or blackberry.

thank you elliot, i always enjoy your film recommendations!

Your humor is always an point, love it.

Keep the film content coming Elliott. Would like to see a Barbenhemier review. Just saw Oppenheimer in 70mm IMAX and it completely enthralled me. Everything about it is perfect (save the audio mixing which Nolan literally never gets right) and for my money it’s the best Biopic by a LOT

Elliot, you do a great job. Thanks for making great videos!

My dad actually knows Alexei Pajitnov. my father, (who was about 20-22 at the time) once came to some Moscow tech university to fix his Sinclair computer, and there he sees dudes standing at the bottom of the stairs and drinking beer. He came up to them, asked about who could fix his device, and the dudes said, oh yeah, there's this guy, he's gonna come down in 15 mins or so, wait up with us. It turned out that the dudes were celebrating that Alexey Pajitnov (who was standing right there and drinking beer) sold Tetris to Microsoft. They also invited my father to drink beer with them.

Great use of Bo Burnham’s song “Bezos I” when talking about Amazon starting at 9:59 !👍

Andy looking down at Superhero films: "I don't want to play with you anymore"

Jim Parsons would be a great David Byrne in a Talking Heads biopic.

Stayed until the end (because you would have to be genuinely crazy not to). It is absurd to me that this chanel doesn't have 100k subs yet.

Elliot, this was soo, engrossing. I'm left with a burning ambition to watch all of the movies you talk about - I've only seen, 'Air' so far. I noticed that at your summation (47:10 in) your iPhone cover, your chair and Matt Johnson's sweatshirt were all the same colour! Accident or coincidence? Well done, Elliot, your presentations are educational, comedic and very entertaining.

Im still in awe of your conclusion. Well done vid.

Another wonderful video, Elliot. I especially enjoy your intelligent writing. A total pleasure from start to finish.

Best video yet, keep it up man!

Videos are always 10/10. Thank you

Damn, I didn't expect such a deep and profound message about life in a video about flamin hot cheetos and pinball.

MAN I LOVE COMMENTARY VIDEOS MAN I LOVE THIS CHANNEL 🔥🔥🔥

Great video! The analysis was great

woah, compelling work! well done!

Insightful reviews. Thank you!

47:31 That Bjork quote is really something

One of the best videos I’ve seen in a while fr

Great video Elliot, another interesting think piece!

Excellent video....new sub here. I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Fantastic video and I'm now inspired to find a way to watch all five films. Thanks.

first video of yours I've seen and I must say I loved it

I enjoyed this video so much when it came out that over the past 8 months I have slowly watched all the films you talked about so I could appreciate this video in its full context. (I'd seen blackberry before but I did also watch it 6 more times) Pinball surprised me the most I think, it was such a friendly and sweet movie and I'm glad I ended up seeing it! Your analysis hit even harder this time having done my homework on all this, great video! Also I just appreciate this video for introducing me to the rest of matt johnson's work, which I've now seen pretty much all of, he's just incredible!

48:23 okay i got so happy for no reason seeing my own local tibbs drive in sign in this video lol. love the video!!

Wow, I missed the length when i randomly clicked this video in my feed, but boy was I glad I did.

Can't get enough of these videos. Best channel on RU-vid.

Excellent presentation of films I would have judged right off my radar. Very informative and insightful. Thank you Elliot.

watched BlackBerry after watching this, holy crap what a film.

I love your channel Elliot especially being a fellow Beatle nut but i love all your other content as well. Hope you hit 100k subs soon!

Great video and very good reviews.

what a positive outlook! loved it!

I love how that’s the clip EVERYONE uses of Glenn Howerton when introducing him

I happened to like Air and Tetris. Haven’t seen Pinball or Blackberry yet though.

my fav youtuber talking about my fav director matt johnson this is the greatest day of my life

AG cook why are you making video essays, we already loved you for your music come onnn

5:00 Ben Folds????!??!? holy shit!?!? Air is like one of my favorite songs ever, that whole album is. just got into this channel today and binged everything, really surreal hearing that even for like 2 seconds lol

Can’t wait for the Ranking all Ringo albums