5 Best Movies Like Michael

In our review of "Michael," we pointed out that the movie plays it a little too safe and offers an overly polished portrayal of its subject's life and career. The long-gestating biopic of the life of pop star Michael Jackson (played by Jaafar Jackson) deliberately steered clear of most of his controversies, and it seemed a carefully calculated choice to end the movie just before those issues really got rolling. 

In its defense, many biopics — of musicians or otherwise — present a carefully crafted version of their subjects and are rarely interested in being hard on them. It's not a sin that only "Michael" is guilty of. Beyond all that, the movie offered an excellent lead performance by Michael's real life nephew, great music (obviously), and the celebration of his achievements that his fans wanted to see.

It would be easy to point fans of "Michael" to our list of the best music biopics and call it a day. But we thought recommendations more specifically tailored to what people liked about "Michael" would be more relevant. From biopics about other Motown artists; to stories of people who had a similar path and faced similar adversities on the way to stardom; to a movie that shares a producer with "Michael" and other tonal similarities; these are the music biopics we think that "Michael" fans would most enjoy checking out next.

In what will forever remain Chadwick Boseman's most underrated movie, "Get On Up" sees the late actor play soul pioneering funk and soul singer James Brown across nearly 60 years of his life. But rather than start at the beginning and then go through Brown's life and career chronologically, "Get On Up" adopts a more interesting approach wherein events and milestones are presented out of order, with the framing device of an older Brown being reminded of various moments in his past and then recalling them for the audience. And that includes directly addressing said audience as he sets up and narrates each scene.

While Brown's upbringing involved even more extreme poverty than Michael Jackson's working class childhood, both did suffer abuse at the hands of fathers with violent tempers. "Get On Up" addresses it more directly and vividly than "Michael" does, however, so please keep that in mind if you need to protect your mental health. And of course, both musicians earned leadership-based nicknames indicating their influence in their respective genres, with Brown being the Godfather of Soul to Jackson's King of Pop.

Brown definitely had a much wilder life than Jackson, one dotted with addiction and excess that sometimes derailed his career — but like Jackson, the music he made and the genres he was foundational in establishing and popularizing cannot be denied. Boseman fully embodies Brown, appropriately electric during the musician's highs and compellingly heartbreaking during the musician's lows. It was seen as a major snub that he didn't get an Oscar nomination for the role.

If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.

Speaking of actors disappearing into the musicians they played, it doesn't take long while watching 2004's "Ray" that you genuinely forget it's Jamie Foxx playing Ray Charles, rather than seeing Charles himself. There is definitely a fine line between doing an impression of someone and actually becoming them — and given Foxx's beginnings as a stand up comedian, it was easy to assume the movie would be largely the former. But Foxx gives an astonishing and surprisingly nuanced performance as Charles, one that nabbed him a best actor award from the Oscars.

"Ray" begins with the musician's rough childhood, including slowly beginning to lose his vision at age 5 and becoming completely blind by age 7. But his mother made sure he never let himself become a victim of his disability, and taught young Ray to be independent and to live a life like he was a person with sight as much as he possibly could. He eventually discovers an aptitude for singing and playing the piano, though his journey to becoming the Ray Charles we all know wasn't without numerous setbacks — some that weren't his fault, and some that came as the result of bad decisions.

There are definitely things "Ray" doesn't tell you about the true story. While it shows more of the warts than "Michael," it is far from a tell-all biopic. Like "Michael," this is a movie meant to cement its subject's place on the pedestal rather than challenge it. But if you're a fan of "Michael," you are probably okay with that approach anyway. 

While Michael Jackson's abusive father loomed large over his career during the Jackson 5 era, Michael had become professionally emancipated from his dad fairly quickly. He also established that he didn't need his dad to be famous and successful. The same cannot be said for Tina Turner, unfortunately, whose career was so intertwined with her violent husband that escape was hugely challenging. It's difficult for a woman to get out of an abusive marriage, oftentimes more than it is for a child to grow up and move away from an abusive parent.

While "What's Love Got to Do with It" is a Tina Turner biopic, it is arguably as much a story about the marriage in particular and her believing that she was trapped because she couldn't be successful as a singer without her husband. Angela Bassett gives a powerhouse performance as Tina, given the difficult task of being not just Tina, but a Tina who acted like nothing was wrong at home, keeping her abuse hidden for years. Laurence Fishburne has the unenviable task of playing a monster as Ike Turner, but someone's got to do it — and he is equally excellent.

Sometimes the real-life family of a biopic's subject weighs in, and in the case of "What's Love Got to Do with It," Ike Turner's daughter denies the movie's allegations. Ike himself has also claimed, the movie made him more violent than he actually was. Take from that what you will.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.

Michael Jackson and Elton John have more in common than one might realize. Both had restrictive childhoods where music, wild fashion, and outlandish performances offered rebellion; both challenged notions of traditional masculinity; both were early pioneers of music videos; and both of their careers were in ascendance at roughly the same time. So watching "Michael" and then watching "Rocketman" makes the films into companion pieces in a number of ways. However, the execution of the actual biopics couldn't be more different.

While "Rocketman" sees Taron Egerton portray John while going through the familiar biopic motions, there are moments where the movie essentially becomes a full on musical. And we mean that in the classical sense, of full-on stage productions. "Rocketman" features several elaborate dance numbers, and that's apart from depicting major concerts as glitzily as Elton John performed them.

We're talking "Singing in the Rain" or "La La Land" types of set pieces. And while it could have come off as gimmicky, it fits within not only the narrative of "Rocketman" but also Elton John's larger-than-life persona and approach to performing music. Egerton won a Golden Globe for playing Elton John, especially well deserved given that the actor also did all of his own singing. 

Lastly, we come to a music biopic that couldn't be more different than "Michael." For one, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is about an entire band (Queen) rather than centering on one person — even if Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek) does come across as the movie's de facto main character. Queen was (and is) also an avant-garde, experimental prog rock band rather than a pop act. And, for once, there is nothing about anyone's childhoods. The movie opens with the members of Queen meeting as adults.

All that being said, multiple critics pointed out some tonal similarities between "Michael" and "Bohemian Rhapsody," feeling as if the pair were built from the same basic formula. A Reddit fan theory even goes as far as to suggest that the two movies exist in the same cinematic universe, as it were. The two movies share a producer (Graham King), and both even have a cameo by Mike Myers as a record executive. Regardless of cheeky in-jokes and possible shared intent, anyone who enjoyed one of these movies will likely enjoy the other.

"Bohemian Rhapsody" is another biopic where the lead actor won a best actor Oscar and, like "Ray," was also nominated for best picture. As for how the surviving members of Queen feel about "Bohemian Rhapsody," they all remain pretty positive about it, which stands to reason as they were able to oversee the making of the movie themselves, thus ensuring it was an ensemble film and not just a tribute to Freddie Mercury. That's another similarity between this film and "Michael," which had the involvement of several members of Jackson's family, with some power over what the film did and did not depict.