Best Music movies that are award winners or nominees

La La Land(2016)

Combined Rating:
96
Combined Critics Rating: 96

While waiting for their big breaks, two proper L.A. dreamers, a suavely- charming, soft-spoken jazz pianist and a brilliant, vivacious playwright, attempt to reconcile aspirations and relationship in a magical old-school romance.



Whiplash(2014)

Combined Rating:
93
Combined Critics Rating: 90

A promising young drummer enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student's potential.



The Pianist(2002)

Combined Rating:
89
Combined Critics Rating: 84

A Polish Jewish musician struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto of World War II.



Ma Rainey's Black Bottom(2020)

Combined Rating:
89
Combined Critics Rating: 90

Tensions rise when trailblazing blues singer Ma Rainey and her band gather at a recording studio in Chicago in 1927.



8 Mile(2002)

Combined Rating:
87
Combined Critics Rating: 82

A young rapper, struggling with every aspect of his life, wants to make it big but his friends and foes make this odyssey of rap harder than it may seem.



Crazy Heart(2009)

Combined Rating:
87
Combined Critics Rating: 85

A faded country music musician is forced to reassess his dysfunctional life during a doomed romance that also inspires him.



Ray(2004)

Combined Rating:
85
Combined Critics Rating: 80

The story of the life and career of the legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his meteoric rise to stardom during the 1950s and 1960s.



Walk the Line(2005)

Combined Rating:
85
Combined Critics Rating: 79

A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins.



Dreamgirls(2006)

Combined Rating:
84
Combined Critics Rating: 81

A trio of black female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960s, facing their own personal struggles along the way.



CODA(2021)

Combined Rating:
82
Combined Critics Rating: 82

As a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family's fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music by wanting to go to Berklee College of Music and her fear of abandoning her parents.



Bohemian Rhapsody(2018)

Combined Rating:
80
Combined Critics Rating: 73

A chronicle of the years leading up to Queen's legendary appearance at the Live Aid (1985) concert.



The Piano(1993)

Combined Rating:
79
Combined Critics Rating: 74

A mute woman is sent to 1850s New Zealand along with her young daughter and prized piano for an arranged marriage to a wealthy landowner, but is soon lusted after by a local worker on the plantation.



Hustle & Flow(2005)

Combined Rating:
78
Combined Critics Rating: 75

With help from his friends, a Memphis pimp in a mid-life crisis attempts to become a successful hip-hop emcee.



Dirty Dancing(1987)

Combined Rating:
74
Combined Critics Rating: 63

Spending the summer at a Catskills resort with her family, Frances "Baby" Houseman falls in love with the camp's dance instructor, Johnny Castle.



Shine(1996)

Combined Rating:
73
Combined Critics Rating: 67

Pianist David Helfgott, driven by his father and teachers, has a breakdown. Years later he returns to the piano, to popular if not critical acclaim.



Coal Miner's Daughter(1980)

Combined Rating:
70
Combined Critics Rating: 71

Biographical story of Loretta Lynn, a legendary country singer that came from poverty to worldwide fame. She rose from humble beginnings in Kentucky to superstardom and changing the sound and style of country music forever.



The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert(1994)

Combined Rating:
67
Combined Critics Rating: 58

Two drag performers and a transgender woman travel across the desert to perform their unique style of cabaret.



Little Voice(1998)

Combined Rating:
62
Combined Critics Rating: 59

A shy reclusive lady is convinced by an invisible entity to sing. Subsequently, she finds herself noticed by a sleazy talent agent and her talent being showcased on-stage. She also meets a kind but nervous man who becomes her best friend.



Once(2007)

Combined Rating:
61
Combined Critics Rating: 44

A modern-day musical about a busker and an immigrant and their eventful week in Dublin, as they write, rehearse and record songs that tell their love story.



Purple Rain(1984)

Combined Rating:
60
Combined Critics Rating: 54

A young musician, tormented by an abusive situation at home, must contend with a rival singer, a burgeoning romance, and his own dissatisfied band, as his star begins to rise.




0
1
2