To me, the most crucial part of any movie, are the first 10 minutes. If the opening act doesn't work, then why should I care what happens next, right?

In the book Aristotle's Poetics for Screenwriters, the author Michael Tierno states that all (great) movies have a simple question that needs to be answered by the end of the movie, and that this question should be planted by the beginning of the film.

I agree 100%.

I used to use the "sling-shot" method (wish I could remember who coined the phrase): What happens in the first part of your story is what is going to drive the rest of the movie. The whole weight of the first act has to thrust forward the rest of the movie.

Except that it didn't work for the biopic I am writing.

I found that this "Question/Answer" method would work much, much better than what I had.

I have no conclusion for this post, but I do have several examples from this "Question/Answer" method:

Rocky: Will Rocky succeed in "going the distance" with the champion (against incredible odds). Answer: Yes

The Shawshank Redemption: Will Andy Dufresne escape from Shawshank? Answer: Yes.

Scent of a Woman: Will Lt. Col. Frank Slade succeed in killing himself (after a great trip in New York). Answer: No (and that's ok). It's OK because the question gets answered. They closed the loop, and we got a great movie.

PS: It's also the job of a great filmmaker, to not only answer the question, but offer so much more.