Better Man

A new interview for OZ radio from SA hotel today. BduCx8MZCTg

UPD 21.01.2025 WW Box Office Better Man vs. The Brutalist $14,091,888 vs. $5,875,094 -------------------------------------------------------------- International Box Office (without US/Canada) *comparison of the countries with any known figures* Better Man vs. Taylor Swift - The Eras Tour Australia: $2,822,222 vs. $5,957,183 Czech Republic: $67,696 vs. $227,405 Germany: $1,571,780 vs. $3,911,805 Hungary: $31,000 vs. $141,648 Italy: $606,759 vs. $1,123,831 Netherlands: $524,810 vs. $474,456 New Zealand: $251,132 vs. $884,104 Portugal: $26,283 vs. $356,645 Slovakia: $32,217 vs. $79,575 Spain: $317,914 vs. $1,909,337 UAE: $82,979 vs. $697,076 UK: $7,084,402 vs. $15,159,422

This is exactly a question what I was interested from the beginning. BJ guys answered me earlier in December that it should be counted as solo album. The main reason - Robbie sings on all tracks. You may possibly admitted that OST version is different to the songs versions in the movie. Well, most of them. While there is more Alex Turner sings the movie, Robbie is more on OST.

UK midweek ;) Albums (Top 100) newne.png 01 Robbie Williams - Better Man (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) newup.png 02 Gracie Abrams - The Secret of Us :arrow: 03 newne.png 04 Mac Miller - Balloonerism newne.png 05 David Gray - Dear Life newre.png 12 Fred again.. - ten days newre.png 24 The Who - Who's Next newre.png 40 Bob Dylan - The Very Best of Bob Dylan

A defence of Better Man on US TV @1881380445486788683

Woo hoo! Well done again. The Swings Both Ways effect with 3 weeks in a row :) Guys, I'm on a business trip this week, so mostly reading than posting. So, have a nice week on forum and outside to you all!

tdfDlwI8o-E Unboxing

:lol:

AY8GfXoNQq8 Vq0cy1boJnU

The FULL scene from Better Man is on YT now! (please don't watch this before watching the movie itself!) o3HOYdlte8w

The FULL scene is on YT now! (please don't watch this before watching the movie itself!) o3HOYdlte8w

Hello, did you miss me? I know I'm hard to resist Y'all can come and help me Pick the sweetcorn out of this It's hard to be humble When you're so f***ing big Did you ever meet a sexier male chauvinist MONKEY Welcome a board again!

reserved *

Events Festivals: 30.08.2024 - Telluride Film Festival (US) - World premiere + with Robbie 10.09.2024 - Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) (Canada) - Canadian premiere + with Robbie 25.09.2024 - Fantastic Fest (US) 10.10.2024 - Mill Valley Film Festival (US) 16.10.2024 - Santa Fe International Film Festival (US) 18.10.2024 - Middleburg Film Festival (US) 22.10.2024 - Chicago International Film Festival (US) ~26.10.2024 - Philadelphia Film Festival (US) 29.10.2024 - SCAD Savannah Film Festival (US) 02.11.2024 - Miami Film Festival GEMS (US) 09.11.2024 - St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) (US) 20.11.2024 - International Film Festival of India (IFFI) (India) - Asian premiere 04.12.2024 - Festival International De Cine De Los Cabos (FICC) (Mexico) - Latin America premiere 08.12.2024 - Whistler Film Festival (Canada) - Western Canadian premiere 14.12.2024 - Red Sea Film Festival (Saudi Arabia) - Middle East premiere 31.12.2024 - Haifa Film Festival (Israel) 02.01.2025 - Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) (US) 05.01.2025 - Festival Opatija (Hungary) 15.02.2025 - Festival Velenje (Slovenia) More dates of the Festivals: https://awardswatch.com/2024-2025-film-awards-calendar/ Special premieres: 27.11.2024 - UK & European premiere (London, Odeon) + with Robbie 04.12.2024 - Spain premiere (Madrid, Capitol Cinema) + with Robbie 06.12.2024 - Italian premiere (Rome, Auditorium Parco della Musica) + with Robbie 08.12.2024 - German premiere (Cologne, Cinedom) + with Robbie 10.12.2024 - Dutch premiere (Amsterdam, Royal Theater Tuschinski) + with Robbie 11.12.2024 - Australian premiere (Melbourne, Village Cinemas Crown) 13.12.2024 - French premiere (Paris, Le Grand Rex) + with Robbie 19.12.2024 - Belarusian premiere (Minsk) 21.12.2024 - Russian premiere (Moscow, October) 29.12.2024 - UAE premiere (Dubai, Dubai Mall's Reel Cinemas) + with Robbie 07.01.2025 - Ukranian premiere (Kyev) 04.02.2025 - Chilean premiere (Santiago) 18.02.2025 - Argentinian premiere 11.03.2025 - Brazilian premiere Other dates: 09.10.2024 - AACTA - Members Screening (Australia) 25.10.2024 - Film Independent - Members Screening (US) 16.11.2024 - Deadline Contenders Film (US) + with Robbie 26.12.2024 - Better Man - Worldwide cinema release 17.12.2024 - Golden Globes Nominee Luncheon (LA, USA) + with Robbie 02.01.2025 - Better Man - Pre-Screening Party + Q&A GALA with Robbie (Melbourne, Australia) 08.01.2025 - Better Man - DIFF - Advance Screening (Dallas, USA) 10.01.2025 - Better Man - US wide cinema release 12.01.2025 - Better Man with In-Person Q&A (New York, USA) + with Robbie 06.02.2025 - AACTA Festival - In the Director's Chair: Michael Gracey on Better Man (Australia) 06.02.2025 - AACTA Festival - Meet the Nominees: Actors (Jonno Davies) (Australia) 06.02.2025 - AACTA Festival - Meet the Nominees: Writers (Simon Gleeson) (Australia) 08.02.2025 - AACTA Festival - Actor on Actor (Damon Herriman and Kate Mulvany) (Australia) More dates of the premieres per country: https://www.gawby.com/movies/7580822/releasedates The most important Awards dates: 05.01.2025 - Golden Globes Award + with Robbie 07.02.2024 - AACTA Awards + with Robbie 16.02.2025 - BAFTA nominations 03.03.2025 - Oscars Ceremony More dates of the Awards: https://www.goldderby.com/feature/2025-osca...s-2-1205955652/ Oscars predictions: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/mo...ast-1235957278/

Well, dear friends! It's time to say goodbye to this thread because of 50 pages limitation... Rather sad - it was one of the best thread thru the last few years at our Take That & Robbie Forum! Now go to this thread - let's continue our discussions of BETTER MAN: http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=277473 THANK YOU again for your participation, doubts, emotions and messages... When this topic had been just opened we didn't know we would watch the movie at all. It was a long a winding road for BETTER MAN. But in the end we got the movie we can be proud together being with Robbie and Take That for so long time. Believe me, I'm very very very happy. I just hope you also got or will get a new emotions from this honest, creative and f*cking amazing FILM. You've been sensational You really did your bit It's been emotional You know I love that shit You look incredible Even from afar I think you're sexy and you're funny And I love you 'cause you love me And I wish that you could always stay Now go away ;) @1880000668385350042

...Nothing can beat THIS for me! rU6plUdSFac AATUHVEhqgc

‘Better Man’ Review: Robbie Williams’ Vibrant Musical Biopic Carries A Tune Kenny Miles reviews Better Man, which treats the life of Robbie Williams with a wild, unorthodox biopic that traffics in tropes but presents its story and star in an offbeat way. Kenny Miles January 17, 2025 Musicals aren’t my favorite genre because most seem similar to me, even in Golden Era Hollywood. I admire off-the-wall ones, like Tommy, a wild Ken Russell rock opera from the 1970s (I was disappointed when Joker: Folie a Deux wasn’t like this). I was disappointed attending the Telluride Film Festival and scanning the hostile, negative reactions to Better Man on Letterboxd, but I am glad I gave that movie a chance. When Better Man sings, it truly soars. The musical numbers are not just luminous but burst with imagination and energy, striking visuals, and catchy tunes. It’s an entertaining visual and auditory feast. The ape metaphor drives home the point that Robbie Williams lived a life where fans ogled at him, and pop stars and famous people were zoo animals. It is an ambitious, bonkers premise that I respect, and we need more filmmakers to take risks like this. Some more dramatic bits about Robbie Williams’ life don’t work for me, and that is where the musical has pacing issues, interrupting the narrative flow. “To be famous, you have to show off and be cheeky,” Robbie observed as a boy, which isn’t too far from the truth. The main focus is the storytelling elements about battling inner demons and his honest struggles with insecurities that come with making it big, and we see a lot of his life spent grappling with this. The Greatest Showman director, Michael Gracey, is an expert in his craft of making musicals, and Better Man is no exception. The film features some truly dazzling musical numbers, showcasing Gracey’s talent, but it does struggle to maintain the same energy during the dramatic storytelling elements. Many moments stuck with me from the “Rock DJ” sequence that went viral, a lovely dance number on a boat, and a shot of Robbie falling through broken ice into a body of water. The final bombastic scene in Better Man felt rather self-indulgent, but his life story is told on his terms. Let him have fun. There was a lot of talk from Americans unfamiliar with him, and maybe it is an indictment on modern moviegoers that they don’t have a sense of discovery but prefer simple comfort. I remember “Millenium” and the James Bond vibes of the music video. I was disappointed when it didn’t appear, but I digress. I recommend you experience it and form your own opinion about this unique musical biopic. https://weliveentertainment.com/welivefilm/...c-carries-tune/

'Robbie Williams' vs. 'Drug Monkey' Sonny Bunch Jan 17, 2025 Way back in 2024 after the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black bombed in the United States, I quipped that it shouldn’t be surprising American audiences had no interest in a movie about a one-hit wonder that was marketed as if it were Bohemian Rhapsody. Which is to say, the marketing mistakenly leaned on the musician’s hits as a draw to get people into the theaters. After getting some pushback from outraged Europeans—she was a bigger deal there than here—I quipped that it made about as much sense as opening a movie about Robbie Williams on 2,000 screens here. I did not realize that plans were afoot to do just that: Better Man is a musical biopic about the life of Robbie Williams starring Robbie Williams playing himself as a motion-capture CGI chimp (more on that in a moment). The film was sold to American audiences with monkey-Robbie looking into the camera in a trailer and saying “I’m Robbie Williams,” followed by roughly 99.9 percent of Americans saying “Yes, and?” which was in turn followed by much of the rest of the English-speaking world saying “Wait you don’t know who Robbie Williams is?” which was in turn followed by accusations of parochialism lobbed back and forth across the Atlantic. (And, I guess, Pacific, since I presume the good people of Oceania also love Williams.) Like Back to Black, Better Man is bombing. Not because of the quality of the film, mind you, but a complete miscalculation in advertising tactics. Advertising is arguably the most important and quite frequently the hardest part of making movies. It’s why stars earn big paychecks (name recognition theoretically means heightened awareness and a built-in fanbase) and why intellectual property dominates the release schedule (same basic concept, just with brand names rather than actor names). If you pitch Better Man to American audiences as “the Robbie Williams movie” they’re going to stare at you blankly. However, if you pitch it as “the musical where a CGI monkey does deranged amounts of cocaine while getting handjobs in clubs all while battling demonic versions of himself and coming to terms with the fact that the only reason he wants to be famous is to fill the hole in his soul that comes from decades of neglect by his loutish, clownish father” … well, I don’t know if you’d have a hit on your hands, precisely, but you would at least have a movie that American audiences might be interested in. Downplay the reality of the story; play up the surrealism of your movie. “Better Man” means nothing to me. “Drug Monkey” at least makes me say “Wait, what?” Because musical biopics aren’t like historical biopics such as Oppenheimer or The Imitation Game in which audiences hope to experience the drama inherent in world-important figures. No, as I noted in my review of A Complete Unknown, the reason people go see musical biopics is that they like to hear actors playing musicians they recognize sing songs they enjoy hearing. It’s why Bohemian Rhapsody was a massive hit and Rocketman a milder one and why A Complete Unknown is performing solidly if unspectacularly and why last year’s Bob Marley: One Love legged out to nearly $100 million domestic. So I can’t really tell you if Better Man succeeds as a musical biopic since I don’t really care about the music or the musician involved. I can tell you that it kinda-sorta succeeds as a deranged vision of celebrity excess, one that acknowledges the base truth of so much of modern pop stardom: that it’s empty, that it’s manufactured, that it’s pursued by people seeking little more than public adulation to fill the vacuum within themselves. Williams is playing himself as a monkey because he’s unevolved, his maturity having been stunted since he became famous at the age of 15 when the boy band Take That took off in the United Kingdom. The simian aspect also eases audiences into the surrealism of the world of the musical; we don’t blink when Take That’s antics spill into a London street and then into a record store and then a club and on and on, even if this particular sequence has the visual panache and coherence of Argylle-era Matthew Vaughn. Better is a later song, after Williams has been kicked out of the band, chronicling via montage his marriage to Nicole Appleton (Raechelle Banno), one that began with joy and crumbled into apathy and worse after she was pressured into getting an abortion at the behest of her record label. It’s a compact story of love lived and lost badly, one that makes plain the affection the two shared without lingering too long on anything that might distract from us seeing a monkey chug bottles of vodka or do battle with hundreds of duplicates of himself in the crowd of the largest concert in English history. In a way, the movie plays like a 135-minute ode to parental neglect, since Williams is driven to the heights of pop stardom to prove to his worthless, absent father that he has “it.” Prove it he does, ending with a triumphant one-man show that he closes with a rendition of “My Way.” Yet one can’t help but think of another film that ends with the same song: Goodfellas. Success at the cost of one’s soul might not count for much. But then, it doesn’t appear as though Williams had much of a soul to lose. So maybe it’s a wash in the end. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/robbie-williams-vs-drug-monkey

Director Of Acclaimed Movie Set To Be 2025’s First Box Office Flop Reportedly Put His Own Money Into The Budget By Matthew Biggin Better Man director Michael Gracey reportedly put his own money into the production budget for the box office bomb. Conceived in 2021, and released theatrically in the United States on December 25, 2024, Better Man is a biographical musical film, chronicling the life and career of British popstar Robbie Williams. The movie is unusual in that Williams is portrayed by a CGI chimp, performed by Johnno Davies via motion capture, and voiced by Davies and Williams. The film has proven to be a box office bomb, grossing just $12 million globally to date, against a production budget of $110 million. Per reports in Puck, Gracey was one of six main investors, recruited by producer Paul Currie, CAA Media Finance, and Australian company Elevate Production Finance, who invested some of their own money into the project. It seems Gracey had a very hands-on role in the movie, serving as director, co-writer, co-producer, and co-financier, and it is likely that the success of his directorial debut, The Greatest Showman, allowed him to achieve this. It is unclear how much money Gracey put into the project, but it feels unlikely that he would be making any kind of return from the movie. A director financing their own movie is considered taboo outside independent productions, but it also suggests that the movie represents something of a passion project for Gracey, so there is a good chance he will not be particularly bothered that the movie has tanked financially, as long as he is happy with the finished outcome. "But the biggest stumbling block, I believe, was the choice to cast Williams as a chimp; this made it less appealing for fans of the former Take That singer, and harder for audiences to invest". Better Man certainly takes risks, and the decision to not have Williams himself appear in the film, as well as having him played by a computer-generated chimp was a quirky gamble that has clearly not paid off. How much this factor alone has affected the box office is anyone's guess, but it's bound to have contributed. This process will be a learning curve for Gracey, who is still only on his second feature film - discounting 2021 documentary Pink: All I Know So Far - and may be reluctant to finance future projects himself. Multiple factors can lead a movie to struggle theatrically, and Williams' failure to break America will have contributed to Better Man's failings, coupled with the fact the star is also in the twilight of his career. But the biggest stumbling block, I believe, was the choice to cast Williams as a chimp; this made it less appealing for fans of the former Take That singer, and harder for audiences to invest. It's nice to see Gracey thinking outside the box and trying something unique with Better Man, but it feels unlikely he will use an animal substitute in subsequent movies. https://screenrant.com/better-man-movie-bud...ctor-own-money/

45th nomination for Better Man Guild of Music Supervisors Awards nominations (GMS) - February 23 2025 Best Music Supervision in Major Budget Films Jordan Carroll – “Better Man” Dave Jordan – “Deadpool & Wolverine” Julianne Jordan – “The Instigators” Rachel Levy – “Twisters” Tom MacDougall, Matt Walker – “Moana 2” Maggie Rodford – “Wicked” https://www.gmsawards.com/

All Awards Wins (15) & Nominations (51) for Better Man by far: Hollywood Music In Media Awards (HMMA) 2024 - 20.11 - Best Original Song - Feature Film (Robbie Williams - Forbidden Road) - Best Music Themed Film, Biopic or Musical (Paul Currie, Michael Gracey, Craig McMahon, Coco Xiaolu, MaJules Daly) Rolling Stone UK Awards 2024 - 28.11 - The Film Award (Better Man) - Winner Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards (WAFCA) 2024 - 08.12 - Best Motion Capture (Jonno Davies) Indiana Film Journalists Association (IFJA) Awards 2024 - 16.12 - Best Vocal/Motion Capture Performance (Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies) - Best Stunt/Movement Choreography (Slavisa Ivanovic, Ashey Wallen, Nicholas Daines, Spencer Susser, Tim Wong) - Best Special Effects (Luke Millar, Scott MacIntyre) - Original Vision Award Critics Association of Central Florida Awards - 02.01 - Best Hybrid Performance (Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies) DiscussingFilm Global Critic Award (DFGFCA) 2024 - 04.01 - Best Visual Effects Golden Globes 2025 - 05.01 - Best Original Song (Robbie Williams - Forbidden Road) Utah Film Critics Association (UFCA) Awards - 06.01 - Best Visual Effects Austin Film Critics Association (AFCA) Awards - 06.01 - Best Voice Acting/Animated/Digital Performance (Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies) The TomMCJL Awards (personal) - 07.01 - Best Soundtrack - Winner - Best Original Song (Robbie Williams - Forbidden Road) - Winner The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards 2025 - 07.02 - Best Film - Winner - Best Direction in Film (Michael Gracey) - Winner - Best Screenplay in Film (Michael Gracey, Oliver Cole, Simon Gleeson) - Winner - Best Lead Actor in Film (Jonno Davies) - Winner - Best Supporting Actress in Film (Alison Steadman) - Best Supporting Actor in Film (Damon Herriman) - Winner - Best Cinematography in Film - Best Sound in Film - Best Original Score in Film - Winner - Best Soundtrack - Best Original Song (Robbie Williams - Forbidden Road) - Best Visual Effects or Animation - Winner - Best Editing in Film presented by Spectrum Films - Winner - Best Production Design in Film - Best Costume Design in Film - Best Casting in Film - Winner Critics Choice Awards 2025 - 07.02 - Best Visual Effects (Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft, Peter Stubbs) Annie Awards 2025 - 08.02 - Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Live Action Production (Shaun Freeman, Luisma Lavin Peredo, Carlos Lin, Seoungseok Charlie Kim, Kaori Miyazawa) The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) International Awards 2025 - 11.02 - Best Film - Winner - Best Lead Actor in Film (Jonno Davies) - Best Supporting Actress in Film (Alison Steadman) - Best Supporting Actor in Film (Damon Herriman) - Best Direction in Film (Michael Gracey) - Winner - Best Screenplay in Film (Michael Gracey, Oliver Cole, Simon Gleeson) Visual Effects Society Awards - 11.02 - Outstanding Visual Effects In a Photoreal Feature (Luke Millar, Andy Taylor, David Clayton, Keith Herft, Peter Stubbs) - Outstanding Character In a Photoreal Feature (Robbie Williams) - Winner - Outstanding CG Cinematography (Blair Burke, Shweta Bhatnagar, Tim Walker, Craig Young) - Outstanding Composing & Lightning In a Feature (Mark McNicholl, Gordon Spencer de Haseth, Eva Snyder, Markus Reithoffer) Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) Award 2025 - 12.02 - Outstanding Original Song for a Comedy or Musical Visual Media Production (Robbie Williams - Forbidden Road) Australian Writers' Guild Awards - 13.02 - Feature Film - Original (Simon Gleeson, Oliver Cole, Michael Gracey) The BAFTA Film Awards - 16.02 - Special Visual Effects Latino Entertainment Journalists Association Film Awards - 17.02 - Best Visual Effects (Keith Herft, Luke Millar, Peter Stubbs, David Clayton) Online Film & Television Association - 23.02 - Best Visual Effects Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) - 23.02 - Outstanding Achievement in Music Editing – Feature Motion Picture (Supervising Music Editor: Timothy Ryan; Music Editors: Craig Beckett, Lena Glikson, Cory Milano, Liam Moses, Joe E. Rand, Chris Scallan, Emily Rogers Swanson; Vocal Editors: Noah Hubbell, Anna Muehlichen) Guild of Music Supervisors Awards nominations (GMS) - 23.02 - Best Music Supervision in Major Budget Films (Jordan Carroll) Oscars Academy Awards - 02.03 - Best Visual Effects (Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft, Peter Stubbs)

Ratings IMDd 7.6 (23K marks) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14260836/ratin...?ref_=tt_ov_rat Rotten Tomatoes 88% (Tomatometer) 90% (Popcornmeter) https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/better_man Metacritic 77 (Metascore) https://www.metacritic.com/movie/better-man...=MCD-06-10aaa1c Kinopoisk (RU) 7.7 (5.3K marks) https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/4965186/votes/ Box Office US & Canada $1,952,504 International $17,986,684 Worldwide $19,970,332 p.s. By 21.02.2025

Release Dates Worldwide Premiere: 30.08.2024 (51st Telluride Film Festival) Worldwide Release: 26.12.2024 Streaming Release: 10.02.2025 Blu-Ray / DVD Release: 07.04.2025 Links Official Movie Website: https://www.bettermanmovie.com/ Official Movie Sub Website: https://betterman.robbiewilliams.com General discussions of the movie on BJ: http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=275237 Part 1 - discussions of the movie on RW&TT Forum: http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=243611 Official Trailers Teaser Trailer Official OST Release dates: 27.12.2024 (Digital) / 17.01.2025 (CD - UK) Amazon UK (to buy OST): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Better-Original-Mo...usic&sr=1-1 Link of the OST on BJ: http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?s...t=0&start=0 Charts: Number #1 Album in UK, Ireland