Press Release Paramount Presents! Press Release: Better Man (2024) (4k UHD) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

From Michael Gracey, the visionary director of The Greatest Showman, BETTER MAN has been embraced by both critics and audiences, becoming Certified Fresh™ on Rotten Tomatoes®, receiving a tremendous 90% audience score, and earning an Academy Award® nomination for Best Visual Effects. Hailed as “wildly inventive” (Pete Hammond, Deadline), “jaw-dropping” (Peter Debruge, Variety), and “deliriously entertaining” (Chris Bumbray, JoBlo), BETTER MAN“absolutely sizzles from start to finish” (Perri Nemiroff, Collider).



Fans who purchase BETTER MAN on Digital* or 4K Ultra HD will have access to over 45 minutes of behind-the-scenes bonus content featuring director Michael Gracey and star Robbie Williams, as well as the Oscar®-nominated team behind the spectacular visual effects.



Bonus content is detailed below:

• Let Me Entertain You: The Making of Better Man — Director Michael Gracey and star Robbie Williams provide an in-depth look behind the vision and production of the film with additional insight from the cast and crew.

• Monkey Business: The VFX — Meet the visual effects team of Wētā FX as they delve into the process of using cutting-edge technology to bring Better Man to life.

Synopsis

Better Man is based on the true story of the meteoric rise, dramatic fall, and remarkable resurgence of British pop superstar Robbie Williams, one of the greatest entertainers of all time. Under the visionary direction of Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman), the film is uniquely told from Williams’ perspective, capturing his signature wit and indomitable spirit. It follows Robbie’s journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, through to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist – all the while confronting the challenges that stratospheric fame and success can bring.





BETTER MAN is rated R for drug use, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity, and some violent content.

PARAMOUNT PICTURES and SINA STUDIOS and FACING EAST ENTERTAINMENT Present

A LOST BANDITS / FOOTLOOSE Production

In association with AZURE CENTRUM / PARTIZAN FILMS / ROCKET SCIENCE / RPW PRODUCTIONS / VICSCREEN

A MICHAEL GRACEY Film ROBBIE WILLIAMS “BETTER MAN” JONNO DAVIES

STEVE PEMBERTON and ALISON STEADMAN

Casting by ALISON TELFORD, CGA KATE LEONARD, CGA

Original Score BATU SENER Executive Music Producer and Music Supervisor JORDAN CARROLL

Editors JEFF GROTH, ACE, BFE SPENCER SUSSER MARTIN CONNOR LEE SMITH, ACE PATRICK CORRELL

Choreographer ASHLEY WALLEN Costume Designer CAPPI IRELAND, APDG Production Designer JOEL CHANG

Director of Photography ERIK A WILSON, BSC Visual Effects Wētā FX

Co-Producers PATRICK CORRELL JACKIE FLETCHER MARIO BIANCACCI

Executive Producers ZHE CHEN ROBBIE WILLIAMS MARKUS BARMETTLER PHILIP LEE LI-WEI CHU

THORSTEN SCHUMACHER LARS SYLVEST GREGORY JANKILEVITSCH KLAUDIA SMIEJA

DOMENIC BENVENUTO GIANNI BENVENUTO ZORAN STOJKOVIC

Produced by PAUL CURRIE, p.g.a. MICHAEL GRACEY, p.g.a. COCO XIAOLU MA JULES DALY CRAIG McMAHON

Written by SIMON GLEESON OLIVER COLE MICHAEL GRACEY Directed by MICHAEL GRACEY​

*Availability of bonus content varies by digital retailer



“ACADEMY AWARD®” and “OSCAR®” are the registered trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.


Thank you for supporting HTF when you preorder using the link below. As an Amazon Associate HTF earns from qualifying purchases. If you are using an adblocker you will not see link.

https://www.amazon.com/Better-Man-4...?tag=bluray-003-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1&m=

 

[titch]

Good good reviews but I was left cold. Robbie Williams is no Elton John or Freddie Mercury. He's just a cheeky chappie.

 

[Dave B Ferris]

One oblique reference in the presser to the chimp, huh?

 

[HDVizion]

Strange decision to make this part of the Presents line.

 

[Malcolm R]

I think Paramount has shown there's no real rhyme or reason to what becomes a "Presents" title. It seems pretty random. Though that randomness seems to fit with the film's decision to portray Williams as a monkey. Not sure why they thought Williams' fans would buy tickets to a film that doesn't feature the singer himself.

 

[Tino]

I heard it was very good from a former member who saw it but this was a tremendous financial failure. It even tanked in the UK.

I’ll check it out as a rental.

 

[titch]

I think Paramount has shown there's no real rhyme or reason to what becomes a "Presents" title. It seems pretty random. Though that randomness seems to fit with the film's decision to portray Williams as a monkey. Not sure why they thought Williams' fans would buy tickets to a film that doesn't feature the singer himself.

The monkey works very well. That is not the problem with the film. Robbie Williams' life story simply isn't very interesting. I even have some of his albums and I liked him 20 years ago. However, the musical numbers in the film were poorly filmed - it could just have easily been CGI dancers and the director was far too interested in crane shots to actually show the dancers properly. And all the scenes of his cocaine use just became repetitive and tiresome. The good bits were with Imelda Staunton, but they were few.

 

[SD_Brian]

a tremendous financial failure. It even tanked in the UK.

I was surprised by how much money they spent on this movie. Unless I'm mistaken, Robbie Williams was never that big outside of the UK and his peak popularity in the US was 25 years ago. Who did they think would be the audience?

 

[titch]

I was surprised by how much money they spent on this movie. Unless I'm mistaken, Robbie Williams was never that big outside of the UK and his peak popularity in the US was 25 years ago. Who did they think would be the audience?

You.

 

[Malcolm R]

His popularity extended to some of Europe and Australia. UK would have been his biggest market but even there he hasn't had a major hit since 2013.

 

[SD_Brian]

You.

I'll check it out when it hits Paramount+. It was in and out of theaters near me too fast for me to find time to leave the house.

 

[TravisR]

Paramount is releasing this on UHD and the rest of the Friday The 13th sequels remain on the shelf? I'm only half joking because the F13 movies would all sell way better than a movie that's only noteworthy aspect is how staggeringly bad it did at the box office.

 

[Konstantinos]

A critic here that is generally too strict, reviewed it as a masterpiece, but the surrealistic use of a monkey and the CGI puts me off from watching this film!

 

[SD_Brian]

only noteworthy aspect is how staggeringly bad it did at the box office.

But it has a monkey!

 

[Malcolm R]

But it has a monkey!

Probably should have had a puppy monkey baby. That would have packed theaters.

 

[SD_Brian]

I'll check it out when it hits Paramount+. It was in and out of theaters near me too fast for me to find time to leave the house.

Now that I've checked it out on Paramount+, I was surprised by how much I liked it. Story-wise, it checks every box on the Rock-and-Roll biopic cliché list, but against all odds, the monkey makes it work. The "This is how I see myself" self-loathing conceit made the character much more sympathetic than he otherwise would have been. Without the monkey, the character and the movie would be insufferable. With the monkey, I found it very entertaining and surprisingly moving. It goes to prove what Roger Ebert used to say, "It's not what a movie is about, but how the movie is about it." Better Man has the inventiveness of Rocketman, another biopic that checked all the cliché boxes, but was redeemed by style. Highly recommended.

While I'm sure their stockholders would rather Paramount had put the budget for this movie toward another Transformers movie, it's encouraging to see a big studio taking a chance by bankrolling something weird. Hopefully Paramount's new corporate overlords will allow them to continue taking the occasional chance.