barbt1956

Unfortunately I saw Flow before seeing Wild Robot. When compared you can see some strong differences. In Wild Robot the main characters are disliked and ridiculed because they are different. When they do something that benefits others, then they are accepted and are seen to have some value. When the robot is threatened, everyone reacts violently and the day is saved. This feels like such a cookie cutter storyline, we have seen it done hundreds of times.

Are these really the lessons we want our children to learn? You are only valuable if you are like everyone else, or if they can get something valuable from you. Whenever faced with difficulties, immediately react violently. The world will force you to become like everyone else, and you must fight or escape to stay true to yourself, because you can never fit in if you are different.

Watch Flow. In Flow the animals are all uncertain of each other because of their unfamiliarity. But, some reach out to others, and even defend others, despite their differences. The animals all work together to overcome the problems they encounter. They learn to appreciate each other's differences and see them as strengths. Each animal has their moment to be the hero. At the end of the film, they all respect and appreciate each other, but their end is ambiguous. Just like life.

To me, the Wild robot was massively disappointing. I literally fell asleep because I found it boring. Nothing new here folks, you've seen this story many, many times.

In one scene of the movie Robbie is driving and you think he is heading straight into another vehicle. Definitely a metaphor for the film, and for Robbie Williams life.

We received a notice to attend a screening at AMC called Screen Unseen. It sounded fun to see an unknown film. It turns out we had seen trailers for Better Man, but didn't know anything about Robbie Williams, so didn't intend to see it. We were glad we did and found the film touching and the music enjoyable.

Robbie Williams life seemed to be a fairly predictable story. Thus the reference to a Greek tragedy. You could see this talented, driven young man, making it in the world of pop music. However, Robbie was broken as a child by the desertion of his father, who left the family to make his own way in show business. It seemed almost inevitable Robbie's self hatred and feelings of inadequacy would almost certainly lead him to a drug and alcohol addiction. His self destruction as he grew more and more successful was heart wrenching. The story was told well, and the acting was excellent. I would say it was unnecessary for us to know Robbie Williams or his music in order to follow the storyline, or to enjoy the film. Definitely recommended.

Excellent portrayal of Bob Dylan in his first couple of musical lives. The music was excellent, with all of the music sung by the actors. I don't imagine Bob Dylan is an easy person to like. The movie portrayed him as a very selfish person dedicated to his own music, unwilling to sacrifice his music for anything or anyone. I, of course, couldn't address this as a fan looking in from the outside, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me. People this unbelievably talented, with the ability to reinvent themselves over, and over, and over, have to be willing to ignore lots of negative feedback for not giving the fans and recording companies what they think they want. Chalamet portrayed Dylan as very retiring, and a bit cold. Very private. He may be faulted for showing little emotion, but it felt honest to me. Dylan let his poetic lyrics reflect his emotions.

Edward Norton is always excellent, although I was surprised at his taking on the role of someone so nice and gentle as Pete Seeger. Again, though, it felt honest.

The music industry was realistically shown to reflect the safe money makers who push an artist to repeat themselves over and over, instead of growing and developing music that is unproven. The number one message was that Bob Dylan never played it safe, and pushed people to follow him as he went off in new directions, but always with amazing lyrics.