Benslie

When discussing this movie we have to start with the monkey in the room which is the CGI monkey. Let's start off by first discussing the CGI monkey and the CGI on the monkey is honestly incredible and not distracting in the slightest. The monkey easily blended into the scenes and never stood out like a sore thumb especially considering Joono Davies, who plays Robbie Williams, was never against a blue screen. All of the movements, especially regarding the dancing scenes, are fluid and never look atrocious. This is especially the case in the daylight scenes where the lighting easily could've shown faults in the CGI but nope they made it work. What was also impressive when it came to the monkey were the facial expressions and small details on it. The facial expressions came through clearly to where the audience could tell exactly how Robbie Williams felt at that moment. One reason for this is that the studio that brought this monkey to life scanned Robbie Williams's eyes and used them on the monkey. It helps blind the audience and forget that they're watching a CGI monkey singing and dancing. But there are also small details such as the monkey's hairstyle changing between the different periods. It's a very small and subtle thing but it shows the attention to detail the effects team put into this. That and the clothing as well as how they made the clothing look and feel real like the actor was wearing it. The CGI artists deserve applause for bringing this Monkey to life given all of the difficulties to do so but also all of the other special effects in this movie. Outside of the CGI monkey, there are other uses of CGI in this movie and all of it looks incredible. The use of CGI is primarily focused on the backgrounds whether to bring an arena/audience to life or showing how the drugs he is taking are affecting him. For the substance scenes, it's beautiful to look at but also sad as we can visually see how this is affecting him. In regards to the backgrounds, they all look incredible and feel real. They fully make the audience feel like they are there at those concert events and watching him perform.

Now with that covered the second part of the Monkey is that it helps with the story. There's a line in the trailer where Robbie Williams explains the monkey is because he sees himself as less evolved. Just this one line justifies why he's a monkey in this movie and that's because the audience is seeing how he sees himself and not how we see him. He views himself as a performing monkey putting on appearances to entrain people. The monkey was also a decision by the director Michael Gracey to try and distinguish this biopic from all of the others out there. Now with all of that said let's discuss the actual movie itself continuing from the story. For those who live in North America a majority of us either fully don't know who Robbie Williams is or like me know him thanks to a song or two. So this movie's story had to cover enough details of his life so that people can understand who he is, and his struggles. I found that the story did a good job of bullet-pointing his story and telling it to an audience of people who are interested in learning about Robbie Williams. It covers all of the key points in his life that lead to the struggles he deals with and I applaud this movie for fully showing those struggles and the effects it had on those around him. I know it's not a new thing for biopic movies to cover the downside to stardom and the dangers that come with it. But the way this movie showcases those struggles fully sends a gut punch into the audience and creates this kind of sympathy. It doesn't dare to shy away from his struggles with substance abuse and mental health. So those who might themselves or know someone who deals with these struggles might be able to relate and connect in that way. One of the things I enjoyed about this movie was how it depicted his mental health. This was another way that CGI was used creatively in this movie. It made it easy for the audience to understand and grasp the kind of struggles he was going through visually. This is one of the biggest reasons why it was easy to just blur out the CGI monkey. I was drawn into the story of this man's life that I didn't see a monkey but just a regular person. It took me on a surprising roller coaster of emotion where one second I wanted to slap this guy and the next give him a hug. I actually got choked up while watching and during one scene I felt myself holding back tears. Don't just take my word for it since when I was leaving the theatre there was this one girl who was full-on crying. But another aspect of this movie's story is always believing in your dreams and chasing after them. A part of Robbie Williams story is how he was always told he wasn't going to make it as a singer. Despite this fact, he still chases after it and ends up finding success at a cost. Of course, not everybody is going to be chasing after being a star but this message works for all kinds of careers. His story teaches people that as long as you have a passion for something, screw those telling you that you can't do it. With that being said I know that this story won't work for everybody and it all just depends on how invested in it you are. I say this because as mentioned earlier the story is bullet-pointed to hit the greatest moments that had the most impact. Due to the bullet-pointing of his story, the movie does feel kind of rushed at certain points to quickly move on to the next aspect of his life. This can be best seen during the scene for "She's the One" where the entire scene is just a montage. The audience isn't fully shown the extent of this part of his life and just kind of has to put the pieces together themself. Now I can see this being a problem in a movie that is between an hour and a half long to just under two hours but this movie is just over two hours long. Now, in the movie's defence, it doesn't rush any of the key moments and primarily rushes through anything that could be easily puzzled together. But it still had plenty of wiggle room to either extend or shorten certain scenes to ensure the audience fully gets hit with that emotional impact. The biggest reason for the pacing issues in this movie though is the lack of time stamps. While watching I was constantly confused about how much time had passed. I could tell that time had changed due to the different hairstyles but aside from that there were zero indications about how much time had passed in the movie. It's a small thing that didn't take any enjoyment away from me especially since I was enjoying both the story and acting.

The acting in this movie isn't just good because everybody is acting across a CGI monkey it's just good overall. You can tell that everybody was doing their best to try and play these real people to the best of their abilities. They all either nailed us hating their character or sympathizing with them. The best example of the audience sympathizing with the person is Raechelle Banno as Nicole Appleton. Nicole Appleton is Robbie Williams ex-fiancee and you can tell how much respect was put into her portrayal. In multiple interviews, Robbie Williams talked about how when it came to Nicole Appleton he wanted to showcase how she did nothing to him but he hurt her and that comes through perfectly here. Raechelle Banno's performance showcases how much she wants to be there for him and cared for him. But once it reaches that breaking point of not being able to take it anymore, the audience fully sympathizes with her. The standout performance of this movie is one that you can't even see. Jonno Davies as Robbie Williams is incredible and not just because without CGI he looks exactly like a younger version of him. His performance is incredible because he had to capture Robbie Williams mannerisms, voice and dance all while in a Motion capture suit. He does all of this to perfection and constantly made me question if it was him the entire time or if Robbie Williams did some parts. But from what I can find online it seems that Jonno Davies did pretty much everything himself. You can tell he took the time to try and get Robbie Williams mannerisms down from the way he walks to how he talks. He is able to push through the motion capture part of his performance and just give this heartfelt performance. It's thanks to his performance that we not only see multiple sides of Robbie Williams but also sympathize with him. Aside from the story, it's because of his performance that people don't see a monkey but just a person. Before I move on I also have to give him credit for the incredible dancing he does throughout the movie.

All of the dance scenes in this movie were visually spectacular to look at and watch, especially the Rock DJ one, and that's all thanks to director Michael Gracey. Michael Gracey is well known for having directed The Greatest Showman so when it came to this movie you knew the dance scenes were going to be spectacular. I shouted out the Rock DJ scene but all of the musical sequences were so well directed from, "She's the One" to "Angles". Each scene was directed to have the most emotional impact on the audience and it worked. But he didn't just do a good job of directing the dance scenes but the movie as a whole. You could easily see what he wanted to do with this movie and in regards to telling the story. He wanted to show the multiple sides of Robbie Williams and take the audience on an emotional rollercoaster. On those bases, Michael Gracey succeeds in making one of the most unique biopic movies to date.

In the end, Better Man does a great job of introducing people to who Robbie Williams is and his struggles. It takes people on an emotional rollercoaster of emotions that all depends on how invested you are. If after watching this movie you want to learn more.

When it came to this movie I had no idea what to fully expect from it other than thinking it wasn't going to be my cup of tea. So walking into this movie I had very low expectations which I think worked in this movie's favour. When it comes to the story there's not much implicit in it with the overall message, especially with it being the movie's tagline, being front and centre. I'm actually fine with this being the case here as no matter what it's an important message to have. The movie is all about empowering women to stand up for themselves and be confident in who they are but also about how women should support other women as well. Especially given how this movie takes place in a high school this is an important message to tell and it's handled really well here. It perfectly shows how with the right support group of people everybody can believe in themselves. This is especially important for those who are in high school where it might be hard to be yourself and find that support group. How sometimes the best way for people to find their support group is to push themselves out of their comfort zones to connect with people. Of course, I wouldn't recommend joining an all-girl fight club in order to do so, which is where the other part of the story comes into play. The overall message aside, the story of this movie is such an over-the-top comedy and I surprisingly loved it. The comedy of this movie isn't the kind that I usually enjoy, yet it worked for me here and I think it's due to just how over-the-top it is. Over the years there have been a lot of comedy movies that take place in a high school and this one is able to stand out amongst them. This is primarily due to just how over-the-top the comedy in this movie is and the school system itself. The school is the most stereotypical idea of a school ever where it cares more about its sports team, more specifically the star player, than anything else. I know there are some schools out there where this is true but I don't think any of them are as extreme as what's shown here which is what's funny about it. It's funny to think of a school like this existing and just imagine going there and how awful it would be. But the humour doesn't just stem from the school but also the students that attend it as well. Just like with the school pretty much everybody who attends this school is just a huge walking cliche stereotype. Yet it's because of how cliched the students are that the lines in this movie are hilarious. There are so many funny lines said that might not have gotten a huge laugh from the audience I saw the movie with but I did. The lines are stuff that I could never see anybody ever saying but just like with the school stuff is hilarious to imagine. Pretty much the story just draws you into it and makes you thankful that none of this actually happens in real life. Honestly, the only thing I didn't really like about the story is a nitpick which is how predictable it is. Despite the best efforts from the writers to make it a breath of fresh air it still has a few cliches in it that make it predictable. If they still had done the cliches but instead of fully committing to them and instead changed it then it would've made this movie fully be a breath of fresh air. Another nitpick I had in regard to the story is just how short it is. The movie itself with credits is one hour and thirty-two minutes long and I kind of wish this movie was slightly longer just to fully expand on things. Overall, the story paces itself well, ensuring everything has time to be as fleshed out as possible. With that being said though there are still some moments that I feel like with a longer run time could've been more explored. This is specifically for the club itself as most of what happens in it is in a montage and then we get one scene showing the other side of it and that's it. I wish we got to see more of how this club helped these girls out and how it's given them all a support group. But again that's just a nitpick and doesn't take away from the movie itself as like I said everything is fleshed out pretty well. It's honestly due to how fleshed out the story is that all of the actors have a lot to work with and perfectly capture these characters.

You can easily tell right away that all of the actors in this movie knew and understood what kind of movie it was and were fully committed to it. The best example of this is Nicholas Galitzine, who plays Jeff, and his full commitment to the dumb jock stereotype. Jeff is the most important person to this school and always overlooks whatever he does and makes sure to do anything to keep him happy. With all that being said though Jeff isn't the smartest person out there and is best described as a man-child. So Nicholas Galitzine had the tough job of trying to find a way to balance being over-the-top with this role and still being subtle and I think he found it. He knew when he needed to be over the top with both his actions and line delivery and when he needed to bring it down a notch. It makes for a very entertaining watch where you kind of want to see more of this character despite hating him. When it comes to the main characters though it's thanks to both of their actors that it's easy to both route for them but also hate them. This is specifically true when it comes to PJ and thanks to Rachel Sennott I didn't know how to feel about PJ. PJ is the primary reason for the idea behind the fight club and helping her and Josie to get laid by their crushes. It's due to this reason that the audience starts to feel weird about PJ and their motivations and Rachel Sennott helps cause this super well. Rachel Sennott easily shows how conflicting PJ is as a character as you want to route for her but she just goes about it the wrong way. I enjoyed watching her play this kind of person whom some people can relate to, to some extent of course. For me though the real scene-stealer was Ayo Edebiri as Josie due to being one of the only static characters. The Josie who we see at the start of the movie isn't the same as the one at the end. Sure, she's still this nervous introvert but she still was able to gain some confidence along the way. Ayo Edebiri did a great job of showing the changes Josie goes through and specifically the confidence she gains. It's because of her performance that Josie seems like a real person whom you could meet in real life compared to all of the over exaggerated stereotype characters. This is why I loved watching Ayo Edebiri in every scene she was in because of how relatable Josie was to me. In the end, Bottoms is what you get when you mix Mean Girls and Fight Club together and make it queer. It's a combination that shouldn't work and yet it somehow does and I'm so glad it does. This movie is definitely worth watching at least once just to truly see how crazy it is.

When I first heard about this book, I thought the story sounded super intriguing and unique and couldn't wait to read it. After reading it I really enjoyed the story just as I had thought I would but I still found some issues with it as well. So when I heard there was going to be a movie adaptation I was worried about it but hoped that potentially it would fix the problems I had. In regards to fixing the problems I had with the original story, the movie did kind of fix them. One of my biggest problems with the original story is how it wasn't able to balance the politics and the relationship. The movie fixes this problem by pretty much getting rid of all the political talk and just focusing on the developing relationship. This was something that really impressed me and I enjoyed it as we could properly see how their relationship progressed. We could see Alex and Henry together more, making the audience who haven't read the book want to root for them to succeed. But with that being said that was the only change to the story that I enjoyed. Obviously, with this being an adaptation of a 421-page book some changes had to be made for the movie in order for it to work better. But there were some changes made that left me wondering why they had to be removed. This is especially true when some of the things removed are important to certain characters and their motivations and decisions. There are characters completely removed from the story that even if they were kept in wouldn't have changed the story that much. The same goes for certain situations that happen as well which helps influence certain characters in their lives. It's because of these removals that I honestly didn't find the characters in this movie to be all that interesting specifically with Alex and Henry. In the book, both of these characters are relatable due to the situations they go through and the character development they get along the way. You can easily see yourself in either one or both of the main guys. But in the movie, both of these guys just felt flat to me like we barely knew them. This probably sounds weird since I said the story focuses more on their relationship which it does it just doesn't properly develop it. This is due to a combination of things, one being the removal of certain book scenes as mentioned before but also some scenes being out of order. This didn't happen too often but there were two scenes that I can say for certain were shown in the opposite order of the book. Due to the scenes being flipped the moments between the two guys don't feel as genuine or make a lot of sense. This leads me to my second reason why they felt flat, which is the dialogue. The dialogue in this movie isn't bad per se but there were some lines I wish they had copied from the book. This is because after rereading certain scenes in the book I found them to be much more heartfelt and romantic. I know that some of the lines probably would've had to be changed slightly due to the changes made but the lines would've still worked. Including these lines would've added so much more depth to not just the characters but the main relationship as well as some of them involve one of them being vulnerable to the other. But of course, even with including the book's accurate lines nothing could've saved the characters from the biggest problem the story faced which is the pacing. As I mentioned before the book is 421 pages long and turning that into a 2-hour long movie is a tough job. You can tell the writers for this movie, Matthew Løpez and Ted Malawer, did the best they could by trimming it down and keeping the focus on Henry and Alex. But in doing so the movie felt very rushed which is what ended up causing the relationship and the characters to feel flat instead of static. The biggest example of this is the main relationship of the story between Henry and Alex. Due to the pacing, their relationship didn't have proper time to be fully fleshed out and the audience wanted them to get together. It pretty much felt like one second they hated each other, you blink and the next thing you know they're together now. Everything moved at lightning speed leaving zero room to breathe and letting things sit with the viewer. This lightning speed might work for those like me who have read the book and can easily fill in the gaps but not for those who haven't. Those who haven't read the book might struggle a bit in trying to figure everything out and how exactly we got from one scene to another. There is an element in this movie that definitely didn't help with the storytelling problems and that was the editing. The editing for this movie is very distracting in that you can clearly see where the cuts to the scenes are. Instead of them being camouflaged to hide the cuts in some of the scenes it will just randomly end and then cut to a new scene. The new scene usually won't connect to the previous one and the viewer has to try and figure out how they got there. There's one scene in particular that perfectly demonstrates this where two characters are talking about one thing and in the next scene they're talking about something else entirely different. There's no transition to smoothly connect the two scenes and instead, it felt like there was a deleted scene there. Which is another issue with how the movie was edited is you could easily tell where there most likely was a deleted scene. For certain scenes, it at times felt like there was information missing in them and that there most likely was a scene before it that would explain it. This is once again where having read the book would come in handy as it partially helps fill in those blanks.

Yet despite the problems regarding the story and editing the acting in this movie is pretty decent. I remember seeing the casting announcement for this movie and being worried. I honestly didn't think the cast was going to work but I ended up being surprised. Every actor in this movie did the best job they could to bring their characters to life despite the changes made. They all stayed true to the book version of their character all while making it their own at the same time. The person who stayed the most true to their character though and being the scene stealer as well was Nicholas Galitzine. Henry is an introverted person who faces a lot of internal conflict due to his position. He knows he's gay but knows that his grandfather and brother wouldn't support him so has to keep it hidden away. Nicholas Galitizine perfectly encapsulates this part of Henry making him the most relatable character in this movie. He shows through his facial expressions and body language the conflict that Henry faces throughout the movie. If you put the movie on mute and just looked at those elements of his performance you would still be able to tell what Henry is feeling in those moments. I loved seeing him show all of the different sides of Henry from his more vulnerable sides to his press persona. It makes Henry this sympathetic character that the audience routes for to get his happy ending. In order for him to get his happy ending though he needs a partner in crime and Taylor Zakhar Perez did a good job being that person. Alex is the complete opposite of Henry being an extrovert and confident in who is and what he wants to do. Due to Alex being the main character of the book his character had the most changes made. So Taylor Zakhar Perez already had the tough job to try and stay true to the book version all while incorporating the changes made. Even though the changes made did drastically change his character making him less relatable Taylor Zakhar Perez still did a good job bringing Alex to life. He easily stays true to Alex's personality of being a workaholic all while still being the life of the party. But what I enjoyed the most about his performance was when he showed Alex's more vulnerable side. It was during these moments that I saw the relatable character from the book that I liked. Taylor Zakhar Perez perfectly showed how down-to-earth and caring Alex truly is and how just like with Henry only certain people get to see this side of him. I enjoyed getting to see him balance all the different sides of Alex but it was the vulnerable moments that made me see him as this character. Another person who surprised me with how accurate they were was Uma Thurman as president Ellen Claremont. The book describes Ellen as someone who finds it hard to balance being a mom and president at times. Uma Thurman despite not being in the movie that much captures this to perfection. She easily shows how hard-working Ellen is to continue to prove why she deserves to be in office. Yet at times that work can take over her life and ends up ignoring her family when they need her the most. Uma Thurman also shows how much of a caring mom Ellen can be at times though whenever she gets those moments. I especially love the scene where she supports Alex's coming out and asks him an important question. It's because of Uma Thurman's performance that if Ellen Claremont was real I think a lot of people would vote for her as president.

In the end, Red White and Royal Blue might continue the trend of being a mediocre adaptation but still have some heart to it. I still think the story would've worked best as a TV series adaptation but still give this one a watch just read the book first.