Film 2346 - Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Intro: We're going back in time for this one because I forgot to note in down in my list of movies to review and... I completely forgot about it until the Oscar nominations came out and Bowen Yang made that joke about so many movies nominated for Best Visual Effects portrays monkeys in their stories.

Film 2345: "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" (2024), Wes Ball
Watched on: At the movies
Language: English
Watched with: Niamh
Thoughts: The fact that I completely forgot i watched this movie I think says it all. It's not a bad movie, to be fair, but it's nothing we've seen before. To be completely honest, the thing I remember the most about "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" is how many times I yawned: the running time is too long (145 minutes) and for a lot of the plot nothing really happens. Probably I wasn't really in the mood to watch this film, but yeah, I remember I was bored.
The visual effects are great, though, and the premise of the "Planet of the Apes" franchise is always fascinating. But I feel like we milked it enough.
Ps. While I was writing down the list of the other "Planet of the Apes" movies I saw in the past, I noticed there's one missing from my reviews that I know I watched back in the day: "War for the Planet of the Apes". Funny enough, I forgot to write about another film from this saga.
Film 325 - L'alba del pianeta delle scimmie
Film 764 - Apes Revolution - Il pianeta delle scimmie
Film 2346 - Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Cast: Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, William H. Macy.
Box Office: $397.4 million
Worth a watch?: If you enjoyed the previous entries of this rebooted saga, surely you'll enjoy "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes". For anyone else, either you start from the beginning (see list above) or you pick another film about mokeys (there's so many).
Awards: 1 nomination at the 2025 Oscars and BAFTAs for Best Visual Effects.
Key word: Egg.
Trailer
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Film 2245 - Better Man

Intro: I got so excited to see this movie I couldn't wait!

Film 2345: "Better Man" (2024), Michael Gracey
Watched on: At the movies
Language: English
Watched with: Michael
Thoughts: I'm not Robbie Williams biggest fan, but I definitely know his work and appreciate his music, so I was excited to watch a movie biopic about him and his start in the Tak That boy band back in the 80s all the way to today's time. And let me tell you, this movie delivers.
I understand not everyone is familiar with Williams - this resulted in this movie's biggest controversy: it's audience - but it shouldn't stop people from seeing this movie: "Better Man" is a great biopic and an even better musical. The songs are great and the dance routines (and camera work to go with it) amazing, perectly balancing emotional depth and entertainment. Not to mention this movie is extremely interesting visually, as (everybody knows) the main character, Robbie, is portrayed as a chimpanzee (various reasons behind this choice, I'll let you discover them). And although this may look odd at first glance, in reality this choice doesn't take anything away from the story and the audience connection to the protagonist. Yeah, it's a bit weird, but Robbie Williams never really played by the rules.
So, to summarize, this movie is great.
That said, it definitely overestimated its audience. America seems to have rejected it because Williams isn't really famous over there - funny enoug, "Anora", a film nominated for 6 Academy Awards this year, features the song "Greatest Day" by Take That, the group Williams first started his career in (although he's not included in this song) - but honestly I find this to be a lazy excuse. I watched countless American biopics focusing on people I didn't know much about, it has never stopped me from enjoying the movie. And I find annoying how many people (online) dismissed "Better Man" just because Williams isn't part of their American background, stating that he was never really famous because he never "made it" in the US. I remember growing up Robbie Williams was everywhere, delivering a smashing hit after another and selling millions of albums in Europe: I don't think this cultural phenomenon can be disregarded just becuase the US wasn't touched by it. (He even sang a song with Nicole Kidman back in 2001!)
Anyway it's obvious at this point that investing $110 million on this project was a massive risk that didn't pay off. These days is difficult for a superheroe movie to generate box-office frenzy, I don't think this biopic about a British popstar led by a motion capture generated monkey stood a chance. Which is said, considering how good this movie is.
A bittersweet feeling with this one: on one hand a very well executed and entertaining movie, on the other one of the biggest flop from 2024. But don't get you fooled by the box-office gross, "Better Man" is absolutely worth the watch.
Cast: Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, Alison Steadman, Raechelle Banno.
Box Office: $19.7 million (so far)
Worth a watch?: A peculiar mix of "Trainspotting" and "Planet of the Apes". Robbie Williams and Take That's fun, this is your movie. Everyone else, give this film a chance, you won't be disappointed.
Awards: 1 nomination at the 2025 Oscars and BAFTAs for Best Visual Effects. 1 nomination for Best Original Song, Motion Picture ("Forbidden Road", Robbie Williams, Freddy Wexler, Sacha Skarbek) at the 2025 Golden Globes.
Key word: "It".
Trailer
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