Better Man (2024)
Music, Drama • 2h 15m
Director: Michael Gracey
Cast: Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, Alison Steadman, Kate Mulvany, Frazer Hadfield, Damon Herriman, Raechelle Banno, Tom Budge, Jake Simmance, Liam Head, Chase Vollenweider, Jesse Hyde, Anthony Hayes, Leo Harvey-Elledge, Chris Gun, Carter J. Murphy, Asmara Feik, Rafferty Gleeson, Leatham Blisand, Jasper Hall, Molly Gleeson, Romley Gurr, John Lloyd Fillingham, Rose Flanagan, Jessica Lu, Patrick Harvey, Dailin Gabrielle, Dalip Sondhi, Brigid Zengeni, Milijana Cancar, Karina Banno, Sandra Githinji, Elyssia Koulouris, David Woods, Nick Nicolas, Michelle Brasier, Jack McMinn, Sophia Elliff, Campbell Maccorquodale, John O'May, Joe Ruberto, Yvonne Fix, Sharon Heywood, Vicky Jacobs, Wil King, Ned Zaina, David Wood, Aaron Lynch, Jack Stratton-Smith, Teon Haywood, Laurence Boxhall, Clarisse Bonello, Paul Esmonde, Nadya Nepomnyashaya, Tami Achebe, Jayden Ayodele, Lewis Duffield, Steven Elliot, Adil Akram, Hannan Ahmed, Perry Warner, Sanjay Batra, Ellie Dickens, Oliver Wheeler, Mark Lee, Bella Merrington, Ivy Tucker, Thalía Dudek, Clare Chihambakwe, Paul Warwick, Daisy Bishop, Emma Johnson, Jade Carr, Lizzie Kelly, Jonty Reason, Spencer Susser, Kasia Grabowski, Mia Harangozó, Jordan Holtam, Gaby Seow, Annelise Buttress, Jessica Duncan, Madison Gaze, Emma Monaco, Ross Sands, Oliver Gebhardt, Noam Phillips, Tricia Hennessy, Luke Travers, Liam Baptista, Cully Barnacle, Emily Bedford, Cassius Cole, Yves Cole, Olivia Gurr, Goldie Harris-Currie, Audrey Kambouris, Namitha Nair, Jasper McDonald Parsons, Darcy Montana Sterling-Cox, Sebastian Sero, Liam Smith, Charlotte Anderson, Oliver Andrews, Tyrone Anthony, Jorge Antonio, Chris Arias, Simon Ata, Fatou Bah, Chantal Bala, Charlotte Bazeley, Olivia Beckford, Darren Bennett, Philip Birchall, Courtenay Brady, Amira Walters-Byrne, Beth Cain, Patrick Cain, Samuel Baxter, Dani Cash, Cece, Megan Charles, Tendai Chitate, Vicky Clarke, Elise Clinton, Brie Cohen, Katie Collins, Armando Cruz, Yves Cueni, Che Barrett-Davis, Idney De'Almeida, Robin Dobler, Kieran Donovan, Harrison Dowzell, Lauren Drago, Joy Duckrell, Erin Dusek, Jo Dyce, Carly Mercedes Dyer, David Eap, Austyn Farrell, Mike Fellows, Majella Fitzgerald, Jakub Franasowicz, Melissa Freire, Tom Fryearson, Chanelle George, Darron Gifty, Martha Gimson, Jo Goodwin, Jamie Graham, Jenny Griffin, Lina Gurin, Jared Martyn-Hageman, Ian Harris, Yasmin Harrison, LaShay Harvey, Ryan Hayes, Emily Haygarth, Lisa Herbert, Lili Hodge, India Hope, Kane Horn, Renae Hughes, Samantha Inge, Sammi Lee Jayne, Mira Jebari, Matt Jordan, Konnie Karachaliou, Kate Kelly, Kane Klendjian, Josh Lay, Steph Lee, Jake Leigh, Natalie Lennie, Vicky Leung, Hannah Levitt-Collins, Ashley Lloyd, Lamaar Manning, Christie Lee Manning, Fiona McDonald, Lianne Lee May, Molly McGibbon, Mari Macleod, Hena Memishi, Victoria Mudima, James Mulford, Connor Murray, Carella Mutagubya, Mina Neighbour, Anders Neilsen, Ken Nguyen, Shaun Niles, Josh Nkemdilim, Kelechi Nwanokwu, Lucifer O'Shea, Tom Partridge, Steven Pascau, Elise Pinel, Neal Piron, Josie Pocock, Kyah Purling, Luca Rainbow, Nimmz Riaz, Elliot Richardson, Kailum Richardson, Ben Ritter, Alana Rixon, Harry Robinson, Shani Ross, Carmelle Rudder, Bradley Salter, Hannah Sandilands, Billy Sawyer, Ben Scarmozzino, Marty Sedgefield, Brett Sewell, Aaliyah Sharnell, Kane Silver, Fi Silverthorn, Darcey Simmons, Oliver Smithson, Emma-Louise Stansall, Erica Stubbs, Charlie Tatman, Kim Taylor, Thanh Jason Nguyen, Nicky Treleaven, Sophia Turner, Summer Villiers, Kane Walcott, Nakai Warikandwa, Kieran Daley Ward, Randall Watson, Megan Westpfel, Angel Wharmby, Josh Wharmby, Johnny White, Charlotte Wildrianne, Beth Willetts, Aleshia Willilams, Maisie Wilson, Becky Wong, Devon Young, Michele Zanette, Jordan Elise
Best English-friendly & video release · updated 9 months ago
Paramount US vs Entertainment in Video UK - comparison. From nicolas
I think this film is strikingly ugly and it ultimately doesn't matter much which one to take. Paramount's looks low-pass filtered (as usual) which Entertainment in Video doesn't have but it looks like they did some filtering of the chroma but compression-wise, both could be better.
UHD tiers
Overview
Follow Robbie Williams' 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.
Caveat: No Dolby Vision metadata from Streaming
Director: Tony Scott
The 70mm 6-track mix has a higher bitrate on the Paramount 1998 DVD, but is more limited than on the THX LaserDisc The Paramount 1998 DVD also has open matte versions in fullscreen 1.33:1 and widescreen 2.00:1 instead of the theatrical aspect ratio of 2.39:1, but the 2.00:1 widescreen presentation is non-anamorphic. The THX LaserDisc is available in both fullscreen 1.33:1 and widescreen 2.00:1 variants.
Director: Terrence Malick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Lovely underlying remaster by Criterion and Resillion but encode is sadly low-pass filtered by Pixelogic, and even then, the encode is still less than ideal. Still easily obliterates any prior disc release, but certainly wouldn't hurt to have a UK or German label take a crack at this same master.
Director: Peter Faiman
Australia Cut: Australia Fox DVD
International Cut: Paramount Blu-ray
Encore Cut: Germany Winkler Film 4K Blu-ray, censored but good encoding
Sources: movie-censorship.com (opens in a new tab)
US Paramount 4K Blu-ray, is the International US Cut and not the Encore Cut
Australia Cut: Laserdisc
The film exists in three versions:
- the original Australian cut (~104 minutes at 24fps/~100 minutes at 25fps);
- the American/international version (~98 minutes at 24fps/~94 minutes at 25fps) trimming some exposition in the Outback first half of the film and some shorter extensions of a few seconds in the New York section, altering some of the dialogue – including censoring a "fuck" to "screw" – but featuring one additional dialogue extension not in the Australian version (a comparison of the two cuts can be found at Movie Censorship);
- the Australian Encore Cut (~95 minutes at 24fps/~91 minutes at 25fps) which uses the international version source so it already has those alterations but also removes approximately three minutes consisting of parts of two scenes featuring Mick grabbing the crotch of a cross-dressing prostitute and a later sequence when he does the same thing at a party to a woman with a deep voice (a comparison of the international version and the Encore Cut can be found at Movie Censorship).
3D version: Paramount 3D Blu-ray
Paramount 4K Blu-ray on October 26 2026
Director: Billy Wilder
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Paramount 4K Blu-ray. See caps
HDR/grading: nice, but some blown out
Encoding: inconsistent, smeared motion
DNR: inconsistent, frozen
Old Paramount Blu-ray is arguably a solid alternative choice
Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono
Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono is different version of the Blu-ray mono from the same old 2000 DVD transfer.
The 5.1 remix on the 4K Blu-ray is an appalling remix done by going wild with artificially generated stems from Park Road Post who were given the surviving mono to separate. The experience is jarring and fidelity to original mix in terms of level balance, directionality and impact is nonexistent. Not only does this sound painfully weird, but the Paramount mixers then did whatever they wanted in terms of LFE, sound pans and effect changes.
The original mono mix was not restored and still needs it badly. The 4K master is filled with frozen grain examples coming and going plus some HDR issues in addition to the usual Paramount problems. It is simultaneously better and worse than the Blu-ray master.
Director: Robert Altman
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for Dec 2026 release
Director: Richard Linklater
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
Original AR: Paramount 4K Blu-ray
IMAX AR: Paramount 3D Blu-ray
More Music on Blu-ray
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Shout Factory Blu-ray
Shout's BD has both cuts of the film in addition to the 3.0 stereo and 2.0 mono mixes making it the first time the full theatrical cut is available with the 3.0 mix. The new commentary is good. The 3.0 stereo sounds wonderful and the mono sounds solid.
That's where the positives end. This is the same terrible Universal DVD master slapped on a Blu-ray disc with a terrible encode making both versions share the disc separately taking up more space. This master was already poor for DVD and is nearly unwatchable here on the Shout disc. It looks virtually identical to the upscaled DVD most of the time with only a bit less noise due to it being 1080p. This is one of the most appalling cases of "DVD master slapped on a Blu-ray disc" you can possibly find. Absolutely shameful video presentation. This should have never been released this way. Sadly it's still ever so slightly better than the DVD and the only way you get the proper theatrical cut with lossless 3.0 stereo. This is still the best source we have for the film.
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has excellent master in SDR and a good encode. BD caps here.
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has poor audio: The 2.0 is fine but unremarkable, the 5.1 is presumably an upmix with a botched, strongly raised LFE channel which makes the entire track unlistenable on well-tuned equipment. Audio graphs here.
Director: Sian Heder
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Apple TV 4K Blu-ray with Atmos
(Eagle Pictures is 5.1)
Director: Miloš Forman
Theatrical: WB 4K Blu-ray
Extended: Warner Bros Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray: Huge improvement in colors and detail. The restoration was done by the Academy instead of WB MPI which explains that there’s no grain management or issues with colors. They also accessed the original credit optical and scanned that one instead of recreating them digitally
Theatrical: WB 4K Blu-ray, according to Saentz, the 5.0 is a recreation of the original and subsequently 70mm mix from original elements.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray replacement disc for fixed audio (there were some dialogues missing)
While the video on the replacement disc is exactly the same as the original release, the Atmos with missing lines has been corrected as it was also corrected on the Criterion commentary. Criterion also included the 6-track which is almost identical to the PAL track; It’s 4.0 in a 5.1 container. This 6-track is slightly better than the PAL DVD track as the PAL has some flutter on some parts that Criterion doesn’t have.
The Atmos on the replacement is identical to the Imprint AUS Blu-ray track which also has all the lines. The compatibility track is also the same,
It is worth mentioning the Imprint only has the Atmos and no 6-track. The 5.1 surround is with LFE and split surrounds and it’s just a downmix of the Atmos. Ditto for the LPCM 2.0 on said Blu-ray.
Edit history
Every recommendation follows the same method — how these calls are made.