by hutchwp

Film review: Outcome (Jonah Hill, 2026)

A film directed by the extremely talented Jonah Hill, starring Keanu Reeves, and with supporting roles from Cameron Diaz, Martin Scorsese, David Spade and Drew Barrymore, should really be better than this. But alas, it is not. And I am struggling to work out why.

The ambitious plot rattles along with a snappy script, as we explore the fallout of a mysterious video being used to bribe the fictional beloved movie star Reef Hawk (Reeves). Under the advice of his lawyer Ira Slitz (Hill), Hawk embarks on a journey of reconciliation, as he seeks out and apologises to everyone he feels he has annoyed throughout his career.

There’s nothing wrong with this, and there are some hilarious turns along the way. Susan Lucci showing up as Hawk’s mother and demanding he discusses their relationship as a scene in her Real Housewives TV show is a real highlight, as is Drew Barrymore featuring in a solitary scene as a caricature of herself.

One critical issue is the performance of Keanu Reeves. As th focal point of the plot, his role needed to be delivered perfectly. It’s actually a very risky role, as it asks the viewer to find sympathy for a rich and famous man who has been caught out in an act of perversion. It is no mistake that certain shots linger in foyers with the like of Kevin Spacey and Kanye West prominently positioned in the backdrop. Reeves is not offensive in his portrayal, and the message seems to be that we shouldn’t be overly judgemental until we’ve seen the details of these scandals. But his acting, as is often the case, feels like the handbrake has been left on – emotionally stitled, and lacking the hues and colours required of a fairly complex role.

The net result is something that isn’t particularly enjoyable, feels extremely flat and is an altogether missed opportunity.

Trailer for Outcome, streaming now on Apple TV+
by hutchwp

Film review – Father Mother Sister Brother (Jim Jarmusch, 2026)

Jim Jarmusch returns after a six-year break with Father Mother Sister Brother, a comedy-drama anthology that explores the relationship between parents and their children. It’s a welcome return for fans of the auteur, providing an entertaining and thought-provoking entry to his filmography without stepping too far outside common ground.

The film tells three stories in three separate cities: New Jersey, Dublin and Paris. Each vignette is a variation on the same theme, with two siblings reconnect with their parents after a time of separation. It’s a starting point that allows Jarmusch to explore in depth the connection and disconnect that often exists between generations of the same family.

Common elements and callbacks are sprinkled throughout. In each, a comedic exchange occurs around the phrase “Bob’s Your Uncle”. An expensive Rolex watch is given prominence in each tale. There is a mutual appreciation of the social sharing of a cup of coffee or tea, in a way that harks back stylistically to Jarmusch’s previous anthology film Coffee and Cigarettes. 

The stories work extremely well together, and deserve to be enjoyed as a single body. For it is not in the details of each story that the real impact is made. Instead, the overarching themes are teased out over the three stories: familial dysfunction, alienated parents, strained relationships. The fact these play out across a global landscape feels deliberate too – this is not an isolated situation but one seen time and time again by adults with loving parents.

This is a stylish and thoughtful piece that is well acted. It delivers on expectations without overachieving. Sometimes that’s enough.

by hutchwp

Film review – Pompei: Below The Clouds (Gianfranco Rosi, 2026)

A carriage rocks slowly over a modern train line. An emergency service desk responds to the fears and panics of a city. A dilapidated old cinema screens images from forgotten masterpieces to an empty auditorium. Japanese archeolegists slowly and methodically uncover relics from the past.

And so it goes.

For almost two hours, Gianfranco Rosi’s carefully curated imagery builds up an astonishing portrait of modern Naples, a city that exists in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius and its terrifying presence.

Pompei: Below The Clouds is an undoubtedly beautiful documentary. The black and white cinematography serves as the perfect means to showcase the contrasting darks and lights within the images Rosi has captured. The soundscape builds on this, with low industrial hums and raw chatter giving even more gravitas to the proceedings.

There is no singular narrative here. The multiple threads sit alongside each other, serving to create something much more than the sum of their parts. Each one plays a role in bringing to life the city as it is now, steeped in its inescapable past. Think of it as a very distant cousin of Love Actually; an unexpectedly stylish family member you didn’t know existed until the Easter gathering, who you now find much more interesting than anyone and anything within eyesight.

Pompei: Below the Clouds is a film that needs your attention. Streaming on MUBI in the UK, if you are planning to watch at home then you need to find a full night of peace to fully allow yourself to be immersed. It’s deserving of this focus.

Official trailer for Pompei: Below the Clouds
by hutchwp

Film review – It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley (Amy Berg, 2026)

In the late 1990s, in years that were critical to my musical development, there was a flurry of popularity for emotionally poetic rock. Radiohead opened the door, and Coldplay, Travis and Muse gladly stepped through it.

As a nerdy teenager, it was typical of me to get heavily into bands I liked and read anything and everything that was written about them. Interviews, snippets, reviews, articles. One musician that was namechecked a lot was American singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley. He was a key influence on a lot of my favourite bands. A mystery surrounded both his music and his short life, and it was a no-brainer for me to take a punt on picking up his album based on hype alone.

It proved a wonderful gift at that time in my life. Those ten songs contributed heavily to the soundtrack of my late teens. Outwardly fitting in with my peers by frequenting local rock bars and declaring my love of bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Offspring, at home I studied hard and allowed to Jeff Buckley’s ethereal voice to inhabit whatever brain capacity was left at the time.

A frustratingly short career is a good way to secure your eternal legacy, with every song heightened and held up as clear evidence of a future cruelly denied from your new-found fans. And so it is with Jeff Buckley and the new documentary that covers his life, music and untimely death.

The documentary is the most in depth study of his life that has ever been committed to film. It builds up layers of his life slowly, by incorporating audio messages, demos, live recordings, never-before-seen video footage, and new interviews with people key to his life. The focus here is his relationship to the women in his life, including his ex-girlfriends and his mother Mary Guibert.

Tbe film was a wonderful way to rekindle my love of Jeff Buckley and his small but strong musical output. His life may have been cut short but his legacy will live on for many years to come.

Official trailer for Jeff Buckley: It’s Never Over
by hutchwp

Academy Awards 2026 – Full List of Winners

Best picture

  • WINNER: One Battle After Another
  • Bugonia
  • Frankenstein
  • F1
  • Hamnet
  • Marty Supreme
  • The Secret Agent
  • Sentimental Value
  • Sinners
  • Train Dreams

Best actress

  • WINNER: Jessie Buckley – Hamnet
  • Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
  • Kate Hudson – Song Sung Blue
  • Renate Reinsve – Sentimental Value
  • Emma Stone – Bugonia

Best actor

  • WINNER: Michael B Jordan – Sinners
  • Timothée Chalamet – Marty Supreme
  • Leonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After Another
  • Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon
  • Wagner Moura – The Secret Agent

Best supporting actress

  • WINNER: Amy Madigan – Weapons
  • Elle Fanning – Sentimental Value
  • Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – Sentimental Value
  • Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners
  • Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another

Best supporting actor

  • WINNER: Sean Penn – One Battle After Another
  • Benicio del Toro – One Battle After Another
  • Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
  • Delroy Lindo – Sinners
  • Stellan Skarsgård – Sentimental Value

Best director

  • WINNER: Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
  • Ryan Coogler – Sinners
  • Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
  • Joachim Trier – Sentimental Value
  • Chloé Zhao – Hamnet

Best animated feature

  • WINNER: KPop Demon Hunters
  • Arco
  • Elio
  • Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
  • Zootopia 2

Best international feature

  • WINNER: Sentimental Value
  • It Was Just an Accident
  • Sirât
  • The Secret Agent
  • The Voice of Hind Rajab

Best documentary feature

  • WINNER: Mr Nobody Against Putin
  • Come See Me in the Good Light
  • Cutting Through the Rocks
  • The Alabama Solution
  • The Perfect Neighbor

Best original screenplay

  • WINNER: Sinners – Ryan Coogler
  • Blue Moon – Robert Kaplow
  • It Was Just an Accident – Jafar Panahi
  • Marty Supreme – Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
  • Sentimental Value – Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier

Best adapted screenplay

  • WINNER: One Battle After Another – Paul Thomas Anderson
  • Bugonia – Will Tracy
  • Frankenstein – Guillermo del Toro
  • Hamnet – Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell
  • Train Dreams – Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar

Best original song

  • WINNER: Golden – KPop Demon Hunters (by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo and Teddy Park)
  • Dear Me – Diane Warren: Relentless (by Diane Warren)
  • I Lied to You – Sinners (by by Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Goransson)
  • Sweet Dreams of Joy – Viva Verdi! (by Nicholas Pike)
  • Train Dreams – Train Dreams (by Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner)

Best original score

  • WINNER: Sinners – Ludwig Goransson
  • Bugonia – Jerskin Fendrix
  • Frankenstein – Alexandre Desplat
  • Hamnet – Max Richter
  • One Battle After Another – Jonny Greenwood

Best cinematography

  • WINNER: Sinners – Autumn Durald Arkapaw
  • Frankenstein – Dan Laustsen
  • Marty Supreme – Darius Khondji
  • One Battle After Another – Michael Bauman
  • Train Dreams – Adolpho Veloso

Best film editing

  • WINNER: One Battle After Another – Andy Jurgensen
  • F1 – Stephen Mirrione
  • Marty Supreme – Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
  • Sentimental Value – Olivier Bugge Coutté
  • Sinners – Michael P Shawver

Best sound

  • WINNER: F1 – Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A Rizzo and Juan Peralta
  • Frankenstein – Greg Chapman, Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian Cooke and Brad Zoern
  • One Battle After Another – José Antonio García, Christopher Scarabosio and Tony Villaflor
  • Sinners – Chris Welcker, Benjamin A Burtt, Felipe Pacheco, Brandon Proctor and Steve Boeddeker
  • Sirât – Amanda Villavieja, Laia Casanovas and Yasmina Praderas

Best visual effects

  • WINNER: Avatar: Fire and Ash – Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
  • F1 – Ryan Tudhope, Nicolas Chevallier, Robert Harrington and Keith Dawson
  • Jurassic World Rebirth – David Vickery, Stephen Aplin, Charmaine Chan and Neil Corbould
  • Sinners – Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter and Donnie Dean
  • The Lost Bus – Charlie Noble, David Zaretti, Russell Bowen and Brandon K McLaughlin

Best production design

  • WINNER: Frankenstein – Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau
  • Hamnet – Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton
  • Marty Supreme – Jack Fisk and Adam Willis
  • One Battle After Another – Florencia Martin and Anthony Carlino
  • Sinners – Hannah Beachler and Monique Champagne
by hutchwp

Academy Awards 2026 – Full List of Nominees

Best picture

Bugonia
F1
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Train Dreams

Best directing

Chloé Zhao, Hamnet
Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value
Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Best actor

Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon
Michael B Jordan, Sinners
Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent

Best actress

Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Kate Hudson, Song Sung Blue
Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value
Emma Stone, Bugonia

Best supporting actor

Benicio Del Toro, One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein
Delroy Lindo, Sinners
Sean Penn, One Battle After Another
Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value

Best supporting actress

Elle Fanning, Sentimental Value
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value
Amy Madigan, Weapons
Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners
Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

Best original screenplay

Blue Moon
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
Sentimental Value
Sinners

Best adapted screenplay

Bugonia
Frankenstein
Hamnet
One Battle After Another
Train Dreams

Best animated feature film

Arco
Elio
KPop Demon Hunters
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Zootopia 2

Best international feature film

The Secret Agent
It Was Just an Accident
Sentimental Value
Sirât
The Voice of Hind Rajab

Best documentary feature film

The Alabama Solution
Come See Me in the Good Light
Cutting Through Rocks
Mr Nobody Against Putin
The Perfect Neighbor

Best documentary short film

All the Empty Rooms
Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud
Children No More: Were and Are Gone
The Devil Is Busy
Perfectly a Strangeness

Best animated short film

Butterfly
Forevergreen
The Girl Who Cried Pearls
Retirement Plan
The Three Sisters

Best live action short film

Butcher’s Stain
A Friend of Dorothy
Jane Austen’s Period Drama
The Singers
Two People Exchanging Saliva

Best casting

Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
The Secret Agent
Sinners

Best cinematography

Frankenstein
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Train Dreams

Best costume design

Avatar: Fire and Ash
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
Sinners

Best film editing

F1
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners

Best makeup and hairstyling

Frankenstein
Kokuho
Sinners
The Smashing Machine
The Ugly Stepsister

Best production design

Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners

Best original score

Bugonia
Frankenstein
Hamnet
One Battle After Another
Sinners

Best original song

Dear Me, Diane Warren: Relentless
Golden, KPop Demon Hunters
I Lied To You, Sinners
Sweet Dreams of Joy, Viva Verdi!
Train Dreams, Train Dreams

Best sound

F1
Frankenstein
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Sirât

Best visual effects

Avatar: Fire and Ash
F1
Jurassic World Rebirth
The Lost Bus
Sinners

by hutchwp

Golden Globes 2026 – Full List of Winners

Film categories

Best film – drama

  • WINNER: Hamnet
  • Frankenstein
  • It Was Just an Accident
  • The Secret Agent
  • Sentimental Value
  • Sinners

Best film – musical or comedy

  • WINNER: One Battle After Another
  • Blue Moon
  • Bugonia
  • Marty Supreme
  • No Other Choice
  • Nouvelle Vague

Best non-English language film

  • WINNER: The Secret Agent
  • It Was Just an Accident
  • No Other Choice
  • Sentimental Value
  • Sirât
  • The Voice of Hind Rajab

Best animated film

  • WINNER: KPop Demon Hunters
  • Arco
  • Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle
  • Elio
  • Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
  • Zootopia 2

Best actress – drama

  • WINNER: Jessie Buckley – Hamnet
  • Jennifer Lawrence – Die, My Love
  • Renate Reinsve – Sentimental Value
  • Julia Roberts – After the Hunt
  • Tessa Thompson – Hedda
  • Eva Victor – Sorry, Baby

Best actor – drama

  • Wagner Moura – The Secret Agent
  • Joel Edgerton – Train Dreams
  • Oscar Isaac – Frankenstein
  • Dwayne Johnson – The Smashing Machine
  • Michael B Jordan – Sinners
  • Jeremy Allen White – Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

Best actress – musical or comedy

  • WINNER: Rose Byrne (pictured) – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
  • Cynthia Erivo – Wicked: For Good
  • Kate Hudson – Song Sung Blue
  • Chase Infiniti – One Battle After Another
  • Amanda Seyfried – The Testament of Ann Lee
  • Emma Stone – Bugonia

Best actor – musical or comedy 

  • WINNER: Timothée Chalamet – Marty Supreme
  • George Clooney – Jay Kelly
  • Leonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After Another
  • Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon
  • Lee Byung-Hun – No Other Choice
  • Jesse Plemons – Bugonia

Best supporting actress

  • WINNER: Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another
  • Emily Blunt – The Smashing Machine
  • Elle Fanning – Sentimental Value
  • Ariana Grande – Wicked: For Good
  • Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – Sentimental Value
  • Amy Madigan – Weapons

Best supporting actor

  • WINNER: Stellan Skarsgård – Sentimental Value
  • Benicio Del Toro – One Battle After Another
  • Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
  • Paul Mescal – Hamnet
  • Sean Penn – One Battle After Another
  • Adam Sandler – Jay Kelly
by hutchwp

Top 10 of 2025

I always fret over my favourite films of each year, like it’s somehow really important to anyone other than myself. Hence, my list is a week late! Here’s the list:

A Real Pain

Mickey 17

The Ballad of Wallis Island

Tornado

28 Years Later

Frankenstein

The Running Man 

Sinners

Grand Theft Hamlet

The Girl With The Needle

Lots of other films are also bubbling under and I’m trying not to overthink it. Fantastic Four, The Mastermind, The Thing With Feathers, Nickel Boys, Islands and Memoirs of a Snail could have made it. But that’s my list! What do you think?

With a list of films I love, there are surely also some films that I didn’t enjoy quite as much. My turkeys this year included Queer, Emilio Perez, Hot Milk and Fackham Hall, all of which I was bitterly disappointed with.

But they are entirely eclipsed this year by one film that is possibly the worst thing I’ve ever seen, which was Ice Cube’s War Of The Worlds film, available on Amazon Prime. So bad, it’s bad!

by hutchwp

Film review: Frankenstein (Guillermo Del Toro, 2025)

Frankenstein is a gothic novel, first published over 200 years ago. It remains Mary Shelley’s best known and most celebrated work, with an estimated 400 feature films having been made with the character as a central or supporting role. Filmmakers such as Danny Boyle, Kenneth Branagh and Mel Brooks have put their own spin on the character, and there seems to be an insatiable appetite for movie makers and cinema goers to revisit the monster.

And so, in 2025, master of gothic horror Guillermo Del Toro has blessed us with his own interpretation of the work. Screening as part of the 2025 London Film Festival, it’s an interpretation that feels luxurious in scale.

The story is told in a way that remains faithful to the original novel, mixing up the ordering to create a much more effective narrative for the purpose of the big screen, much in the same way as the 1994 Kenneth Branagh adaptation did. This version opens at the original ending, with a mysterious one-legged man (Oscar Isaac) appearing out of nowhere at a shipwrecked expedition to the North Pole, chased down by an even more mysterious hooded monster (Jacob Elordi), seemingly impossible to be halted in his pursuit of vengeance. The rest of the story is told through flashbacks to how they got there, with some very strong performances across a talented and varied ensemble cast that includes Charles Dance, Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz.

Following Pacific Rim (2015), a film that many consider a misstep in his career, Del Toro has had four exceptional critically acclaimed features: the daring gothic romance Crimson Peak, Oscar-winning The Shape Of Water, psychological thriller Nightmare Alley, and his first foray into feature animation with the beautifully realised Pinocchio. Adding this powerful fifth film into the mix will only cement his position as one of modern cinema’s true masters.

At 150 minutes, it isn’t for the fainthearted. It’s hard to condense it into anything less, without losing a lot of the story. When it arrives on Netflix later in the year, I’m sure many will take the opportunity to have a break at the start of Act II. However, this is a film that deserves to be seen on the biggest of screens, to allow the total immersion into something quite grand.

Glorious.