Tag / review

by hutchwp

Video Game Review – eFootball Kick-Off! (Nintendo Switch 2, 2026)

The latest football game from Konami has arrived on Switch 2 with little-to-no fanfare. With roots firmly in its franchise predecessor Pro Evolution Soccer/Winning Eleven, the game focuses on gameplay and ease of access. It’s a lesson that its noisy neighbour could and should learn from.

The first thing that strikes you when you load up the game is just how easy it is to navigate around the menus. The first thing you see is a choice of Solo, Local or Multiplayer. In my favoured mode (solo), the options are again limited: Quick Match, World Tour or International Cup. It’s a simplicity that feels like a breath of fresh air in comparison to the bulky, clunky process you need to follow on EA FC (and have done for years) – a sea of updates, inboxes to check, packets to open. There’s none of that here, just straight to the pitch and on with the next match.

I spent a lot of time in World Tour mode, which will remind long-time players of Master League at least in part. Here, you take over management duties for a squad of generic players (plus Messi if you buy it early enough). By playing matches against increasingly difficult opposition, you unlock better players. This is done one of two ways. Either you choose a player from the squad of the team you beat, or you save up points from each win (300-500) and spend them in the Hall of Fame. It’s a fun grind that allows you to progress at a decent pace. Importantly, there are no hidden charges or loot boxes here. You can only progress by winning.

The gameplay itself feels just like Pro Evo in its heyday. Quick passing, intelligent player movements, satisfying finishes. The controls haven’t changed much, with a few extra modifications that are introduced via training games and mini challenges within the matches. The physics engine is realistic and basically becomes unnoticeable very quickly, which is a good sign that the team at Konami got it right.

The game doesn’t have loads of authentic teams and kits, but that never feels like a huge let down. Of course, every realistic football game will inevitably be compared to FIFA, the dominant force in the genre for a long time. The balance of power has always swung between the two franchises, with FIFA effectively killing off Pro Evo a few years ago in 2020. FIFA had the market share and the consumers voted for the game with the team and player licences. I was never fully behind the idea that you could pay to improve your team, even though that is the way of a lot of video games now. The gameplay always let the franchise down, and that issue has carried itself over to the rebranded EA FC.

I’d take this cheaper and very enjoyable game over the alternative every single time. Strong recommend.

by hutchwp

Film Review: Back to Black (Sam Taylor-Johnson, 2024)

Big-budget biopics have become a popular box office draw, with Queen, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen and Robbie Williams all getting the Hollywood treatment in recent years. Sam Taylor-Johnson’s retelling of Amy Winehouse’s rise to fame is certainly not a bad film, but it falls short in many ways.

Let’s start with the story itself. The narrative that has been concocted doesn’t align with the reality and what really happened in her life. My memory of her successful music career was that she exploded into public consciousness with the song ‘Rehab’, her first in a new-sounding musical approach she’d found alongside Mark Ronson, who produced the smash-hit album ‘Back to Black’. Seemingly for narrative reasons, this song is not focused on until much later in the film, and Mark Ronson is only mentioned a couple of times rather than being a key part of the story. The implication is that she was already a huge popstar, when in reality her first album debuted at #60 in the UK charts and was outperformed that week by new releases by Michael Ball, S Club 8, Myleene Klass and Daniel O’Donnell. Not to undermine any of their careers, but none are expecting a big screen retelling of their musical successes any time soon.

Of course, chopping and changing the ordering and minor facts is something we’ve come to expect with these kinds of films, and it’s a topic I explored in my previous article ‘Fact vs Fiction – How far is too far for biopics?’. As I said at the time, there is a a fine balance between telling a truthful story and telling an entertaining and dramatic story.

The problem I have with ‘Back to Black’ is that it does neither.

What it does well is provide a platform to showcase Winehouse’s wonderful music. The music took over the world for well over a year, soundtracking big nights out, house parties, dinner parties, car journeys and everything in between. The titular album was one of the last big sellers when it comes to physical media, shipping almost 2m copies in the UK alone in 2008. You only need about a third of that now. Anyone who sees this film and who lived through that period will surely be seeking out her music in the aftermath of their first viewing.

It’s not a surprise that her alleged struggles with alcohol and substance abuse and subsequent health decline after the success of the ‘Back to Black’ album are not a key part of the film. However, by choosing the much safer route the whole film feels a bit vanilla. As a standalone piece, it kind of works. But the world knows so much more about her life and knows it has been left out for a reason.

As a result, it doesn’t really land and it feels like a struggle to enjoy.

by hutchwp

Film Review – Power Ballad (John Carney, 2026)

Irish filmmaker John Carney shot to prominence in 2007, when his romantic musical drama ‘Once’ became an unexpected hit. What had started as a little film that cost just $150,000 to make ended up grossing over $23m at the global box office, won an Academy Award for Best Original song, and was later remade into a stage musical. The warmth shone through the end product to make a connection with the audiences beyond anything that Carney could have ever dreamed of.

Since then, he has focused a lot of his directorial output on the musical genre. These have been fairly consistent in their quality despite varying box office returns. First there was 2013’s Begin Again, a saccharine effort starring Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo. Then in 2016 he helmed Sing Street, an Irish-set bittersweet musical that again outperformed expectations. Finally, Flora and Son, a Gary Clark collaboration, performed poorly with a limited release in 2023 before moderate success when it arrived on Apple TV+.

And so we come to Power Ballad, his latest musical comedy. This time, Paul Rudd takes centre stage as Rick Power, the front man of a jobbing wedding band called The Bride and Groove. We are introduced to the band in the middle of a very successful performance at a wedding party, which goes awry when Rick decides to use his formerly successful rock band’s biggest hit as the encore. Inevitably the audience doesn’t dig the sound and the show falls flat. This is a great springboard for his story – he has made a compromise on his personal success by fully committing to family life with his wife and daughter, but is still writing songs with no platform to showcase them.

We are then introduced to Danny Wilson, played by Nick Jonas. He is a struggling former boyband member that is looking to write a hit comeback single. When a chance meeting between him and Rick leads to them jamming out a few song ideas, Nick takes one of Rick’s songs and uses it as the lead single on his new album. The catch? Rick didn’t give him permission and he isn’t credited on the song.

As a member of a very unserious dad rock band who had flashes of musical success in my youth, a lot of the film resonated hard with me. John Carney is a talented songwriter himself, and he is uniquely adept at showing the songwriting process in a realistic manner. I really enjoyed Paul Rudd’s performance in the lead role, which is both lightly humorous and soaked with emotional baggage too.

As a piece of cinema, I have only one small gripe with Power Ballad. The whole film hinges on the magic of one single song as it becomes the most popular piece of music in the entire world. Unfortunately, the song itself is not quite of that quality. It’s not a bad song by any means, but it does have an unlikely callback to another recent musical comedy: K-Pop Demon Hunters. When you watch that film and the same snowballing success happens with ‘Golden’, it’s believable because that song is pop perfection. ‘How To Write A Song (Without You)’ isn’t really hitting that level, and it undermines the entire plot.

Frustratingly, the song that does hit that mark from a previous John Carney film is ‘Falling Slowly’. We do briefly see a busker belting it out in central Dublin, giving us a glimpse of what could have been if that song had been used in this film.

Overall, despite a few limitations, this is a very good film. If you want a bit of uplifting musical comedy in your life, then this is the film for you.

Power Ballad Official Trailer

by hutchwp

Film review – Propeller One-Way Night Coach (John Travolta, 2026)

Quite soon into the opening of John Travolta’s directorial debut, you may find yourself audibly gasping. Or perhaps saying things like “What’s going on here?” or “Why?” or “Is this a parody?”Perhaps, like me, you paused it to work out what the back story about this kind-of film was. Maybe you’ve come across this very article and feel like you wrote it yourself.

In many ways, ‘Propeller One-Way Night Coach’ is unlike any other film you’ve ever seen. Unique in many ways. It sets the bar quite low, then runs head first into it. Indeed, The Telegraph writer Robbie Collin declared that it was like “watching a toddler run into a lamp post”. It’s hard to disagree.

Watching the opening credits, there are some classy animated visuals that set the scene quite well, with a vintage jazz track providing additional vibes. Sure, it says ‘John Travolta’ a few times more than is necessary, but I’m on board.

Then the narration kicks in. Nothing can prepare you for the effort required to stay engaged with this narration. It makes Harrison Ford’s infamous voiceover for Blade Runner sound like Robin Williams doing a standup routine after 10 cans of Red Bull.

The story itself is quite a simple recounting of how Travolta, as a child, fell in love with planes. It is easygoing, formed as an adaptation of his children’s book of the same name from almost 30 years ago. It isn’t bad exactly. It’s a very personal book for him, and I’m sure it’s great for aviation enthusiasts. Undertaking a passion project is often where movie magic happens. I shudder to bring up Citizen Kane in relation to this film but here we are.

I just absolutely don’t think this needed to be adapted for the small screen and it felt like a complete waste of time to watch it. It falls into the category of being so blandly bad that you should absolutely not watch it, not even ironically.

Sorry John. I, like you, gave it a go. I think we both wasted our time.

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 – 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

Why you should follow your heart and watch the Netflix Robbie docuseries

I’ve been a fan of Robbie Williams as a musician and a character for most of my life, which is incredible to think of really. I bought his first single at the age of 11, and he hasn’t had an album that I haven’t bought, listened to and enjoyed in some way since then. Some people would class him as a guilty pleasure, but that’s not where he sits for me. Sure, I happily walk around in my Bowie t-shirts or tag myself at Guns N Roses gigs, but I absolutely don’t mind telling anyone that I love the music of Robbie Williams.

I’ve seen this four-part documentary series getting slammed in the press, and I wonder why this is. I think Mr Williams has always walked a fine line between love and hate with the media. He’s a figure that sells, a bit like certain members of the royal family. This trickles down to readers of whatever media is talking about him, and most people don’t have time anymore to read beyond the headlines.

So, when a review starts with a line saying that this documentary is just Robbie yabbing on in his pants watching a laptop, it does it a great disservice.

Robbie Williams is factually one of the most successful musical performers to come from the UK, and this documantary is a unique look into where he is at in 2023. It references his past but the really interesting thing is what the man feels about his life, as he looks back on his life a few months before he turns 50. And it is absolutely captivating. It’s not a documentary about Robbie Williams recording Angels, or going to rehab, or releasing a comeback album. It’s about what his take on it is now, and that is a really genius framing for a documentary.

If you’ve ever enjoyed the music of Robbie Williams, or Take That, this is an important piece of the puzzle to understanding how he thinks. Don’t let a negative review convince you to not watch it.

You know you want to.

by hutchwp

Film review: LOLA (Andrew Legge, 2023)

The Hanbury sisters in the film LOLA

LOLA is a beautifully constructed science fiction tale that is as innovative as it is chilling.

Directed by Andrew Legge in his directorial debut, it tells the story of sisters Thomasina (Emma Appleton) and Martha (Stefanie Martini), who together invent a machine that transmits television broadcasts from the future. Initially using it to discover cultural touchpoints 30 years ahead of time, they then switch it to the war effort. After they use it to help prevent a German attack on British soldiers, they are enlisted by the Allied Forces and begin coordinating defence strategies with Lieutenant Sebastien Holloway (Rory Fleck-Byrne).

In LOLA, Legge has created a deeply rich alternative world that plays out with a good pace to great effect. The storytelling technique utilised is innovative and delivered with great aplomb by the two leads, each bringing humour and realism to their respective roles. Neither steals the show, instead complimenting each other with natural comradery.

With a 79-minute running time, there isn’t scope to slow down and the length and pace feels perfect. It’s an exciting debut and one that rightly has those that discover it wondering what Legge will come up with next.

by hutchwp

Film review – Medusa Deluxe (Thomas Hardiman, 2022)

Medusa Deluxe – A gritty debut

Thomas Hardiman’s stylishly gritty debut finds a new setting for a well-worn path. The story unfolds around a murder that takes place during a hairdressing competition, meshing together neatly with some strong performances from the entire cast, creating a powerful piece of cinema.

Murder mysteries have come back into fashion in recent times. Two ensemble blockbuster franchises have helped bring this wave of popularity to people’s attention – Rian Johnson’s Knives Out and Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot – but the genre doesn’t need a host of A-listers to succeed.

In a way Medusa Deluxe operates in exactly the same way. It is an ensemble piece, with none of the all-British cast standing out as significantly more established than the next, although a few are certainly recognisable. Their interactions and interplay are the real star.

It’s impossible to watch the film without the awareness that this is a one-shot labour if love. Admittedly, there are a few points where there is an obvious cut in the action, but even in the handful of long shots this represents a mammoth undertaking that almost gives Boiling Point a run for its money.

There is a verve to the performances that really disconcerted me as a viewer. Clare Perkins starts the film overflowing with anger as hardened hairdresser Cleve, and only ramps up further as her colleagues and models shrink with nervousness. Harriet Webb brings an element of sympathy to her prickly take on Kendra, which is an important part of the story.

Despite a few moments of heavy-handedness, the really shocking moments of Medusa Deluxe will stick with you for a while after watching. The one-shot approach is an interesting element that brings urgency but the real draw here is an intriguing story and some top-drawer performances from a strong cast.