Power Ballad (2026)

If you want a film mixing some heart, some humour, and some very good tunes then you want a film from writer-director John Carney (here sharing the writing credit with Peter McDonald). Not only does Carney know how to entertain viewers, he knows how to give you one or two fantastic earworms when the plot requires it.

Paul Rudd plays Rick, a singer in a wedding band. He used to be in a very different kind of band, but life offered him a different path. He might spend some time trying to relive his past glory days, but he's also very happy with a life that includes a beloved wife (Aja, played by Beth Fallon) and a beloved daughter (Rachel, played by Marcella Plunkett). He's also very happy when he gets to spend an unexpected night of drunken reminiscing and song-writing with the famous Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas), an ex-boyband member trying to ensure that his solo career hits the heights needed to keep him relevant. The two part ways, and life goes back to normal . . . until Rick hears the latest hit single released by Danny. It's VERY familiar. It's his song. But can he prove it?

While it was advertised in line with the plot summary I've just written there, Power Ballad has a bit more to it. Not that the core idea isn't enough. It's a fun premise, a fantastic dilemma for a man who wants to be grateful for all he has, but also doesn't want to be stiffed out of what he might be due. The real beauty of the film is in conveying the power of authenticity in art and creativity though. Rick isn't just bothered by the idea that someone rich and powerful may have stolen his work. He's bothered by the idea that someone has repurposed part of his story without them even recognising the true meaning of it.

Carney knows the power of music. It's the theme that has resonated throughout every one of his films. The impressive thing is that he seems to be able to find so many variations on a central theme. He's shown us how music connects people, he's shown us how music provides an escape and a chance for growth, and now he's shown us how it remains attached to memories and core emotions from every stage of our life.

Rudd is a great choice for the lead role. He's always easy to like, and feels believable as a man who once tried to make it as a rock star. Both Fallon and Plunkett are very good alongside him. They're slightly sidelined as the focus stays on Rudd and Jonas, but they're allowed to become frustrated by the man in their life becoming a bit obsessed over one song without ever being portrayed as unsympathetic and too harsh. Jonas also does well, particularly in the scenes that have him being a bit cold and harsh to a man who believed that they shared a common love of music and one memorable night of mutual appreciation. As well as his co-writing credit, McDonald also delivers some fun moments in the role of Sandy, a bandmate and die-hard bestie. It's also worth mentioning another great performance from Jack Reynor, this time playing a cynical and hardened music producer named Mac.

Many who end up watching this may find themselves tougher nuts to crack. Not me. I was smiling often, I was sniffling occasionally, and I had a conflicting mix of chuckles and lip-quivering during some final scenes that were predictable enough, yes, but also hugely satisfying. Looking at it objectively, it's a bit weak compared to the better films from Carney. I struggled to look at it objectively while being moved by the titular power ballad though, and that's why I still highly recommend it to those wanting something sweet, and enjoyable . . . and surprisingly beautiful when everything opens up like a blooming flower in the third act.

7/10

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Flora And Son (2023)

Writer-director John Carney has made his name with quirky and heart-warming modern musicals. They may not have any big song and dance numbers, and you may get to the end credits without thinking that you've watched a musical, but that's what they are. He knows that great songs, just like great movies, have the power to transport people, to help our emotions soar or plummet, and to boldly underline our lives if they occur at just the right time when we need them.

Flora And Son may be the weakest film yet from Carney, but that's not to say it's a bad film. It's just a testament to how great his other films have been. Eve Hewson plays Flora, a single mother having trouble keeping her young son, Max (Orén Kinlan), on the right path. Max's father, Ian (Jack Reynor), isn't helping, and her latest gift idea, rescuing a guitar that she finds being dumped, doesn't make the impact she hoped it would. Flora decides to use the guitar herself, picking an online tutor named Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Despite Max not seeming at all interested, music does start to form a bridge (no pun intended) between mother and son. 

Although all Carney movies feel small in scale, they are about personal joirneys rather than world-altering events, Flora And Son suffers slightly from feeling smaller than usual. The fact that Flora and Jeff communicate throughout most of the movie via a computer screen feels like an easy option for Carney, although there are moments depicting the characters imagining themselves sharing the same space together, and it undercuts the usual sweetness and ultimately uplifting nature of his films by serving as a reminder of the recent pandemic time we all shared together trying to spend time with other people via our phone screens and computers.

Hewson does a very good job in her first role that feels like a full feature lead, although she has been acting in shorts, TV, and movies for well over sa decade now. She's good enough to keep viewers onside for most of the runtime, despite being quite unlikable and conniving at certain times, and watching her develop a better relationship with Gordon-Levitt's character as she develops a better relationship with music, and subsequently a better relationship with her son, is as satisfying as it is predictable. Gordon-Levitt has to look cute and capable of being passionate about music, not much of a stretch for him, and he's perfectly cast here. Kinlan manages to play his moody teen in a way that doesn't make him too unbearable, helped by a script that show how his circumstances/home life have massively affected him, and the natural charm of Reynor allows him to play his douchebag absent parent in a way that is similarly easier to tolerate than he otherwise could have been.

If you like the films of Carney then you will find plenty to like here. He works just as much to a formula as many other film-makers, but a movie formula is much easier to accept and enjoy while it keeps working (just look at the first decade or so of the MCU). While this is slightly more bitter than his previous films, it's still a (kind of) low-key musical that will have you smiling as the end credits roll.

7/10

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Dark Touch (2013)

Written and directed by Marina de Van, Dark Touch is an impressive horror movie that manages to provide the goods for horror fans while also doing something a bit different from the norm. It's dark, it's pretty disturbing, and it's well worth your time.

Young Niamh (Missy Keating) is the sole survivor of a massacre that left the rest of family dead. Well, it seems to have been a massacre, but there are enough elements that don't quite fit in with the picture that the police are putting together. It certainly couldn't have been anything to do with Niamh anyway. Could it? While she is cared for by the sweet Nat (Marcella Plunkett) and Lucas (Padraic Delaney) it quickly becomes clear that this eleven-year-old girl isn't exactly like other children her age. Things seem to happen when she gets angry. And she has a lot to get angry about.

Mixing together elements of Carrie and The Children with something even more disturbing, Dark Touch may not be full of surprises, but it benefits from a nice thread of moral ambiguity running throughout and a third act that is as hard to accept as it is impressive. It also manages to sketch out a small Irish community, in broad strokes, as a place where the events depicted could actually happen.

Missy Keating is very good in the main role, maintaining a fine balance between innocent child and something much more dangerous, while Plunkett and Delaney both provide solid support as the main adults in Niamh's life. Charlotte Flyvholm and Stephen Wall will make viewers squirm, and Robert Donnelly, Susie Power, Catherine Walker and Richard Dormer all hold themselves confidently alongside the leads.

I wouldn't exactly call Dark Touch a slow burner, there's a cracking opening sequence and enough moments throughout to keep everyone interested and entertained, but it's certainly a film that veers between restraint and excess as it builds up to quite a weird and wild conclusion, and that's what makes it so memorable.

7/10

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Touch-Missy-Keating/dp/B00FUABH8E/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1391692887&sr=1-1&keywords=dark+touch