Next Goal Wins is the latest film from Taika Waititi, who has managed to distinguish himself as a filmmaker of interest and a gifted comedic actor that has no qualms about doing motion capture for feature film and TV roles like his signature roles as IG11 in Disney Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Mandalorian and as Korg, the heroic and comic relief from Thor: Ragnarok. A role he has reprised in Thor: Love and Thunder, which he also directed and on the Disney+ Marvel animated series What If…? and off beat films like Jojo Rabbit. For the 2023 comedy based loosely on a true story, Next Goal Wins stars Michael Fassbender as Thomas Rongen, whose efforts to lead the American Somoa National Football Team pays off when the team plays in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The film was inspired by the 2014 documentary Next Goal Wins.
Ironically I found myself thinking of another sports comedy loosely based on a true story from 1993 entitled Cool Runnings, which focused on the Jamaican Bobsleigh Team at the 1988 Winter Olympics. The two films actually share some commonalities in that both were ultimately distributed by Disney with Next Goal Wins being released under the Fox Searchlight Label and Cool Runnings released by Buena Vista Pictures. John Candy, in his final feature film performance portrays Irving “Irv” Blitzer, who backs up the Jamaican Bobsleigh Team all the way into the Olympics where they win the respect of others and ultimately go on to compete again as equals four years later at the Winter Olympics while Fassbender’s Rongen coaches the American Somoa National Football Team into an elite squad of players.
So despite the similarities aside, I think we can reasonably state that both movies are feel good underdog stories. So while I do find some similarities between the two films, I think that is to be expected because they’re both loosely based on true stories.
Next Goal Wins was released on digital platforms on January 16, 2024 with a Blu-ray and DVD release expected to be released on February 27, 2024. Extra value features on the digital copy include the behind-the-scenes featurette The Pitch of Life (26:48) and a deleted scene (2:38).
Available through the Movies Anywhere app, which gives users a choice of multiple platforms to watch the film on, I chose my preferred digital retailer, iTunes. That digital copy features a pristine DolbyVision widescreen 4K Ultra HD presentation with a well mixed English Dolby ATMOS Soundtrack and English Subtiles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired as well as French and Latin American Spanish Language Subtitles encoded as options. English Assisted Descriptive Audio for the visually impaired and French and Latin American Spanish Language subtitles are also encoded as choices.
The interactive menus are rudimentary still frames with background music. This is a far cry from the elaborate animated interactive menus that used to appear on DVDs and now seem like it has become a lost art form.
Next Goal Wins is available now as a digital copy through select e-tailers and Movies Anywhere.
(C) Copyright 2024 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
