The Good Boy is a Polish/Yorkshire collaboration, known as Heel in America. The overriding word in my head is 'weird', and it's also bleakly dark. Wild 19 year old miscreant Tommy (Anson Boon) is abducted after becoming separated from his friends on a drug and booze fuelled night out, and wakes up in chains in a basement.
There's an element of Stockholm syndrome as Tommy gets to know his adopted family, who clearly are psychopaths (in spite of Stephen Graham's character Chris saying 'we're not psychopaths'). His dodgy tank top is a dead giveaway, for starters. Andrew Riseborough is terrific as the deeply traumatised, haunted mother Kathryn, and I didn't see the final plot twist coming. Wendy Ide in the Observer describes it as a meeting of monsters, and "a curious, unsettling picture, with parallels to A Clockwork Orange". I thought it was excellent. It doesn't answer every question in the viewer's mind, and has pleasing notes of ambiguity, along with committed performances from its bijou cast. Like nothing else you'll watch at the cinema this year.
How To Make A Killing sees action and rom com man of the moment Glen Powell attempting to 'prune a few branches from the family tree' and claim the huge family inheritance which he would otherwise be entitled to, were they not standing in his way with their already grotesque riches. It's solidly enjoyable popcorn fodder, and Powell is a versatile actor, turning his hand successfully to a darker plot than his previous rom com appearance alongside Sydney Sweeney. It's well scripted, good fun, and whilst it won't live long in the memory, you'll have a good time watching it. Margaret Qualley is the standout performer amongst its cast, popping up at regular intervals until she becomes a key part of the film's ending.
Arco is an intelligent animation about a time-travelling boy who dons a sparkly rainbow cape and breaks the rules (no time travel for under-12s), journeying back to the year 2075. Mark Ruffalo and Natalie Portman provide the voices for Iris's parents, the 10 year old girl who discovers Arco after he crash lands in a forest. A bit like Flow, it's an ecological warning about the extreme weather and climate disaster we are almost certainly drifting inevitably towards, but the animation style is very reminiscent of Japanese anime. I liked the nanny-robot Mikki (voiced by both Ruffalo and Portman simultaneously), and whilst the planet still has mailboxes, nobody uses them (it would help clear the Royal Mail letter backlog). Storms are the norm, and a race begins to find Arco's diamond, which will allow him to time travel back to his parents, who are frantically searching the earth for him. A heavy watch at times, but also looks rather stunning on the big screen. Be warned, the ending is rather sad. Quietly poignant.
Alas, I've run out of space for Project Hail Mary (it's superb!), so a full review next week, alongside Splitsville, Midwinter Break and Ready Or Not 2.
Alex B Cann Film Column - 19/03/20260
