Alex B Cann film column - Latex and long walks 23/04/26

It's been an eventful week for me, but luckily I've managed to fit in a couple of movies, otherwise it's tough writing this column. Alas, a couple of films I fancied watching have vanished from cinema schedules already, but I'm sure they'll appear on one of the streaming services soon enough. It's frustrating when there's a movie you like the look of, but it's afforded a week of screenings at most, and frequently at random times. I'm fully aware that cinemas will always gravitate towards favouring the money-spinners like Mario, but it's a shame when small independent films are not given a chan

In a rare move, it's interesting to note that sci-fi epic Project Hail Mary has had its streaming date pushed back to acknowledge its huge success on the big screen. Even the Artemis II astronauts found time to watch it whilst quarantining ahead of their epic space adventure. It's currently the third highest-grossing movie of 2026 so far, sitting just behind The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and Chinese film Pegasus 3, which features motor racing, apparently.

Anyhow, to this week's films, and one to watch is The North. It's a little reminiscent of last year's Salt Path, but a lot better, in my humble opinion. Two friends, Chris and Lluis, reconnect after their lives drift apart, and decide to walk a rugged 600 kilometre path in the Highlands of Scotland. The scenery is truly breathtaking, and whilst I'm often the first to moan about the duration of films, I liked the unrushed pace of this story. At the end of the film, you feel a bit like you've been on the walk with them, and whilst there are a few ancillary characters, this is really a film about friendship, connection, and the path that life takes you on. A couple of beach scenes are really haunting, and will stay with you for a while after you've watched the film as the characters deal with their demons. Pack your mosquito net and join them on the trail if you can.

And Balls Up (Amazon Prime) is in with a chance of an award or two...from the Razzies. Marketing executives "Sales Brad" (Mark Wahlberg) and Elijah (Paul Walter Hauser) attempt to get their uniquely 'shaped' prophylactic (to put it politely) adopted as the official condom of the World Cup, only to inadvertently create a football scandal that has hordes of Brazilian football fans attempting to hunt them down. Sacha Baron Cohen does his best to inject some comedy, but apart from a couple of titters, I'm afraid they simply forgot to write a funny script. Or a story. Or any reason why you'd care about any of these dreadful one-dimensional characters. It's full of awful stereotypes, and feels like something that might have gone straight to VHS in the 1980s. At least the title neatly sums up the situation for whoever sunk money into this. Director Peter Farrelly has come a long way since his Oscar winner Green Book in 2018.