The Film Father - Making an Offer You Can’t Review

Starring : Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Isabel Merced, the ghost of Ian Holm Directed by : Fede Alvarez Where It’s Available : Hulu in the US, Disney Plus in Canada and international territories. When I heard that Fede Alvarez (director of the recent-ish Evil Dead remake and, more recently, the intense “blind man kills a bunch of young no-goodniks” thriller ‘Don’t Breathe’) was helming a new addition to the Alien franchise, my interest was piqued, but tempered. This is, after all, a franchise that hasn’t had an arguably ‘good’ film since David Fincher’s ‘Alien 3’ 30 years ago for Pete’s sake (I see you, ‘Prometheus’ Stans. … you’re very, very wrong. But I see you). Colour me happily surprised when this film jumps out of the gates with a neat concept (anti-capitalist heist film gone *horribly* awry) and great action set pieces. I can say with all honesty, final act missteps aside (we’ll touch on those) this is the third best film in the Alien franchise (behind the iconic, genre-definin...

Last year was … a lot. In a lot of ways. But a good portion of the time I wasn’t decrying the imminent collapse of civilization, I played video games. Quite a few of them, as it turns out.  As has become my wont, I will list here the games I ‘finished’ in CALENDAR YEAR 2024. Again, underline and bold that first part - the games did not have to be released this year (and you’ll note quite quite a few of the games on this list *weren’t*). A few honourable mentions to start with: these are games I’m currently playing (and enjoying) so you’ll see these on my 2025 list, but I’ll note them now so that you know they exist and are relatively worth your time: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (2024 - Microsoft Studios / Machine Games, on Xbox, PC and Gamepass), Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024 - EA / BioWare on Xbox, PC and PS5) and Astro Bot (2024 - PlayStation Studios / Team Asobi on PS5). 14. Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga (2024) - Microsoft Studios / Ninja Theory, on Xbox, PC and GamePass : ...