Andrew Newton

James Ashcroft’s serial-killer thriller follows grieving father Tom Kennedy and his son Jake as they move to Featherbank, where child abductions linked to the Whisper Man resume 15 years after detective Peter Willis arrested Frank Carter. The investigation brings Tom, Willis, and Detective Amanda Beck back into the original case and explores abused children, parental trauma, guilt, and generational damage. Despite a notable cast led by Adam Scott, Robert De Niro, Michael Keaton, and Michelle Monaghan, the film is criticized for its slow pacing, limited suspects, implausible psychological themes, weak urgency, and unsatisfying twists and chase sequences. Michael Keaton is singled out as unsettling, but the overall film receives a two-star rating and is judged largely forgettable.

The piece argues that Disney+ should expand Star Wars beyond the Skywalker saga by developing series around ten underexplored characters: Qi’ra, Asajj Ventress, Doctor Aphra, Captain Rex, Plo Koon, Quinlan Vos, Hondo Ohnaka, the Grand Inquisitor, Sabine Wren and Baylan Skoll. Proposed genres include crime thriller, noir, supernatural adventure comedy, psychological espionage, horror and philosophical drama. The central argument is that the franchise is strongest when it focuses on soldiers, criminals and disillusioned survivors operating outside the central prophecy, and that Disney+ has already demonstrated the format can work.

Commodore International is publishing the Alien Breed 35th Anniversary Collection, bringing all six games from the Amiga franchise to PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store on 24 September, with a Nintendo Switch release to follow. The collection includes modern controls, save states, visual filters, widescreen support, rumble, online co-op in supported titles, and a digital archive with developer interviews and retrospective videos.

TRAILMARK Games and AMC Global Media announced that Negan will be a playable character in The Walking Dead: Streets of Survival, using his barbed-wire baseball bat Lucille. The beat-'em-up features a single-player campaign inspired by the All-Out War storyline, with Rick, Daryl, Michonne and Negan battling walkers, Saviours and powerful enemies across locations including Sanctuary, Hilltop and Alexandria. The game supports multiple difficulty levels, including Easy Mode, and is available for pre-order on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 ahead of its 18 September release.

LEGO has unveiled the 6,130-piece Ultimate Collector Series Executor Super Star Destroyer from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Measuring more than 53.5 inches long, the $799.99/£614.99 set includes a display stand, a scale Star Destroyer, a recreation of the Executor’s bridge and seven minifigures: Darth Vader and six bounty hunters. It is available for pre-order ahead of its October 1 release and includes support from the LEGO Builder app.

Just Play Dead follows criminal entrepreneur Jack Wolf, who plans to fake his death for an insurance payout while framing his wife Nora’s lover, only for Nora to consider killing him for real. The review criticizes the film’s slow pacing, nonlinear structure, lack of chemistry and ineffective attempts at eroticism and comedy. Samuel L. Jackson and Eva Green are viewed as underused, while the final revelations are described as absurd but briefly entertaining. The film receives a rating of two stars.

Funko has announced a new collection of The Karate Kid Pop! Vinyl figures, including Daniel LaRusso in Crane Kick and painting poses, Johnny Lawrence, Mr. Miyagi with a bonsai tree, and a Daniel-versus-Johnny two-pack recreating the All-Valley Karate Championships finale. The figures are available for pre-order ahead of an October 25 release.

A lovesick musician, Owen, searches a Manchester campus for Emily after receiving an incomplete phone number, with help from a psychology student researching whether romance is obsolete. The film uses their ethically questionable quest to examine consent, perception, social-media-era judgment, and romantic-comedy conventions while maintaining an upbeat, funny tone. Spike Fearn and Angourie Rice deliver strong chemistry, and Alicia MacDonald’s direction benefits from infectious music and sharp social observations. Although the supporting cast and subplots are overcrowded and the premise requires some suspension of disbelief, the film succeeds as a sweet, energetic romantic comedy with thoughtful commentary.

Parasomnia follows Riley, a survivor of a group-home massacre whose strict sleep routine is disrupted during a birthday gathering, unleashing night terrors, violence, and buried secrets. The review praises the film’s frightening opening, effective gore, nightmare imagery, and strong performances by Jasmine Mathews and RJ Brown. It views the film’s treatment of grief and trauma as distinctive, though it finds the plot somewhat convoluted near the conclusion and some character motivations unclear.

Big Finish has released Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor Adventures – Hidden in Plain Sight, a three-part audio drama featuring Miles Taylor as the Eleventh Doctor and Jasmine Bayes as Eleanor Fong. The first two episodes follow the Doctor and Eleanor as they become entangled in the Judoon occupation of Hefestis and a journalist’s investigation, while the concluding adventure revisits the Eleventh Doctor’s apparent death at Lake Silencio and the threat that rescuing him could damage the timeline. The £19.99 download also features Grace Darling, Nicholas Briggs, David Shaw-Parker, Julie Teal, Alan Cox and Louis Davison.

ININ Games’ remake of the 1992 Amiga shoot-’em-up Apidya is now available digitally on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox and Nintendo Switch. Apidya’ Special combines original assets, new pixel art, remixed music and authentic sound effects with HD widescreen and 4:3 visual modes, CRT effects, five themed worlds, up to 20 bosses, hidden stages, random events, modernized difficulty and a new cooperative mode. The release also includes an exclusive Chris Hülsbeck soundtrack featuring original and new studio recordings alongside original Amiga music.

Mondo has opened pre-orders through September 4 for a $265, 1:6 scale Shredder figure based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The collectible includes interchangeable portraits, helmets, hands and blades; removable armor and fabric costume pieces; signature weapons; a mini Shredder figure; Krang-inspired accessories; a stand; and an exclusive MondoVerse origin comic.