A Tale of Two Halves: The History of Football Video Games is a comprehensive exploration of the video game football genre, and you can pick it up for less thanks to Bitmap Books who are currently offering £5 off.

This meticulously researched book delves into football games' rich and influential history, examining both the genre's best offerings and its many missteps. It takes readers from the earliest pixelated pitches to the 3D era of the noughties.

A Tale of Two Halves focuses primarily on the formative years of football gaming, roughly from 1980 to 2010. The book divides this period into two halves: the era of fast-paced 2D action exemplified by titles like Kick Off and International Soccer and the transition to increasingly realistic 3D games such as FIFA, Pro Evo, and Virtua Striker—with FIFA, or FC as it is now known, remaining the key player today.

The book spans 628 pages and features expert analysis of over 400 football games, including iconic series like Sensible Soccer and Football Manager. It also includes a foreword by legendary commentator Clive Tyldesley, hundreds of screenshots, and interviews with 13 pioneering football game developers.

Can it get any more appealing? Well, yes - James Reynolds’ Unlicensed FC project illustrations and pixel art from 8-Bit Football are also in the book. The book covers various gaming platforms, from classic consoles to modern systems.

Beyond the historical overview, A Tale of Two Halves offers themed deep dives, nostalgic Easter eggs, and concise mini-essays. The book is presented with a striking gold foil-block cover and features boot-lace bookmark ribbons. For dedicated fans, a limited ‘Captain's Edition’ collector’s version is also available in a special slipcase with a fabric armband.

If you're a football gaming enthusiast, or know one, this would make a cracking gift. Save £5 on this definitive guide to the history of football video games, at the very least, it should fill the void this summer whilst we wait for the season to start back up again.

Looking for more video game reads? Check out the best video game books to read right now.

Hoping the Oasis 2025 tour will be a precursor to a new album and another stage to their career? We have bad news.

Oasis have no plans for an extended comeback following the Live ’25 Tour according to the band’s co-manager Alec McKinlay.

“This is very much the last time around, as Noel’s made clear in the press,” McKinlay told Music Week.

“It’s a chance for fans who haven’t seen the band to see them, or at least for some of them to.”

McKinlay also says “there’s no plan for any new music.” We should not to be expecting any new tunes during the upcoming gigs, then.

This is despite the tour attracting even more attention and interest than was expected, across the world. It’s no surprise Oasis’s UK gigs sold out instantly, causing no shortage of headaches among fans in the process. But that fervour didn’t end at the coastline.

“We could have sold out half-a-dozen Rose Bowls in Pasadena and probably eight MetLife stadiums in New York in a day,” says McKinlay.

Roll with it

Could that interest mean the Gallagher brothers one day revert their decision, as dollar signs shine away in the distance? Who knows.

The Oasis Live ’25 tour begins on July 4th at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium. They come to London on July 25th for five dates at Wembley Stadium, with support from Cast and Richard Ashcroft.

The band then return to Wembley stadium for a second pair of gigs on September 27th and 28th.

A proper globe-trotting tour, the band will also visit the US, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Australia and others, before finishing up in Sao Paulo on November 23rd, at the MorumBIS stadium.

Still looking for tickets? You can’t currently pick up any from Ticketmaster, but plenty can be found on resale sites like Stubhub, where prices start from around £300 and head into the thousands.

• Oasis reunion tour documentary incoming, with Peaky Blinders boss at the helm

In a Christmas gift to everyone, Warner Bros. has announced that Gollum will officially be returning in December 2027.

Andy Serkis’ The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is in the works and will open in theatres on December 17th, 2027. Although, this release date isn’t exactly a surprise seeing as all six movies in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films opened in December ahead of the holidays. Each of the trilogies raked in a whopping $2.9 billion at the worldwide box office.

Warner Bros. first announced The Hunt for Gollum last summer back in 2024, with an original project release date of 2026. Serkis is directing the movie, and is back in the titular role, as he should be. Serkis first took up the role of Gollum back in 2002 in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and has been playing him ever since. It’s not Serkis’ first directing role either, having served as a director for Venom: Let There Be Carnage in 2021, and Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle in 2018. He is also set to direct the new Animal Farm film which is set to be released later this year.

The Gollum trilogy will be produced by original filmmaker Peter Jackson along with his partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

Boyens told Empire magazine that “The Hunt for Gollum” is “quite an intense story” that “falls after the birthday party of Bilbo and before the Mines of Moria. It’s a specific chunk of incredible untold story, told through the perspective of this incredible creature.”

Back in 2024, Jackson spoke to Deadline and said that there was so much more of Gollum’s backstory to explore, especially when his whereabouts were unknown.

Jackson said: "The Gollum/Sméagol character has always fascinated me because Gollum reflects the worst of human nature, whilst his Sméagol side is, arguably, quite sympathetic. I think he connects with readers and film audiences alike, because there’s a little bit of both of them in all of us.

We really want to explore his backstory and delve into those parts of his journey we didn’t have time to cover in the earlier films. It’s too soon to know who will cross his path, but suffice to say we will take our lead from Professor Tolkien."

There have been no further casting announcements beyond Serkis yet, however OG cast members including Orlando Bloom and Ian McKellen have all expressed interest in returning. Although, as the plot is still fairly under wraps, it’s hard to say if it makes sense for their characters to return. Surely a little McKellen cameo can be written in either way?

The last time fans could see new LOTR content was back in December 2024 with The Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim. The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum seems to be the first of what should be a series of films (likely another trilogy), so keep your fingers crossed for some more LOTR action soon…

• Alex Garland is primed to direct A24 Elden Ring movie

You can watch the first two episodes of the brand new Star Wars TV show, Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld, for free days before it goes live on Disney Plus as part of the upcoming Star Wars and Fortnite collaboration.

This isn’t the first time Star Wars and Fortnite have teamed up, with plenty of iconic character skins already existing in the game from The Mandalorian to Kylo Ren and even Darth Vader. Yet, despite a pre-existing history, this latest collab takes it to a whole new level.

Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld follows two villains as they manoeuvre through the galaxy’s dangerous underworld, with the show focusing on both Asaji Ventress on the run and Cad Bane as he tries to come good.

Releasing the show in this format is a first for Disney, but also the first time any show has debuted on an international scale in the game.

To access the debut here in the UK, log onto Fortnite on 2nd May at 3pm UK time to go to the Star Wars Watch Party island that’s been built in the Unreal Editor for Fortnite – the map has a unique environment, constructed specially for the occasion. After the screening, players will then be able to battle against Stormtroopers using a variety of Star Wars weaponry, including lightsabers.

The latest season of Fortnite, which is named Galactic Battle, introduces plenty of new Star Wars-themed skins to the game that can be earned by grinding through the Battle Pass… Darth Jar Jar even features.

However, as part of this upcoming collaboration, fans can also earn a free in-game skin of a First Order Stormtrooper. To unlock the skin, players will need to link their Epic Games and MyDisney accounts, and then the skin will be added to their collection.

The Star Wars screening marks just the latest event to take place in the virtual world of Fortnite, with the Battle Royale game doing all sorts, from hosting a Marshmello concert to showing Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige and much more.

Fortnite's early access of Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld is just one of the many celebrations occurring on the iconic Star Wars Day (May 4th), with the Disney Store having a huge sale on Star Wars-themed LEGO and Star Wars Celebration also delivering plenty of new announcements.

Main image via Epic Games

Tony’s Chocolonely has teamed up with Glastonbury and Oxfam once again to give people a chance to win tickets to the iconic music festival, capturing the joy of Willy Wonka, although hopefully without capturing any of the kids-meeting-unfortunate-endings part. The tickets will be hidden inside Tony’s bars that are exclusively sold through Oxfam shops and online.

This marks the third year of the collaboration, offering music-loving fans one last chance to get tickets to one of the biggest festivals around. Considering next year is a fallow period, this is the last opportunity to attend until 2027 with five pairs of tickets up for grabs, making the opportunity much more enticing.

Tony's Chocolonely and Oxfam's partnership has generated £125,000 to date and provided 20 fans with Glastonbury experiences. Tony's Chocolonely will continue this tradition by releasing limited-edition Glastonbury x Tony's Chocolonely bars in two new flavours – the Everything bar and the vegan and nut-free Dark bar 70%.

If you’re one of the lucky few to win tickets for the event, then you have until Friday, 21st June, to redeem them, with Glastonbury itself taking place from the 25th to the 29th of June. As always is the case, the line-up this year is incredibly varied and eclectic, featuring artists from Olivia Rodrigo and Charli XCX to Neil Young and The Prodigy – plus plenty more too.

Lorna Fallon, Oxfam’s Trading Director, spoke about the third year of the partnership, saying: “This remains an incredible opportunity to give five lucky shoppers the chance to go to the Festival this year. It means even more knowing all the money raised from these fantastic chocolate bars goes towards Oxfam’s crucial work fighting poverty and inequality around the world. The winning bars could be anywhere across our shop network and the Oxfam Online Shop – the race is definitely on!”

By eating chocolate and going to a festival, you could actually be helping out others and doing good (win win), so if you’re passing by an Oxfam, you can pop in and grab a bar, offering a chance to win now… good luck!

If you're looking for more tide you over until the big day, here's the best Glastonbury headliners as voted for by you.

Oasis’s big run of UK gigs doesn’t start until July, but the band got together last week to play at a small club in London.

The band played at Mildmay club in Stoke Newington, a member’s club and snooker hall that typically hosts Zumba sessions and “electro eighties” choir nights rather than some of the biggest bands ever.

The Sun reports local residents complained about the noise, but this was no ordinary gig you just missed out on tickets for.

The session, which reportedly lasted around an hour, was a filming of Oasis playing some of their songs for a promotional video, due to air ahead of the band’s upcoming tour.

It was the first time the Gallagher brothers had been spotted playing together in 16 years, although at this point we don’t even know if they were playing to an audience. You’d imagine they’ll be playing together in rehearsals, though, considering how soon their epic comeback gigs are.

The band’s Live ’25 tour begins on July 4th at Cardiff’s Principality stadium, before coming to London on July 25th for an 5-night run at Wembley stadium. They’ll return for another two nights at the stadium on September 27th and 28th.

Despite being a huge 90,000 capacity venue, all seven of the Wembley Stadium gigs have sold out.

Desperate for tickets? You can find plenty listed on resale sites, but you’re looking at paying upwards of £300 for a single ticket.

It’s set to be a big year for the band, but they still haven’t made it into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Outkast, Soundgarden and White Stripes were among this year’s just-announced entries, but Oasis being off the list have led some to say the band has been snubbed by the venerable association.

• The coolest albums of all time, ranked

Alien: Earth is heading to screens this summer, and to keep our palates suitably gross and gooey, FX has released a new teaser and set of posters.

FX’s teaser was a tie-in with Earth Day, which is a real event intended to raise awareness about the environment. It landed on April 22, and is of course prime fodder for both the mildly apocalyptic state we find ourselves in at the moment, and for the premise of Alien: Earth.

In case you’ve missed all the teasers and can’t take the hint from the title, Alien: Earth is going to be set at least partially on planet Earth:

We also got a couple of new poster-style images, and one that sees the planet within the Xenomorph’s nested mouths is kinda iconic at first glance:

We’re primed. We’re ready. But what these bits of teaser content don’t do is provide us any with more concrete information.

Alien: Earth’s release date remains a fairly amorphous “Summer 2025” and we get no more plot hints.

That may change within days, though. The Earth Day tie-in trailer is actually in partnership with IGN, which we expect will lift the lid on more details this coming Saturday.

Saturday, April 26, is Alien Day — because, yes, just about everything gets its own day in 2025. And it’s not all aliens, just the Alien series because this is a celebration brought to us by capitalism in association with 20th Century Fox.

But we’re down for it. This suggests we could hear about the Alien: Earth release date and potentially its first proper trailer within a few days.

Alien: Earth is set in 2120, between Alien: Covenant and the 1979 Alien movie, which is set in 2022. The show will star Timothy Olyphant and Sydney Chandler, alongside Alex Lawther and Essie Davis.

Noah Hawley is the lead creative force behind the project, best known for creating the Legion TV show and the TV fork of Fargo. This is the best sign we’re in for something truly special with Alien: Earth.

• The greatest sci-fi epic movies of all time

Marvel has released the best look yet at the upcoming Fantastic Four film arriving this summer, starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Marvel’s first family.

The new trailer shows off plenty of new footage, confirming a few fan theories and showing off some extra details of the look-and-feel of the flick. It’s not a stretch to say the film is shaping up to be a return to form for the MCU as the franchise builds up to the Avengers: Doomsday.

Rev up the Fantasticar as we dive into five new details we learned from the latest The Fantastic Four: First Steps trailer.

1. Sue Storm has a bun in the oven

A tease dropped recently on social media showing a glimpse of a scene where Joseph Quinn’s Johnny Storm highlights that Sue and Reed are late for "dinner", although there was some apparent confusion regarding what he was referring to. Now we know Sue is with child, which also demonstrates just how established this interpretation of the Fantastic Four gang is.

In the comics, the child of Mister Fantastic and Sue Storm is called Franklin Richards and grows into one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel universe, thanks to his reality-altering skills – we’ll have to wait and see how the character is handled on screen. Still, in the source material, he’s a key player in fixing the multiverse issue the MCU is currently facing.

2. First look at the Silver Surfer

Julia Garner is taking on the iconic role of the Silver Surfer, who acts as a herald for the big, bad Galactus, helping the giant alien source planets for him to munch on when he’s peckish. The trailer highlights this very issue, with the glimpses we saw of the new Silver Surfer highlighting that Earth has been ‘marked for death.' Look's like our planet is next on the menu.

3. It’s the end of the world, and Mister Fantastic is to blame

Again, from the trailer, it sounds as though Reed is holding himself personally accountable for why the world is ending. He says he has ‘stretched the bounds of space and they heard’, implying that whatever he’s been up to in his spare time when tinkering with science is what invited Galactus to the Earth.

Given the 60s setting, and where the MCU is right now, chances are there will be some more multiverse shenanigans at play akin to Deadpool and Wolverine or Spider-Man: No Way Home.

4. Pedro finally stretches

It’s been a long time coming, but ever since the first teaser dropped for the film, the one thing fans have been itching for is a proper look at Reed Richards using his powers. We’d already seen Invisible Woman, The Thing and the Human Torch in action, but previous teasers had only shown off Reed’s big old brain.

Well, this trailer didn’t disappoint as we’ve now seen the powers in action, albeit briefly. We see Pedro Pascal’s character reaching high into the air as a building collapses around him – again, it's a brief look, but it looks believable, which previous iterations of the character have struggled with on the big screen.

5. Galactus has massive feet

Seeing Galactus’s trotters might not seem like a big deal to anyone who didn’t catch 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, but for those of us who did, seeing the big alien's feet will bring a sigh of relief. The 2007 version of the character skipped out on the comic-accurate design in favour of being a big swirling space cloud, which didn’t land too well at the time.

We’re still yet to see Glactus properly in action, with his feet and silhouette all we’ve seen so far. But we do know he will be voiced by Ralph Ineson, whose gravelly tones should be perfect for a planet-consuming giant.

• Wondering what else to watch whilst you wait? Check out the best shows to stream on Disney Plus.

Anyone who enjoyed the most recent Predator film, Prey, is in for a treat with Hulu's recent announcement of a new Predator TV show called Predator: Killer of Killers. This time, the alien hunters are taking us on a journey through history, offering a hunt for the ages.

The three-part mini-series, which will debut on Disney Plus in the UK is directed by Dan Trachtenberg, who brought us Prey in 2022 and revived the iconic franchise back to its former glory, focusing on what would happen if a Predator landed in the Northern Great Plains during the 18th Century.

It's fair to say the film was a success, and it is now inspiring this series that looks to recreate a similar aesthetic to the film. Each episode is set during a different period of history, and the Predator is seen hunting down the warriors of each age. From the trailer, it looks as though we will see everyone’s favourite, fishnet-tight-wearing alien hunting in Feudal Japan, WWII, and even going head-to-head with a Viking.

Thanks to the trailer, we know the show will be landing on the 6th of June. It also hints at the show's art-style, which could be described as Arcane-esque, which immediately draws the eye and so far looks like it perfectly captures the essence of each time period.

What also stands out from the trailer is the gore on offer, meaning this won’t be for any fans with a weak stomach. Long-term Predator fans will be excited by the various designs on offer, with each Predator appearing unique in stature and style, whilst still sporting the classic tech and features we’ve grown to love.

• Wondering what else to watch whilst you wait? Check out the best shows to stream on Disney Plus.

This weekend sees the kick-off of the Songkran festival, the Thai New Year, which sees revellers all across Thailand splish-and-splash their way through a three-day water fight to symbolise purification and cleanse a person of their troubles.

Festivities officially kick off on Sunday, April 13th, and run until April 15th. It’s a riot of colour and celebration — and a great way to cool off before the oppressive heat of Thailand’s incoming summer season.

Here in old Blighty though, you’re less likely to reach for your soaker in the Spring than you are your scarf. But that doesn’t mean you can’t also celebrate in a culinary style.

This week, Rosa’s Thai — our favourite of London’s many Thai restaurant chains — is welcoming in the new year with its Songkran Family Feast Menu. And when they say feast, they mean FEAST. At £30 a head, it might be the best-value dining deal in the capital right now — though it’s technically merely a three course offering, it includes giant sharing platters and complimentary specials that will fill you to the brim.

We headed down to the Rosa’s Thai at Baker Street to try out the new menu, and came away so gloriously full of grub that we had to be airlifted home. Here’s what we had...

Starters:

We decided on the meaty Classic Platter opening option for our feast, which included Thai Fried Chicken, veggie spring rolls, grilled pork skewers, Thai calamari and mountains of prawn crackers. This finger-friendly opening was a meal in itself, with the crispy thai calamari a highlight — a peppery and crumbly batter paired with perfectly cooked calamari that avoided the rubbery pitfalls the seafood can fall into.

A vegan version of the platter, with okra tempura, summer rolls, sweetcorn fritters, veggie spring rolls and pumpkin crackers is also available. Platters are shared between two guests.

Songkran Specials:

Here’s where that “three course” description decadently expands. Rosa’s Thai throws in a couple of Songkran Specials for the Family Feast. The Larb Gai was our favourite of the entire night — a marinated minced chicken mix served on a lettuce leaf, finished with crushed rice, chilli, lime and fish sauce. Light and delicious, it’s the perfect summer dish.

The specials also include a Yum Makhuea — grilled aubergine topped with a boiled egg and sesame dressing. Both dishes are on the spicier side. We’ve got it on good authority that the Larb Gai is eventually going to make its way onto the core Rosa’s Thai menu too. So there’s our future go-to order sorted.

Main Courses:

The majority of the mains are Rosa’s Thai staples, and you can’t go wrong with the slow-cooked Massaman Beef Curry, with its melt-in-mouth cheek chunks, potatoes, cashews and light spice kick.

But we were particularly impressed with the Ginger Stir Fry vegan option which swaps out chicken for Fable Pulled Mushroom — one of the most convincing meat alternatives we’ve ever had in a dish like this. Stir fried with lashings of ginger, chillies and button mushrooms, pair it with boiled rice and you’re in guilt-free heaven.

Desserts:

Did you know that Thai Churros are a thing? We didn’t but we’re sure glad we do now, with Rosa’s taking the cinnamon sugar stick classic and pairing it with a moreish condensed milk dipping that felt very naughty.

If you’re after something a little more traditional but just as delicious, the Mango & Sticky Rice is a more laid back affair, with warm coconut milk gently and sweetly soothing your spice-ravished palate.

Drinks:

Rosa’s Thai has a few special drinks to celebrate Songkran too, sold separately at £6 a pop. Enjoy a slightly fruity Jasmine Bubble Tea to start, and, if you’ve got room at the end of the night for a real sugar rush, pick up the creamy Chocolate Bubble Tea, pictured above, which could be a dessert in its own right.

Verdict

It was a fantastic, generous meal, and certainly was in keeping with the Songkran spirit of washing our troubles away — even if it was with an avalanche of great food rather than with water. The limited edition menu is available now until the festival season’s end — book here to avoid missing out.

Anderson .Paak is undoubtedly having a moment right now, with the drummer-cum-rapper seemingly everywhere following plenty of recent collaborations, a partnership with Jameson’s and a few shows in the US later this year. The nine-time GRAMMY award-winning artist from Oxnard, California, is swinging by London for one night only. The intimate show will take place at the legendary Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, where he’ll perform alongside his band the Free Nationals.

The Soho-based jazz club opened in 1959 and has been going strong ever since. Ronnie Scott’s has hosted some of the biggest artists of all time, from Eric Clapton to Miles Davis – it was also the last place Jimi Hendrix played just days before he passed away. The location offers a more intimate, up-close experience with only limited tickets ever available, thanks to the club’s maximum capacity of 220 people.

There’s some legacy up on that stage, and Anderson .Paak and the Free Nationals are just the latest names to be added to the illustrious list. .Paak will be joined at the event by special guests Maurice Brown and the R&B duo GAWD.

If you’re interested in getting in on the action, then there is a slight catch – only members can get tickets for the event. However, you can join today and be eligible for tickets to see .Paak play — membership costs £325 per year, and offers many other benefits. These perks include priority booking, queue jump, free cloak room, exclusive events (like this one) and more – there is also a deluxe membership option for £425, which includes added extras like a T-shirt and a bottle of champagne.

The Anderson .Paak event will take place on Monday, 26th May. There will be few opportunities to see .Paak in a setting like this in the UK, and at the time of writing this is the only time he is playing in the UK this year.

• If you’re wondering who else is playing in London this year, check out our big gig list of all the best artists visiting.

Main photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images for FIREAID

Profound beauty, fathomless despair, world famous tragedies - these are not just synonymous with the Bard, but things all easily associated with football, and in particular anyone who supports Dulwich FC. For one night only, the two are crossing over, as Shakespeare’s most quoted tragedy comes to South East London for Hamlet at the Hamlet.

The play is the thing, as on Thursday 24th April a professional touring company will be performing at Dulwich Hamlet FC, following the first of their two US tours. It will be performed - fittingly - at Dulwich Hamlet’s Champion Hill stadium.

The actors accompanying the beautiful game? Well, they’re none other than the legendary theatre company Actors from the London Stage - co-founded by SIR Patrick Stewart among others, so no biggie. The acting legend co-founded the company at the University of California, and the company will be celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year.

The company will have just returned from a 10-week tour across the States, where their five-actor crew undertake residencies in different universities, teaching modules alongside performing.

The performance is raising money for Dulwich Hamlet’s Freundschaft Centenary tour taking place in July this year.

In case you’re wondering if the performance is to be/not to be played out on the actual pitch, it will take place in Dulwich Hamlet FC’s newly refurbished upstairs space, home to its popular Comedy & Music nights.

Tickets for Hamlet at the Hamlet are £15 for adults and £10 for concessions. Whilst the play invariably explores many aspects of tragedy and death, under 18s are welcomed.

• Interested in theatre? Here are the best can't-miss theatre shows and musicals coming to London in 2025

Main image credit: Sam Mellish/Getty Images and FilmMagic/Getty

Tom Holland is nothing short of a busy boy, what with his upcoming role in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and low-alcohol beer launch, and now his upcoming Spider-Man 4 film finally has a full title: Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Filming is set to begin this summer.

The title was announced at this year's CinemaCon, with the segment introduced by director Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), who will be at the helm of a Spider-Man film for the first time.

Whilst on stage, Cretton explained his love for the character before introducing a video of Tom Holland, who then revealed the film's full name before describing Spidey’s latest outing as a “fresh start”.

As far as we know, this will be the next time we see Tom in the iconic red and blue tights after being noticeably missing from the Avengers: Doomsday cast announcement.

A new beginning

Outside of the title and Sadie Sink's (Stranger Things) recent casting in an unknown role, not much is known about what we can expect from Brand New Day. Given where No Way Home left the wallcrawler four years ago — heartbroken, skint, and going it alone — this new film will mark a new chapter after the rest of the world has forgotten his secret identity in what was an emotional crescendo to his initial trilogy.

The film’s title, Brand New Day, should be familiar to any eagle-eyed comic fans. This is the same name of the comic run that followed a similar event in the comics that led to Peter Parker dissolving his marriage and going solo.

The status quo is comparable to where the MCU’s version of the character is now; however, fans received the last film’s interpretation better thanks to the stakes not being quite as high.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is set to swing into cinemas on 31st July 2026, just two weeks after The Odyssey, also starring Tom Holland, will release. Before that, though, the MCU has plenty of films on the horizon with Thunderbolts* next, before Fantastic Four this summer and then Avengers: Doomsday in May 2026, which will see Robert Downey Jr. return to the MCU, but this time as Doctor Doom. Avengers: Secret Wars is pencilled in for May 7 2027, making Spidey’s next outing the filling to an Avengers sandwich.

• If you want more Spider-Man-themed fun, he's featured in the upcoming game Marvel Cosmic Invasion.

Images via Marvel / Sony

After years of teasing and fan requests, Assassin’s Creed Shadows finally takes the series to feudal Japan. Although it may be impossible to live up to quite that much fan expectation, Ubisoft has pulled off the best game in the series in ages.

For what may feel like the first time, Ubisoft has executed the formula expertly, blending and weaving the tools of the two contrasting protagonists to offer a more complete gameplay experience than ever before. Naoe and Yasuke both feel incredibly different in-game — one the sneaky stealth master, the other the super-strong samurai, building on the two-protagonist approach first seen in Assassin's Creed Syndicate in 2015.

I’ve been playing the latest Assassin’s Creed for a while now and am loving it, but it’s hard not to recognise that if I could start my play time again differently, I would. Here's five things to know before you kick off your ninja-knifing adventure.

1. It’s a slow burn, but stick with it

The first ten hours or so can be pretty slow, but it is still a strong start—one that surprised me after seeing all the promotional material for the game. Outside of a brief encounter, Yasuke doesn’t enter the fray for the first ten hours; until that point, this journey very much belongs to Naoe and her stealthier approach.

It makes for a more natural introduction to the world, especially considering that of the two characters, she is the assassin, not Yasuke. The shinobi Noae favours sneak attacks, with her health being much more limited. As few as two or three hits are enough to finish her during the early stages. The beginning is much more focused than previous iterations, ramping up to the gluttonous open world the series has become known for, enticing players in without overwhelming them. But if you're expecting to start ass-kicking with Yasuke straight away, hang tight.

2. Different tools for different problems

This leads me nicely onto my next point: the two characters are so fundamentally different, there is a time and a place to use them both. In the simplest of terms, Naoe is suitable for exploration and stealth, but if you know you’re going into an area where the heat's going to be on, Yasuke is your pick – the giant samurai can’t climb walls, but he can lop the head off an enemy with ease.

When entering a combat situation with Naoe, it's easy to become overwhelmed by two or more enemies, but that’s light work for her counterpart, who can rinse through multiple enemies like they aren’t there. When he comes to traversal, however, he is useless, and thanks to the bloke's colossal stature and clunky armour, he’s about as subtle as Homer Simpson after two boxes of Lard Lad Donuts.

It means I did most of my exploring as Naoe, the shinobi, because Yasuke’s lack of mobility makes a large part of the world inaccessible — quickly traversing the Japanese forts and countryside relies heavily on a grappling hook that he doesn’t have access to.

3. Explore, but not too much

Assassin’s Creed has always been known for giant sandboxes, where whatever you see, you can trot on over to, letting you climb the highest peaks and leap off of them in physics-defying dives that would no doubt smush the average person into a blood and bone broth. That is all still present here. However, the key advice I'd give is not to stray too far from the path, because you will eventually hit a point of no return, have to turn around and go back on yourself, and with a map this size, you don’t want to get lost.

Fortunately, when riding to a destination on your horse, a button prompt at the bottom of your screen will offer a guided path – use this, and you’ll get to your destination in a flash. Sadly, it does break the immersion slightly, but without it, you’ll be as lost as Hansel and Gretel. The key is to stop off at any landmarks or points of interest along the main road, and there is certainly plenty to see and do on your travels.

4. Personalise your playthrough

The transmog option (giving one weapon the appearance of another) has been present in the last few Assassin’s Creed games, but now you can also alter how your game plays to be more personal to you.

Want the game to be more historically and geographically immersive? Flip the audio language over into Japanese. Miss the power fantasy of old, where any enemy could be assassinated in one swift movement before the RPGifiction of the series? That’s fine, there’s a setting that lets you pop that on, making stealth even more effective in the process.

If, like me, you cannot stand the new way of finding missions — which sees you sending out scouts to a region to explore on your behalf — then that’s also fine because you can turn this off, too. This iteration of the game is there to cater to however you wish to play, so make sure you tinker with the settings early on to maximise your experience.

5. At any opportunity, target knowledge points

As you progress, levelling up your character and earning new skills, a ceiling is enforced on what you can unlock next. Chances are, you haven’t earned enough Knowledge Points to enable the next part of the skill tree. It’s here where we see typical Ubisoft design truly kick in, because to earn Knowledge Points – which are separate to skill points – there are a few different tasks you can complete in the open world. These are listed below:

• Hidden Trail
• Horse Archery
• Kata
• Kofun
• Kuji-Kiri
• Shrines
• Temples

The above all have little collectibles or mini-games to complete and will offer Knowledge Points so you can reach the better skills in the game – including the ability for double assassinations. In truth, completing the majority of the above objectives will be nothing short of mundane over the course of such a long game, but at least it isn’t as daunting as the overwhelmingly large skill trees of previous entries in the series.

The only other thing I’ll say is make sure you pet every animal you see. I won’t entirely spoil why, but it’s worth doing so that you can make your customisable hideout a proper home.

• For more Assassin's Creed, check out the latest collab with Anti Social Social Club to celebrate Shadows.

Image credit: Ubisoft

Wray and Nephew has announced the release of a new, limited edition rum called “Wray’s 43”, thanks to the exclusive offering only being 43% whilst the original offering does not mess around, given its 63% ABV, and has always been the go to for those looking to concoct a potent rum punch.

It’s important to note that Wray’s 43 is not a watered-down version of the original but a new blend that, according to the website, has a smooth, sweet profile with notes of fruit and molasses. It’s supposed to pair perfectly with pineapple juice, which will be music to the ears of many - after all, what's more of a treat than a rum and pineapple juice on a warm summer's day?

Releasing a new rum will likely surprise many, with the original being a staple of any student pre-drinks thanks to its strength, but Wray’s 43 will no doubt be more accessible thanks to the lower proof whilst offering existing fans of the white rum something new to try out.

Wray 43 is available now, and you can buy it on Amazon for £25 and through convenience stores around the country if they decide to stock it – for ease of use, you may be better off going through Amazon. Although it's a limited edition bottle, there currently isn't any set date when it will stop being available.

If rum isn't quite your thing and you're looking to get more into whisky, why not check out all we know about the Welcome to Whisky event hosted by the Whisky Exchange this April.

Marvel has announced the cast lineup for its new film Avengers: Doomsday, which has already seen some familiar faces return and is set to premiere in early May 2026.

The announcement video pans across a lineup of empty actors' chairs with names across the back. The lineup is looking pretty impressive already, with the likes of Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Mackie, Florence Pugh, and Paul Rudd all set to feature. The final chair has Robert Downey Jr. seated in it, who has previously been confirmed as Doctor Doom.

The announcement also included some of the OG Fox X-Men characters who are reprising roles that have been inactive for over a decade. Ian McKellen as Magneto, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Kelsey Grammer as The Beast, James Marsden as Cyclops, and Rebecca Romijn as Mystique.

Also featured are the new Fantastic Four quartet played by Vanessa Kirby as the Invisible Woman, Pedro Pascal as Mr. Fantastic, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing, and Joseph Quinn as Human Torch. The four are starring in the upcoming Marvel film The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is set to drop in July 2025.

So you’d be forgiven for thinking that this lineup is more or less complete. However, there are five noticeable names that are not currently included in the lineup.

1. Tom Holland

Currently part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Spider-Man, Tom Holland was noticeably absent from the starry lineup. Does this mean he might be making a surprise cameo? Or that his schedule is already bursting at the seams with other upcoming projects? Hard to say.

His most recent Marvel feature was Spider-Man: No Way Home, which was released in 2021. He is set to reprise the role in Spider-Man 4, which is currently scheduled for release in July 2026. He appeared in spin-offs, including Avengers: Infinity War in 2018 and Avengers: Endgame in 2019.

2. Charlie Cox

Best known for playing Matt Murdock / Daredevil in seven Marvel projects, Cox was also missing from the lineup. His most recent Marvel feature is Daredevil: Born Again, which debuted in March 2025. The series continues on from the antics of the original Daredevil series, which ran from 2015-2018. Cox has also appeared in other MCU films, including Spider-Man: No Way Home and the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law in 2022.

3. Brie Larson

Larson has played Captain Marvel for over five years, first appearing in the titular Captain Marvel film in 2019, marking Marvel’s first female-led film. She reprised her role in Avengers: Endgame, which briefly became the highest-grossing film of all time and later in The Marvels - a sequel to Captain Marvel. Like Holland, Larson must be juggling a pretty busy schedule, currently starring as Elektra in London’s West End amongst other projects.

4. Guardians of the Galaxy

No Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, or Groot. Although a key part of the MCU and with three films already released, the Guardians of the Galaxy seem to be absent from the Doomsday lineup - despite having appeared in multiple other MCU films, including Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. Surprise, Vin Diesel feature anyone? Count us in.

5. Oscar Isaac

Moon Knight perhaps doesn’t immediately spring to mind when thinking of the Avengers but it has one of the most interesting Marvel miniseries. It follows Marc Spector and Steven Grant - two alters of a man with dissociative identity disorder, and both are drawn into a mystery involving Egyptian gods.

It premiered in March 2022 and ran for six episodes. The lead character, played by Oscar Isaac, was absent from the teaser video. However, this isn’t entirely surprising, as Moon Knight was a stand-alone miniseries, and Isaac hasn’t appeared in any other Marvel projects since.

• First looks at JJ Abrams' new show have arrived

Main photo credit: Sony Pictures, Barry Wetcher/Netflix, Marvel Studios/IMDB

Anti Social Social Club (ASSC) is sticking to the shadows with its latest collaboration in partnership with Ubisoft to celebrate the launch of Assassin’s Creed Shadows — the hit series that’s finally visiting Japan after years of pining from fans.

ASSC often does exclusive, limited drops, and this launch is set to be the same, meaning it will only be available once stocks last. The launch will feature everything from hoodies and Tees to tracksuits and accessories, including a gorgeous sake set featuring six drinking vessels.

Unlike the secret stealth tactics used in AC, this collection opts to leave the discreteness behind in favour of load and proud designs. A partnership between the successful streetwear brand and one of the most successful gaming franchises of all time further demonstrates the industry's influence as it bleeds increasingly into the mainstream.

You can take a look at the whole collection below, as well as what’s included:

• Shadows Tops: Includes tees, hoodies and hats with the Assassin’s Creed Shadows logo on the front and ASSC logo on the back with the two main protagonists
• Eyes Tops: Includes tees and hoodies with the eyes of the two protagonists on the front alongside ASSC branding and the ASSC logo on the back with the Assassin’s Creed logo
• Yasuke Tops: Includes tees and hoodies with a graphic of samurai character Yasuke superimposed onto the ASSC logo on both the front and back
• Shuriken Tops: Includes tees with 4 shuriken “thrown” into the ASSC logo on both the front and back
• Fight Tops: Includes tees, hoodies and hats with imagery of fighting stances on the front underneath an ASSC logo and both brand logos on the back
• Naoe & Yasuke Tops: Tees and hoodies with an Assassin’s Creed Shadows logo on the front atop a graphic of both main characters and an ASSC logo on the back with an Assassin’s Creed logo
• Football Jersey: Designed to incorporate all brand logos on the front and include a huge ASSC logo on the back with imagery of the two main characters superimposed
• Coaches Jacket: Show both Naoe and Yasuke in a battle scene throughout the entire jacket, ASSC’s logo is featured on the front while Assassin’s Creed logo is featured on one sleeve and the rear
• Track Suits: The jacket features the game’s logo on the front along with kanji and the ASSC logo on the back with an additional game logo; the matching pants have kanji and the ASSC logo on the front and an Assassin’s logo on the rear
• Sake Glass Set: Features ceramic sake glasses and a sake pourer with shared co-branding

The collection features both of the game’s main protagonists, including the samurai Yasuke, who prefers a more head-on approach, and Noae, who approaches the game favouring stealth.

The collection is set to launch on 29th March, 15:00 PM GMT on the ASSC website, but as we said before, ASSC works on a first come first serve basis.

Fortunately, the drop arrives after the game's release, so you can give it a go to ensure you’re sold on this latest adventure that’s been incredibly well-received compared to more recent entries – so if you do need some fresh garms to showcase your love for this adventure, ASSC is providing the goods.

If you're looking for something to check out with pals, why not give our Split Fiction review a read, which we described as a "breathtaking game for two".

Main image credit ASSC

We’ve all dreamed of owning a pub at some point, right? Whether it’s a small London drinker’s pub or a trendy gastropub, the pull of being a publican is a strong one.

If this is feeling relatable in the slightest, you may be in luck as one Irish landlord is looking for his successor. And this isn’t just your average pub, but a gorgeous family-run pub on the rural Achill Island situated on the beautiful landscape of West Ireland.

The only catch? Your surname has to be McLoughlin.

Joseph ‘Josie’ McLoughlin owns McLoughlin’s Bar - a pub that has been in his family for four generations. And here’s a bit of (quite literal) pub quiz trivia for you; back in the day Irish pubs legally had to be named after their proprietor - hence McLoughlin’s (and O’Donoghue, Fitzpatrick etcetera). Now hitting retirement age, and with his family living across the world, Josie has no-one to pass McLoughlin’s pub on to.

Enter Heineken…

Heineken has stepped in to help the McLoughlin’s keep tradition alive and the pub in family hands. Together, they have launched a global recruitment campaign with ads going live across all four corners of the world - including New York, Sydney, and Vietnam - all in a bid to find the next McLoughlin. And, they are even offering a succession package to help the “new McLoughlin” get their feet behind the bar.

It’s fair to say they are pretty confident they’ll find someone, as with 88 million Irish descendants living across the globe, all it takes is just one McLoughlin that wants to reconnect with their roots by owning a pub that bears their namesake.

So, all you have to do is have the surname McLoughlin, and be willing to relocate to West Ireland, aka. the backdrop for hit-film The Banshees of Inisherin. Easy. Although, it’s not exactly a hardship when from the pub’s doorstep, the views stretch out across the sea and up towards Slievemore mountain, offering incredible sunsets on the regs.

This is part of Heineken’s wider campaign - For the Love of Pubs - helping to keep pub-culture (and craic) alive.

So, if you’re a McLoughlin - firstly, I’m jealous - but more importantly you can stake your claim at pubsuccession.com.Are you the next guardian of a rich tapestry of stories, pints and craic? No time like the present to find out…

• Did you know you can now buy your own bourbon barrel?

The British Book Awards has named nine of the best independent bookshops across the country, and one of them is in London.

The nine shops make up the shortlist for the Best Independent Bookshop award, which will be announced in May as part of The British Book Awards. But if you live in London, there’s clearly one to visit first.

Queen’s Park Books is the London entry, a charming little book seller just a couple of minutes’ walk from Queen’s Park tube station.

“London’s winner has been the heart and soul of its Queen’s Park community for more than 20 years,” says The Bookseller’s blurb on the shop.

The shop was opened by the Fergiani family in 1994, and holds more than 10,000 books.

To celebrate the win, the shop has setup a 15% off code, usable in-store and online. It’s QUEENSPARKBOOKS, but don’t hang about as we don’t know if it will work after today, March 12th.

Other London bookshops that almost made the shortlist list include Muswell Hill’s Children’s Bookshop, Covent Garden’s Goldsboro Books, King’s Cross’s Housmans, Fulham’s Nomad Books, Hackney’s Pages of Hackney and The Gilded Acorn in Holborn.

Here are the other shortlist contenders spread across the UK:

• Maldon Books (East England)
• Bridge Books (Ireland)
• The Heath Bookshop (Midlands)
• Simply Books (North England)
• The Book Nook (Scotland)
• Medina Bookship (South-East England)
• Storysmith (South-West England)
• Griffin Books (Wales)

The overall winner from this cadre will be announced on May 12th, when The British Book Awards's big do takes place. £5000 will go to the winning shop, and they’ll go on to compete for the overall Best Book Retailer of the Year award.

“What links these indies is they are a vanguard, bold tastemakers who support authors and create bestsellers, often long before those books are glimmers in chain or online bookshops’ eyes,” says The Bookseller’s (which operates the British Book Awards) managing editor Tom Tivnan.

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Bambi may be best known as the 1942 Disney animation, but the film was inspired by the Felix Salten novel 'Bambi, a Life in the Woods'. It's once again being adapted — but with quite a difference. This time, Bambi's getting nasty in a new horror film. The first trailer for movie, set to release at some point in 2025, has just dropped, offering a first look at big bad Bambi, who’s out for revenge.

According to the film's official description, Bambi is avenge his dear Ma, so he’s not taken it as well as in the animated version. On top of that, instead of being the young fawn we’ve grown accustomed to, he’s now a rage-fuelled mutated beast with absolutely massive antlers. Perish the thought what's become of Thumper.

A childs nightmare

Bambi: The Reckoning is the latest well-known, well-loved classic children’s story to be adapted into a horror film, following the studio Jagged Edge Productions' adaptation of Winnie the Pooh.

Jagged Edge Productions has already released two Winnie the Pooh films, aptly named Blood and Honey, and will also release a Peter Pan film this year before a Pinnochio film later down the line.

Despite still being a proper out-there concept, Bambi may have the best motivation of the characters adapted so far — his mum was shot and killed after all. But who knows why he would get involved with the rest of the 'kids-character-to-horror-nightmare' gang that's come to be as these classic characters have fallen out of copyright; no doubt there will be an MCU-esque end-credits scene with Pooh recruiting Bambi into the fold.

It’s all an attempt to pad out a whole universe building up to an Avenger-style team-up, but instead of it being your favourite superheroes, it’s the cartoons you grew up on transformed into vicious killing machines.

Marvel’s visually impaired superhero makes his Disney+ debut this week in Daredevil: Born Again. However, he has a complicated history that might require a little swotting up.

You see, this isn’t Daredevil’s first Disney rodeo. Yes, he’s already cameoed in Spider-Man: Far From Home and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. But prior to that, starting way back in 2015, The Man Without Fear appeared in three acclaimed Netflix seasons (and one super-team-up) of gritty street-level hero drama.

Daredevil: Born Again could barely even be described as a soft reboot. It’s got most of the same actors playing most of the same roles, including Charlie Cox as the hero himself, Vincent D’Onofrio as arch villain Wilson Fisk, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Elden Henson as Franklin “Foggy” Nelson, and Wilson Bethel as major antagonist Bullseye.

• Dont miss!Daredevil: Born Again stars Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio talk their big MCU comeback in Disney’s most brutal Marvel show yet

Even Jon Bernthal is making a return as the violent vigilante and uneasy ally Frank Castle (aka Punisher).

With all that in mind, there’s a whole lot of backstory for the uninitiated to work through. Thankfully, Disney+ now has all of Daredevil’s Netflix adventures available to stream. We’d recommend watching it all.

However, if you don’t have the time to trawl through 39 episodes of backstory (never mind eight episodes of The Defenders), here are the Daredevil episodes you need to watch in order to fill you in the who’s who of this dark world, in running order.

Cut Man (Season 1 / Episode 2)

Episode 2 of Daredevil’s first season really lays the groundwork for what’s to come. It shows you the rules of this more grounded take on the Marvel universe (people bleed and swear way more), while it also quite literally supplies an origin story for Matt Murdock’s attorney-cum-superhero. This episode goes some way to explaining why he’s one of the most interesting heroes in the Marvel universe. It also culminates in a lauded hallway fight scene – a brutal action sequence executed in one extended shot.

In the Blood (Season 1 / Episode 4)

Up to this point, three episodes into the first season, Wilson Fisk has been portrayed as a shady string puller. Ruthless, yes, but also calculated and seemingly unwilling to get his considerable hands dirty. In the Blood offers us our first shocking glimpse at the rage-filled monster Matt Murdock knows him to be at the onset of Daredevil: Born Again. One scene in particular sticks in the memory, as Fisk rages at having his hermetically sealed bubble pierced by a supposed ally. You’ll never close a car door the same way again.

Shadows in the Glass (Season 1 / Episode 8)

Daredevil: Born Again has been described as a two-hander, with Wilson Fisk (aka Kingpin) sharing almost equal billing with our hero. It’s only fair, then, that we take a trip down memory lane to examine the origins of Matt’s sworn enemy. Episode eight dives back into Fisk’s past as a poor, timid child beloved by his mother and tormented by his violent father. You’ll come away from the episode in no doubt of what Fisk is capable of, but you may also feel something unexpected for the giant man-baby: sympathy.

New York’s Finest (Season 2 / Episode 16)

Jon Bernthal’s Punisher really lit up season two of Daredevil, spawning two spinoff seasons of ultra-violent vigilante action. This third episode of season two cuts to the heart of the Daredevil/Punisher dynamic, contrasting the up-to-the-edge approach of our hero with the over-the-top brutality of Bernthal’s battle-scarred veteran. While the previous episode featured a thrilling fight between our two heroes, New York’s Finest sees them thrashing out their differences in a marginally more constructive manner.

Penny and Dime (Season 2 / Episode 17)

We’d recommend a decisive double-tap of Punisher-related episodes to get you fully up to speed on Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle ahead of his appearance in Daredevil: Born Again. If episode 16 tells you everything you need to know about his lethal methods, episode 17 tells you why he does what he does. Penny and Dime also represents a romantic high point (to date at least) in the halting relationship between Matt and Karen Page – something we’re hoping to see developed in Born Again.

Blindsided (Season 3 / Episode 30)

Episode two set an impossibly high bar with its hallway fight scene, but season three’s Blindsided somehow manages to raise the stakes. Our hero has never been more vulnerable than he is here, entering a maximum security prison as blind attorney Matt Murdock, only to discover that it’s in the pocket of arch nemesis Wilson Fisk. Besides offering a punishingly extended and gloriously choreographed prison break sequence, the episode works to drive home what a cunning manipulator Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin truly is.

The Perfect Game (Season 3 / Episode 31)

Wilson Bethel’s Benjamin ‘Dex’ Poindexter was a major antagonist in the last season of Daredevil, and we know that he makes a return in some capacity in Born Again. This episode, which follows neatly on from the epic prison break of Blindsided, provides the deepest insight into his character. In fact, The Perfect Game tells us a lot about what makes two of the show’s major villains tick – Dex with his deep-seated psychopathic tendencies and Fisk with his ability to subtly manipulate events and people.

A New Napkin (Season 3 / Episode 39)

The final episode of Daredevil prior to Born Again places many of the pieces in place for the start of the new series. After a climactic three-way battle, we learn of the uneasy truce that now exists between Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk, while we also get a glimpse at the possible birth of a supervillain in the downright broken-but-unbowed Bullseye. We also catch the whiff of a fresh start for our lovable ‘avocados at law’. And if you don’t get that last reference, add episode 10 to your list.

• 9 things to know about Daredevil: Born Again, according to showrunner Dario Scardapane

Five years after the remake of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2, Activision is releasing —and remaking — the next instalments in the legendary skateboarder’s gaming history with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4. A modernised take on perhaps the most-loved games in the extreme sports franchise, it brings back the boards, skaters and beloved parks from the 20 year old titles, packaging the third and fourth games together after being completely rebuilt for current consoles.

The remake will be released on 11th July 2025. However, if you pre-order either the Digital Deluxe or Collector's Editions, the game will be released on 8th July, thanks to an Early Access bonus.

Pre-orders will also offer access to a demo that should go live in June, a month before release -- an old-school move to celebrate the game. Sadly it does not come on a disc attached to a magazine including three other completely unrelated demos, completing the retro-revival on show here — it’ll be a digital download.

Tony Hawk and the gang return

If you're interested in ripping some gnarly tricks come July, you'll be able to on the below consoles:

• PlayStation 4
• PlayStation 5
• Xbox One
• Xbox Series X|S
• PC (Steam, Battle.net and Microsoft Store)
• Nintendo Switch (the demo is not available on Switch)

For subscribers to Xbox Game Pass on either the Ultimate tier or the PC version, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 will be available on the service the same day as the release, thanks to Microsoft now owning developers Activision.

Music fans are in for a treat thanks to the game's original soundtrack returning seemingly intact, with Motorhead’s Ace of Spades already featuring in the trailer and more classics set to return. There's even been a cheeky tease of new tracks being added to accompany the fresh skate parks — no word on who yet.

Skating games, once big business, aren’t as common a sight on consoles these days, increasingly feeling like a much-missed relic of the past. But thankfully it won't be long until we can return to classic trick haunts like airport and foundry tear it up like it’s 2001 all over again.

If you're looking for more to play, check out the best releases of 2024.

Oh dear, someone made a boo-boo. A professional skater has seemingly confirmed a new Tony Hawk game is coming, despite it not having been confirmed by the publisher or developer.

That skater is Tyshawn Jones, a 26-year-old pro skater who has won Thrasher’s Skater of the Year award twice.

“I'm in a Tony Hawk coming out, that's cool,” Jones told the Breakfast Club podcast during an interview.

“They got a new one they're remastering so that's about to come out, I was in the last one.”

The “last one” he’s referring to is the double pack of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 remasters released back in 2020. Jones featured as a pro skater character, alongside names like Rodney Mullen, Bob Burnquist and, of course, Tony Hawk.

That remaster collection reminded us of how great Tony Hawk games can be, the series having spent the better part of two decades in the critical and cultural wilderness.

A second remaster pack of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3+4 has been rumoured since that release. But there was a big question mark over its chances of ever being made, since developer Vicarious Vision was subsumed into parent company Blizzard in 2021, a process that completed in 2022.

Would we still like to see them? Hell yes. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 came out for, among others, the Gamecube and PlayStation 2 back in 2001, and updated a lot of the best bits of the first two games, with additional tricks.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 removed the classic level timer, letting you explore the sprawling levels more freely. To some, the series peaked with those first four games.

Back in 2022, Tony Hawk himself talked about how there were plans for these second wave remakes, as reported by IGN, but they were derailed by the merger of Vicarious Visions and Blizzard. If they’ve found a new rail to grind along, great.

Minecraft, the world-conquering, best-selling-of-all-time video game, is set to come to life this year in a big way. Not only is there a star-studded live action adaptation of the game headed to cinemas in April, but the block-building blockbuster is also getting a live-action immersive experience, heading to London this spring.

Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue will mix real-world sets with augmented reality tech to transport you and your fellow brickheads into the Minecraft universe.

The experience ties together seven themed ‘biome’ rooms, tasking visitors with the rescue of the game’s villagers as they come under attack from a zombie horde. You’ll have to get them out of harm's way before a timer runs out — and before the zombies bite and turn your hapless wards undead, too.

Designed by the Supply + Demand production company, Village Rescue is described as an “entirely new form of in-person experience at the crossroads of game design, experiential storytelling, and high-tech multimedia.”

But how does one interact with this digital world, you ask? Well there’s not an Xbox controller in sight, and you won’t be bringing the game’s signature pickaxe to your event either — that might be a bit tough to smuggle past security. Instead, participants will each get an “Orb of Interaction”. This handheld cube changes colour and vibrates, indicating areas of the experience where you can gather resources, attack baddies, build structures and get guidance on where to go and what to do next.

Let’s be real here — for every die-hard Minecraft fan that can’t wait to see those iconic characters and building blocks come to life, there will be mums and dads, burnt out on a never-ending number of YouTube playlists and late night build sessions from their kids, dutifully dragged along for the ride. But fret not! The whole thing lasts just 45 minutes and, according to reviews from the experience’s previous run in Dallas, Texas on the other side of the pond, it’s actually a pretty fun day out.

The experience is set to open on April 4th, and will take over a new venue at London’s Canada Water called the Corner Corner. Tickets cost £20 for kids, £26 for adults, and go on sale on February 14th at 10am. Head over to the official website to get on the waitlist and find out more.

• Not enough Minecraft for you? Minecraft theme park rides are coming to the UK and US, courtesy of Alton Towers operator Merlin Entertainments.

Jeff Buckley documentary It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley has debuted at Sundance film festival, almost 28 years after the singer’s death.

The doc is directed by Amy Berg, who also worked on 2015’s Janis Joplin documentary Janis: Little Girl Blue.

It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley doesn’t yet have an announced distribution deal to net it a wider release, but early reviews suggest it’s one any Buckley fan — or anyone interested in music history — should seek out.

“Most of Buckley’s friends and intimates are interviewed, including two significant girlfriends and, most movingly, his mother, with whom he shared an intense but loving relationship,” says JoBlo’s 8/10 review.

The documentary received a standing ovation at Sundance, and Buckley’s mother Mary Guibert took part in the Q&A session following the screening.

So real

What It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley doesn’t do, though, is focus too much on the singer’s mysterious death. Buckley died at the age of 30, after drowning in Wolf River in Tennessee, which is believed to have been a tragic accident.

Buckley only released one album while alive, 1994’s Grace. His posthumous album Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk is comprised of recordings for the album he never actually finished.

We’ve also heard It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley could have once been a very different film.

Following the singer’s death, Brad Pitt wanted to make a biopic film about Jeff Buckley, taking on the role himself. This was back in 2000, when Pitt was in his 30s.

However, Buckley’s mother was not keen on the idea. "We’re going to dye your hair, put brown contact lenses on those baby blues, and you’re going to open your mouth and Jeff’s voice is going to come out?” Guibert said.

Both Guibert and Pitt are credited executive producers on It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, suggesting the movie star wasn't too offended by her objections.

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Marvel and Disney Plus have released the first trailer proper for Daredevil: Born Again, the show which carries on from where Netflix left off.

For those who don't know the potted history of the Daredevil TV series, here's a brief recap. The show debuted on Netflix some 10 years ago now - April 2015. Showrunner Drew Goddard did a fantastic job of bringing the character to life, with its Rated R violence and adult themes. And Charlie Cox made the role his own.

Daredevil lasted three seasons on Netflix and it was a show that spun-off a number of others: Iron Fist, Punisher, Jessica Jones - all of which culminated in a disappointing Defenders series.

The third and final season of Daredevil streamed in 2018, so, other than a brief cameo in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home for Charlie Cox, it's been a long seven year wait to see what Disney was going to do with the character, now that the rights have reverted back.

The answer, according to the new Daredevil: Born Again trailer is 'go harder than ever before'.

For those familiar with the show - the good news is that the main players are back. We have Charlie Cox donning the suit once more as Matt Murdock, Vincent D’Onofrio returns as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin and Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson are Karen Page and Franklin "Foggy" Nelson once more.

You can watch the trailer now...

The trailer begins with a Heat style coffee shop scene with Matt Murdoch meeting with Fisk. Fisk now has mayoral campaign and looks to have gone legit - which is, of course, a load of nonsense.

Cue clips of Murdoch fighting various thugs and things escalating.

It's a joy seeing the trailer as it's clear that Disney Plus has decided to continue and not reboot the show - let's hope the show is as good as the trailer when it starts streaming 4 March.

• These are the best Marvel shows of all time...

The barrels they are a’changing over at Heaven’s Door Spirits, the company behind raconteur Bob Dylan’s very own whiskey line.

It’s just announced a limited edition release of Heaven’s Door whiskey, called Bootleg Volume VI, which finishes its blend of aged wheated bourbons in Limousin cigar barrels.

“A cigar barrel is given its name due to its tall, elongated cigar-like shape. The shape of this barrel provides more whiskey to wood-to-surface contact which yields more pronounced flavor notes,” said Alex Moore, Heaven’s Door’s Master Blender.

“Limousin oak is air dried over time versus kiln dried, which makes a big difference in terms of the tannins and sugars that are naturally resident in the oak.”

A combination of 12, 13 and 14-year old wheated bourbons, the time spent in the cigar barrels is said to soften the bourbon’s sweetness with spiciness, and oak and fruity notes.

It’s a nice collector’s piece for Dylan fans, even if they’re not big whiskey drinkers. Presented in an intricately-patterened gift box, the bottle itself takes a detail from Dylan’s “Favela Villa Candido” painting, part of his 2015 Brazil painting series. It’s a glimpse of the Brazilian favelas through Dylan’s eyes, with a clear nod to the style of Cezanne.

The release is well timed to coincide with renewed interest in Dylan. His journey from the 60s folk music scene of New York’s Greenwich Village through to global megastardom is the subject of a new Oscar-baiting biopic, A Complete Unknown. Starring Timothée Chalamet and directed by James Mangold, it his UK cinemas on January 17th.

If you want to get a taste of the liquid though, you’ll have to move fast — only 5,000 bottles will be made available worldwide, costing $499.99 (about £410). Don’t think twice, it’s alright!

• The best whiskeys in the world

In space, no-one can hear you scream. But on your sofa in the comfort of your own living room? That’s a totally different matter.

Keep that in mind as Alien: Romulus finally hits home streaming this month, heading to the Disney+ movies catalogue on January 15th in the UK.

A blockbuster comeback for the Alien franchise following the so-so Prometheus and Alien: Covenant efforts from series creator Ridley Scott, Fede Alvarez’s horror-fuelled 2024 semi-sequel-semi-prequel was a smash hit. It had made more than $350 million at the box office by the end of the year, against a production budget of $80 million, securing the chest-bursting series’s future.

We loved Romulus here at Shortlist — playing out like a teen slasher movie, but with cyborgs and extraterrestrial horrors, it walked the fine line between the dread of the original movie and the action of James Cameron’s Aliens sequel. Fitting then, that its story of teen colonist looking to escape a doomed space station, was set between those two first films in the series.

Starring Cailee Spaeny, who comfortably filled a role similar to that of Sigourney Weaver’s iconic Ripley, it was the performance of David Jonsson as the android Andy, at turns both vulnerable and deadly, that stole the show. Incidentally, this week Jonsson was nominated for a BAFTA EE Rising Star Award, alongside Marisa Abela, Mikey Madison, Jharrel Jerome and Nabhaan Rizwa.

It’ll be fun watching Alien: Romulus sit alongside Disney’s more traditionally-family friendly fare on the House of Mouse’s streaming platform — Romulus was distributed by 20th Century Fox, now a subsidiary of Disney — and there’s only more to come.

Later this year will see the release of Alien: Earth, a TV series from Noah Hawley (Fargo), that’ll act as a prequel to the original film. It’s also set to join the ranks of Disney+ shows later this year.

• 2025 TV preview: The shows to add to your new year watchlist

Sony has just revealed its line up of free games offered up to PlayStation Plus subscribers in January, and there’s a super-heroic flop among the mix.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League had the hype, but not the heart, to save it from critical and commercial failure in 2024, and is the headline act in an actually-pretty-good month for PS Plus subscribers.

The game, based on the misfit antihero comic book characters from the DC Comics universe, was developed by Rocksteady Studios, and was pitched as something like a spiritual successor to its much-lauded Batman: Arkham series.

But the multiplayer shooter missed the mark, slammed for its repetitive mission design and live-service filler content. Though its character work and story beats showed the same pedigree as those earlier Arkham games, the final product (after a protracted development cycle) showed a dev team working against the single-player gameplay style it had all-but perfected.

Now, less than a year after its release, its PS5 version is being given away with the subscription service, alongside a final season of content and an offline mode that will keep the game playable when its multiplayer servers inevitably get switched off.

For ‘free’, though? There’s plenty to enjoy — if only to indulge in Rocksteady’s singular take on the DC Universe. Hopefully they’ll be allowed to get back to what they do best with single player super hero titles soon enough — though the financial flop of Suicide Squad may have done irreparable damage to the studio, which suffered job cuts in the wake of the game’s failure.

Two far less controversial games join Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League in January’s PS Plus line up. Both PS4 and PS5 versions of The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe will be offered up for free — it’s a walking-simulator about a trapped office worker that plays a fourth-wall-breaking trick on with the player’s expectations about game design. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered rounds out the selection for the month — an arcadey racer that pits cops against criminals in high-stakes car chases.

All three games will be available to subscribers, whatever tier of PS Plus they pay for, and will become available on January 7th.

• The best PS5 games of 2024

New Year’s Eve has always been cinema catnip. It’s the perfect narrative pressure point: one foot in the past, one eye on the future, emotions running high and clocks ticking loudly in the background. A built-in deadline, a natural sense of reflection, and the promise that everything might change at the stroke of midnight? Directors dream of this stuff.

Some films use New Year’s Eve for romance, kisses as fireworks crackle overhead, missed connections finally found, love declared with seconds to spare. Others lean into the chaos: drunken decisions, existential dread, parties teetering on the brink, or characters realising (often far too late) that they need to get their act together before the year runs out. When it works, a New Year’s Eve scene can feel electric – a moment where hope, regret, optimism and panic all collide at once.

These scenes stick because they tap into something universal. We’ve all watched the countdown with a strange mix of excitement and unease, wondering what the next year might hold and whether we’ll be any better prepared for it than the last. Cinema just knows how to bottle that feeling and turn it into something unforgettable.

So whether it’s joyous, messy, romantic or quietly devastating, these are the best New Year’s Eve movie scenes, end-of-year moments that make you want to toast the future, cringe at the past, and maybe text someone you probably shouldn’t.

10. Trading Places

We're really enjoying the Eddie Murphy resurgence right now - with Dolemite Is My Name and his stint on SNL, but this is still one of the funniest lines from the days when Eddie Murphy was consistently incredible.

9. Ghostbusters II

All of the Ghostbusters sequel's finale is set on New Year's Eve, as spooky, painting-dwelling ghost Vigo attempts to return to the mortal world. But the best scene is this sequence in which the scourges of spirit kind hitch a lift on the Statue of Liberty and ride her to glory through the streets of New York, starting a party as they go.

8. Snowpiercer

On first watch, the New Year scene in Snowpiercer may seem flat-out incongruous. The masked axe men suddenly stop their slaughter to count down to the new year. But it's an off-kilter representation of the deranged culture that has developed on the train. Plus, it feeds into the film's general sense of dark strangeness.

7. Boogie Nights

Signalling the end of the year, the decade and an era of unbridled hedonism for the adult movie stars in Paul Thomas Anderson's astonishing drama, one character sees in the New Year with the end of his life.

6. The Gold Rush

One of the most famous moments in cinema occurs during a scene in which a lonely gold prospector (Charlie Chaplin) fantasises about hosting a New Year's Eve party for the woman he loves. Then he amuses them with an elegant little dance with bread roll feet. But then he wakes up alone...

5. Sunset Boulevard

Faded silent movie star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) slowly loses her marbles in Billy Wilder's grand drama.

Her slipping grip on sanity and dignity is particularly highlighted in a scene where she invites accidental house guest Joe (William Holden) to a New Year's Eve party, then reveals that they're the only guests. A romantic end is tragically unlikely.

4. The Godfather, Part II

One of the saga's pivotal moments takes place on the cusp of a new year. At the President's New Year celebration, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) lets his brother Fredo (John Cazale) know that he knows he is the man who's trying to have him killed. Then he seals his fate with a kiss

3. When Harry Met Sally

Come midnight on New Year's Eve, many of us are struggling to string a coherent sentence together. In Rob Reiner's majestic romantic comedy, Harry (Billy Crystal) waits until the stroke of midnight to tell Sally (Meg Ryan) everything he's felt about her for years but never quite said. And it's one of the best speeches in cinema.

2. The Apartment

Another romantic comedy that concludes at the beginning of a new year. Makes sense, really. New beginnings. New loves. Booze. In this, Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine) realises at a New Year party that her affair with a married man is never going to be fulfilling and runs all the way to CC Baxter (Jack Lemmon), the office drone who's been providing a flat for the adulterous relationship. The final line is still a killer.

1. Phantom Thread

PT Anderson does it again when it comes to the New Year. While Boogie Nights showed a night of debauchery, The Phantom Thread shows a night that's all about being ostentatious. The result is one of the most stunning-looking scenes in cinema history.

• 9 books that are secretly Christmas reads

While console gaming platforms felt as though they were stuck in a mid-to-end of cycle holding pattern in 2024, the PC gaming scene was in the rudest of health over the past 12 months. With the component shortages that had characterised recent years fixed, cloud gaming going from strength to strength, and PC gaming handhelds stealing the headlines, there were more ways than ever before to play your favourite computer games.

And what a line up 2024 offered! From quirky and addictive indie titles like Thank Goodness You’re Here and Balatro to giant AAA epics like Indiana Jones and The Great Circle and Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the breadth and variety of what was available to PC gamers was incredible. It was also a great year for comebacks — whether that was with remakes like Silent Hill 2, remasters like Red Dead Redemption, or fan-made expansions to classic titles like the Fallout: London mod.

And we played them all! Well, enough to confidently pick these, our top PC games for 2024, at least!

We played all the games listed here on a gaming PC equipped with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super graphics card (Gigabyte’s Eagle OC 16GB edition, to be precise). Keeping in mind it’s not even Nvidia’s top-tier GPU, it absolutely tore through everything we threw at it below, at high resolutions and high graphical settings, delivering top-notch frame rates. You can see more details of our test rig at the bottom of this article to get an idea of how your personal machine might perform when pitted against our picks.

With that out of the way, stretch those pinkies and don that headset: in no particular order, these are the best PC games of 2024.

The 15 best PC games of 2025

1. Thank Goodness You're Here!

Imagine if Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer teamed up with the Viz art team, and decided to make a video game. That’d be the closest jumping off point to describe the funniest, quirkiest game of the year, Thank Goodness You’re Here! A uniquely British slice of absurd humour, it’s a walking simulator pretty much solely created for delivering visual gags. Short, sweet and unlike anything else you’ll have ever played, this one can’t be missed.

2. Helldivers 2

Taking the original Helldiver’s top-down twin-stick action and turning it into a third-person squad-based blockbuster, Helldivers 2 tasked players with defending the galaxy from a hostile alien species. The twist? A healthy dose of humorous satire, revealing that the human race in this dystopian future might be the true, fascist, hostile force to be fearful of. Teamwork is crucial as players drop into dangerous environments, tackle missions, and survive intense gun battles featuring robots, bugs… and the friendly-fire of your own teammates’ nuclear armouries. Chaotic co-op action, it’s the Starship Troopers game you’ve always dreamed of — and that’s saying something, considering there was an easily-forgotten official Starship Troopers game released in 2024, too.

3. Indiana Jones and The Great Circle

Though the first-person viewpoint initially raised eyebrows, it turns out we had nothing to fear: Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is the best Indy adventure in decades — movies included. Beautiful to look at with a transformative performance by Troy Baker stepping into the shoes once filled by Harrison Ford, it’s a deftly-balanced mix of bruising combat, brain-teasing puzzle solving and globe-trotting exploration. Indy’s back, baby.

4. Red Dead Redemption

We had to wait nearly 15 years for it to make the jump from consoles to PC, but Rockstar’s first open-world cowboy adventure was more than worth the wait. Red Dead Redemption immerses players in the final years of the Wild West, taking the role of John Marston, a former outlaw seeking that titular redemption. It’s a more direct and action packed adventure than its eventual epic sequel turned out to be, but Red Dead Redemption is no less captivating for that. A solid port that avoided the pitfalls of the recent GTA trilogy remaster, it’s the best the game has ever looked and, for our money, tells a tighter gunslinging tale with more action-per-minute than its successor. And that’s before you even hit the excellent Undead Nightmare expansion element, which fills the frontier with shambling zombies and mythical steeds.

5. Star Wars: Outlaws

An open world Star Wars game with not a Jedi in sight? Red Dead with blasters, droids and aliens? Sign us up. Outlaws introduces a new cast of characters navigating the underworld of a galaxy far, far away. It’s had its critics, but Outlaws does a great job of letting you live out that ‘do anything, go anywhere’ Star Wars gaming dream. And development juggernaut Ubisoft has made good on addressing early bugs and criticism, tightening up gunplay, stealth and other core systems in a series of significant updates for the title. If you missed it at launch, it’s better than ever, and great fan service for Star Wars die-hards.

6. Balatro

If you’ve played Balatro, we’re surprised you’re sitting here reading this. Arguably the breakout game of the year, it’s so addictive you’d be forgiven for devoting your life to it. Taking the core idea of poker and turning it into a devilishly compulsive rougelite adventure through the addition of game-modifying joker cards, it felt like the entire world was hooked on Balatro at times in 2024. The fact that its simple 2D graphics mean it’ll run on basically a baked potato of a PC only broadened its appeal.

7. Animal Well

A hidden gem, this one — in Animal Well players explore a mysterious, atmospheric world inhabited by strange creatures. A pixel-art Metroidvania with no explicit objectives, the game encourages discovery and exploration, with an eerie art style that beguiles and intrigues as you dig deeper into the game’s weird world. Like the layers of an onion, Animal Well becomes only better once you’ve ‘finished’ the main quest — at which point the real game begins, as a vast new level of secrets opens up in front of you. This is the sort of game that Reddit fan theory message boards were made for.

8. Fallout: London

What’s that you say? “How can a mod be considered a game of the year pick?”. Hush — we make the rules here, and it was impossible to ignore the resurgence in interest in the Fallout franchise following the mega success of Amazon’s accompanying Fallout TV show. This long-in development and massively ambitious mod was the closest we came to an all-new Fallout in 2024, and was shone a nuclear-powered spotlight on the unsung heroes of the modding scene, with the hardworking Fallout: London team reworking Fallout 4 so as to recast the game as a British-based adventure. Set in an alternate timeline where Britain was isolated after the Great War, Fallout: London offered a fresh perspective on the post-apocalyptic world. New factions, new weapons, new quests — but with the game’s dark humour intact — you’d be forgiven for thinking this was made by the core Fallout team at Bethesda rather than a team of hobbyists. Best of all, it’s free to play and install if you’ve already bought Fallout 4.

9. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Call of Duty remains a juggernaut of the first-person shooter genre, and the spin-off Black Ops franchise had a showstopping 2024. Call of Duty Black Ops 6 delivers a single-player campaign that’s varied, engaging, and perfectly paced, a massively revamped Zombies mode that’s more addictive than ever before, and an innovative new Omnimovement system that breathes new life into the competitive multiplayer. This feature allows players to sprint and slide in any direction, adding a subtle but effective layer of fluidity and strategy to multiplayer combat. It’s a small change, but it revitalizes the frenetic pace of multiplayer matches, making them feel faster and more dynamic. For the PC crowd, Black Ops 6 also delivers a host of graphical improvements and optimisation options. The game takes full advantage of modern PC hardware, supporting high frame rates, ray-traced lighting, and ultra-wide monitor support, ensuring that the experience is as immersive as possible.

• 50 things you need to know about Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

10. Dragon Age: The Veilguard

If you’re a fan of the Dragon Age series, it felt like you could only watch the development of sequel Dragon Age: The Veilguard from behind your fingers, such was the turmoil it went through with developers BioWare which saw the game scrapped and rebooted entirely at least once. Thankfully, Dragon Age: The Veilguard turned out to be the best thing BioWare had made since, well, the last Dragon Age game, Inquisition. With a more stylised art style and a combat system more directly focussed on arcade-like action, it retained the series’ reputation for great storytelling with a high-stakes plot and excellent character and romance subplots.

11. Silent Hill 2

Silent Hill 2 was scary enough in its blurry, blocky PS2 form — a full-blown remake from the developers at Bloober (whose previous releases already seemed like it was building a CV to get this very gig), was enough to have us scrambling for fresh underwear. Though it doesn’t massively mix up the original formula, some smart twists, modern quality of life improvements and increased fidelity to the visuals make this the most terrifying release of the year.

12. God of War: Ragnarok

A couple of years after its initial PS5 release, God of War: Ragnarok joined its predecessor on PC in 2024. And, like that first PC port, this now exists as the ultimate way to play Ragnarok, taking full advantage of every high-end PC bell and whistle you can think of. It’s a superb port — but it’s a great adventure, too, taking the brutal melee combat the series is famed for and throwing it against an icily apocalyptic background.

13. Black Myth: Wukong

Black Myth: Wukong was the surprise mega-hit of 2024 — a Chinese-developed Souls-like with incredible visuals and combat a touch more forgiving than the games that inspired it. A dark action RPG that takes its story beats from Chinese mythology, Black Myth: Wukong follows the legendary Monkey King as he battles gods, demons, and mythical creatures. You’ll need a beefy gaming rig to see Black Myth: Wukong in all its finery, but everyone can enjoy its tight combat and truly epic boss fights.

14. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

Yeah, again, not a full game — but how can you ignore the most hotly anticipated release of the year, which expands upon one of the greatest games of all time? Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree made good on the promise of further adventures in The Lands Between, with amazing landscapes to explore, tough-as-nails bosses to encounter, and a host of new gear to mix up your playstyle with. And though a DLC pack, there’s more content here than some full games, making for a very challenging and generous package.

15. Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut

Another excellent PS5 port, this definitive version of Ghost of Tsushima enhances the original, taking full advantage of a top-tier PC’s graphical horsepower, and throwing in the excellent Iki Island DLC as standard. Set in feudal Japan, players control Jin Sakai, a young samurai who must accept new ninja-style tactics to overcome Mongol invaders who have devastated his land. With a rich, emotional story, stunning open-world landscapes packed full of secrets to uncover, and gory tactical swordplay combat, it’s a truly cinematic experience, and one you’ll want to play ahead of the launch of its sequel, Ghost of Yotei, in 2025.

[Shortlist’s gaming rig: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super graphics card (Gigabyte Eagle OC 16GB edition) | Intel Core i5-13600K CPU | Kingston FURY Beast 32 GB DDR5 RAM | Asus ROG STRIX Z690-F GAMING WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard]

I sometimes look at film stars from yesteryear and feel so inadequate. The smooth way they glide around the screen, with a nod or a flick of the hat, before wandering on to the next adventure, glibly delivering killer lines to whoever needed to be taken down a peg or two.

So when I was invited down to the London boutique of Borsalino, the makers of Humphrey Bogart’s iconic hat from Casablanca (so famous that the company now has its own range of Bogart fedoras) my feelings of dread are two-fold:

Firstly, after watching the new documentary into his life, Humphrey Bogart: Life Comes In Flashes, I realise just how far I am from ever being able to evoke his effortless cool. Putting the Hollywood golden-age star under the microscope, through the lens of his relationships, the documentary offers a rare insight into one of the true stars of the silver screen.

Xan Brookes, writing about the documentary in The Guardian, described Bogart (far better than I ever could) as having a “hard-boiled coating [that] contained an air of refinement…He was American cinema’s fallen angel, its shop-soiled cynic; sometimes drawn to darkness.”

Compare that to me, who recently fought (and paid over the odds) to get Girls Aloud tickets and once fell over at a bus stop trying to see if my backpack was open, and I feel I’m not going to suit the same hat style as he.

In fact, the only thing I suspect we’d have in common is neither of us have ever been referred to as ‘traditionally handsome’.

The second reason I’m worried: I do not look good in hats. Never have, and have a strong suspicion I never will.

I can’t tell you why - it’s just, over time and through ‘looks’ from other people, I just don’t feel right whenever I’ve put something on top of my hair.

So the thought of having to go through the experience with a company that has decades of experience adding fancy felt flourishes to people’s heads is not something I’m looking forward to.

Expert help

As I enter, I meet Marco and Imane, the people running the London branch of Borsalino, two people who I can instantly tell are far more stylish than I’ll ever be.

And yet, somehow, within minutes I’m unloading my worries about the shape of my head to them like they’re some sort of head-focused therapists - and it’s actually making me feel like there’s hope.

Marco firmly tells me anyone can wear a hat (which, on reflection, isn’t surprising given it’s his profession to sell them), but is certain that it’s just a matter of going through the options to find what works for me.

And so, we do. I’m taken through colours, brims, construction, materials and fit - and Marco makes every effort to hear what I want and how he thinks we can achieve it.

I start to get a little over-excited at one point, asking to try on an electric blue number, and this is where we can see the value of having an expert helping out. Marco is great at letting me try all the options, then kindly, but firmly, hinting what he thinks might work (which turns out to be a more understated, dark blue fedora).

Well, if this is to be the birth of my ‘person that wears hats’ era, I figure I’m going to need to learn how to embrace this lifestyle.

So, during the fitting, I talk to Marco and Imane about the things they’ve learned through selling hundreds of hats, and they have a very clear view on some of the things you should think about if you want to join me on this head-warming journey.

How to wear a hat — and not feel like an idiot

1. Find a hat that fits your attitude

When I entered the Borsalino shop in London’s Burlington Arcade, I’d already walked past a number of high-end retailers selling things I didn’t know how to buy (including a glove shop so fancy that it, somehow, instantly made my hands themselves feel as if they’d been picked out from the bargain bin).

So on entering the milliners, I just had no idea what kind of hat I was ‘supposed’ to have. But it turns out, it’s the one that makes me feel the most comfortable. While I loved the idea of walking out wearing a cheeky electric blue hat, it wasn’t something that felt like it fitted my style - going for something dark blue, with a medium brim, felt less ‘risky’.

The point to this being: a hat is the same as any item of clothing, where if you don’t feel like you can wear it with joy, then it won’t be the right one for you.

2. Always go for a larger size

If you’re not being fitted for a hat, knowing how to find the right one (especially as a new hat buyer) feels rather daunting.

The rule of thumb is that a good-quality hat will never expand, only shrink, so it’s best to go for a size slightly larger and get some felt inserts to find the perfect fit for you.

Marco tells me the hat should never touch the sides of your head between your temples and ears, so find something that slots into that spot.

3. Take it off with your whole hand

I’d watched Bogart remove his hat multiple times during the documentary, but there was no way I could explain how he does it with both impunity and softness.

Thankfully, Marco was on the case, explaining that the right way to do it is to clasp the front gently between thumb and forefinger… but never pinching hard.

“Then, with three fingers in between, you grab your hat very gently, not putting a lot of pressure [on the top],” he says.

This action creates the well-known teardrop shape on the top of the fedora. This pinch was actually born from Giuseppe Borsalino (the founder of the hat sellers), and Marco says “The pinch [has become] a statement, but it was [created] just to make it easier to grab and remove the hat.”

4. Keep it straight

In my bid to not look like a proper newbie hat wearer, I did some research on how to wear a fedora, but it turns out I needn’t have bothered.

Where I thought a slightly rakish angle was the right way to go about things, it turns out that the classic look is far simpler:

“The proper rule is to wear it straight,” says Marco. “There are a lot of people who are more creative who twist, they wear it differently, it’s just how you feel.

“But for the classic look, the rule is to wear it straight, especially if you’re going back to the age where all the men were wearing a suit.”

5. You wear the hat, the hat doesn’t wear you

This was the hardest point for me - and one that Imane had to really coach me through. I opened up to her that I just felt foolish wearing a hat, that people would be ‘looking’ at me.

She advised me to put the hat on and then just observe myself in the mirror for an uncomfortably long time.

“Keep looking, because you’re going to get used to it,” she said. “You might think ‘I don’t like it, but I like the idea’. Then after 10 minutes, maybe 20 minutes, you start to think ‘actually, I like it. You know, it’s not bad?’”

So I do it, and it’s as deeply uncomfortable as I expect it to be. I’m just looking at myself wearing a hat, wishing it didn’t look so odd.

But after a little while, I start to get a sense of longing. I want to be part of a world where a hat was expected, that taking it off meant something, whether that’s leaving the outside world to the comfort of my home or just a kinder way of saying hello.

I wanted to be like my grandfather, who I can imagine passing it off with effortless nonchalance. I want to be able to touch the brim like Bogart and make some sort of clever, non-verbal point that a lifetime of my terrible jokes could never recreate.

So maybe I will - or maybe I’ll just crack it out when I’m wearing my fanciest suit and want to add a stylish touch to proceedings.

The thing I take away from the experience is actually quite overwhelming - that it’s OK to want to try something different, and forcing yourself through the discomfort of facing up to that can lead to experiences you’d never expected.

Am I now a hat person? It’s hard to say… but I’m far less worried about covering my head than I used to be, and if I can ever muster a flicker of the cool nonchalance of Bogart in the years to come, that’ll feel like a massive success.

Lead image: Photo by Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

All other images courtesy of Borsalino

• The best movies of 2024

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Marloe Watch Company has released its latest timepiece, the Morar 310.

This diving watched is named for its water resistance rating. It can take depths of 310m, and while it’s the kind of watch we’d wear for its style alone, its diving cred isn’t just there to look nice on the spec sheet.

The Marloe Morar 310 has a helium release valve at 12-o-clock, to allow gases to escape from the casing safety during decompression.

This is a 42mm diameter watch, one whose four colour configurations each bring a distinct visual personality.

Air - Goldking is the most eye-catching, a bright yellow strap and bezel atop a black and white watch face, with some additional yellow accents.

Sea - Tropic is also a stunner, blending a black base with sea green touches throughout. Air - Steel is black with red accents and, for the most traditional appearance, Land - Onyx is black and white, with just a hint of red in the 310 icon on the watch face.

The Marloe Morar 310 has a 316L stainless steel casing a Sapphire crystal and ceramic bezel insert.

Despite the use of premium materials throughout, the Morar does not cost a fortune. It’s £599, regardless of the chosen finish.

There are practical concessions too. The hour markers glow in the dark, just as handy for underwater use as when on land, and the crown guards are designed to be replaceable. Its watch movement also sits in an "iron cage" for additional magnetic resistance.

The Marloe Morar 310 has the style and substance we're after, and is available to order now.

• Marloe x Ardnamurchan watch and whisky pairing matches dram with timepiece

David Attenborough. Judi Dench. Michael Palin. It’s a rare and illustrious group who make it to ‘National Treasure’ status, but poet and author Michael Rosen can certainly be counted among them.

The We’re Going on a Bear Hunt author is one of Britain’s most beloved children’s writers, and was appointed the Children’s Laureate between 2007 and 2009.

When not touring schools promoting literacy among children, he can be found teaching as professor of children's literature in the Department of Educational Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. And having survived a near-death encounter with the virus at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, 78-year old Rosen’s as well known now for his activism as his writing.

Though most at home among his library of thousands of books, Rosen’s been happy to embrace new forms of media and technology — his YouTube channel has almost 800,000 subscribers, and videos of his story and poetry readings have been viewed more than 140 million times.

• Michael Rosen’s top 5 tips to make you a better writer

He now acts as global ambassador for TCL, as the company promotes its reader-friendly TCL 50 Pro NXTPAPER 5G smartphone, which uses a unique screen toggle to bring the best of what both phones and e-reader devices have to offer, switching on the fly between full colour screen and a notification-free greyscale reading mode.

“It's a wonderful thing to be able to have a phone that basically combines smartphone with ebook,” Rosen told Shortlist as we recently sat down with him.

“Remember, you've got virtually the whole of world literature before 1925 available on the phone through Gutenberg and archive.org and through whatever is available in your local E library. And there are no distractions on this phone. So it's unlike when you're reading on a computer, dodging your up pops, menus, and your mates, social media, and all the rest of it. So you can lose yourself in it, and instead of carrying around two devices, you're carrying around one that’s easy to read.”

We sat down to talk to Rosen about the art of his craft, the rise of AI, his relationship with technology and the things he does to ensure he’s in the right frame of mind to write his best work.

Settle in for a masterclass with one of the all-time greats...

ShortList: You're working with TCL on its new reader-friendly handset. Has it changed your relationship with reading?

Michael Rosen: Well, the basic thing is that it's just so much easier to read using it. I do read off screens as, either on my computer or my phones, but I was immediately struck by how easy it was. It was like reading paper, but with all the advantages of screen reading, where you can expand text big enough for my wobbly eyes and also get instant access to many books. I've got plenty of books here in this office room, but one of the nice things about screen reading is the speed that you can move through texts to find things — marking texts and searching as well.

I set it up with the help of my daughter, and she was immediately raving about it — I love that. So she pounced on it. In fact, I had to pull it out of her hands.

SL: Could you imagine yourself ever swapping out a paper library and going completely digital with your reading?

MR: I've probably got about five to 10,000 books. The problem is, some of those are unique that haven't been digitised. I can't see how I could get rid of those and then find them all online, if you see what I mean, because some of them are particularly to certain fields that haven't been digitised, and also they are more recent books. But I can imagine doing it, you know, to get by on a desert island that's got a signal, then I could quite happily cope.

SL: Can you remember the first book you ever bought for yourself?

MR: That's an interesting test. First book I ever bought for myself... I can remember buying one when I was 16 or 17…. but I must have bought books before then. Oh, wow. I relied on the library so much, and also, my parents bought us books…Yes! I had a whole thing about butterflies. Would you believe it? There you go. When I was about 10 and 11, I bought a book of butterflies. There you go. That's pretty amazing, isn't it? Excellent.

SL: Are butterflies still a passion?

MR: Less so I must say! I'm interested in insects in general. I'm very fascinated by insects. I'm sort of more interested in creepy crawly insects and eight legged things. But if I see butterflies I can't recognise, I will go, “Hey, what butterfly is that?”, and try to get my kids to tell me what it is. But lately I've widened it out to more different insects, bees, wasps, that sort of thing.

SL: When it comes to writing creatively, what's your routine now? What elements do you need to get in the zone to feel like you can sit down and do some good work?

MR: That depends on whether I'm writing about a memory, writing about something I'm imagining, or writing about something that I've just seen and heard. There are different modes for those different ways of writing.

If it's memory, then I have to zone in and really concentrate and concentrate on the kind of telling. How do I want to tell this? Am I telling it to a child, or to an adult? Do I want to make them laugh? Am I thinking about finding something ironic or sad or intriguing about it? So I'm asking myself questions as I'm writing it.

If it's a seen and heard thing, then sometimes I want to get to a truth in a very simple way, so it's unfussy and undecorated. And then, if it's imagination, then there's a lot of things to play about. If it's a story, how about plotting it? What's the story arc of the characters? What are their motives? And if it's a poem, then it might be quite fantastical, with imaginary beasts, imaginary places, imaginary landscapes, that sort of thing. So it just depends what kind of writing really

SL: Do you ever suffer from writer's block?

MR: Yes, and the way around it, I find, is to drop what it is that I'm trying! Don't struggle too long with it, go and find another kind of writing and then maybe come back to it when I've got a bit of objectivity about what it is I've written. Then I can see why I’m stuck.

If you look back at a piece of writing, you can sometimes see why you got stuck. Maybe it just wasn't very good, or you'd driven the characters into a corner that they couldn't get out of, or maybe you'd even misconceived the whole thing, and you've got to think of a different voice. Sometimes you've told the story as if you're the know-it-all narrator, and really you should tell it from the point of view of one of the characters. So sometimes going away, when you come back, switching it is easier. You find a way back in.

SL: Do you often find yourself just completely scrapping things then, and starting from scratch?

MR: Yeah, yeah, I've done that, and you have to be willing to. It's hard, because you're so sure when you started that it was going to be good. So the idea that you just drop something altogether, you can get a little separation anxiety. You don't want to drop it. “It was so good, it was going to be so good, but now it isn’t. Oh no. Oh well, maybe I'm no good.”

SL: Do you ever find that you've got something that's been sitting around in your head for years that you come back to, or is it always kind of a constant flow like, “what do I want to do today? What do I want to do right now?”

MR: No, you can come back to things, things that you've had one go at, maybe didn't come off all that well, and then you go back to it.

I have had an idea I think about again and again, it was a very strange thing. During the war, they gave money to local authorities and parks so that people could set up what they called piggeries. People could be given a little corner in a local public park to keep a pig because they wanted to up the amount of protein that people were getting — they were so worried about the state of the health of the nation, and people were near starving at times. And I can remember as a kid that in the corner of our local park, there was a slightly eccentric bloke behind a wall — loads of nettles growing around there, and he just used to stand there with his pig.

Of course, as kids, we just thought it was really freaky and weird. We just call him the pig man. “Let's go look at the pig man!” “Yeah, let's go over and look at the pig man!” And we go and stand there and look over the fence and go, “Hey, it's the pig man.” Of course he’d go, “You fuck off!” He didn't like us at all!

Anyway, I was looking it up the other day, and I thought, “why was there a pig man in the park in the middle of the middle of 1953 or ‘54 or ‘55?” And I suddenly came across a news item that said that they were setting up these piggeries. So there was a real reason.

Now, I've tried to write about this several times, and part of the problem is, there's no plot. And so, you know, is it one of my little, sort of dreamy poems where there's this strange man, this pig man? It would be interesting for me, but I’ve got a funny feeling it wouldn't really interest kids very much! Could I find an angle to write about that? So I keep trying.

SL: One of the big talking points around, well, everything in the world today is AI, artificial intelligence. What do you make of it as a prompt tool, or as a fully fledged writing tool for people who maybe find it difficult to write? Do you like AI? Do you find it challenging? Do you find it scary?

MR: At the moment, my main encounters with AI are on things like LinkedIn, when we get a message and then it puts up five automatic responses you could send: “Yeah, thanks very much. See you tomorrow”, that sort of thing. I look at these and feel nothing, how weird. Do they think I can't think of those myself?

I find myself sort of staring at them — not because they're kind of brilliant, clever witticisms, It's not as if it's got brilliant quotes or something. It's just like, “thanks very much”. And I think, well, I could write that, thanks very much. If I write, “thanks very much”, the person on the receiving end will know that all I've done is click on the AI option. So what it does make me do is try and think of something a bit more original, that they'll know I made up myself. So, in fact, it's almost as if the AI is a prompt for me to write something.

SL: Like a challenge to outdo it, to like, prove the human worth?

MR: I suppose, yeah, yeah. There's a whole other issue around writing poems, songs, stories, university, essays. I mean, that's a whole other area. Presumably you could get AI to look at a whole pile of books and say, “write me a book like that”. And it would, yeah, and you could send that in.

I mean, you know, there are some aspects of writing that are a bit mechanical, so you have to turn yourself at times into a bit of a machine. You could say, well, at this point, “I need a danger. I need some jeopardy. I need some peril.” Say, if your story is already set up around a child walking through a wood, you’ve got a limit on the kinds of peril that you can set for the child. It can't be, you know, a car runs them over because they're in the middle of a wood. So you've got wolves, and you've got scary animals, you've got getting lost, you've got night time, and then that's it.

In that sense, when you've got few options, artificial intelligence can come up with it. AI will produce some books like that with no problem. The interesting thing will be how writers come up with stuff that couldn't have been written by AI, and people realise that that’s really clever, original writing.

SL: What is part of your workflow? What are the things other than a pen and paper that you need when you get to sit down?

MR: I like to think that I've got a big chunk of time. I may not use it all, but if I know that I've not got long, then that sort of makes me a bit anxious, because I may not finish before the bell goes, and I don't like that feeling. So I won't start writing at, say, two o'clock, if I know the cleaners closes at 5pm. I like to think there's a spread of time ahead of me that is longer than the amount of time it'll take to write something, whatever it is.

Part of writing is the flow, and “if you know you're going to be interrupted, then the chances are, in my case, I won't start. I won't think, well, I write the first bit today and I write the next bit tomorrow”. I want to know I can flow for as long as it takes.

Philip Pullman, and I've heard others do the same, sets himself a very, very rigid timetable. They will write for X number of hours per day, and ideally it should be first thing. So they basically become very anti-social. Nobody can get in touch with them between 9am and 12pm.

But then they don't push it after that, they don't say, “well, I'll go and write some more”. They just know they've got this three hour slab that is untouchable. Nobody can get anywhere near them. And they say that that's a good discipline. And you may not write an awful lot, and you may do rewrites or whatever, but if you know you've three hours clear every day, then a year goes by quite quickly. I'm a bit different because I write and do so many very, very different things. So it's a sort of different system for me.

SL: One of the things you're well loved for is your poetry. But some people find poetry quite difficult. What would you say to someone who's maybe a first time poetry reader looking to learn how to appreciate that sort of form?

MR: When you read a poem, don't worry about what it means. Just ask yourself some personal questions, like, “does this poem remind me of anything? Does it remind me of anything that's happened to me? Does it remind me of another poem or story or song?” And just gently ask yourself, “Well, why would that be?” And then look to see if there are any bits of a poem that you like, or are there any bits of the poem that are puzzling. And then you can play a bit with it, but don't rest on it. If you're puzzled by it, chances are you'll get quite annoyed.

If you read something like a Shakespeare sonnet, there's always a bit that's a bit puzzling. So you can go to something like SparkNotes and get a kind of modern translation of it, and that helps a bit. There are plenty of poems with puzzles in them. And if you think of it, some poems, that's what they are — they're puzzles.

Some other poems are just meant to be a feeling. They're not meant to be anything. They're not meant to be about anything. They're not meant to be for anything. They're just expressing a sensation. And other kinds of poems are sometimes — and this is quite annoying for some — they're sort of about themselves. They're about the writer's thinking. And some people say, “I can't be bothered with that sort of poem”. And that's fine. Don't put yourself under any pressure.

If you're listening to, say, Bob Dylan, he can be quite opaque. A line like, “When you're lost in the rain in Juarez and it's Easter time too.” What? Why Juarez? And why does it matter that it's Easter? There's no point interrogating Bob Dylan about that. Just sit in the sensation of it. Just go with him. Don't worry about “well, wouldn't there be a difference to Easter and summer. And you know, why is he lost in the rain?” Don't worry about it. He is lost in the rain, and he's in a place called Juarez. Yeah, fine. That's that. He's just telling a little story. Just enjoy it.

Just let it sit. Sometimes people get anxious, because our whole training through GCSEs and A-levels and exams is to break it all apart. You must get the meaning. You've got to get the eggs out of the basket. Otherwise you're a failure. Well, that’s the wrong way to perceive this stuff. You've got to sit in it and let it brood, see what happens with it.

• The coolest books of all time

It’s a 50/50 hit rate for Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker at the moment. On the one hand, 2019’s Joker was a somewhat-surprising smash hit, making more than a billion dollars at the box office against a modest budget of $55 million, and earning Phoenix an Oscar for his portrayal of The Crown Prince of Crime, née Arthur Fleck.

On the other hand, there’s the recent flop Joker: Folie à Deux, co-starring Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, a masterful misfire that tries to fuse gritty courtroom and mental health drama with low-key musical aspirations. It’s unlikely to turn a profit on its ballooned $200 million budget.

But there’s an alternate universe where Phoenix not only remains the Joker, but did so ten years earlier in another highly-lauded Batman universe film.

Speaking on Rick Rubin’s Tetragrammaton show, Phoenix revealed he was in discussions for the Joker role in Christopher Nolan’s classic The Dark Knight film.

“I remember I talked to Chris Nolan about ‘The Dark Knight’ and that didn’t happen for whatever reason,” Phoenix said.

“I wasn’t ready then. That’s one of those things where it’s like, ‘What is in me that’s not doing this?’ And it’s not about me. There’s something else. There’s another person who is going to do something. … I can’t imagine what it would be if we didn’t have Heath Ledger’s performance in that film, right?”

The feeling of uncertainty may have been mutual for Nolan too, Phoenix said.

“I don’t know whether Christopher Nolan was coming to me saying, ‘You’re definitely the person.’ I can’t remember the context of how we met, but I know we met,” Phoenix said.

“My feeling was I shouldn’t do this, but maybe he also was like, ‘He’s not the guy.'”

Ledger’s eventual performance earned him a posthumous Oscar, and is seen as the definitive onscreen depiction of the Joker. So it all worked out in the end.

… Though Nolan did have one final hand in Phillips’ interpretation of the Joker. *Slight spoilers ahead.*

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Todd Phillips had wanted 2019’s Joker to end with the character carving his scar-smile into his face — a look popularised for the character by Nolan’s film. Nolan blocked the move. But with Nolan removed from the Warner Bros. studio fold by the time Folie à Deux released, Phillips DID manage to sneak in a character doing something similar in the sequels final moments.

Missed Joker: Folie à Deux at the cinema? Its underwhelming theatrical takings mean it is being rushed to video on demand rental services on November 4th.

• Joker actors ranked: Who is the best Crown Prince of Crime?

As if Tom Hardy alone isn’t intense enough, the brooding, bruising British actor is catapulted back onto the silver screen this week with a carnivorous alien helper in tow. Venom: The Last Dance sees Hardy return to the Marvel comic book universe for a third (and possibly final) time as Eddie Brock, the reporter-turned-alien-host to the wise-cracking, titular Venom symbiote beast.

It’s a zany, fan-service delivering franchise for Hardy, forever on the cusp of being woven into the Marvel Cinematic Universe a’proper. And, by all accounts, third times’ a charm, with Venom: The Last Dance being more warmly received by early critics than the preceding two comic book adaptations were.

Whichever side of the Venom-loving-or-hating fence you fall on though, there’s no denying Hardy’s impressive career. Captivating on screen, his casting in a movie instantly raises it to ‘must-watch’ status — here’s ten great roles that prove why he’s one of the best actors of his generation.

The best Tom Hardy roles

With enough practice, anyone can pull off a mission-winning killstreak in an online shooter. But what does it take to go from behind the controller and out onto the real-world battlefield?

Ahead of this week’s release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, we sat down with three ex-Special Forces operatives to find out.

• 50 things you need to know about Call of Duty Black Ops 6

Outdoor apparel brand ThruDark’s co-founders Anthony ‘Staz’ Stazicker and Louis Tinsley spent a combined 27 years in the British military — 18 of those years spent in the UK Special Forces — before turning their sights on extreme weather clothing.

Along with brand ambassador Jason ‘Foxy’ Fox (SAS: Who Dares Wins star with 20 years in the military, 10 as a Royal Marine Commando, 10 in the Special Forces), they’ve worked with Call of Duty developer Treyarch to create the Endeavour: Tracer Pack — a DLC operative inspired by the SAS with authentic details at its core.

100% of the net proceeds from the DLC go to Call of Duty: Endowment, a non-profit organisation that aims to get unemployed military veterans back in work.

How did the partnership come together? And what real-world gear would you need to survive a real-world black ops mission? Read on to find out.

How do you find the depiction of warfare in the Call of Duty games and Black Ops 6? Is it accurate?

Louis Tinsley: It’s super accurate. It's dramatised, some of the movements are kind of over accentuated. Some of the movements you do in real life as an operator, you're quite heavily exposed. Some of the ways that you can now move around corners and things like that, which is quite slow and methodical in real life, you can see speeded up in the game. But some of the new stuff like Omnimovement and using somebody as a human shield is super cool.

The way that the characters are depicted with the way that they dress, any of the military operators, and especially our pack, we've made sure that it's super accurate to how it should be and how it was back in the 1990s, the era the game is set in.

Anthony ‘Staz’ Stazicker: Our being involved helped guide the pack in terms of the operator skin. Kudos to Call of Duty, putting that much time, energy and effort into the authenticity of not just the game as a whole, but for this individual skin.

We’re the first pack online, and it's the first online Operator skin that's available that depicts a UK Special Forces operator, and we're super proud of that. We've been very, very meticulous in terms of all the details, from weapon systems to cases to the clothing, to the weapon charms and everything else in between.

Even the kind of nuances with some of the terminologies that have been used, ‘Love many, trust few’, etcetera, etcetera. It’s real and close to home in that respect.

Jason Fox: Louis touched on Omnimovement and everything that they've put around that. But the thing that is key to realism in the game is you've got to focus on your movement; where you're moving from and to, where the other team members are, how you work within the team.

Then there's the communications during multiplayer stuff, and that's all key stuff to being a soldier on the ground. So that's what really brings realism, it brings it properly to life.

Was it a collaborative process between you and the game design team when it came to putting the final pack together? Do you give them an idea, or do they come to you and you guide them?

Anthony ‘Staz’ Stazicker: It was a fairly long process, around about six months [and] very, very collaborative. They would always listen to feedback, and we were quite particular on some of the pieces. For the most part, everything that we suggested has come to fruition in the pack. So yeah [they were] very collaborative with the output.

Jason Fox: The skin is made up of actual ThruDark product as well. The stuff that the Operator is wearing, it exists. You can buy it for real, it's not made-up stuff. This is actual functional kit that you can buy, take and use out on the hills, or whatever it is you do.

Louis Tinsley: Treyarch actually asked us to send them the physical product so that they could scan it into the game. So, I mean, that was super for us to be able to see our product that we sell commercially actually being used for the in game character.

Anthony ‘Staz’ Stazicker: Even the colors as well, matching it to our beret, the Special Forces green beret that the commandos use. It’s really cool.

Some players are suggesting that the skin might even be too good, from a camouflage perspective — it’s all black! You can hardly see the Operative in dark scenes!

Louis Tinsley: It wasn't necessarily engineered that way! Lots of what we do is blackout, so it's a hard push for us to change any colour usually. So naturally, just made the Operator skin the way that it should be, as it's based on that 1990s SAS style Black Ops role. So yeah,

Anthony ‘Staz’ Stazicker: That Black Ops role was the domestic counter terrorism, which we held the remit for, and that was part of the job of being Special Forces and Special Boat Service in particular. We actually spoke to a friend of ours, an ex colleague, who was the regimental Sergeant Major of the unit who served during that time to ensure it's got real authenticity.

If you were being dropped into a Black Ops-style covert military operation today, what five bits of kit would you bring with you in order to survive?

Anthony ‘Staz’ Stazicker: I’d need a gun! Start with a weapon system, surely! Yeah, weapon system, AirPods so I don’t have to listen to Foxy all the time…

Jason Fox: Camelback — stay hydrated. It's very important.

Anthony ‘Staz’ Stazicker: Good footwear, good boots, a mobile phone… and a balaclava.

Louis Tinsley: “Carry a knife, save a life” is one of those key quotes. So I definitely have a knife and a gun. You've got to have that. A mobile phone system is going to be particularly handy. And maybe I would take a tourniquet, just in case — I'm from a medic background. So probably, if somebody does get shot, or, I get shot, we’re prepared.

Anthony ‘Staz’ Stazicker: Foxy’s wallet as well!

Jason Fox: Outrageous. I'll take an explosive charge, being a Demolitionist, or actually, I could actually add in there a dog. The dog handlers were pretty useful. But they were a lot of admin. An explosive dog then!

Louis Tinsley: I mean, drones are like in modern warfare now — like, literally in use regularly in warfare. I mean, what? It’s been seven years since I personally served, but drones have come such a long way since. And I think that the utilisation of those is imperative to warfare and modern warfare as we move forward.

Anthony ‘Staz’ Stazicker: I just saw Elon Musk's released his new robots, so I'd be trying to get involved with one of his robots and kind of armour it up. That’s going full Terminator!

Would you fight alongside a robot?

Jason Fox: I fought amongst a few sorta-robots!

Louis Tinsley: It’s likely to be the case. I think the way that modern warfare is going, that human involvement would be reduced to some degree.

Jason Fox: If it does happen, which I think it will,I think the unit that employs those robots needs to have a secret ‘duress' word that they can say and it just shuts down, in case it goes ballistic. And with a human you can't have that — If a human decides he's fucking gone mad there’s little you can do. But if a robot malfunctions, short circuits, is hacked, you’d need that.

Anthony ‘Staz’ Stazicker: But that’s just the advocacy of humans over hardware. I don't think it'll ever sort of pass unless it's robot fighting robots, which technically does happen from a cyber security perspective. But actual physical robots with guns in hand? Who knows — maybe we’re surplus to requirement.

Alien: Isolation, the game inspired by Ridley Scott's seminal movie, is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this week - and as a gift to its fans, it's been announced that a sequel is in the works.

Alien: Isolation was developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega in 2014 and told the story of Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Ellen Ripley, who is investigating the disappearance of her mother while aboard dilapidated space station Sevastopol.

What ensues is a creeping survival horror game that pushes you right into the action thanks to its first person perspective.

The game has cemented itself in Alien lore and hints of the game were seen in Alien: Romulus, a movie which chest-burst on to the scene back in August and is based in a similar timeline.

SEGA has, quite rightly, been celebrating the fact that Alien: Isolation is 10 all day. Goodies include a great team-up with music label Lofi Girl, which merges the game's soundtrack into a lo-fi beat soundscape.

It was also revealed that some new artwork by concept artist Brad Wright has been commissioned to celebrate the game.

You will be able to buy the soundtrack on vinyl cassette for the first time, through IAm8Bit.

But the biggest surprise was Creative Assembly revealing that a sequel was in the works.

Creative director Al Hope saying in a statement: "On the 10th anniversary, it seems only fitting to let you know that we have heard your distress calls loud and clear.

"Today, I'm delighted to confirm, on behalf of the team, that a sequel to Alien: Isolation is in early development. We look forward to sharing more details with you when we're ready."

So, now release date, title or where we will be able to play it but for any fan of the game - or the movies - the news is exciting.

• Here are some facts you probably don't know about Alien.

Netflix and Prime Video have gone big on animation in the last couple of years, and Netflix’s next adaptation is based on beloved video game series.

Game publisher Ubisoft has dropped a teaser for the upcoming Netflix show Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch.

It's a brief, but moody and atmospheric trailer that establishes the show as a revenge thriller.

Sure, you may know Tom Clancy as a famous author, but the first piece of Splinter Cell to be released was the original game for Xbox, from 2002.

It follows the stealthy adventures of Sam Fisher, a fictional operative who lurks in the shadows and takes out legions of bad guys before they even know he’s there.

The game series was super-popular back in the day, but the last instalment was 2013’s Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Series novels have continued to be pumped out, though, the last being Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Dragonfire (written by James Swallow) from 2023.

Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch suggests the show focuses on an older Sam Fisher, who is seen with a grey beard in the teaser. And, as we all know, that means he’s a bit wisened and world-weary by the conventions of games and their adaptations.

Liev Schreiber stars as Sam Fisher, taking on the baton from gravelly voiced legend Michael Ironside, who voiced Fisher in the games.

Ironside, currently 74, commented on the recasting in a recent interview with The Nerd Shepherd.

“I’ll be 75 in the spring. There’s no way I should be playing Sam Fisher. I can’t be a part of the series because if I open my mouth, they’ll know it’s Sam,” said Ironside.

But why bring back to the spotlight a game series that has been basically dormant for a decade?

It’s not quite as sleepy as you might think. Ubisoft has been working on a remake of the original Splinter Cell, as announced in December 2021.

We haven’t heard a great deal from Ubisoft about progress since. And there are fresh worries about its future given reportedly weak sales of Star Wars: Outlaws saw the publisher’s stock price tumble to the lowest it has been in a decade.

This is also not the first time Sam Fisher has been in a Netflix animation. A younger version of the character also appeared in Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix, a 2023 animation series inspired by Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.

• Best video game adaptations: the ones that don’t actually suck

A new trailer for the spin-off of Prime Video's big budget Citadel has been revealed, with the action switching to Italy.

With a budget of $300 million, Citadel is one of the most expensive shows ever made, second only to Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power in cost... another show that was made by Amazon Studios.

Citadel is executive produced by the Russo Brothers and is about a secretive spy agency - and those who work in it - that has been infiltrated by a shady new network called Manticore.

The Russo Brothers insisted from day one that Citadel was always meant to be a franchise, with the idea that it would spin-off into other shows in different countries.

While some lukewarm reviews could have put a dampener on this (it has a 54% RT score), it seems that the show has done enough to convince Amazon that it's grand spin-off plan is worth doing and we now have details of the first spin-off.

Citadel: Diana is the Italian instalment of the franchise that is set to stream on Prime Video from 10 October.

Starring Matilda De Angelis (who was brilliant in political drama The Undoing), the show is six episodes long and is about Diana (De Angelis) an undercover Citadel agent in Milan who has become a mole in Manticore.

The show is set in the near future (2030) and judging from the trailer, it is packed with the same high-octane drama that fans of Citadel are used to.

Citadel arrived on Prime Video is 2023 and stars Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden as two spies who are tasked to stop the shadowy syndicate that is Manticore.

A season 2 of the show is in the works, as is an Indian spin-off of the show, called Citadel: Honey Bunny, which is set for release in November - just a month after Diana.

• These are the best Prime Video shows you should be watching...

(What’s The Story) Morning Glory? is quite simply one of the greatest British albums of all time; a record which propelled Oasis into the stratosphere, coming to help define a generation and culminating in their two shows at Knebworth, where they played to half a million people (a staggering 2.6m people applied for tickets).

The album turns 30 in 2025, which is also the year that Oasis are set to tour again. That's right, the Gallagher Brothers have seemingly put their annoyances to one side and have announced a slew of dates for Oasis' upcoming Live '25 Tour.

While all of this does makes us feel very old, now is not the time to count the grey hairs but remember Britpop in its prime and celebrate an album that went some way to change music forever.

Here’s a chance to brush up on your knowledge by discovering 25 things that you probably didn’t know about the record...

1. Bad manners

The album sold 347,000 copies in its first week on sale - at the time, the second fastest-selling album of all time, after Bad by Michael Jackson.

2. Say it again

The video for Some Might Say is made up of footage from the Cigarettes and Alcohol, Whatever and US Supersonic videos - Liam didn't turn up for the planned video shoot for the new video.

3. Drum machines

Tony McCarroll plays drums on Some Might Say - Alan White was in the drummer's chair for every other song.

4. Out of Step

B-side Step Out was originally supposed to be on the album as track 8, but had to be removed due to the threat of legal action from Stevie Wonder's estate, who claimed that it sounded too similar to Uptight (Everything's Alright).

5. Quick take

Owen Morris claimed that the album was recorded in just 15 days - the first 5 days saw Roll With It, Hello, Wonderwall, Don't Look Back In Anger and Champagne Supernova recoreded in consecutive days. After a two-day break, they then recorded Morning Glory, She's Electric, Cast No Shadow, Step Out, Hey Now! and then Bonehead's Bank Holiday.

6. The real Story

The two figures on the album cover are DJ Sean Rowley (pictured), who founded club night Guilty Pleasures, and album sleeve designer Brian Cannon. Cannon has his back to the camera. Producer Owen Morris can also be seen in the background, holding the album's master tape in front of his face.

7. Chart topper

The album didn't leave the top 3 of the album chart for an amazing seven months.

8. Be Here Not Now

Noel had Stand By Me, Don't Go Away and All Around The World already written during the sessions for (What's The Story) Morning Glory? but decided to hold them back for the third album.

9. Wonder who?

The video for Wonderwall features Scott McLeod, who briefly replaced Paul McGuigan when he left the band suffering from exhaustion.

10. Weller Weller

The use of The Swamp Song's two clips were inspired by Paul Weller doing the same thing on his 1993 album Wildwood.

11. Bass in your face

The bass on Wonderwall is played by Noel.

12. Swamp thing

The Swamp Song, heard on the two instrumentals, was based on the drum track recorded at Glastonbury 1995 - Alan White's second-ever Oasis gig..

13. On a Roll

Early pressings of Roll With It had the wrong music pressed: an obscure reggae artist instead of Oasis.

14. Pier pressure

The cover photograph of Roll With It was taken on Western-Super-Mare beach, with the Grand Pier behind them, which burned down in 2008.

15. Lemon-aide

Part of the melody for Roll With It also appears in Purple Parallelogram by the Lemonheads, which was co-written by Evan Dando and Noel Gallagher - it was originally supposed to be on their 1996 album Car Button Cloth but was removed at Noel's request.

16. Two footed

Wonderwall was kept off the UK no.1 singles spot by Robson & Jerome's I Believe/Up On The Roof.

17. Enuff's Enuff

Morning Glory was originally two songs which were combined together; the one second clip at the end is Soul II Soul's Love Enuff, a July '95 hit at the time of the album's mixing.

18. Starr player

The single cover of Don't Look Back In Anger is a tribute to the time when Ringo Starr briefly left the Beatles and, after persuading him to return, decorated his drum kit in red, white and blue flowers.

19. Just the two of us

Oasis became the first band to perform two songs on Top Of The Pops since The Jam when they played Don't Look Back in Anger and Cum On Feel The Noize.

20. Famous friends

Paul Weller plays harmonica on Untitled (#1 and #2), as well as contributing guitar and backing vocals to Champagne Supernova.

21. Cover story

The cover of Some Might Say features Cromford station near Matlock in Derbyshire, a Grade II listed building built in 1860.

22. Soul to soul

Owen Morris produced the album following the recording of Verve's A Northern Soul - a job he got after Noel recommended him to Richard Ashcroft.

23. Initial responce

The sleevenotes give 'Eternal respect to P.W. and P.H.' - The former is Paul Weller, the latter was the official Oasis biographer Paolo Hewitt.

24. Bit of a Blur

The Roll With It vs Country House chart war saw overall singles sales that week rise by an incredible 41%.

25. Anger management

Noel wanted to sing lead vocals on either Wonderwall or Don't Look Back In Anger. He gave Liam the choice, but played him Wonderwall first, which Liam promptly chose; many believe this is because he actually wanted Don't Look Back In Anger for himself. If he did, it worked.

• The best Oasis songs, ranked

Alien: Romulus is the newest movie in the sprawling Alien franchise. At the helm is horror maestro Fede Alvarez, with Ridley Scott taking on producing duties this time around.

Alvarez is no stranger to working within existing franchises. His version of The Evil Dead is, quite rightly, seen as a triumph thanks to the way it handles its source material.

With Alien: Romulus, Alvarez has been clear about his intention: this is a movie that slots in between Alien and Aliens timeline-wise and its DNA is a hybrid of both, layering the horror elements of the first movie on to the action beats of the second.

Does it work? Well, this is what the critics are saying... and they are certainly divided about the final act...

• 8 things we learned about the new Alien movie, according to its director

Germain Lussier calls the movie 'a bonkers roller coaster ride through the previous six Alien movies'.

Variety's Jazz Tangcay calls it "one of the better films in the franchise" and the practical effects "are so good that the film gave me nightmares."

Courtney Howard wrote on X that the movie was "Innovatively delivering smart, savvy stuff, subtly playing the greatest hits."

Eric Vespe noted that the movie was: "absolutely gorgeous and somehow honors every single movie that came before."

While Matt Neglia of Next Best Picture wasn't keen on the past nods but reckons that it "leans heavily into its horror origins to craft a relentless, visceral thrill ride that starts off slowly and increases in intensity until you’re left gasping for breath by the end."

Full reviews are imminent and we will update once they land. Until then, head to our 20 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Alien feature.

There’s a new top show over at Netflix, and it’s based on a best-selling novel.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is the current global Netflix number one show, having peaked at the top spot in 75 countries, according to Flixpatrol.

It’s a bonafide hit that stars Emma Myers as Pippa Fitz-Amobi, a 17-year-old who decides to investigate a murder in her local village.

Five years previous, Andie Bell was murdered. Her boyfriend Sal Singh was fingered for the crime, but he then committed suicide, curtailing the investigation.

Pippa has her doubts as to whether he really did it, though.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is based on a YA novel by Holly Jackson, but, as you can tell from the plot, this isn’t an entirely light and breezy watch by definition.

What it is, though, is binge-ready. There are six episodes, packed with mystery, and a good old YA-size helping of friendship frictions and outsize emotions.

The one missing country on the Netflix chart roll-call for A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is the UK. Given the series is set here, you’d guess it would go down a treat in Blighty on Netflix.

However, this is only because UK viewers need to head over to the BBC iPlayer to watch the show, where it arrived back at the beginning of July.

Most critics agree A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is well worth a watch if the basic premise appeals.

The Chicago Sun-Times calls the show “the streaming series equivalent of a page-turner you zip through while sitting on the porch or relaxing on the beach.”

The Independent says it feels like an unlikely but successful mash-mash of influences. “The story is pacily told and filled with enough twists to make A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder moreish viewing. Think The Famous Five meets Pretty Little Liars, as told by Agatha Christie,” it says.

The New York Times says the lead really hooks into the feel of being a teen, that Emma Myers “poignantly synthesizes this blend of panic, regret, embarrassment, determination, courage, fear and stubbornness.”

There’s potential for more to be made of Pippa Fitz-Amobi’s adventures if A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder really is as popular as its current chart position suggests too.

Holly Jackson has written four books starring Pippa. There’s a trilogy of tales, plus a prequel novella, Kill Joy, published in 2021.

• Best crime dramas on Netflix: great detective series to watch

There’s a new Alien movie coming out this year and ShortList has seen a number of scenes from it. In short: prepare to be scared, really scared.

Alien: Romulus, to give it its full name, is a movie that looks like the perfect hybrid of both Alien and Aliens. And, as you will read, there has been a lot of love and dedication put in by director Fede Álvarez to make a movie that feels like it is from that film era.

Here, in his own words, Álvarez - who has already created two horror classics in Don’t Breathe and his Evil Dead remake - tells us all about his love for the franchise and what he hopes to bring...

1. Alien: Romulus has characters that care about each other

"As much as we love the characters from the first movie there's no meaningful relationship with them.

"You don't know how they feel about each other, or who is friends... there's none of that. There's no time for that.

"A lot of times in this movie we figured out a way to tell a compelling horror, action thriller, and still get a good story in there. That was kind of the whole beginning of making this film."

2. Álvarez tried his and at everything during the shoot

"I'm so involved with it all. I really make my movies super handmade. I am there under the floor puppeteering. And a lot of the things you see, every Facehugger on the water that you see, is me shaking this piece of rubber and trying to get something that looks good.

"It’s part of the job, in a way, to make sure that the film feels authentic, that it feels like you are watching an Alien movie that already existed."

3. The first meeting with Ridley Scott didn’t go quite as planned

"It was terrifying. I remember the first call with [Ridley Scott] to tell him what I wanted to do. I was about to go into the call and someone from the studio said, ‘don't pitch him a story, just give him the vibe of what you want in this world’.

"So I'm super nervous and give him the vibe of the whole thing. And he’s like, ‘really?’ ‘You don't have a story. I haven't heard a story here.’

"I was thinking, ‘I have a story! But someone advised me not to tell the story!’ So at that point, I couldn't say, ‘well, by the way, I do have a story’. So the first call didn't go so well. Then we had a call that went better, where he heard the story… and loved it."

4. Álvarez wanted Alien: Romulus to be as real as possible

"Hollywood can sometimes be lazy. I say lazy in the fact that when they do CG, it's not because it's cheaper it's actually more expensive. It's just quicker. It saves you a headache on set. But I didn't get myself into this art, just to say, ’well, the monster in this next scene comes through the door’ and we just shoot the door.

"When you bring the one ton animatronic, you better believe it's gonna suck all of your day to try to get it to go through the door. But, man, when you see it, you're there."

5. We now know when the movie takes place… kind of

"It made sense as a premise that it needed to take place a few years after the first one. So while it takes place between one and two, let's just say it takes place after one.

"It has the DNA of both movies combined, visually, aesthetically and story wise, but it is roughly 20 years after Alien,

"Actually, there's a date when you watch a movie, so pay attention. There's a screen that pops up with a date and a year, and there you go."

6. The movie is as canon as it can be for an Aliens movie

"I wouldn't dare to change anything, to go against anything that is canon, not at all. I really tried to make an effort as much as I can to respect the canon, not only of the movies, but of the novels and the comics. It's hard, because there's contradictions in the same world, once you expand to the novels and everything.

"If there are any changes, there's an explanation why in this movie. Like when it comes to the creatures. I don't want to spoil too much of it, but whatever change there are with the Facehuggers being slightly different, it is justified in our story."

7. Movies are like a religion to Álvarez

I don't make a lot of movies. I don't feel the world needs another random movie but this is special. This needs to be made.

"I think the whole movie experience, for me, it's sacred. It's truly sacred. When people go to the cinema and the logos start, it’s almost a religion. You go there and think, ‘maybe this is it. This is the one that will stay with me forever.' Because it has happened to all of us before."

8. Álvarez has tried to make his Alien movie as grounded as possible

"When the movie opens, there's a shot of space for the first few minutes. There's no sound whatsoever. So we really tried to push a lot of things to be as realistic as they can be. I think Alien is grounded in science fiction, it’s not fantasy.

"If we suddenly felt like we were indulging too much in something that felt like it was crossing to the Star Wars side then we would pull back. It's trying to be grounded as it can be.

"That's why, at the same time, Alien lends itself to animatronics, because I prefer the slow presence of the alien, like the original movie, instead of too much of the jumpy ninja that happened in later movies. It's more like a Nosferatu, Dracula presence than just some guy that is angry and screaming all the time."

Alien: Romulus is in cinemas 16 August, courtesy of 20th Century Studios. All images 20th Century Studios.

• These are some Alien facts you may not know about...

When it comes to ranking gin, everyone's taste is different.

It's the reason why sometimes, just sometimes, it's best to pay attention to the experts (or at least give their suggestions a good ol' taste test).

So, when a group of the world's most highly regarded gin connoisseurs get together to dish out prizes at the 2024 International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC), ShortList were all ears.

This year, 54 prized gins won Gold Medals at the IWSC competition, with only five top gins securing the highest award - the Double Gold.

The IWSC competition has become one of the world’s largest gin competitions in the world in recent years, capitalising on the boom in gin's popularity and the countless independent distilleries that have popped up around the globe.

The best of the bunch turned out to be a diverse mix, with BEG Boutique Distillery from Brazil among the world's top tipples.

Brazil? Gin? Yes, gin really has gone global.

Scoring 98 out of a possible 100, this 54% ABV New World Navy Dry Gin is worth travelling half way around the world for (or ordering online).

A classic gin, with an exotic twist, this bottling comes direct from the Joaquim Egídio district of Campinas, São Paulo.

Flavour-wise, BEG it contains coriander, angelica root, lemon grass, Tahiti lime and sweet orange, for a totally refreshing finish.

One of ShortList's favourites, Ophir, a traditional English gin, also walked away with a gold, scoring an impressive 96 out of a possible 100 points.

It's flavourful, its spicy, and as the judges explained, it contains "delicious harmonious aromas of floral spice, cracked black pepper, and juniper, leading to a textured palate”.

Meanwhile, fans of Old Tom gin might just want to consider a Swedish hero in the form of Hernö Gin- and it's sustainable.

Claiming the Gold Outstanding award with 98/100 points, this smooth and crisp spirit weighs in at 43% ABV and blew the judges away.

Described as "an expressive herbaceous aroma leads to a full-bodied palate with a pleasant balance of citrus, pine, and angelica," this is a bottle worth sipping (and you can buy it here).

As for the top scoring gin overall? Try Four Pillars' distinctively named Bloody Underhill Shiraz Gin out for size.

Scoring a triumphant 99/100 points in this year's competition, is Four Pillars Distillery in Australia took the top spot.

Barrel-Aged, this sprightly gin comes in at 41.8% ABV and is described as having a "warm, complex, and rich palate of cocoa, liquorice, and juniper, with hints of mint.

The judges added: "The levels of both sweetness and alcohol are perfectly judged. The length is good and the finish persistent."

Now, we'll try that with a dash of tonic.

And last but not least, let's not forget Vinha Alta which comes direct from Portugal, scoring an impressive 96/100 for its efforts.

Balancal Wine Barrel Rested Gin is a little stronger than some of the other gin offerings, weighing in at 49.8% ABV.

"An elegant and savoury nose with elements of resin soap and sweet cardamom spice," says the judges, adding that "Caraway and fennel come through on the finish, which add complexity and provides an interesting, lingering finish."

Other gins making the Gold medal cut include Garage 22 Prague Distillery in the Czech Republic, a feisty 42% ABV Fiesta Gin and Strange Nature Distilling's 44% ABV offering direct from New Zealand.

Prague's Garage 22 is a micro-distillery located in, you guessed it, Prague.

Forming part of the country's burgeoning craft spirits scene, this gin is a must for those looking to try something a little different.

Innovative in its approach to distillation, this variety contains a host of Czech-sourced botanicals and tropical fruits like mango and pineapple for a decidedly different finish.

You can check out the full list of results here.

• Discover the best gins worth trying from around the world

Zack Snyder loves his director’s cuts. His new takes on the Rebel Moon films will come to Netflix on August 2.

Netflix confirmed the extended cuts of both Rebel Moon: Part One - A Child of Fire and Rebel Moon: Part Two - Scargiver will also get new names.

Part One is called Rebel Moon Chapter One: Chalice of Blood, the second Rebel Moon Chapter Two: Curse of Forgiveness.

Zack Snyder has previously suggested his director’s cut versions of the films will be R-rated, while the original Netflix versions are relatively safe PG-13 watches.

According to the film ratings website, Chapter Two sounds like the slightly more saucy of the two, with “strong bloody violence and gore throughout, strong sexuality, nudity and some language.”

“In the summer, you’ll get to see what I [originally] pitched them, basically. And then you’ll get to pretend to be the studio executive and go, Oh geez, I see what they mean. So that’s the full odyssey,” Snyder told the DGA Director’s Cut podcast in December 2023.

Netflix hasn’t released a new trailer for the extended editions, which makes sense given we’re not getting a whole new story here. But it did post some new images on X. Take a look:

The big hope is these new director’s cuts will make the films more interesting and engaging than the originals.

If you were to go by their Rotten Tomatoes rankings, you’d conclude they are true stinkers. Part One sits at 25% fresh, Part Two at 15%. Common criticisms include that the films are uninteresting and fall flat compared to their inspirations, most notably Star Wars.

Can amped up violence and a bit more time for world-building fix that? We have our doubts. But equally: fingers crossed.

Zack Snyder is famously enamoured of director’s cuts, and has elevated them not just to an expected part of his process but, in some cases, an internet cultural phenomenon.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’s cut adds 31 minutes of content, sailing past a bum-numbing three hours. But it also makes the film more coherent.

Watchmen has two extended cuts, the longest clocking in at 215 minutes.

Justice League is perhaps the most fraught of his cuts. It look four years to emerge after an online fan movement, and is just over four hours long. Is it better than the original? Most would say so.

• Best movies on Netflix

With Father's Day right around the corner, the frantic hunt is officially on for the perfect low-key yet entirely thoughtful present.

Enter this brand new drop from The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, with the dram connoisseurs serving up the ultimate in hassle-free presents ahead of the big day.

The society's monthly whisky subscription service Drop & Dram has garnered a loyal fan base in recent years, with June's box having a bit of a shake-up ahead of Father's Day.

Priced at £45 per month, it's ideal for those hoping to grow their knowledge of Scotch whisky, as well as expanding their horizons with something a little different.

This month, in honour of dads everywhere, A Dram Good Dad box is replacing their usual whisky tasting pack.

One thing that remains the same, however, is the delectable drams on offer, with three tasty 50ml miniature bottles contained within every box.

And it gets better, with the bottles adorned with some of the most intriguing whisky names we've so far come across, just like this month's 'Push Pineapple Shake a Bee'.

Yup, Agadoo is most definitely on the menu.

For those new to the concept, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society is made up of more than 41,000 members who love nothing more than discovering a new release or appreciating a good dram.

The Society specialises in bottling rare ‘single cask’ single malt Scotch whisky, which in its simplest terms means its ultra 'pure'.

The whisky is bottled straight from casks without being diluted or having artificial colourings or flavourings added.

But fret not, if signing up to to a monthly subscription is bringing out the commitment-phobe in you, then listen up.

For this special release, dram fans can sign up to purchase a single Father's Day box for a rather reasonable £39, while existing society members can nab the special edition for £35.

Now, we get that its a bittersweet day for some, so whether you're raising a glass to the past, celebrating the present or are nervously anticipating the future with a dad-to-be, it's all about savouring the moment.

And to those who usually find themselves stumped for a present, then this doorstep drop is most definitely for you.

• Discover the The best whisky taste tested

Netflix's latest animated release has caught our attention for all the right reasons.

Nailing a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score ahead of its debut, Ultraman: Rising's approval rating is just what we'd hoped.

You see, Ultraman is one of Japan's biggest hits - he's been around for 60 years, after all.

However, the cult figure has rarely made headlines outside of Japan despite garnering a cult following - until now.

A tale that centres around Ken Sato, a renowned but entirely self-absorbed baseball player, Ultraman: Rising sees the sports star live a double life, emerging as renowned crime fighting superhero Ultraman in his spare time.

But things take a turn when Sato meets his match in the form of an obscure, 35-foot-tall, fire-breathing baby named kaiju.

Yup, bet you didn't see that one coming.

Tasked with protecting the oversized infant from the private special security services that are hunting him down, Sato

Led by Shannon Tindle and John Aoshima, the animators have decades of experience under their belts, with releases including Gravity Falls and Kubo and the Two Strings among their countless credits.

Aoshima's directorial debut, the film is set to capture the imagination of kids big and small.

The latest instalment in the franchise, Ultraman: Rising sees Ken Sato reluctantly take on the demands of the role.

He already knows a thing or two about the job mind, given he's the son of a former Ultraman who resents the responsibility of the role, shaped by his own experiences as a child.

Now, he's determined to balance the demands of parenthood (managing an oversized baby is a full-time job) and baseball stardom, as the movie sees Sato juggle his priorities.

Numerous Japanese heroes have stepped inside Ultraman’s iconic suit over the years - and now, it's Sato's turn.

Described as a “fun, sincere, and thoughtfully conceived" film, it's got a giant nod from the critics over at IndieWire.

Ultraman: Rising lands on Netflix on Friday, June 14.

• The best movies on Netflix (June 2024): the best Netflix films

Knives Out might just be the ultimate example of a big screen whodunit success story - and now, audiences are poised to get their hands on yet another instalment.

Word leaked that a Knives Out 3 was officially in the works a few months back, with the Netflix production now making its first major casting announcement.

Fans of the Benoit Blanc franchise now have a taste of what's to come, with The Challengers star Josh O'Connor and Priscilla actor Cailee Spaeny set to join lead Daniel Craig as part of the upcoming twisted mystery.

It follows widespread whispers surrounding the cast, with Lindsay Lohan and Tom Hardy both rumoured to be in talks with the production.

Entitled Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, it's been revealed that production on the third incarnation of Knives Out is set to get underway in the coming weeks.

The news, confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, follows the release of a 45-second video teaser video on Friday, which revealed the sequel’s title.

Described by Daniel Craig in the title teaser as his "most dangerous case yet", the third film's title appears from the darkness, alongside its impending 2025 release date.

“The next Benoit Blanc mystery, the follow-up to Knives Out and Glass Onion, is called Wake Up Dead Man,” director Rian Johnson wrote on X.

Once again helming the production, Knives Out 3 will be written and directed by Johnson, with the creator also confirming that Craig will reprise his role as the illusive Benoit Blanc.

Taking to social media on Friday, Johnson continued: “I love everything about whodunnits, but one of the things I love most is how malleable the genre is.”

“There’s a whole tonal spectrum from Carr to Christie, and getting to explore that range is one of the most exciting things about making Benoit Blanc movies.”

For those who are yet to catch the first two films - erm, where have you been? - Knives Out and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery have led the whodunit franchise to become one of the most successful in recent memory.

With the first film gaining a whopping 97% approval rating on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Knives Out was widely praised by critics, described as a "classy" and "earnest whodunit".

Tudum, Netflix's editorial-style press site, posted following the director's announcement, adding: “That’s right, Daniel Craig is back as the suave Southern investigator in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, a new installment of the whodunnit franchise written and directed by Rian Johnson.

"Blanc will be unraveling a brand-new murder mystery in an as-yet-undisclosed setting, surrounded by a new colorful cast of suspects,” the site explained.

We can't wait to find out more, with the Netflix feature set to drop in 2025.

• The best movies on Netflix (May 2024): the best Netflix films