Alpha (2018, directed by Albert Hughes). Boy-befriends-wolf story set 20,000 years ago with spectacular visuals and sparse dialogue in a fictional language. Really stunning and imaginative visuals and solid acting throughout. The story is simple enough to anticipate its arc, but something about it had my full attention all the way through. Although there are a few scenes with obvious CGI, unlikely events and ahistorical depictions, they’re easy enough to ignore because the main draw is the film’s breathtaking photography. Some of its best parts were surely enhanced with CGI, but its use there is not obvious as I mentioned above. The perspectives and compositions in those scenes are surprisingly unusual and beautiful—unique to this film, I think—, and it’s only in retrospect that one concludes that they couldn’t have been done without the use of digital technology. I was surprised to find myself muttering “Excellent!” more than once. There’s some blood in the context of hunting and being hunted, all between man and beast, and the film leans much more toward comprehension, forgiveness, empathy, etc., making it a good choice for viewing with most children, IMO. Whatever you do, do NOT read the film’s review on Roger Ebert’s website before watching it. IT professional and blogmaster Odie Henderson tries to describe at length the scenes with the most striking visuals, which I think will only lessen their first-time impact. It’s not a great film but I recommend it highly.