“The Gorge” is a remote, fog-shrouded place that the most powerful nations of the world are determined to keep secret. Ever since the end of World War II, it’s been guarded by enormous watchtowers perched on opposite sides.

This sci-horror thriller begins as two elite, world-class snipers are chosen to maintain and protect the huge, remote chasm. On the Eastern European side, there’s Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy), a renowned markswoman from Lithuania, and on the Western side, there’s Levi (Miles Teller), an experienced American assassin who stealthily moves from the military to contract work.

Accepting this ‘cloaked’ assignment involves a year-long commitment with no technology: no Wi-Fi, no phones, no communication with the outside world. Only a radio check-in with their respective headquarters every 30 days. They have no idea where they are on the globe and are forbidden to contact one another.

But they do have high-tech binoculars – so the inevitable happens. She sees him; he sees her. The only hitch is that hideous, ravenous monsters – dubbed ‘The Hollow Men’ from a T.S. Eliot poem – keep surfacing from the depths of the mysterious abyss, trying to scale the steep walls, requiring Drasa and Levi to utilize all of their weaponized experience just to stay alive.

“The Gorge is the door to hell…You need to stop what’s there from coming out!” That’s really all you need to know.

Cleverly scripted by Zach Dean (“The Tomorrow War”), who manages to mesh sci-fi horror with romance, and inventively directed by Scott Derrickson (“Doctor Strange”), it’s a fun ‘n’ frightening excursion into a chilling genetic mystery – packed with quirky historical twists, screwy sci-fi science and relentless, radioactive action.

The chemistry clicks between Anya Taylor-Joy (“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “The Queen’s Gambit”) and Miles Taylor (“Top Gun: Maverick,” “Whiplash”) with additional menace emanating from a cold-blooded paramilitary spook played by Sigourney Weaver.

Full disclosure: My son, Don Granger, was one of the producers.

On the Granger Gauge, “The Gorge” is an exciting, explosive, engaging 8, streaming on Apple TV+.

In “The Wild Robot,” when a storm at sea dislodges a shipping container from a cargo ship, a large box washes ashore on a faraway island inhabited only by animals.

Battered and bruised but incredibly resilient, the sole occupant of the box is a Rozzum 7134 android assistant (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o) that can walk, talk, assimilate information and help around the house. She’s designed to serve.

Confused about her kind nature, the animals (beavers, possums, porcupines, deer, bears) view Roz as a monster and try to kill her – until by accident she accidentally crushes all but one goose egg in a nest. 

When the abandoned gosling hatches, the baby bird imprints on dutiful Roz as she evolves into a maternal role although, as she admits, “I do not have the programming to be a mother,”

Calling him Brightbill, Roz searches her database to try to teach him basic skills – like how to hunt, swim and fly – aided by Fink (Pedro Pascal), a conniving fox, and Pinktail (Catherine O’Hara), a harried possum mother.

As Brightbill (Kit Connor) grows, Roz realizes that the time is coming for the local gaggle of geese to migrate and, although Brightbill resists parting from his home and family, he, fortunately, has a Canadian goose mentor, Longneck (voiced by Bill Nighy), as he tries to follow the feathered flock heading south for the winter.

There’s a meaningful lesson here: If Roz properly does her job as a mother, her child will eventually leave.

Written and directed by Chris Sanders (“Lilo & Stitch,” “How to Train Your Dragon”), this futuristic story of survival, parenting and community is based on a 2016 best-selling book by Peter Brown. The movie is Oscar-nominated for Best Animation, Sound and Original Score.

As for a sequel, it’s inevitable, since “The Wild Robot” encompasses only part one of a trilogy of YA novels.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Wild Robot” is a tender-hearted 10, the best family film of 2024, now streaming on Peacock.