by: Jay Carlson – Editor-in-chief

It’s hard to believe that a couple years ago we didn’t know Alicia Vikander. In 2015 alone the Swedish bombshell has strung together a filmography that many more established actors would kill for. Vikander first popped up on my radar as a scene stealer in the forgettable Jeff Bridges sword and sorcery film Seventh Son followed soon after by a turn as the robot AVA in one of the best films of the year, Ex Machina. She even managed to be one of the best parts of the big budget flop Man From U.N.C.L.E. AND even won an Academy Award for The Danish Girl. (I was even excited to see her pop her head in for a cameo in Burnt)

That was all in one year.

This year certainly won’t be as busy, but we will see Vikander in Tulip Fever and The Light Between Oceans, a couple smaller films receiving some buzz, as well as co-starring with Matt Damon in this Summer’s Jason Bourne. She seems be balancing smaller, interesting projects with the big budget popcorn films, which is exactly what she should be doing at this point in her career.

Beyond 2016 Vikander has a Wim Wender’s film and now she’s been cast as Lara Croft in the rebooted Tomb Raider, taking over the character previously played by Angelina Jolie. I love the choice and there’s tons of room for improvement over the last cinematic incarnation of the character. With the right writer and director this series could be something special, a modern day female Indiana Jones. There had been a lot of chatter about Daisy Ridley being up for the role a month or so ago, but it’s been reported that Vikander was always the studio’s first choice.

Perhaps between Vikander and her current beau, Michael Fassbender (Starring in the upcoming Assassin’s Creed), we’ll have some videogame to film adaptations that rise above the dreck that typically occupy this genre.