Scream 7

My View: Scream 7  (2026)  R   In Scream 7, Sidney (Neve Campbell) has retreated to a quiet new town with her daughter, Tatum (Isabel May). But peace shatters when a new Ghostface emerges, targeting Tatum. Now, Sidney must confront a relentless evil that’s closer than ever. The first Scream was a great horror film, with incredible writing and some fun kills that kept you guessing until the end. However, the franchise has gotten progressively worse as it has gone along, including the last couple that just defied any sort of logic, even for horror films. So after Neve got lowballed by the studio and didn’t appear in 6, I had high hopes with her coming back and Kevin Williamson, the writer of the first film, at the helm. I enjoyed the opening of this film, with two idiots visiting the Scream BNB, but after that bit of fun, the film goes downhill fast. The kills are unimaginative; there isn’t any of the Williamson wit in the script, and the movie seemed to go on forever. The film even tries to make Sidney/Neve guilty for not appearing in Scream 6. Really, Kevin? I think it’s time to retire the black gown and the Ghostface mask and move on to something new. My Rating: Cable   Scream 7 Website  Now playing in theaters nationwide

Indiefest:  Pillion  (2025)  R  Pillion follows Colin (Harry Melling), who lives at home with his parents and works as a parking enforcement officer, a job he hates. The only thing he seems to love is singing in a barbershop quartet. One night, while singing with his group in a bar, he meets Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), a man Colin feels is way out of his league, and Ray asks him out. Soon, Colin is swept off his feet by this motorcycle-riding, incredibly handsome man. Just one catch: Ray wants Colin to be his submissive. This is a romantic love story in which we join Colin on his journey into a relationship in which one person dominates the other, and they both enjoy it. What makes this film work is that we are clueless about where this relationship is going, as Colin is, so we see everything, every new experience, through his eyes. And we are often as surprised as he is about where the relationship goes. My favorite scene is very early in the film, when Colin is allowed to visit Ray’s apartment. Nothing is explained to Colin; he must figure it out on his own, and we see where he fits in when Ray sits on the couch and pats the seat next to him. Instead of it meant for Colin, it’s an invitation for Ray’s dog, and Colin is left to stand behind the couch, as we wonder what the heck he has gotten into. The film does a magical job of keeping us as unbalanced as Colin is. In fact, at some point, you go along as Colin does, allowing the film to take you on a ride into a strange love story. The film works because of the chemistry between the two actors, and we get the feeling that Ray will not make Colin do anything he isn’t willing to do. I will warn you that this film shows quite a bit of the sexual nature of this relationship and may not fit everyone’s taste. That being said, I loved this strange, unconventional, heartwarming story with a bit of humor that works thanks to the performances on screen, which feel real. Strange, but real.  My Rating: Full Price  Pillion Website  Now playing in select theaters

My View:  Man on the Run  (2025)  R   Man on the Run is a documentary about Paul McCartney forming his new band, Wings, after the breakup of the Beatles. The film features home videos and photos of Paul and Linda from the band’s formation in the 1970s and its tours through the years. This documentary from Morgan Neville does an outstanding job of showing how difficult it was for McCartney to continue his career after the Beatles. The film is a treasure trove of home movies, recording sessions, and interviews with both Paul and Linda, as well as numerous band members who made up Wings over the years. What surprised me was the songs I had forgotten from those early post-Beatles McCartney albums. Some great, some good, and a few were pretty bad, but it was an artist discovering his voice again without his partner in crime. This is a film not about an ex-Beatle but about an artist finding his way into adulthood and bringing us along for the ride through his music, including his love for Linda. It’s an amazing journey into a life that the world thought it knew but really didn’t.   My View: Full Price   Man on the Run Website     Now playing on Amazon Prime

My View: The Bluff  (2026)  R  The Bluff is set in the 19th-century Caribbean, where former pirate, Ercell “Bloody Mary” Bodden (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) is forced to protect her family from a past that she wishes she could erase when her former captain, Connor (Karl Urban), shows up seeking revenge. I enjoyed this action romp that revisits the pirate motif with lots of action and some rousing fight sequences. Priyanka Chopra Jonas gives the action sequences her all and, after a slow start, is believable as a feared and formidable bloodthirsty pirate. The last third of the film is a blast (no pun intended) as Bloody Mary fights for her family against seemingly overwhelming odds, but she has a few tricks (and bombs) up her sleeve, along with a knife or two.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  The Bluff Website   Now playing on Amazon Prime

Indiefest:  Dreams  (2025) R  In Dreams, Jennifer (Jessica Chastain) is a powerful American socialite who is in charge of a foundation that supports the arts. She meets Fernando (Isaac Hernandez), an undocumented Mexican ballet dancer, with the idea of helping him get work. Their friendship starts a secret affair that could destroy everything Jennifer has worked for. The film is directed by Michel Franco, known for his award-winning films Heroic (2023), New Order (2020), and After Lucia (2012). I am a big fan of Jessica Chastain, but this is not one of her best. She seems somewhat uncomfortable in the role, and some of the dialogue she is given sounds as if it were written in another language and then poorly translated into English. The film is dull, except for the ballet sequences, and Isaac Hernandez is magnificent in those scenes. However, the rest of the film is filled with Chastain wearing incredible outfits, and that’s about it. The film feels cold, and what little heat it provides is just in those dance sequences.  My Rating: Cable  Dreams Website   Now playing in theaters

Forgotten Film:  Urban Legend  (1998) R  Like the original Scream (1996), this is a film where the victims are very aware of what could happen to them, which makes it all the more fun. It takes place on a college campus where a group of students have taken an Urban Legends class, and then students start dying from being killed like the legends that they learned about. Like Scream, the cast is what makes this film work, with Jared Leto, Tara Reid, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Michael Rosenbaum, Rebecca Gayheart, and Alicia Witt as our heroine who figures out why the killings are happening. Added to the mix is our old horror friend, Robert Englund. While not as good as the original Scream, it's still a fun horror film with some grisly kills and a few twists to keep you guessing. My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Urban Legend Info  The film is available to rent on Apple TV+

Weird Credits: From the Credits of The Bluff: Leading Helpers

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You: Hoppers  (2026) PG  Hoppers takes place after a group of scientists invent a way to “hop” a human mind into a lifelike robot-animal body. Mabel (voiced by Piper Curda), an animal-loving teen, ‘hops’ into a robotic beaver to thwart a construction company from destroying an animal habitat. Mabel discovers that the animal world is full of surprises, including her unwitting role in an animal uprising. The film was inspired by scientists using robotic animals to study their behavior without a human being present.  Hoppers Website  In theaters on Friday, March 6, 2026.

Until Next Time!

Saturday Night

My View:  Saturday Night  (2024)  R  Saturday Night takes place on October 11th, 1975, when, at 11:30 pm, a group of young, wild performers and writers launched a new live TV show that changed the landscape forever. The film chronicles the events that took place in the 90 minutes prior to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live. I am old enough to remember sitting in front of the TV with my dad to watch a new live show on a Saturday night at a really late time. My dad was a playwright and loved TV, especially comedies, so we were both blown away by what we saw that night. Not everything worked (George Carlin’s standup routine near the start of the show was a bomb), but most of the stuff they did was off the wall, inspirational comedy that thumbed its nose at almost everything from commercials to newscasts. Filmmaker Jason Reitman brings us the 90 minutes before that crazy broadcast happened. Saturday Night is a fun film that, like SNL, keeps throwing things at you, some of which work, some don’t. The film centers around Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle), who is trying to put together a show in 90 minutes that everyone is telling he can’t possibly get it together. Everything goes wrong, from John Belushi not signing his contract and going rogue to lights that fall from the ceiling to a lineup of sketches/stand-ups/musical guests that would fill a four-hour show. All the while, Lorne is being told by the head of the network (played by everybody’s favorite SOB Willem Dafoe) that he will go to a Johnny Carson rerun if he feels that the show isn’t ready. Some outstanding performances help the film with Matt Wood playing the bull in a china shop, John Belushi, Ella Hunt playing the adorable ray of sunshine Gilda Radner, and Nicholas Braun as both the strange Andy Kaufman and the gentle Jim Henson. The film spends too much time on the relationship between Lorne and his wife, Rosie Shuster, played by the always scene-stealing Rachel Sennott. The film plays up too much with their strange relationship, with her deciding who to go home with, Lorne or Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O’Brien). I had fun with the film, especially seeing legendary SNL writer Michael O’Donoghue (Tommy Dewey) wreak havoc as only one of the great comedic but caustic minds could do. It’s a mad whirlwind of a film that doesn’t stop moving until the final frame, just like SNL itself.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Saturday Night Website Now playing in theaters.

My View:  Piece by Piece  (2024)  PG  Piece by Piece follows the life and career of American musician Pharrell Williams through the lens of Lego animation. Unlike all the other Lego movies like The Lego Movie (2014), this is a documentary from Oscar-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville (20 Feet From Stardom (2013), Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018)). Neville, in Lego form, sits down to interview Pharrell about his life and his music. The difference from an ordinary documentary is that we see everything through Pharrell’s eyes told through the magic of Lego animation. Pharrell’s fans will love this film, as will anybody who has listened to hip-hop, rap, and pop in the last thirty years. The fun of the film is seeing who will show up next to be interviewed and what their Lego figure will look like. Everyone who interacted with Pharrell and his ability to create hits shows up, including Gwen Stefani, Timbaland, Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake, Kendrick Lamar, and more. The film works when it lets Pharrell tell his story with enthusiasm and creativity. It doesn’t work when it gets bogged down by giving us an almost blow-by-blow sampling of the hits he has had a hand in and all the fashion lines he developed. Like putting together a Lego creation, the film has a lot of parts, some of which don't always fit. However, overall, Piece by Piece is a fun look at the life of a highly creative person who sees the world a bit differently, much like Legos themselves. My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Piece by Piece Website Now playing in theaters.

Indiefest:  Terrifier 3  (2024)  R  In Terrifier 3, the residents of Miles County are sleeping peacefully on Christmas Eve. That slumber is about to be disturbed by a man who will unleash chaos, Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton). I did not like this film as much as I liked Terrifier 2, which I loved because of the use of mythology, creating a firm understanding of what was going to happen. Plus, we got Lauren LaVera as Sienna chopping up Art right and left in an archangel costume. LaVera brought the movie to life and gave us a hero to root for. This film takes place five years later, and our heroine, Sienna, hasn't been doing well. She spends most of her time in a psychiatric facility. She gets out to visit for the holidays what’s left of her family and her brother, who is now in college. As with the first two films, there are plenty of body parts flying all over and blood spilling everywhere as Art finds different ways to kill, this time in a Santa costume because it’s Christmas. The film feels like filmmaker Damien Leone got just a little too cute in trying to overwhelm us with all the Christmas carnage. The film also goes a little too far in trying to shock audiences in several scenes. There are still some enjoyable scenes where people, like in the second film, begin to mess with Art and have no idea who they are dealing with. I missed the old Sienna, who battled Art for the final third of the film in part 2. The final battle seemed rushed and felt too much like a setup for the 4th installment. Overall, Art the Clown fans will have fun watching him dismember people, but Sienna fans, like myself, want her back to her old self for part 4.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Terrifier 3 Website   Now playing in theaters.

My View:  The Apprentice  (2024) R  The Apprentice tells the story of how a young Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) learned everything he needed to know about the world of real estate from the right hand of infamous lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong). Much has been said about this film, and it’s understandable why Donald Trump would not want it to be released. The film is about Donald trying to find his way in the world, out from the shadow of his father and he finds a man that can lead him to the promised land, even if that road is going to be bumpy and full of legal problems. Roy Cohn, played by the consistently brilliant Mark Strong, was a man who used everything in his power to ensure his clients won, including bribery, blackmail, and throwing every legal maneuver he could until the opposition stood down or gave in. Cohn saw in Trump someone he could mold and advise, though I am sure he also thought that Trump could be just another pawn in Cohn’s back pocket. The film doesn’t always work, but it’s not because of the performances. Sebastian Stan gives us a Trump who, when first meeting Cohn, is unsure of himself or how to go about getting what he wants. But ultimately, Cohn taught Donald too well, and what Cohn was used to giving out, Trump ended up giving him the same treatment. Do you learn anything new about Trump? Not really.  It’s funny, I didn’t like either character but by the end of the film, at least I understood Cohn.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  The Apprentice Website  Now playing in theaters.

My View:  The Last of the Sea Women  (2024)   The documentary The Last of the Sea Women takes place on the shores of Jeju Island, just below the southern tip of South Korea. A group of fierce elderly female divers fight to save their disappearing culture from the looming threats of pollution and global warming. You will fall in love with these feisty warriors, most of whom have been diving for 40 or 50 years. Once a thriving group of over 30,000, now their numbers are dwindling as the women continue to work in a sea that is slowly warming, causing them to dive deeper (without any breathing apparatus). The film follows the women as they continue to work, dealing with pollution and coral bleaching on a daily basis. Their lives are threatened when Japan, a not-too-distant neighbor, announces that it will release water from the Fukushima nuclear disaster site into the ocean. The film has some beautiful shots of women working under water that highlight why someone would keep working well into their 80s. It’s a magical world that they get to explore every day, but the film asks, for how much longer?  My Rating: Full Price  The Last of the Sea Women Info   Now playing on the Apple TV+ platform.

My View:  Lonely Planet  (2024)  R  In Lonely Planet, a writer, Katherine (Laura Dern), goes to a retreat in Morocco to be alone and finish her novel. There she meets Owen (Liam Hemsworth), a young man who feels abandoned by his girlfriend. The acquaintanceship develops into a life-altering love affair that neither was looking for. Romance and rom-com films often follow a pattern. If it’s a rom-com, the two eventual lovers dislike each other (or at least think they do) and seem wrong for each other. In romance films, usually, the two eventual lovers are in bad relationships (sometimes just the wrong person for them) or coming out of a breakup (or have given up on romance). In this film, Katherine is suffering from writer’s block, and it’s not being helped by the fact that her long-term relationship has ended. Owen the a guy who is with the woman who doesn’t appreciate him. So our couple meet by chance and start spending time with each other. Now, I am a fan of romance films, and I have always loved watching Laura Dern on the screen. Unfortunately, she is let down by the material, with the film playing the troupes I just described to the hilt. The big breakup (a usual thing in romance films) feels like a huge reach and brings the entire film crashing down. I did enjoy the ending, though it was once again right out of the romance playbook. Liam Hemsworth doesn’t have a lot to do; just be dreamy-looking and take his shirt off a lot. The two leads have some incredible chemistry that shows on the screen. The film centers around Laura Dern’s character and Dern makes this film watchable. It’s not a horrible romance film, just incredibly predictable, with a huge plot hole.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee Lonely Planet Info Now playing on the Netflix platform.

Sorry I Missed It (A film that I didn’t see when it was first released but have seen recently): Lee (2024) R   Lee is the story of Elizabeth ‘Lee’ Miller (Kate Winslet), a fashion model who became an acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II. Lee was a complex woman who fought to be seen as an equal, a photographer who belonged in the same places as men. The fact that she accomplished it during a war is remarkable. Kate Winslet pours her heart and soul into the role of the fiery Lee, whose personality was not always easy to get along with. A woman who bragged about her sex life and her drinking, she meets her match in an English art dealer named Roland (Alexander Skarsgard), who lets her be herself without trying to control her. Once the war starts, Lee makes it her mission to be on the front lines where the action is, and she finds someone willing to help her succeed in Life photographer David Scherman (played by an almost unrecognizable Andy Samberg in an outstanding supporting role). Together, the two photograph some of the horrors of the war, including the first uses of napalm, the shaming of French women who slept with the Germans in order to survive, and the results of the Holocaust at the camps at Buchenwald and Dachau. The film also shows us how the famous picture of Lee was taken with her taking a bath in Hitler's own bathtub. The film lets Winslet show us Lee as a bold woman who had trouble with authority and was willing to fight her way into where she knew she belonged.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Lee Website    The film is still playing in theaters.

Forgotten Film:  Akira Kurosawa's Dreams  (1990)  PG  A collection of eight stories based on dreams that legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa (Rashomon (1950), Seven Samurai (1954), Ran (1985)) had and wanted to explore on film. Kurosawa couldn’t get the film made with Japanese backing, so Steven Spielberg and others in Hollywood got Warner Brothers to release the film. It’s a fantastic film that tackles grief, guilt, mental illness, death, and the destruction of the environment. Incredibly beautiful at times, and all the stories are moving and heartfelt. Where else can you see filmmaker Martin Scorsese play Vincent Van Gogh?  My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  Dreams Info The film is available for rent/buy on streaming services.

Weird Credits:  From the credits of Piece by Piece:  Animation Legal

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You:  Heretic  (2024) R  Two young Mormon women (Chloe East and Sophie Thatcher) have been spreading the word of God door to door without much success. They knock on Mr. Reed’s (Hugh Grant) door, and he welcomes them in, eager to hear what they have to say. The two girls soon learn that they are captive in the house and are to play a game of cat-and-mouse in the home of a madman. It’s going to be fun to watch a horror film where Hugh Grant is the bad guy.  Heretic Website  The film will be released in theaters on Friday, November 8, 2024. 

 

                                                                    Until Next Time!