Sydney Prescott is back and this time the killer targets her daughter who is the same age as Sydney when all of the killings first started. The film stars Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Isabel May, Joel McHale, Jasmine Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Anna Camp, Celeste O’Connor, Sam Rechner, Asa Germann, Mckenna Grace, Mark Consuelos, Ethan Embry, Roger L Jackson, and Matthew Lillard.

I thought Scream 7 was good. The heart of the movie is the relationship between Sydney and her daughter Tatum. The Scream franchise always did a good job with character development. The cast does a solid job in their roles. It was good to see a little more of the dynamic between Sydney and Gail Weathers. 

Scream 7 is a good movie but it is not the best in the franchise. Some things felt a little hollow. One thing that the franchise has always done fairly well was developing the friend groups. Some are more memorable than others. Scream 5 and 6 had memorable friends to the leading characters. Scream 6 had the core four. Since a chunk of the movie is about Sydney’s teenage daughter Tatum, it focuses on her friends. Her friends were not that memorable. There were times the movie felt a little hollow. Her friends did not seem that fleshed out compared to others in the past. A lot of the new characters did not stand out the same way past characters have. 

Major questions get answered including how dead characters are back. Matthew Lillard, David Arquette, and Scott Foley were announced to be involved with the movie prior to the release. The movie does a good job at acknowledging the film’s history. 

There were also parts that felt a little lackluster compared to past movies. The strongest part of the movie is Sydney and Tatum. That is kind of the only strong part. Ghostface is vicious as ever. The film is fairly bloody but is a little toned down compared to the more recent entries. 

Scream 7 is a solid movie that does a good job on refocusing on Sydney Prescott. Sydney and Tatum really carry the movie. While it is not the best movie in the Scream franchise it still is a good movie. I am hopeful to see what they will do in a potential Scream 8. 

Firewall was released in 2006. It is about a man Jack Stanfield whose family is taken hostage. In order to save his family, he must help steal money from the bank he works for. The film stars Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany, Virginia Madsen, Carly Schroeder, Jimmy Bennett, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Zahf Paroo, Vincent Gale, Vince Vieluf, Nikolaj, Coster-Waldau, Robert Forster, Robert Patrick, and Alan Arkin.

I did not have high expectation for Firewall. I saw it in the library and figured I’d check it out. Even when it initially came out, I was not that interested in it. I was pleasantly surprised. It’s a fun thriller. It had me hooked early on in the film. Harrison Ford does a good job. He pretty much does what Harrison Ford does best. Paul Bettany makes a good villain. The rest of the cast does a solid job in their roles. 

The movie is a good length. It clocks in a little over 100 minutes. It is not too short, and it is not too long. It is fast paced and it keeps things moving. For an action thriller it is fairly straightforward. It is not a game changing movie. That is okay. It is a lot of fun, and it had me on the edge of my seat for a lot of the film. 

Firewall is a solid fun action thriller. It is fast paced and has a solid cast. This is a movie I would recommend checking out if you’re interested in an action thriller and want to have a good time for 100 plus minutes. 

Lisa Frankenstein was released in February 2024. It is about a girl named Lisa Frankenstein who meets a guy who happens to be dead, and a trail of bodies ensue. The film stars Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Liza Soberano, Henry Eikenberry, Carla Gugino, and Joe Chrest. 

I thought Lisa Frankenstein was alright. It is supposed to be a horror romantic comedy. I did not find the movie very funny. Comedy has always been subjective, and I have seen numerous comedies where I still enjoyed them but did not laugh that much. I didn’t find a lot of the humor in this movie funny. It is very over the top which is fine. I like over the top. I kind of found everything a bit boring. The cast does a good job in their roles. Cole Sproue did a good job as the Creature. Kathryn Newton was fine as well. I did find her character Lisa Frankenstein irritating. I think that was supposed to be the point. I had a hard time liking Lisa. She got on my nerves. Things picked up once she had a transformation so to speak but I still found her annoying. 

The movie is very colorful. It is set in the eighties. It captured that well. The movie also felt long. The movie clocks in around 101 minutes. That felt like it was pushing it a little. 

Lisa Frankenstein is an alright movie. I didn’t love it and I didn’t hate it. I didn’t really feel anything toward the movie. The cast does a good job with what they were working with. I found a lot of the characters including Lisa irritating. That may have been the point. Horror romantic comedies are a tough genre to nail. Some are hits and some are misses. The main thing with Lisa Frankenstein is that it is just bland. 

Final Destination was released in March 2000. The film is about a teenager who gets a premotion of a plane crash while on a school trip. After several people are removed from the plane, death goes after them one by one. The film stars Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Sean William Scott, Chad Donella, Amanda Detmer, Kristen Cloke, Daniel Roebuck, Roger Guenveur Smith, and Tony Todd. 

I never had interest in seeing Final Destination. I saw it in the library recently and decided to give it a try. I thought Final Destination was an interesting movie with an interesting concept. When the earlier films came out when I was younger, I always viewed them as the franchise that had the elaborate death scenes. Watching Final Destination made me realize there is more to it than just that. It is about cheating death but there is a lot of talk throughout the film about the Grand Design. Who would have thought there would be some spirituality in a horror franchise? I have only seen this movie. I have not seen the sequels, so I do not know how the franchise evolves over time. It is an interesting concept. 

The cast does a good job. Sean William Scott surprised me a lot. I have seen Sean William Scott in a few things including the American Pie movies. I am used to seeing him play Stifler. His character in this movie was different than Stifler. In fact, if their characters met, I feel Stifler would have bullied him in this movie. It was a nice surprise. The rest of the cast does a good job in their roles. Devon Sewa is a good lead. Ali Larter and Kerr Smith both do a good job as their characters. I am used to seeing Kerr Smith as Jack McPhee in Dawson’s Creek. I have seen him in other shows as well including Charmed and The Fosters. Kerr Smith played more of a jerk in this movie which took a little to get used to. I feel like it probably would have been a bit more jarring if I had watched this movie when it came out. At the time Dawson’s Creek was in season 3. Ali Larter played her part well. I have seen her in various roles including Legally Blonde, Heroes, and the later Resident Evil films. It was cool to see some of these actors in earlier roles. 

Since Final Destination is around twenty-six years old now, the movie felt tamer than it was at the time. This was also before the Saw franchise came as well as numerous other horror movies. The original movie came out when I was ten years old. It probably would have hit different if I had seen it then or even a few years later. Another thing the movie had was the sense of paranoia. As the movie progressed and the characters were getting picked off one by one, it was starting to get easy to feel a little paranoid about things and it definitely increased the anxiety levels especially by the end of the movie. For a film that is twenty-six years old now, I think it did a great job of hitting those emotions. I am curious how the sequels progress especially the most recent entries. 

Final Destination clocks in around a little over an hour and a half. I think that was long enough. It had a tight story, and it did not drag much. Once the plane crash happens at the beginning of the movie, it really kicks in from there. 

Final Destination is a solid horror movie that is more than just elaborate death scenes. It taps into anxiety and paranoia levels and has an interesting concept on what it means to cheat death and the grand design. I am very interested to check out the sequels to see how these concepts grow. 

Crossroads was released in February 2002. The movie is about three friends who go on a road trip right after high school graduation. The movie stars Britney Spears, Zoe Saldana, Taryn Manning, Anson Mount, Justin Long, Kim Cattrall, and Dan Aykroyd. 

I thought Crossroads was good for what it was. The main attraction of the movie was the fact that Britney Spears was the star. Britney Spears was a big a pop star when the movie was released. The film came out after her third album came out. That album featured the tracks I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman, Overprotected, and I Love Rock & Roll which were all featured in the movie. The Darkchild remix of Overprotected was the one in the movie. Britney Spears did a good job as the lead especially given it was her first starring role. It did seem that the movie and role were tailored to her. It would have been interesting to see how things would have progressed if Britney Spears pursued more acting roles in her career. The rest of the cast did a good job. The three leads had good chemistry together. It was cool to see Zoe Saldana in an early role. I was not aware until a few years ago that she was even in Crossroads. Taryn Manning also did a good job in her role. Anson Mount was good as the love interest to Britney Spears’ character Lucy. 

As a coming of age movie, it does the job. It was fairly typical. There was some melodrama that seems par for the course for these types of movies. The movie is not anything special, but it is a good watch for a quiet night at home. 

I am surprised and not surprised that the movie did not do that well in theaters. Given how big of a star Britney Spears was at the time, I thought the film would have dominated the box office. I was eleven when the film came out. I didn’t know any better. I can understand why the film wasn’t bigger. It seemed to be a movie only Britney Spears’ fanbase would be interested in, and I am not really sure how many of her fans turned out for it when it came out. I was actually not allowed to see the movie at the time and my parents didn’t want to sit through it anyway. My interest in the movie dropped as the years went by. Hence why it took now to finally get around to watching it. 

Crossroads clocks in at little over ninety minutes. I think that was long enough. There didn’t seem to be much juice to go any further. A lot of the plot was typical and surface level. There is nothing wrong with that. It was pleasant to watch. 

Crossroads does its job well as a road trip coming of age melodrama. It is light and easy to sit through. It serves as a good starring vehicle for Britney Spears, and it does a good job of incorporating music including several of her songs. 

Looney Tunes: Back in Action was released in 2003. It was the last live action/animation movie in the franchise until Space Jam: A New Legacy came out in 2021. Looney Tunes: Back in Action sees Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck team up with a security guard who wants to be a stuntman and a studio executive who is in danger of getting fired to save the world from the evil CEO of ACME. The film stars Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Timothy Dalton, Heather Locklear, Joan Cusack, Joe Alaskey, Jeff Bennett, Billy West, Eric Goldberg, and Steve Martin. 

I thought Looney Tunes: Back in Action was fun for a Looney Tunes movie. I did not see it when it came out in 2003. At the time I was not that interested in seeing it. It wasn’t until more recently that I wanted to check it out. I took it out of the local library. I thought it was decently funny. Looney Tunes has always been hit or miss with me even when I watched the cartoon. I had similar feelings when I saw The Day The Earth Blew Up movie last year with Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. Since Back In Action was released in 2003, some of the jokes are dated. A lot of the references were very early 2000s. The cast does a solid job. Brendan Fraser was enjoyable. This was after The Mummy Returns. It was also a few years before he took a break from acting. Jenna Elfman did a good job as a studio executive. Steve Martin was entertaining as the main villain. 

The movie mostly focused on Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck along with Brendan Fraser and Jenna Elfman. The other Looney Tune characters did not have substantial roles. They were mostly cameos. There were a lot of jokes throughout. Some worked while others did not. Some of the gags were a little random. 

The movie holds well today. There were bits that felt a little dated. That is going to happen with older movies. The movie clocks in a little over ninety minutes. That is plenty of time for a Looney Tunes movie. Looney Tunes is not really something that could sustain two hours or more. It is not impossible if it were the right project. 

Back when it came out, Looney Tunes: Back in Action bombed at the box office. It made around 20 million domestically and worldwide made a around a total of 67 million. At the time I was surprised that it did not do that well. I thought it was going to be a big hit. I was also thirteen at the time. I figured that Looney Tunes was popular and that automatically guaranteed it would be a big hit. I know now that is not always the case. The movie opened in November 2003. It came out around the same time as Elf which did very well. The Eddie Murphy Haunted Mansion came out shortly after. That made more than Looney Tunes as did the live action Cat in the Hat which also made more than Looney Tunes. At the time there was some stiff competition with family films. After watching the movie, I can understand why it did not do that well. I am not sure it was a movie worth seeing in theaters as opposed to waiting to rent it. It was good for what it was, but it was not spectacular. 

There is a fun post-credit scene at the end of the movie. This is also before the seriousness of credit scenes where they tend to set up a future instalment. Iron Man would be coming out five years later. 

Looney Tunes: Back in Action is a solid Looney Tunes movie. It is fun to watch on a Friday night or a weekend to let loose for ninety minutes or so and to shut the brain off for a bit. 

The final chapter picks up where the second film left off with Maya fighting for survival. The film stars Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath, Krystal Ellsworth, Richard Brake, Hannah Galway, George Young, Rachel Shenton, and Miles Yekinni. 

I thought The Strangers: Chapter 3 was good. Madelaine Petsch does a good job carrying the trilogy. Having recently watched Chapter 2, it was interesting to see where things went and to see the transformation Maya takes throughout the movies. 

The movie dives a little more into the Strangers’ backstories. The film takes some interesting turns. The runtime is around an hour and a half. I think that is the perfect length for this type of movie. If it had gone on longer, it would have started to like it was dragging. 

This is the first film in this trilogy that I have seen in theaters. I watched the first two at home. It was a nice experience to see it on the big screen. The movie felt a little more action packed compared to the other films. The second film was a bit of a slow burn. Things seemed to be moving a bit more in Chapter 3 from the beginning. 

The Strangers: Chapter 3 is a solid conclusion to the Strangers trilogy. It does a good a job of expanding upon the core concept of the original and Madelaine Petsch does a standout job as the protagonist. 

Continuing from where the first movie left off, Maya fights for her life after surviving an attack from three strangers. The film stars Madelaine Petsch, Froy Gutierrez, Gabriel Basso, Emma Horvath, Olivia Kreutzova, and Matus Lajcak. 

The Strangers: Chapter 2 was released in September 2025. The movie bombed at the box office grossing around 15 million domestically. Worldwide it accumulated around 21 million. The unique thing about The Strangers is that all three movies were filmed at once. Chapter 3 is currently in theaters now having opened on February 6^th, 2026. The Strangers: Chapter 1 also did not do that well in theaters when it was released. However, it did make more than Chapter 2 having made around 35 million domestically and 48 million worldwide. Chapter 1 was released in May 2024. Chapter 2 was released a little over a year afterward. Chapter 3 was released five months later. 

I thought The Strangers: Chapter 2 was good for what it was. The movie clocks in around 98 minutes. There were times the movie felt slow. It did pick up later on. It started to feel intense as it progressed. Madelaine Petsch really carries the movie as Maya. She does a solid job. Prior to watching her in The Strangers’ movies, I knew her as Cheryl Blossom from the TV show Riverdale. The Strangers: Chapter 1 was a fairly direct remake of the movie that came out in 2008 with Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman. Both movies had the same story beats for the most part. Chapter 2 further expands on what was established in the Strangers movies. One thing that was interesting was getting glimpses of the Strangers’ backstories. 

A big part of the movie is paranoia. Maya doesn’t know who to trust and the movie does a good job of conveying that to the audience. There were times throughout the movie I was not sure who to trust. The movie does a good job of being a paranoia and survival thriller. Those seem to be two core themes in the movie. 

As a middle chapter, the movie is solid. It will be interesting to see how things play out in Chapter 3. The movie does give a pretty good idea of where it will head for the conclusion. There is a mid-credit scene. 

Minor Spoilers 

The mid-credit scene gives a glimpse of Chapter 3. 

The Strangers: Chapter 2 is a solid a middle chapter that expands on the initial premise. Madelaine Petsch does a good job throughout the movie. It is a slow burn at first, but things eventually pick up setting the stage for the Chapter 3. I am very interested to see how everything plays out and how this chapter will end for Maya. 

An employee and her boss are stranded on an island after a plane crash and the two have to survive on the island. The film stars Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Xavier Samuel, Chris Pang, and Dennis Haysbert. 

I thought the Send Help was good. It was not great, but it was not bad. It was an over the top Survivor. Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien did a great job in their roles. It was a different kind of role for Rachel McAdams. I am curious what Regina George would think of her Linda Liddle. Dylan O’Brien was great as Bladley Preston, Linda’s jerk of a boss. 

The movie had some twists. It definitely makes one question who the true villain is, if there is really a villain. 

Send Help is not that long. It clocks in a little under two hours. It is the right length. The movie goes at a fast past. 

Send Help is a good movie with some twists and turns. Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien do a great job carrying the movie.