Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to scream seven times. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the return of Sidney Prescott in “Scream 7,” the northern noir of “In Cold Light” and the music doc “Paul McCartney: Man on the Run.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join the Bell Media Radio Network national night time show “Shane Hewitt and the Night Shift” to talk about movie tourism and the “Heated Rivalry” AirBnB, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and I review “Paul McCartney: Man on the Run” and tell you about Paul’s favorite cocktail!
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: “Scream 7,” now playing in theatres, once again says “Hello, Sidney” as Neve Campbell returns to the thirty-year-old horror franchise as iconic “final girl” Sidney Prescott.
CAST: Neve Campbell, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, David Arquette, Matthew Lillard, Courteney Cox, Isabel May, Anna Camp, Michelle Randolph, Jimmy Tatro, Mckenna Grace, Asa Germann, Celeste O’Connor, Sam Rechner, Mark Consuelos, Tim Simons, Joel McHale. Directed by Kevin Williamson.
REVIEW: The labyrinthine world of the “Scream” franchise continues in a bloody movie that delivers the gore but gets lost in a mishmash of nostalgia, legacy characters and tired tropes.
A story about past trauma revisiting the present, “Scream 7” begins with Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) starting a new life in a new town. Settling in Pine Grove, Indiana, far from the suburban Northern California town of Woodsboro and the reach of serial killer Ghostface.
Or so she thought until her phone rang.
“I’m going to make everyone you love suffer,” says a familiar voice on the other end of the line. “Including your pretty daughter.”
Could it be her nemesis Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) or an elaborate deepfake?
Either way, determined to protect daughter Tatum (Isabel May) and husband Mark (Joel McHale), Sidney swings into action in a final showdown with her greatest adversary.
Directed by Kevin Williamson (who wrote the original “Scream”) “Scream 7” is a collision of old and new elements that end up feeling almost as lifeless as one of Ghostface’s victims.
What was once a clever meta commentary on slasher movies that deconstructed the tropes of 80s and 90s horror, and later, remakes, toxic fandom and franchise fatigue, now feels rudderless as it takes on deep fakes and AI. The previous “Scream” films would have taken time to formulate a comment on the dangers of technology or at least take a position on it. Instead, here it’s simply a plot device, nothing more or less.
That lack of curiosity extends throughout. Even though “Scream 7” contains the most gratuitous kill of the entire series—and, to be fair, one of the funniest as one unfortunate victim is turned into a human beer tap—it doesn’t invest much into making the new characters compelling or, most importantly, making the Ghostface unmasking shocking or at the very least interesting.
The result is a movie with enough bloody stuff to entertain slasher fans, but it feels like the kind of film the franchise has spent thirty years analyzing.
SYNOPSIS: In “This is Not a Test,” a new zombie movie starring Olivia Holt, and now playing in theatres, a small group of high school students take cover in their high school as their hometown is overrun with zombies.
CAST: Olivia Holt, Luke Macfarlane, Froy Gutierrez, Carson MacCormac, Corteon Moore, Joelle Farrow, Chloe Avakian, Jeff Roop. Directed by Adam MacDonald.
REVIEW: Based on Courtney Summers’ YA novel of the same name, the 1990s-set “This Is Not a Test” is a bloody mix-and-match of” The Breakfast Club” and “Night of the Living Dead.”
When we first meet Sloane (Olivia Holt) her family life is a mess. Her older sister is about to move out, leaving her at the mercy of her abusive family. In despair, she contemplates taking her own life, but before she can act on her suicidal thoughts, a zombie apocalypse grips her town. “This is not a test,” says a radio reporter. “Lock all doors and cover all windows. If you encounter anyone you suspect to be infected, do not attempt to assist them.”
Heading for cover, Sloane and a small group of classmates hide out in the local high school. As death and destruction closes in, Sloane’s survival instincts kick in, giving her a new lease on life.
“This is Not a Test” does not scrimp on the zombie action. Those scenes are visceral, bloody and nasty and deliver the kind of undead violence you expect from a zombie apocalypse movie.
More interesting than the gooey, gory stuff, however, is the dynamic between Sloane and her classmates.
Sloane’s dilemma is the film’s most interesting psychological twist. How does one summon the will to survive when they think they have nothing to live for? It’s a compelling arc for a main zombie flick character and Holt transcends a scream queen performance to give Sloane layers.
Like the others she has no survival skills, but while they are scared and becoming desperate, Holt differentiates Sloane in a risky performance that relies on quietness and emotional detachment as much as it does her action scenes.
“This is Not a Test” has some pacing problems, and some clunky dialogue, but Holt and co-star Luke Macfarlane, as a skeevy English teacher, help bring some life to this story of the undead.
SYNOPSIS: “Paul McCartney: Man on the Run,” a feature length documentary now streaming on Prime Video, covers the years 1970 to 1981 as the former Beatle reinvented himself for a new era.
CAST: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr (archival footage), John Lennon (archival footage), George Harrison (archival footage), Linda McCartney (archival footage), Wings (archival footage). Directed by Morgan Neville.
REVIEW: For music fans of a certain vintage, 2026 is already a gold star year. “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert” strips the kitsch away from the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Vegas years in exhilarating fashion and now comes “Paul McCartney: Man on the Run” an up-close-and-personal look at a rarely documented and often misunderstood chapter in the career of the former Beatle.
By the time 1970 rolled around Paul McCartney had spent most of his life playing with John, George and Ringo. With the eyes of the world on him, the twenty-seven-year-old, one of the most famous people on the planet, had to shoulder the perception that he broke up the band, and find a way to move forward personally and professionally.
Millions of gallons of ink have been spilled documenting the legendary band, there have been movies and even a West End play, but relatively little time has been afforded the beginnings of McCartney’s transition from The Beatles to Wings and beyond.
As the title suggests, “Man on the Run” paints a portrait of McCartney, a restless musician in motion, searching for a new creative outlet. It’s here that director Morgan Neville digs deep, capturing the pressure that threatened to crush McCartney’s creativity as animosity regarding the Beates’ demise swirled around him, exacerbated by an ongoing business dispute with ruthless manager Allen Klein, whose dealings further estranged McCartney from Lennon.
As Lennon marshalled the counterculture in New York, McCartney, wife Linda and kids, decamped to a farm in remote Scotland, where he hid from the world, releasing albums like “Ram” that failed to satisfy fans and critics. (Although it should be said, those records have been critically reassessed in the years since then.)
Worried he wouldn’t be able to top his Beatles era work and trading musical jabs with Lennon, McCartney put together Wings, longing for the excitement of being in a band.
The altruistic blending friends and family fed McCartney’s need to feel part of a group, but, as the doc makes clear, several members complained of feeling like underpaid hired hands. McCartney, who is an executive producer on the film and is quoted throughout, responds by saying he wasn’t in charge of the accounts and didn’t realize his bandmates didn’t share his enthusiasm.
It’s a rare disingenuous moment. McCartney may well have been oblivious to the power dynamic within Wings, but his response comes across as a cop out. It’s one of the few moments that feels like a missed opportunity to shed a bright light on the band’s inner workings.
Also strange is the absence of “Give Ireland Back to the Irish” and “Hi Hi Hi,” two controversial singles banned for their political and sexual lyrics.
Still, the doc is a treasure trove of never-before-seen footage (with some cool added animation effects), musical performances and insight from McCartney and those close to him that paints a picture of a vulnerable risk taker, an artist who spent the 70s outrunning his previous work. In the film’s final moments, the musician sums up his Wings journey succinctly. “We made what seemed like an impossible dream come true.”
SYNOPSIS: In the crime drama “In Cold Blood,” starring Maika Monroe and Troy Kotsur, and now playing in theatres, a woman, fresh out of prison, is forced to go on the run when she witnesses a murder.
CAST: Maika Monroe, Troy Kotsur, Helen Hunt, Allan Hawco. Directed by Maxime Giroux.
REVIEW: The low-key English language debut of director Maxime Giroux, “In Cold Light” benefits from a steady hand on the wheel, and (eventually) pedal to the metal pacing.
Set mostly on one event filled night, Maika Monroe plays Ava, a felon fresh out of the joint after a drug bust. When her plan to go straight by cleaning out stalls for rodeo-riding father Will (Troy Kotsur) doesn’t work out, she is determined to reclaim her place in the drug business she left behind, now being run by twin brother Tom (Jesse Irving).
When a deal goes south, she witnesses a murder and is framed for the crime by corrupt cops and a cold-blooded rival in the form of drug lord Claire (Helen Hunt). To survive Ava—and a family secret—hoof it as her enemies close in.
“In Cold Light” takes few minutes to kick in.
Giroux takes his time with the set-up, establishing the family dynamics and Ava’s outsider status as she returns to a world and a business that is much different than the one she left behind. Once the stakes have been established, “In Cold Blood” proves itself to be a generic, but effective and stylish (thanks to cinematographer Sara Mishara) neo-noir.
Best known as a scream queen in films like “Longlegs” and “It Follows,” Munroe is a big reason “In Cold Light” remains compelling. Steely but vulnerable, she is given room in the sparse script to explore Ava’s physical and emotional sides. Ava begins as a gritty, mysterious character but slowly transcends the cliches of the crime thriller genre to become worthy of sympathy even as her behavior escalates.
As Ava’s father Will, Oscar winner Kotsur adds to the film’s emotional sweepstakes.
“In Cold Light” is a moody thriller that is a little light on memorable situations or characters—save for Ava and Will—but at a tight 93 minutes, it delivers enough style to transcend its pulpy roots.
I join CTV’s NewsChannel to have a look at last night’s BAFTYA winners and what thiose wins and losses mean for the Oscar race.
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Canadians are proudly buying local, waving the maple leaf, and rallying behind homegrown culture — so why are Canadian movie theaters suddenly empty?
This week on Entertainment Is Broken, Sarah and I unpack the surprising 40% drop in Canadian film attendance and ask a big question: if we love Canadian creators, why aren’t we showing up for Canadian movies?
From Mike Myers’ cultural rallying cry to the legacy of comedy icons like John Candy, plus a heartfelt tribute to the late Robert Duvall, the conversation dives into movie-going habits, streaming culture, national identity, and whether Canadian storytelling needs a reinvention… or just a bigger audience.
Are Canadian films overlooked, misunderstood, or simply waiting for their moment? Grab your popcorn — this one gets personal.
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Njzs8I2bGZQ
Listen to the podcast: https://pod.link/1855097197
I appear on “CTV News at 11:30” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the weekend’s best shows and movies including the concert film “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert” and the thriller “How to Make a Killing.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 13:41)
