ON THE BIG SCREEN
KOOKIE COMEDIES
GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON’T DIE
R
This surreal black comedy all about AI and its effect on the real world has two people involved that make us willing to watch basically anything they decide to do: Oscar winners director Gore Verbinski (“Rango”) and Sam Rockwell “Vice”). These two guys put together have made so many movies we adore, including “Mousehunt,” and the first three “Pirates of the Caribbean” flicks for Verbinski plus “Galaxy Quest” and “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” for Rockwell means we trust their willingness to get weird. So checking out this mind-bending satire is a no-brainer, as they take the idea of AI to its inevitable ending for the human race.
HOW TO MAKE A KILLING
R
Glen Powell and Margaret Qualley can make just about any movie they want to these days, so hitching their stars to John Patton Ford’s film based on the classic Alec Guinness black comedy “Kind Hearts and Coronets” means they had a great beginning. But this time out, Powell doesn’t play all the characters in his rich family, that he decides to murder one by one, to inherit the billions. It still looks to be a crazy caper, something Verbinski knows how to make a rousing cinematic adventure.
PILLION
Not Yet Rated
This award-winning black comedy follows a meek gay man (Henry Melling) who finds the man of his dreams; unfortunately, that man is a tough biker who’s got a really tough idea of what love is. Alexander Skarsgarrd shows off every inch of his appeal as the biker who plays incredibly hard to get, while Melling is the lovestruck partner willing to do just about anything to win his love. This award-winning flick was the talk of the Cannes Film Festival and writer-director Harry Leighton is winning raves and nominations for this, his first film.
SHUDDERING SUSPENSE
COLD STORAGE
R
Black comedy is the theme for February flicks, with “Cold Storage” leaning into the horror side of the equation, this sometimes scream-worthy scary movie combines with tongue-in-cheek jokes to make a movie worth watching. Scripted by David Koepp, who’s written everything from “Jurassic Park” and “Death Becomes Her” to the 2002 “Spider-Man” and 2025’s “Black Bag” and “Jurassic World: Rebirth,” this movie has it all, beginning with Liam Neeson and ending with a crackerjack cast including Lesley Manville, Sosie Bacon, Joe Keery and even Vanessa Redgrave, all invested in making you yell in fear and scream with laughter, too.
SCREAM 7
R
If you build it, they will come. That’s the motto of director-writer Kevin Williamson, who created the “Scream” franchise as the screenwriter back in 1996 and now, 30 years later, is back as both the director and writer in this seventh installment of the enduring slasher horror franchise. So if you’ve loved seeing the original characters (including those played then and now by Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette) keep coming back for more, then you’re the one that they’re counting on to hit the movie theaters to join in the group “Scream” one more time!