Courteney Cox

Scream VI

  • Title: Scream VI
  • IMDb: link

The sixth entry in the Scream franchise follows Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara (Jenna Ortega) to college. The film opens in the expected way with a woman (Samara Weaving) being stalked on the phone and then killed, although we do get a twist with the killer (Tony Revolori) immediately being revealed and then himself stalked and killed by a different Ghostface killer out to frame Sam for his crimes and punish the sisters for what he believes are their crimes.

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Scream

  • Title: Scream (2022)
  • IMDb: link

Released 26 years after the original Scream, the confusingly-titled fifth film in the horror franchise that had devolved into a parody of itself captures a bit of the old magic with a “requel” introducing a new cast of potential victims and/or killers (Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Mikey Madison, Dylan Minnette, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Sonia Ammar, and Jack Quaid) while returning the familiar faces of Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), Dewey Riley (David Arquette), and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) back to Woodsboro.

The new Scream is certainly derivative, but (like the original) it plays with the characters’ understanding of both horror movies and experiences with previous attacks. The results are better than expected, although for me things fall apart in the final act with the reveal who is under the Ghostface mask and the reasons why (to be fair, not all that dissimilar to problems I had with the original Scream).

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Zoom

  • Title: Zoom
  • IMDb: link

ZoomThrowback Tuesday takes us back to the box office and critical failure of 2006’s super-hero comedy Zoom. The film stars Tim Allen as a former teen super-hero brought back to the secret government program 30 years later to help train a new generation of heroes (Michael Cassidy, Kate Mara, Spencer Breslin, and Ryan Whitney). As with most of these team hero tales, about half of the powers turn out to be useful while the rest are used mainly for comic relief (although rarely for big laughs).

The supporting cast is made up of over-the-top characters in charge of the program played by the likes of Courteney Cox, Chevy Chase, and Rip Torn. Unaware of the looming threat (which turns out to be his long lost brother, played by Kevin Zegers, driven insane by government testing), and resenting being drafted into service against his will, Allen is stuck is schmuck mode for the first-half of the film.

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Barnyard

  • Title: Barnyard: The Original Party Animals
  • IMDb: link

Have you ever wondered what animals do when humans aren’t looking?  The answer Barnyard: The Original Party Animals suggests includes quite a bit of human-style partying and misadventure. 

Otis the cow (Kevin James) is the most popular member of the barnyard.  His crazy antics and love of fun with his friends Pip the mouse (Jeffrey Garcia), Freddy the ferret (Cam Clarke), and Pig the, uh, pig (Tino Insana), include surfing the local hills, “boy tipping” a local young ne’er-do-well (Steve Oedekerk), and throwing huge parties every night in the barn behind the back of neighbors Famer Beady (Oedekerk) and his nosey wife (Maria Bamford). 

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