How to Make a Killing (2026) * *

 

Directed by:  John Patton Ford

Starring:  Glen Powell, Margaret Qualley, Bill Camp, Zach Woods, Topher Grace, Ed Harris, Nell Williams, Jessica Henwick 

How to Make a Killing has the potential to lure us in and make us co-conspirators as Becket Redfellow (Powell) begins his quest to knock off the seven family members in line for his grandfather's inheritance in order to claim it for himself.  But it never takes off.  It plods when it should crackle.  We should care enough to hope he either gets away with it or gets caught, but in this case, it's neither.  Why is this?  Because the characters Becket needs to bump off aren't established enough for us to root for their demise and Becket's plight isn't exactly one we can sympathize with.   

Becket's mother got pregnant as a teenager and is subsequently cast out of her family by her father Whitelaw (oh, these names) (Harris) after refusing to have an abortion.  Mom creates a life in North Jersey where she grooms her son to be a future inheritor of the family fortune.  She dresses him in suits, teaches him how to speak like the manner-born, and eventually passes away from cancer while Becket is a teenager.  Becket's dad dropped dead from an embolism while witnessing his birth, in case you were wondering.

After working as a tailor for a while, Becket decides to go after the fortune when his childhood crush Julia (Qualley) spurns him because she's marrying some rich prick.  Julia acts like a femme fatale dropped in from a nearby thriller.  She catches on early that Becket is up to no good and acts accordingly.  The FBI also catches on since those who are dying are directly blocking Becket's succession to the inheritance.  Becket has occasional pangs of conscience and also forms a relationship with Ruth (Henwick), the former girlfriend of one of the cousins Becket kills.  

Becket tells the story to a priest while on death row awaiting execution.  How Becket manages to avoid this is unconvincing and screams of an attempt to give this story a happier ending.  Powell doesn't exhibit much charisma here, and we aren't much moved by his mission.  He isn't sympathetic or even unsympathetic.  He's just there.  So is the movie and that's deadly. 

Scream 7 (2026) * *

Directed by: Kevin Williamson

Starring: Neve Campbell, Joel McHale, Courteney Cox, Ethan Embry, Matthew Lillard, Isabel May, Mason Gooding, Sam Rechner, Anna CampCamp

Ghostface is back.  One day, I won't have to write those words, but as long as Scream movies continue to make money, there will be more Screams to be made.  Scream 7 feels by-the-numbers and uninspired.  There is always the whodunit aspect which keeps just enough interest to prevent the viewer from falling asleep, but the Scream movies have become a series of grisly killings which try to top the others in their blood and viciousness.  When you see someone's guts spilled out all over the place after a brutal kill, you realize Scream has lost its sense of fun.

Sidney Prescott (Campbell) returns to the franchise for the first time since Scream 4.  She lives with her police chief husband (McHale) and daughter Tatum (May) in a small town in an unnamed state and owns the local coffee shop.  Soon, after a loooong opening scene in which the Ghostface killer emerges, Sidney is contacted by someone proclaiming to be Stu (Lillard-who was killed in the first movie) and even calls her on FaceTime.  Is Stu really alive?  Or is this AI run amok?  And why do the people in these movies answer all calls from Unknown or Restricted callers?  If no one answered these calls, then the movies would screech to a halt.  

Now, one or more Ghostface killers are stalking and killing Sidney's loved ones and Tatum's friends.  Poor Sidney likely has enough PTSD to last three lifetimes and now has to go through it again.  No wonder she took two movies off.  Who could blame her?  And once the killer (or killers) is revealed, we realize that anyone who has more than 1-2 lines in the movie should be considered a suspect.  The explanation is ludicrous, as you would expect from someone who was only given a couple lines earlier in the film.  The Scream series has run out of gas and was only running on a half-tank to begin with.