Derek Malcolm has been covering the worlds of tech and entertainment for more than two decades.
Before coming to How-To Geek in 2025, Derek was a contributing editor and writer for the A/V and Home Theater section at Digital Trends, where he wrangled and wrote everything from what to watch on Netflix to reviews, explainers, and guides on the latest Bluetooth speakers, turntables, projectors, and other A/V gear.
Based in Toronto, Derek graduated from Humber College’s Journalism program in 1999, after which he started covering the worlds of music, movies, TV, and celebrity for publications such as TV Guide, Hello! magazine, and Inside Entertainment. He then got the bug for covering tech and gadgets in 2006, when he served as editor-in-chief of Canadian tech magazine Connected for more than a decade.
An avid skier, when all the snow’s gone Derek can be found at home spinning vinyl with his daughter or cheering on his favorite F1 team, McLaren.
Scream 7 and Scary Movie are both currently topping the charts on Paramount+ (according to FlixPatrol), but neither of these horror/horror-adjacent movies has been particularly liked by the critics (30% and 25% RT scores, respectively), so you’d be forgiven if you gave them a miss and perhaps opted for one of my suggestions below, this week.
The service restocked its movies this month, and a few winners are there for the taking. The first is one of my favorite animated films ever—a hilarious food disaster movie with a great voice cast. Next is a gritty Western remake that raked in 10 Oscar noms, followed by a heist flick with some of the cutest little cars you’ve ever seen.
I’ve probably seen Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s (the guys behind The Lego Movie and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs a dozen times, and I still find something new every time I watch—whether it’s a clever new line I hadn’t noticed, or a quirky new element hidden in some of its eye-candy animation sequences. It really is a masterpiece.
The story follows Flint Lockwood (perfectly voiced by SNL alum Bill Hader), a good-hearted and unflinchingly optimistic inventor whose gadgets never quite work—until he invents a machine (the FLDSMDFR) that rockets into the clouds above his island home of Swallow Falls and starts raining a full menu of food down on everyone. Flint becomes a celebrity overnight, the tourists start arriving in droves, and Flint meets perky weather intern Sam Sparks (Anna Faris), who’s there covering it all. But glory-hungry Mayor Shelbourne (Bruce Campbell) pushes the machine beyond its limits, and it soon starts bombarding the town with deadly, enormous meatballs, cheeseburgers, a spaghetti tornado, and more.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was a surprise $240-million box-office hit, spawning a sequel (also streaming on P+) and a TV series. Critics loved it, too, and it currently holds an 85% RT rating.
True Grit is a revenge story for the ages, as evidenced by the fact that brilliant filmmaking brothers Joel and Ethan Coen saw fit to breathe new life into the legendary 1969 original movie starring the also-legendary John Wayne. In this 2010 revival, Wayne’s Oscar-winning role of gruff, eye-patched U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn is more than honored by Jeff Bridges, who earned a Best Actor nomination for his performance.
From the frontier to the final frontier — can you identify Paramount+’s biggest shows from just a clue?
This Taylor Sheridan drama follows the Dutton family as they fight to protect their Montana ranch — the largest in the United States — from developers, politicians, and rival landowners. What is it called?
This Paramount+ Star Trek series stars Patrick Stewart reprising his iconic role as a retired admiral who is drawn back into action to protect a mysterious young woman. What is the show called?
This long-running animated comedy series, now exclusive to Paramount+, is set in the fictional Colorado mountain town of the same name and follows four foul-mouthed fourth-grade boys. Name it.
This Taylor Sheridan prequel series follows the Dutton family’s treacherous 1800s wagon train journey from Texas to Montana, and stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill as James and Margaret Dutton. What is the title?
Originally airing on Syfy and later moving to streaming, this critically acclaimed sci-fi drama reimagined a 1970s series about humanity’s android-like enemies hunting down survivors of a nearly destroyed human fleet. What is it?
This Taylor Sheridan crime drama stars Sylvester Stallone as a New York mob boss who is exiled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and forced to build a new criminal empire from scratch in unfamiliar territory. What is it called?
This Star Trek series on Paramount+ is set aboard the USS Enterprise before the events of the original series, featuring Captain Christopher Pike and a young Spock on episodic adventures. Name the show.
This Paramount+ series stars Jeremy Renner as a powerful fixer and power broker in a Michigan city where the local economy revolves entirely around a massive prison complex. What is the show called?
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The story follows 14-year-old Mattie Ross (Best Supporting Actress nominee Hailee Steinfeld), who hires Cogburn to track down Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), who murdered Mattie’s father. The pair is joined by Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Matt Damon), who also wants Chaney for a separate murder. The pursuit takes them deep into the wilds of Indian Territory, where they’ll come face-to-face with Chaney and a band of outlaws led by Lucky Ned Pepper (Barry Pepper). True Grit is dark, tense, and yes, gritty, which accounts for its remarkable 95% RT rating. The original 1969 version is also streaming on Paramount+.
The Italian Job movies have probably helped sell more Mini Coopers than the brand’s advertising ever has. Another reimagining of a famous 1969 movie, 2003’s The Italian Job is a fast-paced heist movie with a revenge subplot that doesn’t stop racing from beginning to end.
When master thief Charlie Croker (Mark Wahlberg) and his crew pull off an epic gold heist in Venice, they’re double-crossed by one of their own—Steve (Edward Norton)—who kills the crew’s mentor, John Bridger (Donald Sutherland), and makes off with the score. Out for revenge, Charlie, John’s safe-cracking daughter Stella (Charlize Theron), and the team (including Mos Def, Jason Statham, and Seth Green) reunite with an ingenious plan involving, yes, a fleet of adorable Mini Coopers, to take down Steve. It’s a slick, explosive riff on the original caper that starred Michael Caine that’s a ton of fun to watch.
Whatever you press play on first, you’re in good shape—these are the kind of comfort-zone winners that go down easy on a weeknight. And How-To Geek runs new streaming roundups like this one all the time, so the next pick is never far away
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