How am I feeling about my Academy Awards predictions this year? Actually pretty good … except in, you know, most of the major categories.

As a slasher flick with comedic leanings, director/co-writer Kevin Williamson's Scream 7 is pretty weak. As a half-dozenth sequel so steeped in callbacks and meta-commentary that nostalgia is practically its plot, it's exhausting. And as a statement on big-studio moviegoing practices and habits with a quarter of the 21st century behind us, it's depressing as hell.

Documenting the urgent efforts to combat coral decline in local fishing communities from Hawaii, Kenya, Australia and Indonesia, director Stephen Shearman's Reef Builders serves as a final presentation in River Action's QC Environmental Film Series for 2026, this fascinating exploration of the hexagonal structure known as a Reef Star screening in St. Ambrose University's Galvin Fine Arts Center on March 1.

With Entertainment Weekly calling the 2001 Christopher Nolan classic "one of those jigsaw puzzles whose pieces snap together more tightly with each viewing," the iconic thriller Memento enjoys a March 5 screening as part of the community series Filmosofia, this evening at Rock Island's Rozz-Tox also featuring a reading discussion on the movie's philosophical themes hosted by Augustana College's Dr. Deke Gould.