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.
Most of what follows on this week's movie suggestions list arrived with Paramount+'s big August package, which is why the eclectic lineup lurches from a Kubrick-Spielberg android story to that bachelor party classic to a biopic that will light your fire, baby. My top pick, however, is one you'll have to wait till Thursday for—a supernatural chiller straight from the movie theater.
2001's Oscar-nominated sci-fi drama A.I. Artificial Intelligence is exactly the kind of movie you'd expect when you combine the minds of A Clockwork Orange's brilliantly twisted Stanley Kubrick and the softer, more empathetic sensibilities of Steven Spielberg. Adapted from Brian Aldiss's 1969 short story Supertoys Last All Summer Long, Kubrick worked on it for decades before handing it to Spielberg, who finished it after Kubrick's death.
In a bleak future of flooded cities, overpopulation, and strict reproduction control, David (Haley Joel Osment) is a prototype android boy given to Monica (Frances O'Connor) and Henry Swinton (Sam Robards) to fill the emotional void left by their ill son, who is cryogenically frozen until a cure is found. David, however, only wants Monica's love. So when the couple's son wakes up, Monica abandons David in the wilderness, sparking an epic Pinocchio-like quest to become real to get back to her.
This is a story I tell my teenage daughter often: I once went to a Halloween party as The Hangover's now-iconic Zach Galifianakis character, Alan. I had a Cabbage Patch Kid doll in a BabyBjörn, but the funny part is, unbeknownst to our friends, we had just learned that day that my wife was pregnant. Needless to say, this epic 2009 comedy has a special place in my heart.
Told in The Hangover's reverse-mystery blueprint, which it uses again in the 2011 sequel, the story is about Doug (Justin Bartha), who heads to Las Vegas for his bachelor party with best friends Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Stu (Ed Helms), plus his wild-card future brother-in-law Alan (Galifianakis). After an insane night on the town, they wake in the morning with no memory of what happened. There's a tiger in the bathroom, a baby in the closet, and Doug is missing. The movie follows the guys as they try to piece the night together, get the baby home, and find Doug.
Many consider Val Kilmer's role as Tombstone's gunslinger, Doc Holliday, to be the late, great actor's finest, but I beg to differ. Holliday may have been your huckleberry, but Kilmer's totally immersive portrayal of The Doors' enigmatic and self-destructive frontman, Jim Morrison, in Oliver Stone's The Doors is, in my opinion, his greatest achievement.
From Woodstock to Walk the Line — how well do you know the films behind the
music legends?
The 2015 documentary Amy, about Amy Winehouse, was directed by which filmmaker?
In Walk the Line, which actor portrayed Johnny Cash and won a Golden Globe for the
role?
In the 2004 film Ray, Jamie Foxx portrayed Ray Charles. Which major award did Foxx
win for this performance?
Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck was released in 2015 and directed by Brett Morgen. What
made it particularly unique among Cobain documentaries?
Taylor Swift's documentary Miss Americana, released on Netflix in 2020, covers a
pivotal period in her life. Which major personal decision is a central theme of the film?
Summer of Soul (2021), directed by Questlove, focuses on a legendary 1969 music
festival. What is the festival's official name?
In the biopic Walk the Line, which legendary musician and close friend of Johnny
Cash is portrayed as a major influence on his early career?
