Matt Singer is the editor and critic of the website ScreenCrush.com. For five years, he was the on-air host of IFC News on the Independent Film Channel, hosting coverage of film festivals and red carpets around the world. A member of the New York Film Critics Circle, he’s been a frequent contributor to the television shows CBS This Morning Saturday and Ebert Presents At the Movies, and his writing has also appeared in print and online at The Village Voice, The Dissolve, and Indiewire. His first book, Marvel’s Spider-Man: From Amazing to Spectacular, is on sale now.
Matt Singer
A ‘Wedding Crashers 2’ May Be Crashing Multiplexes Soon
Journey back with me now to the heady days of the mid-2000s. George W. Bush was President. Iron Man was still known by most people as a Black Sabbath song. And a little raunchy comedy called Wedding Crashers became a phenomenon in theaters, crossing an astounding $209 million in the U.S. alone. The film cemented the bankability of its leads, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, and helped launch the careers of much of its supporting cast, including Rachel McAdams, Isla Fisher, and a young Bradley Cooper. The film, about a pair of bros who, y’know, crash weddings, is still remembered fondly to this day.
Steven Spielberg Gave J.J. Abrams Two Ideas to Use in ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’
It’s pretty well known that Steven Spielberg was a major force (h’yuck) in getting J.J. Abrams the assignment directing Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Lucasfilm wanted a director. Spielberg wanted Abrams to get the gig. “I brought J.J.’s name up,” he said in a roundtable interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I thought J.J. would be the best person to direct Episode VII and I called J.J. and said ‘Would you do it if it was offered to you?’” Abrams was initially reluctant (he thought his wife wouldn’t want him to take any more time-consuming franchise gigs), so Spielberg actually took Abrams and his wife Katie out to dinner on Lucasfilm’s behalf, asked Katie if it was cool if J.J. directed Star Wars, and basically made a Love Connection of the whole thing. The rest was history.
FilmStruck, TCM and Criterion’s New Streaming Service, Is Live
After a couple of minor hiccups and delays, FilmStruck, the new streaming service from Turner Classic Movies and the Criterion Collection is live at FilmStruck.com. You can sign up for a free 14-day trial right now; after that it’ll cost you either $6.99 per month for the basic plan, $10.99 per month for the plan that includes Criterion Collection films, or $99 for a full year of both, which according to my incredible arithmetic skills, is about a $30 discount from the month-to-month pricing.
The 25 Best Horror Movie Posters
Happy Halloween, everyone. ’Tis the season for scary movies, and one of the ways ScreenCrush is celebrating today is with the gallery above, collecting 25 of our favorite horror movie posters of all time. Be warned, though: Some of them get pretty intense. You might want to browse with the lights on.
‘Inferno’ Review: Tom Hanks Saves the World. Any Questions?
Inferno marks the third movie from director Ron Howard and star Tom Hanks based on the popular novels by Dan Brown about Harvard professor and symbologist Robert Langdon. They’re all vary degrees of bad — and Inferno is easily the worst of the bunch — but what’s particularly galling about this franchise are the years Howard and Hanks, two of our most dependable filmmakers, have wasted on it. Together they’ve made Splash and Apollo 13; separately their credits include Cinderella Man, The Paper, Saving Private Ryan, Captain Phillips and so many others. How many great movies could they have made, as a team or as individuals, if they hadn’t committed their talents to these cruddy thrillers?
A Eulogy for the Pavilion, the Worst Movie Theater Ever
My friends, thank you all for coming here today to say goodbye. The Pavilion is gone.
A Step-by-Step Consumer Guide to Good Theater Projection
Rarely a week goes by these days without someone proclaiming movies dead or dying or zombified and feasting on the brains of their victims. (That’s what you get for turning your brain off at the theater!) Mainstream Hollywood has seen better days, but film as an art form is just fine; in a world where Moonlight, The Handmaiden, Arrival, and Loving are all competing for screen space, there’s still life left in movies yet. I’m more concerned about movie theaters, where the presentation of those films seems to get worse every single year.
More Movies to Watch in October 2016: On Demand With ScreenCrush
It’s Halloween and that you know what that means. Buying lots of candy, pretending it’s for children, and then eating it all yourself. Oh, and also horror films. Lots and lots of horror films. But what horror films should you watch?
What’s Leaving Netflix in November 2016
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Streaming-ly speaking.
Quiz: Who Said It: Donald Trump or George Costanza?
Last week, Republican candidate Donald Trump was called to account for a tape that had leaked to the Washington Post. In it, Trump is heard bragging, in extremely lewd terms, about his treatment of women. Trump dismissed this conversation, which was recorded on an open microphone moments before an interview for Access Hollywood which he was fully aware was about to occur, as “locker room talk.”
President Obama Picks His Favorite Sci-Fi Films and TV Shows
Politics is a total mess these days, but here’s some news out of Washington that veeryone can enjoy. President Obama is the guest editor of the new Wired Magazine, and as part of his work for the publication, he shared his favorite science-fiction movies and television shows. The POTUS even went to the trouble of provide helpful links to where you can watch each of the shows or films online. What a guy.
‘The Accountant’ Review: Action! Romance! Tax Deductions! This Movie Has It All
Hollywood is so obsessed with superheroes these days they made a superhero movie about an accountant. It’s called The Accountant, and it is indeed about a guy who prepares people’s taxes, looks for deductions, and monitors financial records for fraud. But in his off-hours, this guy is also a master martial artist and a sniper capable of hitting targets a mile away. He also has a secret identity and what amounts to a low-rent Batcave, an Airstream trailer full of weapons and cash, stashed in a storage unit. He’s played by former Daredevil and current Batman Ben Affleck. He doesn’t wear a cape, but he might as well.