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
McDonald’s Has an Entire ‘Despicable Me 3’ Menu And It Is Really Something
I don’t quite understand why, but people really seem to want to eat the Minions, the lovable yellow goobers from the Despicable Me franchise. When Minions came out, there were Minions Twinkies, and there have been Minions menus at IHOP too. Now generally I am a big fan of movie food, but this goes beyond my limits. The Minions are sentient beings; why would you want to consume them?!?
Watch a Supercut of Every Example of Product Placement in Michael Bay’s Movies
If I had to pick the most egregious example of product placement ever, I would nominate the scene from Transformers: Age of Extinction, when the entire movie stops to examine the wreckage of a crash involving an alien spaceship and a Bud Light truck. The camera pans across a street littered with Bud Light bottles; then Mark Wahlberg picks one up, cracks it open, and takes a healthy swig. And while he’s shilling beer, there’s a second product placement in the background; just over his shoulder, very much in focus, is a giant Goodyear Tires sign.
Hank Deutschendorf, Baby Oscar of ‘Ghostbusters II,’ Dies at 28
Just last week, we were commemorating the anniversary of the release of Ghostbusters II, which opened in theaters on June 16, 1989. The movie came out 28 years ago, which means the twin babies who played Sigourney Weaver’s son Oscar in the film were about that age too. That makes this story even sadder; TMZ reports that Hank Deutschendorf has died of an apparent suicide.
Report: Ron Howard the Frontrunner to Finish ‘Han Solo’
We’re still reeling from the news that Phil Lord and Chris Miller have walked off (or been fired from) the Han Solo spinoff Star Wars anthology film, but this movie has a release date in less than a year, and it is coming to theaters, with Lord/Miller or not. Although the news that the directing duo was not finishing Han Solo was announced today, the search for a replacement was already underway. Deadline says that Lucasfilm’s top pick at the moment is Ron Howard, the Oscar-winning filmmaker of movies like Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, and The Da Vinci Code:
Warners Finds No Misconduct on Set of ‘Bachelor in Paradise,’ Show Will Resume Production
This is big: TMZ reports that Warner Bros. has concluded its investigation into the allegations of “misconduct” on the set of Bachelor in Paradise earlier this month. Shooting was suspended after a producer supposedly refused to show to work and then “went on to sue” the production. Rumors suggested that an altercation between contestants Demario Jackson and Corrine Olympios may have gone too far, with Olympios possibly too intoxicated to consent to sexual activity with Jackson. “I am a victim,” Olympios later said in a statement.
Patty Jenkins Is Working on a ‘Wonder Woman’ Sequel
You will see Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman back onscreen in just a couple months, as one of the key members of Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon’s Justice League. But how long will we have to wait for a sequel? Obviously Wonder Woman 2 will happen. It’s just a matter of when.
Vin Diesel’s ‘xXx’ Will Return Again
xXx: The Return of Xander Cage only made $44 million in the U.S. last January against a reported $85 million budget. But it also grossed an incredible $301 million overseas, where star Vin Diesel remains an even bigger draw than he is here in the States. Weird belly tattoos, it seems, are the international language of love.
Get Ready for a New Spin on Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Movies
It’s happened to all of us. You’re watching the movie, and you’re into it, and then... a character makes a catastrophic mistake. They run upstairs when they should go out the front door. They bring the Transformer back to life rather than leaving it in a dump where they found it. They break quarantine when they’ve been screaming for the last 20 minutes how now matter what happens, they can’t let the virus escape. And you sit there, squirming in your seat, because there’s nothing you can do about it.
How Well Do You Know Pixar?
Everyone knows Pixar as one of the premiere animation studios on the planet. But did you know Pixar was originally part of Lucasfilm? It’s true; before Pixar became a separate company it was a division of George Lucas’ company, where it worked on creating computer technology that could be used in special effects. Its early work included some of the first computer-generated special effects in movies, including Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Young Sherlock Holmes. That’s one of the facts featured in this all-Pixar edition of You Think You Know Movies!
Watch the Bat-Signal Light Up Los Angeles in Tribute to Adam West
In the most fitting tribute imaginable, the Bat-Signal lit up the skies of Los Angeles last night, in honor of the late Adam West, the first Batman of television, and one of the most beloved versions of the iconic Dark Knight (or the “Bright Knight,” as West liked to describe his more upbeat version of the character). West died of leukemia late last week; he was 88 years old.
James Gunn’s ‘Scooby-Doo’ Was Originally an R-Rated Movie
The ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ filmmaker revealed he was originally hired to make a very different ‘Scooby-Doo’ than the one that finally opened in theaters.
‘Goodbye Christopher Robin’ Trailer: Meet the Man Who Made Winnie the Pooh
Filmmakers love the story beyond the story; biopics about authors making the great works of literature that have inspired generations. Maybe it’s an easy way to give a mainstream marketing hook to an otherwise crusty and “arty” awards-fodder biopic? There was Finding Neverland and Saving Mr. Banks and now Goodbye Christopher Robin, the tale of how author A.A. Milne (played in the film by Star Wars’ Domhnall Gleeson) created the world of Winnie the Pooh.