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
Disney CEO Says Hackers Are Threatening to Release Upcoming Movie if They’re Not Paid a Ransom
This is not the future that Angelina Jolie movie foretold.
James Gunn Almost Didn’t Return to Direct ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’
No Marvel franchise is synonymous with a single filmmaker — except for Guardians of the Galaxy, which was transformed from an obscure niche sci-fi series into one of the biggest film series on the planet by writer/director James Gunn. He returned for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and he’s already announced he’ll be back at least one more time to make Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. But it almost didn’t happen.
Prepare for the End With the New ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ Teaser
If you’re going to tease trailers with shorter versions of the already brief coming attractions, this is the way to do it: With atmosphere, style, and intelligence. The latest War for the Planet of the Apes ad arrives ahead of tomorrow’s full final trailer, and it contains very little actual movie footage; par for the course for this kind of pre-tease. But instead of five or six seconds of flash frames and nothing else, this awesome, ominous clip pairs the voice of longtime Planet of the Apes star, the late Charlton Heston, with newsreel footage and images from the previous two Apes movies, setting the stage for “the end,” which is apparently coming in director Matt Reeves’ War for the Planet of the Apes. (We’ll see about that. Apes together are pretty strong at the box office.)
‘The LEGO Batman Movie’ Leads the 2017 Golden Trailer Nominees
There are awards for everything in Hollywood except craft services (at least to my knowledge; if there are craft services awards please let me know, I’d love to attend and eat the food). That means there are trophies for movie trailers, which are honored each year by the Golden Trailer Awards. Since 1999, th...
The Potentially Fatal Flaw in Hollywood’s Business Model
It’s a good thing I wasn’t drinking coffee while I read last weekend’s Los Angeles Times article about the summer movie season; I would have done a spit take all over my computer.
‘Alien: Covenant’ Review: God-Level Fassbender Saves Uneven Sequel
The title of Alien: Covenant directly refers to the spaceship carrying the film’s human characters, and indirectly refers to the film’s most pervasive theme: The tense relationship between gods and their creations. Students of the Old Testament learn about God’s covenant with Abraham, which promised the prophet the land of Israel in exchange for, among other things, his male descendants’ foreskin. Some gods work in mysterious ways; the ones in Alien: Covenant certainly do.
A Pixar Director Reveals the Four Essential Ingredients in All the Studio’s Movies
Over 22 years, Pixar Animation Studios has released 17 movies (the 18th, Cars 3, opens in theaters in June) made by hundreds of artists and animators. Their stories feature princesses, monsters, ants, robots, superheroes, fish, and the embodiments of human emotions; their settings range from a child’s suburban bedroom to the rat-infested kitchen of a Parisian restaurant. But all of these movies, no matter what they’re about or who made them, all share a few common elements, principles the filmmakers at Pixar use to guide their work.
‘King Arthur: Legend of the Sword’ Review: This Superheroic Spin on a Classic Could Use More Personality
The last King Arthur movie from 2004, the one directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Clive Owen and Keira Knightley, made just $52 million domestically against a $120 million budget, numbers that don’t exactly suggest a hungry audience clamoring for more Arthurian content. But not even a marginally popular brand is immune to Hollywood’s current reboot fixation, and so here is Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. Fuqua’s version, made in the wake of Gladiator, purported to be “the untold true story that inspired the legend.” Ritchie takes more liberties, unless I’m mistaken and the real Arthur’s dad fought elephants the size of mountains and wielded a sword that could stop time. His film draws inspiration from superhero stories and medieval fantasy shows. The target audience for his film appears to be people who wish Game of Thrones was less complicated and didn’t have any sex or nudity.
10 Lingering Questions We Have After ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’
To the surprise of absolutely no one, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 reigned supreme at the box office last weekend, earning $145 million in its first days of U.S. release. The movie also garnered solid reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and an A CinemaScore. People dig it. We did too! But that doesn’t mean it didn’t leave us with a couple lingering questions, both about some of the film’s finer plot points, and about what they mean for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Here’s ten of the things we’re still thinking about after #GOTG2.
Adam Scott Meets His Idol Mark Hamill and There Has Never Been a Sweeter Moment on the Internet
I have interviewed a lot of actors and directors. When I tell people I interviewed someone famous, their first question is always the same: “Were they nice?” It’s usually hard to say; you don’t get much time with these filmmakers and they’re typically on their best behavior because they want you to write nice things about them. Interviewing a director is like being on a reality show: I’m not there to make friends.
Every Marvel Cinematic Universe Post-Credits Scene, Ranked
What’s the best Marvel stinger? We ranked all of them, from ‘Iron Man’ to ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.’
25 ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ Rumors That Turned Out to Be False
This is all James Gunn’s fault. The writer/director of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise left so many plot threads dangling in the first movie. Who was Peter Quill’s dad? What was the deal with Yondu? What was Thanos up to next? Would any other Guardians from the original Marvel comics show up? I mean, what did he expect the internet to do? Not spend the next three years speculating wildly (and mostly inaccurately) about his plans? Yeah no.