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
‘Kong: Skull Island’ Review: The Effects Are King in This Action-Heavy Reboot
Kong: Skull Island may be set in the early 1970s, but it’s clearly engineered for modern sensibilities. The film’s trailer drew comparisons to Apocalypse Now, but director Jordan Vogt-Roberts seems less inspired by Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam War film than its iconic poster of a fiery setting sun, an image Skull Island returns to over and over. Even if it bears superficial similarities to Coppola’s classic, it’s little more than A-picture gloss on a big-budget B-movie. Naming one of your characters after Joseph Conrad doesn’t make your film Heart of Darkness; the only thing at this movie’s heart is the (admittedly accurate) belief that when a giant ape punches a giant lizard in the face with a boat motor it looks totally freaking awesome.
‘Logan’ Review: One Last Ride for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, And It’s a Good One
The first X-Men movie opened on July 14, 2000. A child born early that year would have just turned 17 by the time the tenth entry in the X-Men series, Logan, hits theaters next month. That is fortunate – viewers are going to need a driver’s license to get into this movie, which possesses the hardest R rating of any American superhero movie in history. In the past, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine would swing his razor-sharp adamantium claws and bad guys would simply fall to the ground. There was never any visible evidence of his brutality. There’s more graphic violence in Logan’s first scene – severed limbs, gruesome disembowlings – than in all of the other of the Wolverine and X-Men movies combined.
William Peter Blatty, Writer of ‘The Exorcist,’ Dies at 89
No list of the greatest horror movies ever made is complete without 1973’s The Exorcist. The film was directed by William Friedkin and based on the novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty, who adapted his own book to the screen and won an Oscar for his screenplay. Sadly, Blatty passed away yesterday at the age of 89. Friedkin himself tweeted about the news a short while ago:
The Writer’s Guild of America Nominates ‘Deadpool’ for Best Screenplay
Deadpool. Mercenary. Superhero. Weapon X survivor. And Writer’s Guild of America nominee for Best Adapted freaking Screenplay.
What Is Bad Santa’s Real Last Name? No One Seems to Know
I’ve seen a lot of stuff in over a decade covering the movie business, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen this before: A main character from a movie with two different last names, used interchangeably online.
It’s Here! Watch the Official ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ Trailer
“There is a 97.6 percent chance of failure,” one of the characters says in the new trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, referring to their scheme to steal the plans for the Death Star. I’m not sure the percentage is that high for the movie itself, but it’s got to be up there. There’s a lot of risk for Rogue One, or at least as much risk as there can be for a Star Wars movie. It’s got to prove that there is life for the franchise beyond the main “saga” films. And it’s got to prove that a prequel can work in Star Wars (previously, it hasn’t always worked out for this property). Even in a galaxy far, far away, those are some awfully big questions.
Hulu Will End Its Free TV Streaming
For almost a decade, Hulu has been one of the biggest homes for online TV. The day after many shows premiered on television, you could watch them on Hulu. Hulu offered several different subscription models, either with our without commercials, but you could also watch a lot of their programming for free. But that is about to change.
Two Fans Played the ‘Star Wars’ Theme on John Williams’ Lawn, and John Williams Loved It
13-year-old trumpeter Bryce Hayashi got a nice surprise when he and flugelhorn player Michael Miller played an impromptu tribute to John Williams’ Star Wars theme on the lawn of the master composer’s house: Williams himself was home and came out to shake their hands and salute them on their fine playing.
Netflix Introduces New Make Your Own Playlist Function
“Remember mixtapes?” the new video from Netflix asks. For the benefit of viewers under 30, it explains. “Ok, so they were like playlists, but on actual, physical tapes. (Which are like CDs but older.” Calling playlist writing “a fundamental life skill,” Netflix then introduces “Flixtape” a new function that enables customers to create and share their own Netflix playlists.
‘The BFG’ Review: A Sleepy Stumble From Steven Spielberg
The BFG — or “Big Friendly Giant” — spends his days in Giant Country, collecting dreams from a magical tree and distributing them to the people of the world. He seems like just the sort of character who would appeal to Steven Spielberg, a big friendly giant of the film world whose work has stimulated the imaginations of millions of moviegoers. But Spielberg doesn’t fully communicate that appeal with his film version of The BFG, which contains a fair amount of lovely images but may be the director’s most listless and dramatically inert movie in decades.