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
Domino’s Will Air ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ on Facebook This Weekend
Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, and then watch an entire movie on a pizza company’s social media page, you could miss it.
The Worst ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales‘ Reviews – Critics Are Raving!
Have you ever seen those movie ads on TV filled with gushing quotes from critics and thought to yourself, “I saw that movie; it was terrible. Where did they find these positive reviews?” If you have, you’re not alone — and you’re going to love ScreenCrush’s series, Critics Are Raving!, which balances the cinematic scales with trailers full of slightly more accurate (and slightly more negative) lines from reviews. Real critics. Real quotes. Really bad movies. That’s what’s Critics Are Raving! is all about.
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’ Review: A Once-Great Franchise Sinks to the Bottom
When last we saw Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow he was, I don’t know, doing pirate stuff probably? After the first Pirates of the Caribbean, 2003’s The Curse of the Black Pearl, all these movies began to blend together. Some sword fights, a mystical MacGuffin, an all-powerful bad guy, a couple battles at sea, blather, mince, repeat. Even though the latest, Dead Men Tell No Tales, comes from a new pair of directors (Kon-Tiki’s Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg), it’s basically indistinguishable from the three previous sequels, except that it’s even worse than they were.
A New Rule Will Prevent Multi-Part Documentaries Like ‘O.J.: Made in America’ From Winning Future Oscars
This year’s Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature was O.J.: Made in America, Ezra Edelman’s epic examination of O.J. Simpson’s life, career, and the murder trial that captivated the American imagination. It was a truly remarkable achievement in non-fiction filmmaking; not just the best doc of 2016 but the best film of any kind of 2016 (at least according to the schlub who runs this website). Its Academy Award was richly deserved.
Sylvester Stallone Will Team With Dave Bautista in ‘Escape Plan 2’
See that picture up there? Okay, so just imagine this picture on top of Arnold’s face.
‘The Little Hours’ Review: John C. Reilly Steals This Convent-ional Sundance Comedy
One of the apostles (I think it was Peter) once said that casting John C. Reilly covers over a multitude of sins. The Little Hours is basically a one-joke sketch — medieval nuns swearing like sailors — stretched out to feature length, but whenever the film starts to run out of gas or repeat itself a little too much, there’s Reilly, its rock and redeemer, turning watery jokes into a potent brew.
‘Doctor Strange’ Review: Marvel’s Familiar Formula With Some Really Cool Visuals
The most common knock against Marvel’s cinematic universe: All their movies look the same. In a mega-franchise spanning 14 films and counting, that look can get pretty stale. For the most part, these movies about bravery are pretty timid when it comes to visual storytelling.
The Criterion Collection Leaves Hulu on November 11
The good news is that the Criterion Collection is partnering with Turner Classic Movies to create a new, classic-movie-focused streaming service called FilmStruck. That launches on October 19 with hundreds of movies, new original content, tailored recommendations, and supplemental materials. The bad news is that means the Criterion is leaving Hulu, its streaming home for a number of years. Starting on November 11, FilmStruck becomes Criterion’s exclusive streaming home, and Hulu loses its Criterion site.
Daniel Craig Is Still Producers’ First Choice to Play James Bond
The fate of James Bond’s casting in the upcoming 25th official 007 adventure is the focus of more intrigue than many Bond movies. After the release of Spectre, Daniel Craig said things like “I’d rather break this glass and slash my wrists” when the subject of making a fifth Bond film came up. He wanted to move on he said. He was ready for something else
Why ‘Star Trek’ Is Still Around After 50 Years
Star Trek’s first appearance in The New York Times’ TV listings is inauspicious. “William Shatner as the captain of a space ship.”