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
Tony Sirico, Paulie of ‘The Sopranos’, Dies at 79
Sirico had a long career in Hollywood playing underworld types.
Ed Asner, Star of ‘Mary Tyler Moore’ and ‘Up,’ Dies at 91
Asner was a screen staple for decades.
The 25 Most Important Sex Scenes in Film History
Boiling down 125 years to 25 steamy scenes.
“Mean” Gene Okerlund, Hall of Fame WWE Announcer, Dies at 76
Okerlund was the one of the signature voices of WWF and WCW through the 1980s and ’90s.
A New Minor League Baseball Team Name and Mascot Is an Homage to ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’
The new minor league baseball team will debut in 2020. Rocket would be so proud (or maybe annoyed, he wasn’t too keen on being called a trash panda).
Disney Buys Fox in Deal That Reshapes Pop Culture
After numerous reports, Disney has finally acquired most of 20th Century Fox in a deal that will massively reshape the entertainment industry.
Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, the Ultimate Pro Wrestling Manager, Dies at 73
Heenan is arguably the pro wrestling greatest manager who ever lived. He died after a long battle with throat cancer.
‘Dodgeball’s ESPN 8 (The Ocho!) Is Becoming Real
There are many ESPN channels: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, ESPN Classic, ESPN First Take where they just show that show on a loop forever. (It’s mostly watched in prisons as a form of enhanced interrogation technique.) But the greatest of all ESPN channels is ESPN 8, or “The Ocho,” as it’s known to devotees. It’s the ESPN devoted to the finest in seldom seen sports.
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.
‘O.J.: Made in America’ Is Essential Viewing
I’m a freshman in high school. After months of legal proceedings, the jury finally reaches a verdict in the O.J. Simpson case. For the only time in my four years of secondary education, everything stops. Several classes worth of kids pile into the only room on the hall with a cable television. The room is packed. Kids are literally sitting on each other's laps because there’s nowhere else for them to go. It gets quiet.