Mike Ryan is currently the senior editor at ScreenCrush. Mike most recently served as Senior Entertainment Writer for The Huffington Post. Previously, Mr. Ryan was a frequent contributor at Vanity Fair and Wired magazine and wrote for Time, GQ, ELLE-UK, and New York magazine.
Mike Ryan
Let’s Break Down the New ‘Star Wars: Episode 7′ Title, ‘The Force Awakens’
On Thursday, Lucasfilm SHOCKED THE WORLD and released the title to ‘Star Wars: Episode 7’, which now, forever and ever, will be known as ‘The Force Awakens.’ Compared to past announcements, this one -- which was released over the official Star Wars social media accounts – is kind of par for the course as far as title announcements go. Only ‘Revenge of the Sith,’ which had its title revealed at San Diego Comic-Con, had any real hullabaloo associated with the actual announcement. But, more importantly, what is ‘The Force Awakens’ trying to tell us?
The Strange and Encapsulating Innocence of a Bad Movie: ‘St. Elmo’s Fire’
It’s not surprising to learn that ‘St. Elmo’s Fire’ isn’t a very good movie. But as an artifact of the time, it’s inherently fascinating as one of only two Brat Pack movies.
Eddie Redmayne on His Masterful Performance as Stephen Hawking in ‘The Theory of Everything’
It’s a strange thing, admiring an actor’s ability to physically act out a part when the role in question has that actor almost entirely immobilized. And what Eddie Redmayne does in portraying Stephen Hawking in 'The Theory of Everything' is physical – what Redmayne conveys and accomplishes with basically just limited facial expressions is truly remarkable. But that’s the thing: who looks at Stephen Hawking and thinks to themselves, Yeah, I could successfully portray this man in a movie?
17 Moments That Made Us Unintentionally LOL During This Week’s ‘Gotham’
Monday night’s episode of ‘Gotham,’ titled ‘Penguin’s Umbrella,’ was ... pretty good! At least, this was the first episode all season that I found myself enjoying without a healthy dose of irony. ‘Gotham’ has done a good job of making Penguin interesting as he navigates the underworld that he will no doubt one day control. Hey, look at me, writing about the plot as if this were a show to take seriously! That must mean that this really was a good episode. But, yes, there were still some pretty silly moments that, in contrast, stood out even more. So, yes, here are the 17 moments on last night’s ‘Gotham’ that still make me laugh out loud.
What Exactly Is a ‘Big Hero 6’? (And 24 Other Urgent Questions)
Opening on November 7 is the new Disney animated hullabaloo titled ‘Big Hero 6.’ In ‘Big Hero 6,’ five regular human beings are brought together to fight crime alongside an inflatable robot doctor. I swear that all of this will make sense, kind of. Ahead, as a service to the world, we answer every question that you could possibly have about ‘Big Hero 6.’
Felicity Jones on ‘The Theory of Everything’ and the Future of Black Cat
Felicity Jones in ‘The Theory of Everything’ is a revelation of sorts. Think about how many times a biopic has been done and the lead female character is written off in reviews as “So and so was great in a thankless role.” Ignoring the cliché of the word “thankless,” that’s almost become a trope in movies like this: The “thankless” role for a woman. But, that’s what’s so fascinating about Jones in ‘The Theory of Everything,’ not only is she Great with a capital G playing the role of Stephen Hawking’s first wife, Jane Hawking, an argument could also be made that Jones is the true lead of this movie. Put another way: There are a lot of thanks to go around.
‘SNL’ Scorecard: Chris Rock’s Show Was, Well, At Least Prince Was Good
Chris Rock’s hosted ‘SNL’ was, well, a bit of a mess. Which all seemed even more surprising after the obviously fired up Rock’s monologue – there just seemed to be so much energy! And then there wasn’t. ‘SNL’ has been really great so far this season, so of course after the first what can be called a misfire of the season, there were all the naysayers on Twitter, lamenting how ‘SNL’ isn’t funny anymore. Oh, puh-leeze. The reason ‘SNL’ is like nothing else is that it can go wrong; it’s what makes the show interesting.
Daniel Radcliffe on ‘Horns,’ Finally Watching ‘Star Wars’ and Why Darth Vader is “Hilariously Funny”
Earlier this week, while promoting his new film, ‘Horns,’ Daniel Radcliffe participated in a Reddit AMA in which the actor revealed that, yes, he’s finally seen the original ‘Star Wars’ movies and that he may be dressing as Boba Fett for Halloween. So, yes, there’s a lot of ‘Star Wars’ talk in this interview.
Daniel Radcliffe On His ‘Tonight Show’ Rap: “One of the Coolest Things I’ve Ever Done”
On Tuesday night, Daniel Radcliffe shocked the world with his amazingly great performance (with help from The Roots) of the Blackalicious song, ‘Alphabet Aerobics.’ On Thursday afternoon, we spoke to a still-quite-excited-about-his-performance Radcliffe (who is promoting his new movie, ‘Horns’; the full interview will publish on Friday) who explains how all of this happened and how Questlove almost scared him out of doing the performance in the first place.
What Michael Che Wrote About Women is Really Depressing
I cover ‘SNL’ on a weekly basis and have been a staunch supporter of Michael Che’s recent rise to the ‘Weekend Update’ desk. This is why reading his sexist joke -- his fake "apology" in response to a video of a woman being harassed on the streets of New York City -- this morning didn’t ignite feelings of “outrage,” just pure disappointment and sadness.