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
Remembering Robin Williams: The Actor We All Felt We Knew
“Can you believe Popeye is played by the guy who plays Mork?” These words from my mother blew my seven-year-old mind. That's my intro to a piece I don’t know how to write and, honestly, probably shouldn’t be writing so soon after learning about Robin Williams’ death. I only had one encounter with Williams professionally – an interview promoting ‘Happy Feet 2,’ of all things – yet there are tears coming down my face as I type this for what is essentially a stranger. Even though he’s not a stranger. Everyone knew him. This is everyone’s loss.
‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Talks About Everything
It's almost impossible to stay on topic when interviewing 'Weird Al'. He's a walking encyclopedia of popular culture knowledge and every answer leaves multiple alleyways to explore. Ahead, the topics covered include 'Star Wars,' 'UHF,' Charlie Kaufman, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Springsteen, 'The LEGO' Movie, his is favorite movie of all-time, Joe Piscopo, 'The Naked Gun,' 'Rocky' and a host of other topics that don't have much to do with one another.
The 10 Best Movies of 2014 (So Far)
Here are the best movies of 2014 so far! (Note: These movies have all been released in theaters and I am not including movies that I saw at film festivals that have not been yet released to the public.)
‘A Million Ways To Die In The West’ Review: The Most Important Movie Ever Made
It’s interesting that Universal is promoting ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West,’ a film that is not funny, as a comedy. I suspect it has a lot to do with the human carnage we witness on screen being unbearable to watch, so the only way to desensitize an audience’s eyes to what they're about to witness is to somehow convince the viewer that what their about to see is a comedy – even though there is not one laugh to be had.
‘Beyond the Brick: A LEGO Brickumentary’ Review: Everything Is…Pretty Okay
Yes, it’s a little odd that another LEGO movie is coming out so quickly after the release of, well, ‘The LEGO Movie’ – that also features an animated LEGO mini-fig voiced by a well-known celebrity. In this case, it’s Jason Bateman (as opposed to Chris Pratt) and this is a documentary (or, as they are calling it, a “brickumentary”), not a narrative feature.
‘Beyond the Brick: A LEGO Brickumentary’