Silver Screen Riot’s Top 10 Films of 2015

January 1, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Lists, Most Popular Tagged Creed, Ex Machina, Inside Out, Mad Max: Fury Road, Room, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Steve Jobs, The End of the Tour, The Overnight, The Revenant Leave a comment

Well well well. 2015 has finally reached its end. After 201 films, 25 interviews (including Robert Duvall, Kevin Bacon, Jason Segel, Jason Schwartzman, Greta Gerwig, Jemaine Clement, Alex Garland, and Nick Kroll to name just a few), three massive international film festivals and countless hours spend idly engaged in film banter with my always entertaining gang of colleagues and peers at various Seattle screening rooms, I can finally come to the conclusion that, for what it’s worth, 2015 was an odd duck for film. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS’

December 16, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Adam Driver, Carrie Fischer, Daisy Ridley, Harrison Ford, J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, Michael Arndt, Oscar Isaac, Out in Theaters, Peter Mayhew, Reviews, Star Wars: The Force Awakens 1 Comment

A long time ago in 1977, Star Wars (back then there was no ‘A New Hope’ to it) struck a cultural nerve, resonating like a tuning fork to the farthest reaches of the known galaxy. A flurry of rabid fans stormed the theaters, salivating for a product that was by and large rejected at first glance (Fun Fact: Fox had to strong-arm theater programmers by withholding the right to screen The Other Side of Midnight unless they also screened Star Wars, a film 99 out of 100 people probably don’t recognize today.) If they only knew the power of this sci-fi behemoth, one that even today holds the record for second highest grossing film when adjusted for inflation, there is no doubt that they would have flooded their holy grounds with screening after screening of the lauded space opera but history is a fickle thing. Just ask all those people caught on the news praising Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Read More

Holiday 2015 Film Preview – 10 December Films We Positively Cannot Wait For

November 30, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Lists Tagged Anomalisa, Holiday Film Preview, In the Heart of the Sea, Joy, Krampus, Macbeth, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Big Short, The Hateful Eight, The Revenant, Youth Leave a comment

Sleigh bells be damned. All we want for Christmas is movies! With cold weather driving us indoors and holidays meaning family time galore – which in turns means escape from family time galore – the movie theater becomes a quiet solace in which to bask in the creativity of other people. We’re cut through the stacks of Holiday offerings to give you the 10 December films we positively cannot wait for. Amongst them are big (and we mean big) blockbusters, a few little indie flicks, an adult stop-motion drama, new films from Alejandro González Iñárritu, David O. Russell and Quentin Tarantino and even a holiday horror for the scary movie fans. And of course, Star Wars. If all of them are as good as we’re hoping, it’ll be a Christmas miracle.

AHMYGAWD Watch the New ‘STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS’ Trailer NOW

October 19, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Trailers Tagged Carrie Fischer, Daisy Ridley, Harrison Ford, J.J. Abrams, John Boyega, Poe Dameron, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Trailers Leave a comment

I usually don’t watch trailers. I couldn’t help myself with the first teaser for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and I couldn’t stop myself from watching this next (and potentially final) trailer. Join the dark side and watch Han (Harrison Ford), Chewie (Peter Mayhew) and Leia (Carrie Fischer) join new Star Wars members Finn (John Boyega), Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) to battle New Order Sith Lord Kylo Ren. But don’t take my word for it, watch it yourself. Read More