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 Lost Episode Of ‘Seinfeld’ That No One Has Ever Seen (and Never Will)
During the second season of ‘Seinfeld’ – on Wednesday, December 12, 1990, to be more exact – the cast sat down to read through the script for what would be the fourth episode of the season and only the ninth episode of a series that would go on to produce a total of 180 episodes. The episode was titled ‘The Bet.’ Sets for the episode had been built. Guest characters had been cast. ‘The Bet’ would never air.
The Only Fourth Of July Televison Episode You Ever Need To Watch
The only Fourth of July episode of anything worth mentioning is the series finale of ‘The Wonder Years.’ Airing on May 12, 1993, an epilogue set during a Fourth of July parade became one of the most memorable television moments of the last 25 years.
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.)
Remembering the Phenomena of 1989’s ‘Batman’ 25 Years Later
‘Batman’ was a big enough moment in popular culture that, at one time, a perfectly reasonable sophomore in high school wanted to permanently attach a logo from a movie onto his only mode of transportation. And no other seemingly reasonable classmates of his were going to publicly disagree with this idea.
Is ’22 Jump Street’ As Good As ’21 Jump Street’? (And 24 Other Urgent Questions)
Jonah Hill (‘Evan Almighty’) and Channing Tatum (‘G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra’) are back as Schmidt and Jenko in the sequel to '21 Jump Street,' titled '22 Jump Street.' Is '22 Jump Street' as funny as the first movie? As a service to you – yes, you – we answer every question that you could possibly have about '22 Jump Street.'
‘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’
‘A Haunted House 2′ Review: A Live Blog
'A Haunted House 2' did not screen early for critics. On Thursday, I received an email from my editor suggesting that I pay to see 'A Haunted House 2' at a movie theater on Friday morning. I tried using the "but I haven’t seen the first ‘Haunted House'" excuse, but that seemed to have little to no impact on this request. Who knows? Maybe it’s hilarious? On Friday morning, I purchased a t
How ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ Succeeds Where ‘Man of Steel’ Failed
Admittedly, I never felt too outraged over the ending of last summer’s ‘Man of Steel.’ (Yes, there will be major spoilers ahead.) The complaints over Superman breaking the neck of his foe were certainly valid – therefore changing the very definition of the character – but it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the film. That changed after seeing ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier.’