Mike Sampson is the Editor-in-Chief of ScreenCrush. He studied to become a lawyer and worked as an architectural planner after graduating college but neither of these professions afforded him the opportunity to watch movies and TV for a living. He previously served as the Editor-in-Chief of JoBlo.com for 10 years. He lives in New Jersey and probably spends too much time playing video games and overthinking things.
Mike Sampson
Watch Vin Diesel’s Emotional Introduction to a ‘Fast and Furious 7’ Screening
Earlier this week, we were among those in the audience for the first ever Fast and Furious 7 screening at SXSW. It was an emotional affair, to say the least. It's not often you watch a movie where The Rock walks down a street shooting a helicopter out of the sky with a massive gatling gun that ends with everyone in the audience crying, but there we were. An entire audience still processing the grief and sadness of the death of Paul Walker. A few days after that screening, Vin Diesel hosted a similar screening in Los Angeles and introduced the film to the crowd. It was about as sad as you can imagine.
J.J. Abrams Returning to Direct ‘Star Wars: Episode 9’?
When Rian Johnson was officially announced as the Star Wars: Episode 8 director last week, one name was conspicuously absent from the initial press release: J.J. Abrams. Among the producers listed — Kathleen Kennedy, Ram Bergman (Looper) and Johnson — Abrams was nowhere to be found. An updated release was later sent with Abrams noted as an Executive Producer, but it only fueled the flames that J.J. Abrams may be one-and-done with the Star Wars franchise. Not so fast.
Comedy Central to Cut Paul Walker Jokes From Justin Bieber Roast
Most comedians consider a roast the kind of place where you can joke about anything. Everything is fair game, as they often say. But, a number of controversial jokes about the death of actor Paul Walker at Comedy Central's Roast of Justin Bieber will be cut before the show's broadcast on March 30.
Some Genius Mashed Up Earl Sinclair From ‘Dinosaurs’ Rapping Notorious B.I.G.
We don't even know how to convince you to watch this video, other than to tell you that sometimes you just need to trust us. Someone created a video mashup of Earl Sinclair from Dinosaurs — the 90s ABC family sitcom starring dinosaur puppets — rapping the entirety of Notorious B.I.G.'s ‘Hypnotize’. Yes, we realize this makes no sense, but it's perfect.
‘Inside Out’ Trailer: Listen to the Voices in Your Head
It's been almost two years since our last Pixar movie (Monsters University in 2013), but that's thankfully about to change this summer with the release of Inside Out. From Up director Pete Docter, Inside Out is also only the second original Pixar film since 2009, which makes its arrival extra exciting. Today, we have the final Inside Out trailer, which gives us a much better look at the film's plot and the insides of the human mind.
Pee-wee Herman’s Next Film ‘Pee-wee’s Big Holiday’ Officially Begins Filming in March
After four years of development, Pee-wee Herman's next movie is official! Netflix announced today that filming on Pee-wee's Big Holiday is set to begin in March, with Judd Apatow producing and John Lee (Inside Amy Schumer) making his directorial debut.
Watch How the LEGO Oscar Trophies Were Made
The LEGO Movie may not have been nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 2015 Oscars, but one of the highlights of the show was still the performance of “Everything is Awesome” by The Lonely Island with Tegan & Sara. During the song, dancers from the stage came down into the audience and handed out LEGO Oscar trophies to Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Oprah, who was really excited.
Some ‘Star Wars: Episode 7’ Spoilers Are True, Says J.J. Abrams
Star Wars: Episode 7 spoilers are a dime a dozen on the internet. The hard part is, it's difficult to determine whether any of those spoilers are actually true. Director J.J. Abrams, himself a fierce protector of spoilers confirmed that some of the stuff you're reading online is actually true.
How Apple Helped J.J. Abrams Design the New ‘Star Wars’ Lightsaber
The new Star Wars: Episode 7 lightsaber was the most hotly debated topic that came out of the first teaser trailer. What is this thing? Where did it come from? It turns out those answers might come from a very unlikely source: Apple.
‘Spectre’ First Look: Daniel Craig is Back as Bond
‘Spectre’, the upcoming 24th James Bond movie, is currently filming in Austria where it is probably as cold and snowy as wherever you are right now (damn you, Polar Vortex!). The cast and crew took some time out to update 007 fans on the progress of the upcoming film with a video blog on what they're currently shooting, which they promise manages to top even ‘Skyfall’.
‘Hitman: Agent 47’ Trailer: Your Number is Up
In theory, there's nothing wrong with rebooting the ‘Hitman’ franchise (a popular video game series that spawned only one 2007 film). The Timothy Olyphant version was nothing particularly interesting or exciting, so the chance to try again is something that we can't fault Fox for. But, when you reboot a movie and it still looks as stale and by-the-books as the new ‘Hitman: Agent 47’, then what was the point in the first place?
Hugh Jackman Confirms Patrick Stewart’s Involvement in Upcoming ‘Wolverine’ Sequel
Yesterday, Sir Patrick Stewart revealed that he would not, as was widely suspected, be returning for ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’. He did, however, tease his involvement in the next ‘Wolverine’ movie saying, “we have been talking about a Wolverine movie, which would team Hugh Jackman and myself together.” He offered no further details, so we took this rumor straight to the man himself, Wolverine, and asked Hugh Jackman for some details.