Stuck at home? So is ScreenCrush’s Matt Singer — which is why he’s watching things streaming on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Disney+, HBO Max YouTube, Criterion, Tubi, and elsewhere, and then writing about what he finds. If you want to suggest something for him to watch and write about, find him on Twitter. Previous installments of this column can be found here.

Today’s Film:
The Player (1992)
Director: Robert Altman
Writer: Michael Tolkin
Stars: Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Peter Gallagher
Box Office Total: $21.7 million
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 98 percent
Currently Streaming On: HBO Max

Why I Watched It: The Player was my introduction to Robert Altman, and all through high school and college it was one of my absolute favorite movies. And then ... I didn’t watch it again for 15 years. I remembered the film as a sharp satire of the Hollywood studio system, but things that feel timely in one era can look tame in another. So when this showed up on HBO Max (in a handsome Criterion Collection print), I decided to put it on for a few minutes before bed one night recently ... and then wound up getting sucked in and stayed up to watch the entire thing.

Gallery — The Little Things You Missed in The Maltese Falcon:

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