Hello Matt. Before we get into the Star Wars questions. Can you tell our readers a brief history of how you got evolved in Rotten Tomatoes?
I joined the Rotten Tomatoes team in October of 1997. I had been covering movies and entertainment on the web for a few years already, and I was really excited to bring critics and reviews to a digital audience.
When was the first time you watched Star Wars? What was your first reaction? Empire Strikes Back was the first movie I saw in the theater as a kid and I have been obsessed every since.
I saw Star Wars in theaters as a little kid in 1977. I remember my mother coming home one night and telling me that she had just seen this great movie and was really excited for me to see it. She had gone out and bought the soundtrack album and used the pictures on the record sleeve to describe the movie. I didn’t really understand what she was getting at, and how she could be THAT excited about a movie. I remember finally seeing it about a week later, and couldn’t talk about anything else for months. I memorized all of the cast names, and listened to the soundtrack all the time. My brother and I had a lot of the Kenner toys; the action figures, the Millennium Falcon, Luke’s landspeeder and X-wing and even that great Death Star play set with the trash compactor. Over the years, I’ve read most of the comics and Expanded Universe novels, and to this day, I’m still pretty obsessed. And fortunate enough to have the opportunity to take my mom to the premiere of The Force Awakens in Hollywood, and we got to meet both Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher after the movie. That was a great experience.
How was Star Wars Celebration for you? I got to attend and was lucky enough to be in the 40th Anniversary panel. I’m still pretty emotional drained from it. What was some of your highlights?
I had a great time. If I were to tell the little kid version of me that I’d have a job where I’d go to a Star Wars event like that, I wouldn’t have believed it. That 40th Anniversary panel is going to stick with me for a long time, especially the surprise John Williams appearance. Mark Hamill’s remembrance of Carrie Fisher was pretty emotional too. And as expected, the Last Jedi panel really intensified my excitement to see what happens next for Rey, Finn and Poe. There were also two great surprises for me. First, I happened to be in the Convention Center lobby as members droid builders club were lining up all of their droids for a group photo; I love astromechs (and R2-D2 is still my favorite Star Wars character), so that was pretty awesome to see. The second great surprise happened because of the Battlefront II panel. My 13-year-old and I play Battlefront, so I was interested to see what to expect in the upcoming game. I texted him some pictures and news about the game, and it resulted in a hours-long text chat about the game and Star Wars in general, and that was probably the longest text discussion we’d ever had. As a father, it’s great to share something like that with my son.
Every year on May 4th Star Wars fans celebrate the unofficial Star Wars Day. Tell us your plans.
I’ll be sporting some Star Wars gear, naturally, and I’ll probably listen to my trusty Star Wars mix during my commute to and from work. And my son and I will probably go head-to-head on Battlefront in the evening.
Besides film & Star Wars, what else are you passionate about in life?
I’m really passionate about music. I used to DJ, and although I don’t really get a chance to spin much these days, whenever I hear some cool new song, I still think about what I’d mix it with. And I’m still constantly looking to expand my musical horizons whenever I can. My Shazam app gets a lot of use, because I’m always keeping my ears open for some interesting piece of music no matter where I am.
Where can people follow you on social media.
You can find me on twitter @matchity, on Instagram @matt.atchity and on Facebook.com/MattAtchity
Questions by @SteveSievers