Playing The Blus

Posted on Monday April 28, 2008, 15:07 by James Dyer

I’m annoyed. This in itself is hardly an unusual occurrence but I feel the need to tell you about it all the same. I’m annoyed about Blu-rays, and no, it’s not because I was foolish enough to buy an HD-DVD Player only for it plummet into obsolescence the moment it left the box (Chris and Nick did, though). It's not because Blu-rays are in some way a bad format either. No, what really makes me want to take a bat to someone’s nethers is the prospect of having to replace my entire collection of shiny new DVDs with shinier newer Blu-ray discs when I’ve only just finished swapping out the last of my VHS tapes. Talk about moving the goalposts.

Back in 1997, I was one of the early DVD adopters. There were precisely zero Region 2 DVDs available to buy in this country, but I went and forked out £600 for a Panasonic player (the only one available) with a multi-region chip hard-wired in. Armed with this cutting-edge piece of kit, I set about importing films from the

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The Ten Moviegoing Commandments

Posted on Thursday February 28, 2008, 10:56 by James Dyer

I am, I think it’s fair to say, what you could describe as a cinema fascist. For me a trip to the local multiplex isn’t so much a night of enjoyment but an endless litany of irritations, injustices and insults perpetrated against my person by the general public. I suppose it’s an inevitable side effect of spending the better part of a decade being coddled by private studio screenings where we’re presented with nibbles, wine and the occasional Pret sandwich tray. Such screenings, where you're often one of only a handful present, have become the norm in my mind, so you can imagine the horror when I’m occasionally dropped headfirst into the howling, sticky sea of degradation and depravity that is your average fleapit performance. Frankly, it makes me want to have a shower. And then kill everyone in the room. And then have another one to wash the gore off my hands. An overreaction? Possibly, but why, I ask you, do people go to the cinema when they clearly have no interest in actua

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Look To The West (Wing)

Posted on Thursday February 21, 2008, 12:40 by James Dyer

While the closest many of us will get to America is the cholesterol-filled goodness of a McDonald’s bacon double cheeseburger, it’s hard not to be enthralled by the current presidential race. In part this is fuelled by a sense of apocalyptic dread mixed with the need to watch the American people elect a new leader, one who wouldn't seem quite as at home among the cast of Sesame Street. But the other reason to stay glued to the news is that watching the race so far has basically been an opportunity to re-live the final seasons of The West Wing.

The similarities can't have escaped any die hard fans of the show. Santos (Obama), a minority candidate with relatively little experience and almost no chance of winning the nomination, swoops in to steal the ticket from under the nose of established Democratic figure ‘Bingo’ Bob Russell (Hilary Clinton). But it goes on – his opponents on the red team are a devout Christian (Mike Huckabee) who is ultimately shouldered aside

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Pun & Games #2: The Animal Lovers' Film Club

Posted on Thursday January 10, 2008, 16:33 by James Dyer

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Pun & Games: The Cake Lovers' Film Club

Posted on Friday January 4, 2008, 16:48 by James Dyer

We have many ways of passing idle time in the Empire office. We play pool, we watch telly, we play the birthday game and occasionally we all gather round Pav's desk and beat him with sticks - anything, really, to avoid actually doing some work. But of all the pastimes we've invented, none has generated as much amusement and embarrassment as the flipchart pun list. The concept behind this game is that someone picks a topic and writes it on the office flipchart, everyone else then has to come up with film puns related to the chosen subject. The origin of this most hilarious of activities comes from early pleas for a 'clever' title to call our Ultimate Star Wars Challenge quiz. Contributions scrawled in black marker included such gems as: Never Mind The Buzzdroids; Going For Gold Leader; The Weakest Commlink; Challenge Anakin; Maul's House Party; We Say, Logray; Game For A Darth; Family Fortunas; The X-Wing Factor; Ready, Jedi, Go; Laserbrain Of Britain and A Question Of Mos Eisley Spaceport. Needless to say

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