Empire States: Raiding The Lost Ark: A 'Filmumentary' By Jamie Benning
Posted on Monday February 6, 2012, 17:09 by Ali Plumb in Empire States
 Jamie Benning is an outstanding human being. The man behind the fan-made video commentaries for the original Star Wars trilogy - 'Star Wars Begins', 'Building Empire' and 'Returning To Jedi' - he's poured hours, days, weeks, months into collating and cutting together videos that illuminate and educate would-be Jedi knights about the ways of The Force. Well, the ways of the people who made A New Hope, Empire and Jedi, anyway.
Benning returns with another fantastic 'filumentary' in the form of 'Raiding The Lost Ark', doing the same thing for - you guessed it - Raiders Of The Lost Ark. As he explains in his exclusive blog below, the task was nowhere near as easy as it was for Star Wars, requ... Continue reading... Comment Now (4 comments)
Back To TopEmpire States: Spoiler-Hunting In The Toy Aisle
Posted on Thursday February 2, 2012, 15:51 by Ali Plumb in Empire States
 As a blog about movie tie-in toys and the spoilers they reveal, the following images will contain details you may not want to hear about just yet. So consider the spoiler horn firmly sounded. *Honk*. ... Continue reading... Comment Now (13 comments)
Back To TopSmall Screen: My Problems With Sherlock
Posted on Thursday January 5, 2012, 11:00 by Ali Plumb in Small Screen
 Back at uni, I studied the Sherlock Holmes stories as part of a module on Crime Literature. Raffles The Gentleman Thief was also on the reading list, as were Father Brown, Lord Peter Wimsey, Poirot and Miss Marple. If you consider yourself a Sherlock fan, I heartily recommend them all, especially Lord Peter Wimsey. Start with The Nine Tailors, you won’t regret it.
I'm not calling myself an expert here – far from it – but I mention all this because although I’ve studied Conan Doyle's work, I don’t think of myself as a Holmes purist, and I genuinely enjoy the new Guy Ritchie films and the Moffat / Gatiss TV shows. This includes the latest episode, A Scandal In Belgravia, which despite the problems I mention below, I genuinely did enjoy. But after looking forward to seeing Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman return for so long, I can’t help but feel slightly disappointed – even t... Continue reading... Comment Now (49 comments)
Back To TopEmpire States: The Art Of Movie Title Punning
Posted on Tuesday November 8, 2011, 17:40 by Ali Plumb in Empire States
 Arthur Christmas is a pun, right? Because when you say it out loud, “Arthur Christmas” sounds like “Father Christmas”, doesn’t it? Kind of? Sorta? Maybe?
It’s got to be a pun. After all, they could have picked any other boy’s name, but instead they go for the most assonant one to “Father” they could find. It must be a pun. A very subtle, very weird pun.
With Arthur Christmas’s name hurtling about London on the side of buses recently, I only twigged that “Arthur Christmas” was a play on words a long time after I first heard about Aardman’s CGI Christmas film. About half a year, thinking about it.
It reminded me of the time when I realised that “Beatles” was also a play on words. I was too young, growing up, to realise that the “Beat” in “Beatles” was actually a gag – I just thought that was the way things were – the way “Beatles” was... Continue reading... Comment Now (21 comments)
Back To TopInfinite Lives: Empire's Modern Warfare 3 Multiplayer Survival Guide
Posted on Sunday November 6, 2011, 14:30 by Ali Plumb in Infinite Lives
 If you’re in possession of a games console and a pulse then you’ll doubtless be picking up a copy of Modern Warfare 3 when it hits stores next week. While some of you will immediately jump into the game’s multiplayer nirvana with aplomb and start lighting up noobs like there’s no tomorrow, a great many of you will more likely end up on the wrong end of a Barrett .50 cal, getting your arse handed to you by bloodthirsty twelve-year-olds. Because we’re the caring sort here at Empire, we’ve assembled a few broad tips that should keep MW virgins from spending all their time watching killcams and waiting to respawn. 1. Know what kind of player you are
Even if you’ve only played first person shooters a couple of times in your life, you’re already going to have an inkling as t... Continue reading... Comment Now (1 comment)
Back To TopEmpire States: No, You May Not Come To My Halloween Party Dressed As 'Sexy Edward Scissorhands'
Posted on Friday October 28, 2011, 15:18 by Ali Plumb in Empire States
 Below we’ve built a little gallery of Halloween costumes you can buy for this year’s trick or treating festivities. You can go as Edward Scissorhands, Cap’n Jack, Popeye, Bambi, even Nala from The Lion King. The thing is… they’re all “sexy” versions. That’s right, there’s a “sexy” Popeye outfit out there – and now, the madness has to stop. ... Continue reading... Comment Now (26 comments)
Back To TopEmpire States: What's The Worst DVD Blurb You've Ever Read?
Posted on Monday October 10, 2011, 13:30 by Ali Plumb in Empire States
 Much like my blog on “Is there such a thing as a 'Jason Bateman movie'?”, this one is a long time coming, so allow me to apologise in advance if I get too vitriolic. Anyway, here's my problem: don’t you just hate it when an amazing film has a crappy DVD blurb?
Let me give you an example. Last Sunday I had the pleasure of introducing The Last Boy Scout to three of my mates. I’d never given the DVD blurb that much attention before – what with the film being so damn good an’ all – but after glancing at it before putting it in the player, I genuinely stopped in my tracks. It was shit. Really shit. Hilariously shit.
To prove it, here’s a transcription of the damn thing.
Written by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon) and directed by Tony Scott (Top Gun), The Last Boy Scout is the Super Bowl of action movies, a fla... Continue reading... Comment Now (31 comments)
Back To TopEmpire States: Empire Goes Go-Karting Against FHM In Honour Of Senna, Wins Emphatically
Posted on Friday October 7, 2011, 14:29 by Ali Plumb in Empire States
 We'll make no bones about it – whatever that means exactly – we're huge fans of Senna in the Empire office. Admittedly, many of us didn't know much about the Brazilian racing legend until we watched the documentary that was released earlier this year, but still: big fans.
We're also very big go-karting fans. Such big fans that we've thought several times bought about getting 12 places to go drive around a very tiny racing track in a big shed in King's Cross. Oh, and we love Mario Kart. Loads.
So when the guys behind the upcoming DVD and... Continue reading... Comment Now (1 comment)
Back To TopEmpire States: Is there such a thing as a 'Jason Bateman movie'?
Posted on Monday September 19, 2011, 15:35 by Ali Plumb in Empire States
 Hugh Grant stars in Hugh Grant movies. Hugh Grant’s characters in Hugh Grant movies are a lot like his public persona: bumbling but charming, posh but endearing – like a handsomer, skinnier Boris Johnson with (arguably) better hair.
Likewise, Jason Statham stars in Jason Statham movies, playing a punch-first-think-later Cockney fighty man who’s always happy to whip his top off should the opportunity arise.
Other people who are lucky enough to carve out their own personal genre include Julia Roberts (in the ‘90s, anyway), where she regularly played a pretty and sassy rom-com lady with a massive smile, Adam Sandler, who does a fine impersonation of the real-life Adam Sandler for cash money, and more recently, Sarah Jessica-Parker, who rehashes alternative versions of her Sex And The City character over and over and over…
Typically... Continue reading... Comment Now (3 comments)
Back To TopEmpire States: When Sequel-naming Goes Horrifically Wrong 2: Electric Boogaloo
Posted on Monday August 29, 2011, 15:07 by Ali Plumb in Empire States
 This is a worryingly long blog that sets out to highlight when movie sequel-naming gets done, like, well badly. So to kick things off, here are some horrific examples of when film naming goes terribly, embarrassingly wrong:
The Underworld Series
Underworld (2003)
Underworld: Evolution (2006)
Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans (2009)
Underworld: Awakening (2012)
Seeing the words “Evolution”, “Awakening”, and “Rise Of The…” after a movie title immediately sets off alarm bells, doesn’t it? And that many colons, all in a row (stop it now...) , it's all a bit Resident Evil, isn't it?
The Terminator series
The Terminator (1984)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines (2003)
Terminator Salvation (2009)
... Continue reading... Comment Now (45 comments)
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