Empire States: Drive Like Dominic Toretto - Sort Of
Posted on Friday May 17, 2013, 15:17 by Alice Wybrew in Empire States
 As I careen rapidly closer to a solid cement wall, I find myself counting the number of times I’ve genuinely thought I might die. As it turns out, the vast majority of these have been in the past hour and a half thanks to the guys at Universal and Fast & Furious 6. As a car nut, when Empire was asked if one of our team would like to spend a morning burning the tyres off an Alfa Romeo for the upcoming ‘drive or die’ action movie, I boldly (or stupidly) assured everyone that, ‘I got this’. I had grand visions of learning how to drift round corners at 100mph and weave between oncoming buses, cabs and unsuspecting pedestrians, probably in LA, Tokyo or Miami. But nope. Instead I was packed off to Bedford. Not as glamorous, perhaps, but as it turns out its gusty plains are perfect for advanced driving lessons, so I headed north to put my limited skills to the ultimate test. Would I be fast? Would I be furious? Right now I’d settle for ‘swift’ and ... Continue reading... Comment Now
Back To TopEmpire States: Screen To Stage: Once
Posted on Friday April 26, 2013, 02:42 by Helen O'Hara in Empire States
 The movie Once is a musical so subtle that most people don’t even realise it is a musical in the first place. The indie feel, low-key guitar songs and musician characters mean that it’s easy to miss the way characters unfailingly sing their feelings, or the miraculous ability they all have to pick up one another’s songs (which, let’s face it, talented musicians can actually do to a greater or lesser extent, so it only seems miraculous to the rest of us). All of that makes it a non-obvious choice for a stage adaptation – but the further non-obvious choices made in staging that adaptation make this a show that’s as delightfully low-key as the film was. Despite the fact that this is a Broadway smash transferred to the West End, it could hardly be further from the Lloyd Webber / Cameron Mackintosh extravaganza we’re accustomed to seeing.
For one thing, this is a musical with only one set – an Irish pub, its walls lined with mirrors hung haphazardly at var... Continue reading... Comment Now (3 comments)
Back To TopEmpire States: Empire's Sneak-Peek Iron Man 3 Footage Reaction
Posted on Thursday March 28, 2013, 10:31 by Chris Hewitt in Empire States
 If you read my cover feature on Iron Man 3, then you’ll know that back in January I was lucky enough to see approximately 15 minutes of footage from Shane Black’s Avengers-following threequel in LA. There’s a brief rundown of the footage in our Iron Man 3 cover feature (and if you haven’t read it, be sure to check it out on iPad, where it's still on sale), but I was largely shying away from revealing major details, conscious of the spoiler brigade.
But, with some of the key elements of the footage now in the public domain, it’s fair game. And today I was invited by Disney to see the footage again, and jumped at the chance. Thankfully, this time around, I was just as impressed – the return of Tony Stark is the first chapter of Marvel Studios&rsq... Continue reading... Comment Now (4 comments)
Back To TopEmpire States: What Are Your Cinematic Affectations?
Posted on Friday March 1, 2013, 17:37 by Ali Plumb in Empire States
 There’s a moment in Iron Man where Tony does this thing with his hands. It’s like a double finger click with his right hand that slaps into the palm of his left hand, making a sound like “Clicketty-click” in the process. It’s the kind of thing everyone’s favourite billionaire playboy philanthropist does when he’s walking, or thinking, or just being a bit cool. “Throw a little hot rod red in there…” Clicketty-click.
There’s another moment in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off where the semi-professional fourth wall breaker is in the bathroom of posh restaurant Chez Quis, washing his hands and talking to no one in particular. Before he leaves, he picks up a mint from a bowl. “Mint”, he says, popping into his mouth. That’s it. “Mint.”
Finally, Fantastic Mr. Fox. “What’s this thing you do, the whistle ... Continue reading... Comment Now (78 comments)
Back To TopEmpire States: The Ultimate Gin-Joint: Future Cinema Does Casablanca
Posted on Tuesday February 26, 2013, 14:08 by Nick de Semlyen in Empire States
 My last two Secret Cinema experiences were not the most relaxing of evenings. First I popped along to the Battle Of Algiers event in the Old Vic Tunnels. Fittingly edgy, considering the 1966 guerrilla-movement doc’s subject matter, it involved being screamed at in French by hooded figures, frog-marched down dank corridors and forced to watch “prisoners” being “tortured” in a strobe-lashed containment area. An intense night, but it proved merely an appetiser for my next outing: The Shawshank Redemption.
Now, I’m not sure about you, but when I think about Frank Darabont’s prison classic, I tend to remember the warmer, fuzzier images. While it has its share of harrowing moments, it’s ultimately a feel-good experience. Secret Cinema’s interpretation, however, was more Tango & Cash than Andy & Red — 100% pure prison hell. After being paraded down Bethnal Green High Street, ticket-holders were made to cl... Continue reading... Comment Now
Back To TopEmpire States: Seth MacFarlane: Oscar Hero Or Lame Duck?
Posted on Monday February 25, 2013, 05:21 by Phil de Semlyen in Empire States
 “From Whoopi all the way down to Ron Jeremy, it’s an honour that everyone else said no,” grinned a visibly nervy Seth MacFarlane at Oscars zero hour. A few minutes later you could sense people backstage fumbling for Jeremy’s number, hoping that the man could free himself from whatever torrid triste he was engaged in at the time to save the day as the Family Guy guy dropped clunker after clunker on the Oscars.
First there was a sur-le-nez remark about Jean Dujardin’s post-Oscars career lull that was undercut hilariously by the man himself about, what, nine months ago on Funny Or Die. If that seemed a little cheap, the riff on Daniel Day-Lewis’ in-character methods on Lincoln (“If you'd seen Don Cheadle on set, would you have had to free him?”, he asked the perplexed Brit) and a sock puppet version of Flight that culminated in him delibe... Continue reading... Comment Now (28 comments)
Back To TopEmpire States: Start Your Career - New Opportunity For Young Filmmakers
Posted on Tuesday February 5, 2013, 13:42 by Ian Freer in Empire States
 So here's something that might be of interest to our younger readers. As you’ll know, many of the world’s great filmmakers from Martin Scorsese to George Lucas to Nick Park started their career at film school. Now, if you’re aged between 16-19, you can too.
In a BFI/Department for Education initiative, The National Film And Television School, whose alumni include Nick Park, David Yates and Skyfall cinematographer Roger Deakins, will be accepting applications from 16-19 year olds all over England to select 54 participants for a once in a lifetime educational opportunity. The BFI Film Academy Talent Campus is an intensive 13-day training course which will enable the UK’s most promising young film talent to develop a range and breadth of film disciplines.
“The NFTS has a commitment to educate the best creative talent to the highest professional standards for tomorrow’s screen... Continue reading... Comment Now (2 comments)
Back To TopEmpire States: Five Things We Learnt At The London Toy Fair 2013
Posted on Friday January 25, 2013, 15:42 by Phil de Semlyen in Empire States
 Held in the vast Olympia hall in west London, Toy Fair is a giddifying jamboree that brings manufacturers and retailers together amid a vast array of Scalextric, Smurfettes and snoozing Furbys. It’s also – ssshhh! – a secret trove of plot points and spoilers for the big superhero releases of the year ahead. Last January, the nice people at Hasbro gave us a first peek at their new Hulk, revealing Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk clobber a good five months before The Avengers assembled, while LEGO showed off ‘Loki’s Cosmic Cube Escape’, in which a tiny god of mischief and an equally tiny, mind-controlled Hawkeye made off with the tesseract in a 4x4. You know, a bit like in the film.
Needless to say, we were back for Toy Fair 2013 this week, hoping to glean more brick-based hints from LEGO’s Iron Man 3... Continue reading... Comment Now (3 comments)
Back To TopEmpire States: HMV And The Dying Art Of Browsing
Posted on Tuesday January 15, 2013, 09:55 by Chris Hewitt in Empire States
 Every Friday, I do a slot on a BBC radio show which is broadcast from just off Oxford Street. Every Friday after it’s done, I walk back to the Empire offices in Covent Garden. And every Friday – and don’t tell my boss – I pop into the HMV on Oxford Street (the big HMV, not the one in the basement of Selfridges), partially because it’s on my route back to the office, and partially because it gives me an experience that’s pretty much unique for a film fan in the UK: honest-to-goodness browsing. I don’t buy every Friday. Sometimes, browsing is just that. But I’ve dipped into my pocket more often than not, particularly over the last few months as the retail giant mounted a particularly enticing Blu-ray sale that never seemed to end. If you’ve been in an HMV recently, you’ll know the one I mean. I’ve added substantially to my Blu-ray collection because of that sale. But the point is, whether I buy or not, the experience is the key. That fe... Continue reading... Comment Now (48 comments)
Back To TopEmpire States: Empire Vs. Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark
Posted on Friday November 23, 2012, 14:53 by Ali Plumb in Empire States
 As part of the Amazing Spider-Man New York press trip, I got the chance to see the Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark musical on Broadway. If you were to ask me for a one-word review of the Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark musical on Broadway, the one word I would give you is ‘bonkers’. On the better side of bonkers, mind, but still – ahem – completely off the wall.
Chances are, you’ll have already heard about its initial technical glitches, huge running costs and critical mauling. Maybe you’ll know it as “that U2 Spider-Man musical where those stuntmen were injured” or possibly as “the Broadway show with the weirdest name of all time”, but now that the dust has settled, the script has been rewritten, certain songs excised and nuts-on-the-wire rigging firmly tightened, this felt like the right time to appreciate Marvel’s foray i... Continue reading... Comment Now (1 comment)
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