Why Does Hollywood Hate Ireland?
Posted on Tuesday November 17, 2009, 13:28 by Helen O'Hara in The Empire Blog
Yesterday, I watched the new trailer for Leap Year, an Amy Adams / Matthew Goode-starring romantic comedy set partly in Ireland. I would've written about it immediately, but it took a full 24-hours for me to stop gaping at my screen, throwing things and then plotting death by firing squad for all those involved. I'm OK now, honest. And I do think Amy Adams is ace, usually. But...well, see for yourself.... Continue reading... Comment Now (92 comments)
Back To TopWhat's Your Favourite Case Of Bad Movie Science?
Posted on Friday November 13, 2009, 14:43 by Helen O'Hara in The Empire Blog
2012 is in cinemas, in which Roland Emmerich oversees the destruction of most of the surface of the globe in a cataclysm. The film is, as you'd expect, completely bananas but kinda fun once you get past the stock characters and on-the-nose dialogue. But what really stands out in the film is the science. Now we're not experts, but we're nevertheless saying it's what's technically known as "well dodgy". Aside from the fact that even NASA reckons we have nothing to worry about, our fairly basic grasp of physics suggests that the catastrophe, as described, doesn't quite hang together. We're told in the first five minutes that the apocalypse is caused by "mutated neutrinos" which start heating up the interior of the Earth "like microwaves". Now, kinda seems to me that a) sub-atomic neutrinos don't generally Hulk out and b) if there were powerful microwaves coming from the Sun and boiling... Continue reading... Comment Now (72 comments)
Back To TopHelp Avert World War III
Posted on Tuesday November 10, 2009, 14:09 by Helen O'Hara in The Empire Blog
I'm in a bit of a tricky spot, and I'm hoping that the collective wisdom of Empire readers can get me out of it. My generally delighful and lovely but rather strong-minded extended family is getting together this Christmas for my grandmothers XXth birthday* and before the big family dinner we're going to a tiny little private cinema somewhere in deepest, darkest Northern Ireland to see a movie. The question is: what movie? And specifically, since there's a film journalist in the family and she's been lumped with choosing what to watch, how am I going to avoid getting given just socks for Christmas after offending everyone with my choice? Here are the players: a grandmother of mature years and taste that rather precludes too much sex, violence or bad language. A nine-year-old cousin. A smattering of teenagers. Some aunts and uncles with strong opinions on films, the kind who have been known to walk out of a cinema when they don't like what's on. And me, trying to find something they'll all like. ...Continue reading... Comment Now (121 comments)
Back To TopHow Scary Should Kids Movies Be?
Posted on Monday November 2, 2009, 10:57 by Helen O'Hara in The Empire Blog
Yesterday I found Babe: Pig in the City on TV and finally decided to find out if it was disappointing (as I'd heard) or one of the best sequels ever (as I'd also heard). Turns out it was pretty darn fantastic, what with the witty geography*, demented storyline and superb animal acting, occasionally augmented by CGI. But it's also really rather disturbing, what with a death and police brutality and animal experimentation and some vicious animal fights and even a moment where a dog goes to heaven. All of which chimed with recent and upcoming films like A Christmas Carol, Where The Wild Things Are and Coraline, which look like family films but are proper scary as well. So how frightening is OK for kids? Because both Coraline and Where The Wild Things Are (on its US release) drew semi-hysterical reactions from adults worried that children would be traumatised by the more intense and darker scenes in the films. OK, losing your eyes for buttons and/or headi... Continue reading... Comment Now (107 comments)
Back To TopWho Should Host The Oscars Now?
Posted on Friday October 30, 2009, 10:15 by Helen O'Hara in The Empire Blog
Hugh Jackman has decided that he won't be returning next year to host the 82nd Annual Academy Awards - but who will take up the baton mantle envelope in his place? After the changes to the show's format last year, do they have to be able to sing and dance? Should they be devastatingly handsome and able to pop claws if anyone tries to run over the alloted time for their thank-you speech? Or is massive personal charisma most important? Here are a few contenders we came up with to take over the show. Ricky Gervais
PROS: Everyone in the entertainment industry seems to adore him, and he pretty much makes Americans laugh just by turning up, which would make the opening monologue a doddle. He's been talked about for the gig for ages, and he's surely got to actually get asked one of these days.
CONS: His films haven't managed huge box-office in the US, so it may be that Oscar producers are worried that his appeal doesn't extend outside the ... Continue reading... Comment Now (24 comments)
Back To Top100 Sexiest 2009: What Have We Learned?
Posted on Friday October 16, 2009, 12:31 by Helen O'Hara in The Empire Blog
As you really should have noticed by now, we posted the results of our 100 Sexiest Stars poll on the website yesterday. Now aside from the fact that it's an ace feature with lots of brilliantly-crafted copy* and interesting facts about the world's sexiest people, here's what we learned from this year's poll. 1. Since we asked both boys and girls to vote for boys and girls, I'm guessing that the top spots go to people who both sexes acknowledge as ridiculously attractive. It'd take a pretty brazen person to seriously argue that Megan Fox, Angelina Jolie or Johnny Depp isn't attractive. Robert Pattinson may be the exception to this though: unless men are trying to guess who women fancy, it seems to me that he was probably chiefly voted for by a hardcore of girls, since most guys I know claim to despise his Twilight popularity. 2. Making bad movies, especially Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, can seriously affect your standing. Matthew... Continue reading... Comment Now (7 comments)
Back To TopComedians And Uppercuts
Posted on Tuesday October 13, 2009, 13:25 by Alastair Plumb in The Empire Blog
As a movie journalist, you'll often find yourself in unusual situations. Helen once visited a rat catcher in Paris, Phil once interviewed an animatronic cat and Nick once met the head of the Albino Federation. Last week I learnt how to smash a stranger's face into my knee before gouging his eyes out - all in the name of movie journalism. For this, Jameson, I thank you.
Let me explain. I wasn't actually gouging his eyes out, it just looked like I was - such is the nature of stuntwork in films. I was on a one day stunt workshop course, learning first hand about the inside workings of the orchestrated fight business, full of carefully placed cameras, spacing and 'naps' (the fake noise you make to coincide with your 'hit').
It turns out that though it looks like Tony Jaa has body slammed a goon back-first into a wall, it is, of course, fake. Very, very fake. ... Continue reading... Comment Now
Back To TopWhy can't all premiere parties be like the one for Le Donk?
Posted on Tuesday October 13, 2009, 12:53 by Damon Wise in The Empire Blog
 The London Film festival kicks off tomorrow with the world premiere of Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr Fox, and the party afterwards will be a star-studded, lavish affair. But will it be as good as the bash that was held at a community centre near Covent Garden on Sunday night? Devised by Shane Meadows and his producing partner Mark Herbert, the do – to promote the release of their new mockumentary Le Donk & Scor-Zay-Zee – followed in the same vein as the fantastic party they threw in Edinburgh. That was the party where the director of Humpday won a box of anal lubricant in a tombola that furnished me with a badge that said 'SEXY', where Shane did a DJ set of ska and reggae, where Mark played some disco, and where the bar consisted of a Formica table with lots of Sainsbury's Basic mixers on it and a binful of free Brewdog beer underneath. During the night, Le Donk (aka Paddy Considine) sang 'Calm Down, Deidre Barlow' and Scorz obliged us with a rap.
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Back To Top2012: Our Reaction
Posted on Friday September 25, 2009, 15:04 by Helen O'Hara in The Empire Blog
Roland Emmerich, his writing partner Harald Kloser and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and ONLY JOHN FRICKING CUSACK were in town today to introduce 53 minutes of footage from 2012, and it really was everything we expected. Let's describe what we saw, and you can start to make up your own mind. 2009...and Chiwetel "serious government scientist" Ejiofor rocks up to Jimi Mistry's Indian home above a deep copper mine. Mistry's looking sweaty and harried, and not just because he doesn't rate his wife's fish curry. No, it's because "neutrinos" from a solar flare seem to have "mutated" (physicists, stop laughing at the back!) and are not acting as microwaves heating the Earth's core. Suddenly Chewie's looking all sweaty and harried too, as he rushes back to... Washington DC, where Oliver Platt has graduated from White House Counsel's Office (in The West Wing) to something more senior. We didn't quite get what, but he seems to be White House Chief of Staff or Secretary of... Continue reading... Comment Now (17 comments)
Back To TopDon't Watch With Mother
Posted on Tuesday September 22, 2009, 14:54 by Chris Hewitt in The Empire Blog
 Watching movies is an inclusive experience. It bonds us, it binds us, it brings a group of strangers closer together. It makes us laugh together. It makes us scream together. It makes us cry together. Nothing beats watching a new movie for the first time with other people – unless, that is, those people are your parents. Then it can turn into possibly the most humiliating, embarrassing, squirm-worthy experience known to Christendom.
When I was growing up, I was something of a movie pimp for my parents, who were less than film-literate. Dad liked Westerns. Nothing but Westerns. Mum liked James Cagney movies and the two Al Jolson biopics. So, even at a tender age, I took it upon myself to broaden their horizons. The only problem with this is that, when you watch movies with your parents, you can pretty much guarantee that there’ll be at least one moment in any film – in every film – that is mortifying beyond all human endurance. A cock here, a boob there, a severed th... Continue reading... Comment Now (113 comments)
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