60 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblog/ Rants, raves and randomness from the Empire office 08/11/2009 00:16:13 james@empireonline.com (James Dyer) http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/empireblog/post/p725 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... http://local.empireonline.com725 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/london-film-festival-2009/post/p723 ... http://local.empireonline.com723 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/empireblog/post/p722 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 ... http://local.empireonline.com722 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/london-film-festival-2009/post/p721 ... http://local.empireonline.com721 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/london-film-festival-2009/post/p720 ... http://local.empireonline.com720 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/london-film-festival-2009/post/p724 ... http://local.empireonline.com724 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/london-film-festival-2009/post/p719 ... http://local.empireonline.com719 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/london-film-festival-2009/post/p718 ... http://local.empireonline.com718 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/london-film-festival-2009/post/p717 ... http://local.empireonline.com717 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/london-film-festival-2009/post/p715 ... http://local.empireonline.com715 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/london-film-festival-2009/post/p716 ... http://local.empireonline.com716 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/london-film-festival-2009/post/p714 ... http://local.empireonline.com714 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/london-film-festival-2009/post/p713 ... http://local.empireonline.com713 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/london-film-festival-2009/post/p712 The LFF is on its sixth day, so excuse my tardiness in blogging. This is mostly because I'd seen a fair few of the earlier movies (Life During Wartime, Enter The Void, The Road, The Men Who Stare At Goats and A Single Man) and I thought I'd wait till I'd got all the George Clooney films out of the way before I began. The first was, of course, the opening-night animation extravaganza Fantastic Mr Fox, Wes Anderson's stop-motion adaptation of Roald Dahl's children's book. Although I don't wager much on its commercial prospects (Anderson's films traditionally peak around £2.5m), it's a charming and very funny tale that marks a return to the more human and nuanced comedy of The Royal Tenenbaums after the wilfully quixotic absurdity of, say, The Life Aquatic. It begins with Mr Fox (Clooney) vowing to give up his risky, chicken-stealing outlaw ways when he finds out his wife (Meryl Streep) is pregnant. The story then jumps ten years or so, by which time Mr Fox is a respectable news... http://local.empireonline.com712 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/london-film-festival-2009/post/p711 ... http://local.empireonline.com711 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/empireblog/post/p710 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... http://local.empireonline.com710 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/london-film-festival-2009/post/p709 ... http://local.empireonline.com709 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/london-film-festival-2009/post/p708 ... http://local.empireonline.com708 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/empireblog/post/p705 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. ... http://local.empireonline.com705 http://local.empireonline.com/empireblogs/empireblog/post/p704 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.<br ... http://local.empireonline.com704