New Empress Magazine

Unveiled: The Final Bumper Issue

This month sees the release of our last print issue! When I started this project in 2010 I had no idea what I was getting myself into (how difficult could… [Continue Reading...]
In Review: Listen Up Philip on DVD

Philip Lewis Friedman (Jason Schwartzman) is a young, New York author on the verge of having his second novel published. He is also a self-absorbed, arrogant… [Continue Reading...]
In Review: Life Moves Pretty Fast (Book)

How could we not be sceptical about another book on 1980s movies? Nostalgia, ho! But Hadley Freeman's ode slash entreaty to us not to forget how good we… [Continue Reading...]
In Review: The Misfits (1961) re-released

It is understandable how the stories and controversy surrounding a film's production can contribute to the way it’s eventually perceived when released.… [Continue Reading...]
Old Hollywood: Sidney Poitier and the Civil Rights Era

Cinema has always been seen as a mirror to society, the changes, the fears, the angers and the themes of a nation are often represented and reflected on… [Continue Reading...]
COFILMIC Comedy Film Festival: Entries wanted

Attention all prospective comedy writers and filmmakers: a festival you will not want to miss is coming to Manchester on the 29th and 30th October. Now… [Continue Reading...]
Win A Blu-ray Bundle And Signed Poster With The Release Of T.S. Spivet

Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s beautiful T.S. Spivet is released in UK cinemas on Friday 13th June and to celebrate, we’ve got a very special package to giveaway… [Continue Reading...]
Old Hollywood: The Woman’s Picture

In the 1940s a term to describe a type of (sub) genre of film came to prominence in cinema- The ‘woman’s picture’. Though films of this nature had… [Continue Reading...]
In Preview: BFI Flare 2015

As usual it’s a glorious action-packed schedule at BFI Flare (19th-29th March, London) helpfully divided into three sections; documentaries sit side… [Continue Reading...]

Dire-ctors: Edward D. Wood Jnr

by I S Kallah 6 February 2011

By I.S. Kallah “One is always considered mad when one perfects something that others cannot grasp.” Born on 10th October 1924 Ed Wood was an actor, author, editor, producer, screenwriter and director. In his short life spanning 54 years he made a number of B-films, which were so appallingly bad that they were, in fact, […]

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Dear Auntie Em, I’m putting my audience in a copter-coma…

by Helen Cox 6 February 2011

Dear Auntie Em, I am a film director, quite a well-known one at that, but have fallen into some bad habits when shooting my pictures. Firstly, over the years I’ve developed an inexplicable obsession with helicopters and slow-motion shots. My parents never did buy me the toy helicopter I wanted and now I feel some […]

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In Focus: Stand By Me (1986)

by Helen Cox 29 January 2011

By Helen Cox For those of us who have already seen the 1986 masterpiece Stand By Me there is one image that immediately comes to mind: four boys running clumsily along a railway bridge swiftly pursued by a steam train that shows no sign of stopping. If you haven’t seen Stand By Me let me […]

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In Focus: Cecil Hepworth

by Helen Cox 28 January 2011

By Helen Cox Ever wonder who was there at the dawn of film? Who devised early special effects and dreamt up innovative new ways of using the camera to effect? Cecil Hepworth was such a man. Undoubtedly amongst the founding fathers of the British film industry Cecil Hepworth experimented with a range of camera shots […]

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Film Conspiracy and the Deep Blue Sea: Part 1

by Helen Cox 26 January 2011

Don’t Love the Ocean Too Much By Helen Cox It has come to my attention that there is some strange conspiracy going on in the film industry to keep human beings away from any large body of water. They also seem to be against people taking up jobs as marine biologists, fishermen or even as […]

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In Focus: The Blues Brothers (1980)

by Helen Cox 22 January 2011

By Helen Cox I’ve always felt that the world is divided into two sorts of people: people who found watching The Blues Brothers a life-altering experience and those who didn’t. I am certainly in the former, and undoubtedly smaller, category but the latter category is fronted by Barry Norman so I’m happy to be where I […]

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