Features

In Review: Life Moves Pretty Fast (Book)

by Maryann O'Connor 19 June 2015

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 had it [despite what those awful film critics might have said at the time] paired with discussion of current industry goings-on does provide a considerable dollop of hey-I-never-knew-that alongside […]

Read the full article →

In Review: The Misfits (1961) re-released

by Daniel Goodwin 12 June 2015

It is understandable how the stories and controversy surrounding a film’s production can contribute to the way it’s eventually perceived when released. John Huston’s The Misfits (re-released this week) is famous for being the final film of Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe before their untimely deaths, along with the on-set complications of Gable’s complaints about […]

Read the full article →

Old Hollywood: The Woman’s Picture

by Linsey Satterthwaite 23 March 2015

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 been in existence since the silent era, the term reached its zenith during World War II, coinciding with the absence of men in the home and in […]

Read the full article →

Old Hollywood: Sidney Poitier and the Civil Rights Era

by Linsey Satterthwaite 20 February 2015

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 the big screen as a window to political and cultural shifts. Selma, a film based on the 1965 voting march led by Martin Luther King, recently landed in […]

Read the full article →

In Review: The Comedy of Terrors (1963) on Blu-ray

by Maryann O'Connor 19 February 2015

The Comedy of Terrors (1963) stars the king of sardonically delivered horror ham Vincent Price and his esteemed cohorts Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff as hunter and the hunted; Waldo Trumbull (Price) is running a failing funeral directors and John Black (Rathbone) is the creditor about to repossess his assets. Price decides to kill […]

Read the full article →

Old Hollywood: Sophia Loren, Sunflower and Sex Appeal

by Linsey Satterthwaite 30 January 2015

Many actors/actresses use the method, a form of intense training to delve into the feelings and the emotions of the character they are portraying and, if possible, drawing on personal memories to enhance the performance. One actress who almost transcended the notion of the method was Sophia Loren, such was the embodiment of the characters […]

Read the full article →

In Review: I’m Alright Jack (1959) on Blu-ray

by Ann Jackson 28 January 2015

I’m Alright Jack (1959) is a sequel to an earlier film from the Boulting twins named Privates Progress (1956). The inept Stanley Windrush staggers through humorous job try-outs in industry, expecting a cushy management role. He fails and is persuaded to take a blue collar job. Windrush is clearly being used by the company directors to […]

Read the full article →

In Review: Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)

by Chris Milton 27 January 2015

Rising levels of anti-semitism and the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz means that the re-release this week of one of the finest films about the Holocaust, Louis Malle’s Au Revoir Les Enfants, is more than timely.

Read the full article →

The New Empress Magazine Video Blog: The Polar Express (2004)

by Mark Searby 11 December 2014

The Polar Express is ten years old and being re-released again this festive season.. Mark Searby discovers why the film has grown in stature since its chilly reception in 2004. More New Empress Magazine Video Blogs

Read the full article →

The New Empress Magazine Video Blog: Eyes Without a Face (1960)

by Maryann O'Connor 14 November 2014

Mark Searby takes a look at the 1960 Italian-French horror Les Yeux Sans Visage (Eyes Without a Face). More New Empress Magazine Video Blogs

Read the full article →

In Focus: When the Wind Blows (1986)

by Maryann O'Connor 12 November 2014

In honour of the New Empress Magazine Adaptations Special, here is a discussion of an adaptation which holds a special place in my heart and mind; Raymond Briggs’ When the Wind Blows. There were plenty of films that scared me as a youngster; like many, I wailed over Hazel being stalked by the black rabbit in Watership Down […]

Read the full article →