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...]

In Review: Jurassic World

by Daniel Goodwin 17 June 2015

After Spielberg’s original SFX game changer Jurassic Park arrived in 1993 an inevitable franchise evolved, seemingly concluded by Jurassic Park 3, directed by Joe Johnston, in 2001. Fourteen years later and Colin Trevorrow (director of decent indie sci-fi Safety Not Guaranteed) has fashioned the fourth instalment; Jurassic World, a lacklustre effort heavily burdened by a lack […]

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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 […]

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In Review: Spy

by Daniel Goodwin 4 June 2015

Spy and comedy genres have always mixed well over the years. The stiff upper lip studiousness of early 007 outings proved ripe for ridicule with the popular Austin Powers and questionable Johnny English franchises and Matthew Vaughn’s recent Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) provided a slightly diverse take. With various lampooners spoofing the trends cemented […]

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Unveiled: The Final Bumper Issue

by Helen Cox 3 June 2015

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 it be to start a film magazine on top of a full time job, in a recession without any financial backing, right?) but editing this […]

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In Review: The Goob

by Daniel Goodwin 29 May 2015

Writer and Director Guy Myhill’s feature debut is a pensive tale of adolescent wonder and angst in rural Norfolk. At the centre of his tale is the Goob (Liam Walpole): a juvenile oddball and black sheep of the settlement who wanders through a land of scrap yards, pumpkin fields and dirt tracks while friends and […]

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In Review: Tomorrowland: A World Beyond

by Daniel Goodwin 25 May 2015

Disney continue its run of nostalgic live action productions following Kenneth Branagh’s antiquated Cinderella (2015) and 90s style baseball romp Million Dollar Arm (2014) with Tomorrowland: A World Beyond: a wistful, family sci-fi that evokes the likes of Escape To Witch Mountain (1975) and The Cat From Outer Space (1978) alongside 80s Amblin and sci-fi […]

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In Review: Foxcatcher on DVD

by Maryann O'Connor 19 May 2015

Away from the hype of the award nominations and away from the strangeness of Steve Carell’s prosthetic facial features, the question is this: will the passing of time be kind to Foxcatcher? Upon viewing the film on the small screen, the answer would seem to be no. Wrestler Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) entertains the creepy […]

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In Review: Mad Max: Fury Road

by Daniel Goodwin 17 May 2015

After thirty years of dormancy, production delays and cast altercations, Mad Max finally returns to our screens with original Writer-Director George Miller and Tom Hardy replacing Mel Gibson as leather-clad loner Max Rockatansky. Miller’s third sequel is an irrepressible whirlwind of action, energy and weaponised excitement.

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In Review: Spooks: The Greater Good

by Daniel Goodwin 10 May 2015

In our post-Tinker Taylor age with new Mission Impossible, Bond and revived Bourne vehicles on the horizon, the British spy series Spooks makes its cinematic debut as forerunner to the big guns. The plot unfurls with familiar genre trends, opening in London with a 007 style pre-credits sequence as a biker gang attempt to free a […]

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In Review: Big Game (2014)

by Daniel Goodwin 7 May 2015

Finnish director Jalmari Helander delivers his first English language film, Big Game: an unintentionally zany mélange of fantastical action and family drama. After his intriguing punk-festive debut Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) Helander stumbles with this barnstorming follow up, which strives to be mainstream but loses sight of its promising concept.

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In Review: Rigor Mortis (Geung Si) (2013)

by Maryann O'Connor 30 April 2015

Rigor Mortis, a horror homage set in a sort of apocalyptic urban wasteland, puzzles laboriously, wrong-foots and confounds but still somehow manages to charm. Fallen from grace star (Siu-Ho Chin) moves into a desolate Hong Kong apartment block having split from his wife and son; he is in a fragile state of mind but soon realises […]

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