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This Week...
The Oscar nominations were announced this Tuesday, prompting rejoicing, gnashing of teeth and/or a calm acceptance of the shortlists. We've decided to go for the latter approach, since there is much to be thankful for and very little to reduce one to apoplexy this year. Our full Oscar coverage will roll out over the next few weeks as the ceremony approaches, but in the meantime we have the complete list of nominees for your perusal and a blog answering the most common questions about this year's list. But that's not all! This week also sees the release of Tangled, the 50th animated feature from Disney, which prompted us to create you an in-depth and complete guide to the full half-century. Read it, and know everything there is to know (nearly) about Uncle Walt and crew. And if you still haven't picked up a copy of the latest Empire, which explains - among other things - why the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie isn't going to suck like the other sequels, and what Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law have planned for Sherlock Holmes 2, get out there and buy it! It's pay day now; there's no excuse - and you know you're worth it. Helen O'Hara
Deputy Online Editor, Empire | | |
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|  | | | In heaven I have six wings and four faces - and one of them is a lion!
Angel Zachariah gets pissy while explaining why he prefers life at home in Supernatural. | | |  | | |
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Those Oscar Nominations Explained!
Every year the Academy Award nominations leave people with more unanswered questions than anything else. After doing a quick canvas of Twitter, facebook and the Empire office, I'm going to try to answer some of the most burning questions posed by this year's list of nominees. | | | |
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Your Guide To Disney's 50 Animated Features
Tangled, out this week, marks the 50th Disney animated feature, in a line stretching back to 1937. The half-century of animated efforts include some nailed-on classics – Dumbo, Beauty and the Beast, The Jungle Book – and some rather more obscure efforts – Make Mine Music, anyone? Anyone? But the story on the studio's rise and fall and rise and fall and rise again is a fascinating one, and we have the full story here... | | |
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 | | Done In 60 Seconds Competition - Last Few Days!
If you've ever dreamed of coming along to the Jameson Empire Awards and rubbing shoulders with the celebrities who throng to attend every year, your time is running out. The winners of this year's Done In Sixty Seconds competition will be feted onstage with the big stars - but there are only three days left to get your submissions in, because the closing date is January 31. That's Monday, people, Monday! So grab that camera, build some dodgy sets and don some dodgier wigs and get acting: there's still (just) time to take part... |
|  | | The 7 Romantic Comedy Movie Poster Cliches
Looking at the likes of Morning Glory and The Dilemma's posters, you can't help but sigh and wish they'd done something more original. They're just so… generic. You feel like you've seen them before – and that's because you have, and we're here to prove it. From the back-to-back pose to 'the lean', not forgetting the park bench one-sheet and the attack of the giant heads, there seem to be a very small number of concepts permitted for rom-com posters... and they're all here. Unless we've inadvertently missed a cliché – in which case, let us know in the comment box below, there's a good chap. |
|  | | Video: Tangled Interviews
Tangled is the 50th Disney animated feature and, happily, one of its best in years. An action-packed twist on the Rapunzel story, this mixes gorgeous animation, catchy tunes and a horse who thinks he's a hound dog to completely winning effect. We travelled to Disneyland Paris (it's a hard life) recently to interview directors Byron Howard and Nathan Greno, producer Roy Conli, legendary animator Glen Keane and ace composer Alan Menken to get the full story on the creation of a different sort of Disney princess. This one, we promise, is more Princess Bride than you'd expect... |
|  | | Video: Javier Bardem And Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu Talk Biutiful
Biutiful sees Javier Bardem play Uxbal as he struggles with fatherhood, love, spirituality, crime, guilt, and mortality. The latest offering from genius director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, it's set in the dangerous underworld of modern Barcelona and tackles current issues from prostate cancer to depression to the horrific conditions illegal immigrants sometimes face. Empire was lucky enough to grab some time with both the star and director to talk about the film... |
|  | | Video: Donald Sutherland On The Mechanic
If it seems a little unexpected to find a veteran of classics like MASH, Don't Look Now, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, JFK and Astro Boy (okay, not Astro Boy) popping up in a Jason Statham hitman movie, The Mechanic definitely has Donald Sutherland's total belief. We know this because the iconic thesp enthused about it with us in person. He's 75 but still working with the relish of a newcomer, he told us about his time on Stath duty. |
|  | | 10 Things You Need To Know About Batman Baddie Bane
Last week it was confirmed that Anne Hathaway will be playing Catwoman in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises and that Tom Hardy will play Bane in the same film. But if your chief exposure to the Bat comes from the big screen, the TV show or classic comics, you may not have come across Bane, who was introduced in the mid-1990s. For your convenience, we've put together a quick guide of the 10 things you need to know about the big guy himself… |
|  | | Video: Paul Giamatti On Barney's Version
He's helped found America, dealt with scrunt infestations, exchanged gunfire with Clive Owen and broken the hearts of Merlot aficionados the world over. You'd think after that little lot Paul Giamatti would be ready for a quieter life. But no. Barney's Version offers the ever-marvellous Giamatti the chance to get his gnashers into one of his chunkiest roles yet, playing lovelorn Barney Panofsky in a fictional biopic that straddles decades. He told us about a complex man and his life less ordinary. |
|  | | Video: Zebra Crossing Interview
Zebra Crossing is the story of Justin, a Londoner stuck on a brutal estate filled with gangland violence, drug dealing and street fighting. Desperate to escape his violent life, the film is a fast paced (and sometime terrifying) story of one man’s struggle to make good. We caught up with director Sam Holland and actor Lee Turnball (Justin) to talk about their inspiration for the idea and the difficulties of producing your own film on a small budget... |
|  | | Damon Wise At Sundance
The Sundance Film Festival remains one of the biggest events on the movie calendar, the place where new indie filmmakers and established names come to make their career and get their films into the public eye. For a week, the tiny mountain town of Sundance becomes a snowy celeb-fest jammed with filmmakers and critics - and we've got our Damon Wise out there all the way to bring us the news on what's happening. Yes, he's been risking broken bones (what with the snow and the copious quantities of alcohol) and liver failure to bring us the latest on all the films worth seeing - so check out this link for the full story... |
|  | | Video: Vince Vaughn Vs. Keven James Movie Mastermind
The biggest dilemma facing the cast of The Dilemma, aside from being asked lots of questions with the word 'dilemma' in them during the movie's press day, was keeping a straight face when acting opposite Vince Vaughn. The movie isn't a rom-com in the strictest sense, more a provocative look at relationships and honestly with lots of added funniness, so the serious scenes need serious punch. So we asked Winona Ryder, Ron Howard and Jennifer Connelly - and Oscar-y ensemble if ever there was one - how they managed to deliver it while staring into the eyes of one of the funniest men alive. We also asked about a fair few other things, including cookery, David Bowie, insomnia and late night calls to Al Pacino. We're not gonna lie: at times it got pretty unusual, even before Vaughn and Kevin James were subjected to an impromptu movie mastermind quiz that ended in disarray. |
|  | | The Ultimate Ghosts Picture Quiz
Hereafter is Clint Eastwood's latest, and it's all about death. Happy days. A third of the film centres around George Lonegan (played by Matt Damon), a factory worker who can somehow speak to the dead, which means ghosts, ghoulies and the generally not-living make their presence known. So in honour of all things ghostly and grim, we've compiled this little picture quiz all about dead spirits - and for that reason, we cannot promise this picture quiz won't scare you a tiny bit. Or at all, really. | | | |
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Tangled dolls and wigs - perfect for small princesses. Fun fact: there was nearly a fistfight over these between two parents of small girls among Empire's staff. | | | |
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|  | | | |  | |  | |  | |  | | | An Ode To Action. | | But it's not a patch on this slice of fried gold. | | A live-action Up, circa 1965. | | The magic of Muppetry, in one easy video. |
If you have any timewasters to share, then e-mail them in to me. | | | |
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Tangled 
Not just a pretty face; there's meat on its bones and a song in its heart besides. This deserves a place up there with the best of Disney's previous fairy tales. | | | |
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This Week's Video Trailers And Clips
Every week, our video player will update to show trailers and clips from the week's movie releases listed above. | | |
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Black Dynamite
Fond and very funny homage to the exploitation era. | | | |
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