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This Week...
With the clocks going back and darkness now falling somewhere around lunchtime, we needed something to cheer us up this week. Luckily, 007 was on the spot with a big old press launch for Skyfall, the 23rd outing for Ian Fleming's super-spook. We were there faster than you can say "double-taking pigeon" to hear from Sam Mendes, Daniel Craig and the cast, and thought we'd celebrate with a look back at Bond titles of days gone by. It wasn't all spy-y business this week, though. We also had our earlobes tickled by David Lynch - keep an eye out for him - who gave us a sneak preview of his debut album, headed back to Middle Earth for a brand new Peter Jackson Hobbiblogisode, talked to Gerard Butler and Philip Seymour Hoffman, and delved into Eddie Murphy's back catalogue. Even Pluto Nash. See, it's not all fun and games round here. Helen O'Hara
Deputy Editor, Empire | | |
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The new novels from Haruki Murakami. Prepare for cats, jazz and a touch of the meta-physical. | | | |
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|  | | | Javier has to strip naked for most of the movie
Daniel Craig breaks the bad news to Skyfall's villain. | | |  | | |
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What's Hollywood Favourite Sandwich?
November 3 marks International Sandwich Day! Yes, we know what you're thinking: it's a big old marketing ploy concocted by the sinister Condiment-Industrial Complex to shift a few jars of pickle. But no. We think of it as a time for celebration and, next to 'Move Like A Ninja Day' and 'Hug A Hippo Day', it's one of our favourite little-known days of the year. | | | |
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Eddie Murphy: A Viewer's Guide
Eddie Murphy is an incredibly talented man. He can do goof-off comedy, he can do impersonations, he can do action and he can do gut-wrenching drama. The thing is, he can also produce stinkers so abhorrent their names are enough to bring a tear to a movie exec's eye. The man's an enigma, and in a seven page attempt to solve that enigma, here's Empire's tried-and-true Viewer's Guide for the big man. Oh, and Tower Heist's out this weekend, but that's by the by. | | |
|  | | Design The Jameson Empire Awards Trophy
The Jameson Empire Awards need you – literally. After years of handing big-name winners a Perspex brick, we've decided to jazz things up this year, by coming up with a brand-new Jameson Empire Award trophy. Which is where you lot come in. We want you to send us your designs (fancy pixel-perfect drawings, early sketches or even random doodles) for the new trophy, and the winner will receive two tickets to the Jameson Empire Awards next March, and get to watch some of the biggest names in moviedom hold up the award that they designed. |
|  | | Ten Films For The 99 Percenters
With Occupy Wall Street and The 99 Percenters making their presence thoroughly felt, and St. Paul's Cathedral basically a giant branch of Milletts with bells on, the release of sci-fi parable In Time and blue-collar thriller Tower Heist couldn't be more timely. One punches the idle rich square in the kisser and the other does, well, likewise only with an Eddie Murphy-shaped fist. But if the thought of Axel Foley (the donkey from Shrek, if you're under 20) coming for them doesn't have terrified fat cats bolting themselves into their diamond-encrusted money castles, perhaps a quick glance at John Carpenter's satirical sci-fi They Live might do the trick. Or Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Or Erin Brockovich. Or, um, The Muppets Christmas Carol. There's a movie for every protester out there. Of course, not everyone's going to see it that way - Fox News has already memorably dismissed In Time as "the perfect date movie for Susan Sarandon and Alec Baldwin" - and Hollywood's big studios may not be the most obvious place to look for the next Das Kapital, but if you're in need of stirring entertainment for those frosty nights on society's picket line, you could do a lot worse than these ten gems. |
|  | | A Brief History Of Bond Film Titles
With the recent flurry of website domain name registrations by Sony's "brand protection" company, it looks the 23rd James Bond film will be given the vaguely video-game-esque title Skyfall - we'll find out for sure this Thursday when a major Bond announcement is expected. As little is currently known about the plot apart from some of its likely locations (Scotland, Turkey, South Africa) and possible cast (Javier Bardem and Ralph Fiennes are both strongly rumoured but still officially unconfirmed), and Skyfall isn't an original Ian Fleming title, it's impossible to say yet how the new title was chosen or what its connection to the story might be. But what about the rest of the Bond films? From whence did they get their usually cool, often ludicrous and frequently irrelevant monikers? We squeeze into a pair of tiny trunks to investigate... |
|  | | Philip Seymour Hoffman On Jack Goes Boating
An Oscar winner for Capote with a string of extraordinary acting performances to his name, Doubt, Happiness, Synecdoche, New York among them, like it or not, Philip Seymour Hoffman's first job as director of Jack Goes Boating was to establish a whole new set of credentials. But by adapting a off-Broadway stage play he knew inside-out, he had a head start there. The result is a tender story of lost souls looking for love with typically strong Hoffman performance. If you're seeing it for the boating, there's good news there too. We talked to movieland's latest actor/director - or 'diractor' - what drew him to step behind the camera. |
|  | | Amanda Seyfried And Cillian Murphy Talk In Time
What would you do if you lived in a world where time was literally money and every second counted? A cup of tea and a lie-down seems an obvious place to start. Not in Andrew Niccol's latest high-concept sci-fi In Time where Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried start running and basically don't stop, especially with Cillian Murphy's relentless Timekeeper in hot pursuit. It's the most running you'll see this side of Chariots Of Fire. We met Seyfried and Murphy to find out how fit they needed to be survive the shoot. |
|  | | Immortality In The Movies: Gift or Curse?
The ability to exist for eternity is a double-edged sword. On the plus side you'd get to witness every amazing innovation in all fields of human (and possibly alien) endeavour. Conversely, you'd have to put up with the very real possibility of every single one of your favourite films being remade with one of Justin Bieber's descendants in the lead role. With In Time out this week, in which time itself becomes such a precious commodity that the obscenely rich are able to buy immortality, we take a look at how some of cinema's most famous immortals have coped with everlasting life... |
|  | | The Movie Song Lyric Quote Quiz
It's been aaaages since we did a Quote Quiz around these parts but we thought we'd return to the fold with a new one - based entirely on song lyrics from the movies. All the below come from songs sung by the characters, on screen, or from the official movie theme tune - so NO incidental tunes or soundtrack filler. In the rare instances where a song has been used in subsequent homages and spoofs, the right answer is its original appearance. But can you identify them? Many, as you'd expect, come from musicals, but by no means all - and remember, we're looking for the film name, not the song name! So gird your loins, shake your jazz hands and dive in to the Great Movie Song Lyric Quote Quiz... |
|  | | Ifans, Emmerich, Richardson And Spall Talk Anonymous
There have been some loopy conspiracy movies down the years. We're thinking The Boys From Brazil, Capricorn One, JFK, Monsters Inc., to name a few. Anonymous, though, takes the conspiracy thriller to a whole new level of bonkers-ness. Roland Emmerich's movie suggests that Rhys Ifans's Earl of Oxford was responsible for all the Bard's works while William Shakespeare (Rafe Spall) himself was actually, in the parlance of the time, "a bit of a divvy". That sound you hear? A thousand English teachers spitting tea across their classrooms. We sent our Elizabethan specialist with a brief to find out exactly how seriously we should all be taking this. Along the way we also found out exactly what Emmerich, the crown prince of carnage, was doing making a costumed thriller set in 16th century England, discovered that Ifans "gives good posh" and asked Spall to tell us something - anything - about Prometheus. |
|  | | Jason Flemyng Answers Your Twitter Questions
Any webchat regulars will know that X-Men: First Class's Jason Flemyng was due to be the latest in an illustrious Empire webchatters. Alas, it wasn't to be. Either because Azazel unleashed a bolt of internet-crippling energy, or, more likely, because someone unplugged something important, the relevant part of the site was fried and the chat became a Twitterthon. Luckily, the man no-one calls 'The Flem' is a big old sport and threw himself into the breach manfully, sharing his career memories to date, both good (X-Men: First Class, working with Fincher) and bad (League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Seed Of Chucky). Thanks to all who joined in. |
|  | | Orange Film To Go
This week's film: Cop Out
Having invited their customers to go to the movies every Wednesday with Orange Wednesdays, those film lovers at Orange have come up with a whole new way to interact with movies. Orange Film To Go gives Orange customers, both mobile and broadband, a brand new film to watch on their computer, iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. In short, the best of the film world will come to you. | | | |
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|  | | | |  | |  | |  | |  | | | So adorable | | Scary Chloe. | | The maths of Bayhem. | | Mr. Bean goes to the F1. |
If you have any timewasters to share, then e-mail them in to me. | | | |
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Bad Sexy Teachers, with Naughty Student | | | |
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Tower Heist 
Fun if uneven stuff from Ratner. A welcome return to form for Eddie Murphy and an even-more-welcome turn by the ever-excellent Alan Alda. | | | |
Also Out
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Watch Video
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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Tree Of Life 
There is simply nothing like it out there: profound, idiosyncratic, complex, sincere and magical; a confirmation that cinema can aspire to art. | | | |
Also Out
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