Empire Magazine

[plasterface]

the trouble with video dungeon is genre releases are squashed together with sometimes only a sentence as a review . As much as i respect his vast knowledge of horror he can be very dismissive of some great titles and pick some absolute shite for his dungeon breakout.

[Slippery Jack]

I do like how the fans contribute a new poster for the dungeon each month (keep meaning to get onto that). But yeah, content-wise a shame it's not more substantial, but I guess its only a niche following within the Empire readership . . .

[Paul@TheOverlook]

Originally Posted by Demdike

In which way?

I always felt Total Film was always trying to be "cool" for the sake of it. As i don't buy it anymore i can't really compare them.

I just think the features are of a better quality in TF and have been less obvious in their subject matter.

It's also abundantly clear to me that both magazines are desperately trying to keep net-savvy film enthusiasts appeased by featuring articles for films a year or two before they're released. I find this exasperating, I'd much rather see articles for films as they're released or decent retrospectives for older films. This newfound practice resorts in the sort of overkill that often puts me off watching something...

Another thing that bothers me about Empire is that it would appear that certain writers would like to think that they're "close" to the talent and I often question the integrity of the reviews of films that are linked to these directors and stars. I've never had that feeling about TF reviews at all. In fact, I'm inclined to agree with TF's ratings a lot more often than I am Empire's

As I said, there are some great writers at Empire and I'd never question the motivation of those people, I just think that some rot has set in in the last five years with newer people writing and the overall purpose of the magazine evolving into another spoke in the wheel for studios' marketing departments.

Just my opinion though.

[Wes]

I haven't seen a Total Film in ages now - do they still accompany the reviews with that ridicolous graph thing ? I always thought that was a dreadful idea...

I have lots of early issues of Empire and in comparison with the current issues, looks like Sight & Sound, ie a serious Cinema journal, even the layout was clean, stately not like the riot of graphics it is today...

If anyone is interested, I posted Empire's 500 Greatest Movies on my blog - in fairness this is a fan poll (not Empire staff) but a little depressing to read...

Empire's 500 - The View from the Mainstream

Below, Empire #1 with a just of whiff of Q magazine...

[bdc]

I've only glanced through it but Burton's Ed Wood at 193?

[steve dan]

The thing is, what we used to get from those mags we now get from the web. Same for Q which I used to read religously.

[PaulD]

Originally Posted by steve dan

The thing is, what we used to get from those mags we now get from the web. Same for Q which I used to read religously.

True. Although (and I say this as someone who doesn't buy magazines that often) there's still something satisfying about holding a nice pagey, tangible magazine in your hand

[steve dan]

Well, true. Not enough to actually pay for them tho when we can get it for free.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by PaulD

True. Although (and I say this as someone who doesn't buy magazines that often) there's still something satisfying about holding a nice pagey, tangible magazine in your hand

Totally agree.

Originally Posted by steve dan

Well, true. Not enough to actually pay for them tho when we can get it for free.

I refuse to sit on the bog with my pc on my knee.

[Nostalgic]

I used to buy Empire religiously in college (around 1996-1998), and kept buying that and Total film every month until about 2004 as I was going to the cinema pretty much every Friday to check out the latest releases, from blockbusters to unknown gems.

Over the years, work, family and other commitments just got in the way & I pretty much gave up buying them until recently, when I decided to buy a couple of issues to see if it was as interesting. Sadly, Empire (and TF) does not seem to interest me so much, a little too "mainstream" for me. I mean, they do "The Top 100 movies/actors/directors" every year (and yes, even though I haven't been buying them, I've seen the covers and they seem to waste an issue on something like this at least once a year). And as much as I do love them, can we just stop with the ENDLESS cliche-ridden articles on Eastwood, DeNiro, Scocesse, Spielberg, and bloody Star Wars!!!! Seriously, it's as if they only go round and round in circles when doing retro articles. There's only so much you can read about star Wars, The Godfather, Jaws and bloody Indiana Jones before feeling like you made the film yourself!

Now, because of my shift in interest more towards the fantasy/sci-fi (both mainstream and obscure) genres, I buy SFX! Very geeky stuff, very funny, and very self-aware! Some book and comic reviews too.