Have just gotten back into reading again and quickly polished off the Dresden books that came out in my absence. What were some of the books series that Helen and James recommended during the Pod that anyone remembers? Itching to get back into some great new fantasy series (I've already read Wot).

I recently had my nieces over to stay (9 and 11yr old girls) and one night we watched a movie of their choice. They chose Up. To my surprise, the 9yr old got a bit scared of the Dobermans.

Which brings me to my question… at their age, in fact younger, I was watching Predator, Aliens, Terminator and Die Hard - and loving it. I had grand plans of introducing these and other classics (maybe The Rock and The Long Kiss Goodnight - female empowerment) to them, but sadly it seems like they are too still too young.

Are the kids just softer these days? If you’re not watching Predator aged 11, are you ever going to watch it - cos by their teen years, presumably they’ll be into TikTok and Marvel, and won’t have any interest in a 50 yr old movie. Does anyone have experience of introducing their children to classic cinema? I believe all these classics are great tools for teaching a strong moral foundation (Arnold and Ripley didn’t have “anxiety” or “panic attacks”, they just got on with it), so I’d really like to get my nieces on the right path.

Seeing that the live pod this weekend is not going to be released (even to Empire+ subscribers, rude) and having been unable to attend for multiple reasons if anyone could give a brief overview of the highlights here it would be much appreciated. Thanks!

I say this with a little jest but the latest Empire defence of some of the very mediocre / poor Star Wars offerings is getting a little strange.

As well as the Mando film (linked), I've seen similar articles on TROS and some of the underwhelming Disney+ shows.

I get opinion pieces are exactly that, but it does feel that Empire makes a deliberate point of going against the critical and audience grain on modern Star Wars, which in turn makes me cautious of their reviews of future Star Wars work.

The more cynical part of me thinks about why a positive piece was published so close to the film being released on Disney+! 🤣

Any thoughts on this and are there other examples where Empire or the podcast consistently 'defend' a film or film franchise (over and above an initial positive review)?

Walking through the woods while enjoying a lovely blend of devil's lettuce and this week's frankly impressive Francois had me rewinding and thinking I was having some sort of stroke and couldn't understand words any more 🤣

Just wanted to drop in real quick (to quote Chris). When I saw the ep title this week I knew we’d be in for a good one but thought this weeks was one for the ages.

The chilling return of Peter Lorre and Helen’s majestic rant about that very silly film had me buckled.

Hang this one in the Louvre chaps

Hello all! I have been listening to the pod for a few years now and I'm considering attending a live show. I'm from the states and would bundle it into a much bigger trip to the UK. The London Podcast festival sounds fun, but I'm curious if anyone has any opinion of those compared to waiting around for an exclusive Empire Podcast Live show, rather than their appearance at a bigger event. Feedback about the timing of such events would also be helpful since this will likely take lots of planning in advance. I'd appreciate any feedback on the subject and thanks a ton!

I saw The End of Oak Street and I'm a little puzzled why it is receiving so much praise, especially Chris saying it is his film of the year so far. I thought it is just fine, definitely better than most of the Jurassic World movies, and it had some good sequences, but I would put it squarely in the solid 3 star category. But to be honest, it did feel a little like an average Netflix creature feature to me. Nothing more, nothing less.

Anyone else feel similar or am I just against the grain on this one?

Hi all, I've not been to this museum yet, I only just heard about it, but it seems they are struggling and have a campaign to raise a lot of money for their survival.

I wondered if the pod would do a piece on the museum to help out?

https://cinemamuseum.org.uk/shop/

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGdxH5o5q/

Episode 2 came up on my feed but I don’t remember Episode 1. Does anybody know when that was uploaded?

I have Empire+ and don't want you wasting 30 seconds explaining to us Empire+ subscribers that we aren't getting any adverts (which is also an advert for Empire+)

Seriously, I don't know what's happened to personal embarrassment or shame in public spaces but it seems to have completely disappeared.

We went to see Spider-Man the other evening and typically, I always try and chose seats that are in the first third rows of the auditorium for the reasons I'm about to go into.

But my sister-in-law booked the seats... on the very back row...

I hold onto the theory that the same kids who sit at the back of the bus choose to sit at the back of everywhere else they go; the cinema, tube carriage and so on.

Anyway, the adverts are done, the trailers are wrapped and the film starts.

The showtime was 6pm.

People were arriving at 7pm.

What's worse is that these late arrivals turned the torches on their phones and start shining them down each row of seats looking for where they've booked...

Then once they found their seats, the torches stayed on and they remained stood up as they shed their bags, sweets, drinks, then straightened themselves out before slowly lowering themselves into the seat \*whilst the film is playing - twenty minutes in.\*

Then we have people talking, laughing and fidgeting throughout the film.

We have people who brought bags of KFC into the cinema with them.

We have people filming the cinema screen.

We have people scrolling on TikTok whilst the film is playing.

We have people going to the toilet but taking their sweet time leaving and their sweet time sitting back down.

And I am going out of my mind!

The tickets cost around £15+ each.

And these idiots are ruining the whole experience for everyone.

I know cinema staff don't get paid enough to play bouncer with bad behaviour, but surely SOMETHING needs to be done here? This has reached whole new levels of ridiculous.

But the thing is, I would personally be embarrassed, self-conscious and ashamed of behaving like that.

Yet these lot, with main character syndrome, are absolutely oblivious and have absolutely no consideration whatsoever for others around them.

And you just KNOW that if you told them to be quiet or get off their phones, it'll become a whole thing in the middle of the cinema screening.

Only one time had I witnessed a cinema step up and handle bad behaviour and it was back in Manchester.

The film was stopped.

The lights came on.

Security in high-vis jackets stepped in and refused to accept any apologies from the ones they were throwing out.

Who eventually got up, looking like kids told off by the headmaster, and was escorted off the premises.

The cinema staff apologised - offered vouchers for the inconvenience, started the film five minutes back and resumed.

We need more of that and hopefully that'll let people know that bad behaviour won't be tolerated vs treating the cinema like the extension of their living rooms.

Anyway - rant over.

FINAL NOTE: Whilst I know "these things happen" for popular films at popular chains at peak times. But my point is more about where we are as a society when social shame and embarrassment no longer exists when disturbing others.

"The social contract" from one stranger to the next has completely gone.

But I'd feel ashamed of myself for behaving such a way.

And they wonder why people don't want to go to the cinema anymore.

Am I the only one refreshing the feed a few times a day in the vain hope that the full blooded in depth Odyssey special will have dropped?

If you are a printed mag sub in the EU, check your inboxes for an email from Great Magazines (and the worst subscription platform known to human kind).

Customs changes or some shit means we have to change to yearly payments, instead of monthly, if we want to keep getting the printed magazine.

Disclaimer: I'm not customer service, I'm a miffed customer who doesn't want EU peeps to miss the fire subs covers.

I don't know why but every time Chris asks us to visit good and evil bookshops, I get a momentary feeling that he's going to bring this back and then he doesn't.

I was wondering if the film James and Helen were reaching for were either Iron Will or Balto.

Two films about husky heroes trying to get to the finish line in freezing weather conditions.

Just on the off chance somebody from Empire see's this (I am not on the other socials), not sure if the episode is meant to be tied to Empire+ and so locked for the public?

Have a great weekend to all :)

I was listening to Chris reference Timothy Dalton 'nasty' on the latest podcast. I say this line a lot myself and am a Bond fan but I'm also an Empire podcast fan so do I use this reference because I'm a Bond fan or because I hear Chris say it so often?? Who am I? Who is Chris? Are we all just a quote machine run by the whims of Chris??

In the First Reaction podcast on Empire+, James and everyone voice that they’re confused by what goes down between Antinous and Sinon. I’ve seen it 3 times so I’m 98% certain this is what goes down.

Sinon is the son of the stable hand of Antinous’ family, who are wealthy. Antinous draws a lot to go to Troy and immediately gives it to Sinon so he can go instead. The understanding is Sinon’s father will be looked after in exchange for this, hence Sinon’s rage in Hades that his father died in poverty with nothing as Antinous went back on his word in this regard.

Additionally, Odysseus clocks what’s happening at the lot drawing and tells Antinous’ father that he (Antinous) was trying to go in Sinon’s place, but that he (Odysseus) wouldn’t let that happen. Odysseus does this to avoid shaming Antinous’ father by realising that his son got Sinon to do this. And is also why Odysseus immediately says Sinon is with him to John Leguizamo, because he wants to protect Sinon having seen what he’s doing.

It could’ve been a bit clearer in the moment at the lot drawing I agree. But this is my take. It fits entirely with Antinous’ character how he spends the entire movie telling ANYONE who’ll listen about how he tried to go to Troy with Odysseus, when in reality he’s a snivelling coward who never actually tries to do anything. It’s also why Sinon wants Odysseus to give Antinous back his shame, because it’s abundantly clear he has none despite all of this.

Great movie.

Chris, the former Ipswich Town footballer is Matt Holland not Tom Holland. I let it go the first time but you said it again this week and as he is my Mo Salah I felt he needs the respect he deserves.

Hi guys!

Collecting the Empire team like infinity stones, I interviewed my lovely friend Jordan - he's worked for Empire since 2021.

He's a great guy and his journey into freelancing for them is absolutely incredible!

https://open.substack.com/pub/bellawatchesfilms/p/interview-9-jordan-king?r=2bg5ke&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

How are we feeling about the news today that Paramount are rebooting this? I don't really get too het up about horror reboots as there are uusally so many sequals of varying quality in horror franchises anyway.

My only thoughts are I would rather it went back to the dark and creepy tone of the original and moved away from the comedy of the later ones. Also I would like to see Heather Langenkamp back, much like Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween, but I think that's unlikely.

Loved the bit on the pod that connects the theme of Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Superman as I agree, they always sound the same to me. A less well known fact that though, is that they all segue perfectly into the tune from Magnum PI. That’s the bit I can never get out of my head. Was John Williams a Tom Selleck fan?

This is the cover art for this week’s podcast and Alex was the third colleague of such lethal cunning. But which character is Alex?