Empire magazine

nyarlothothep

I think the quality has gone down since 2003. In recent years there have been too many superhero issues with half the mag taken up with features on said films.

niallon

As soon as the world recognised Empire (the film world anyway) they went up their own holes! They are now well aware that they are one of the most popular mags and they became extremely snotty as a result, their Crystal Skull review was the last straw for me. Total Film all the way! They've a 3D section in this months issue for crying out loud!

homerun_homer

when I started buying movie magsazines back in 1999 I bought Total Film and Empire, me thinking empire would be the better of the 2 but I always found TF more agreeable. It recognised the genius of Fight Club from the start, unlike Empire who gave it 4 stars and said it had a crap ending, they later have it as one of the best films ever and rate it appropriately since.
More often than not these days their reviews are just plain daft and wrong/bad opinions. Indy 4? how could they say it was decent let alone good? I laughed my way through the film, cringing and squirming in agony. The prequels didn't rape my childhood - Indy 4 did.

They also give crappy 2 bit comedies decent reviews when they are pure ****e like the trailer makes you believe it will be. I now don't buy any film mag but TF would be the choice.

DeepBlue

nyarlothothep wrote: »

I think the quality has gone down since 2003.

I'd date the drop in quality to further back - maybe mid to late 90's.
It became most noticeable when they gave practically any new blockbuster high ratings especially anything to do with Tom Cruise, Spielberg or Lucas no matter how crap the actual film.
Then when the DVD of said film appeared months later it got a more appropriate review with a lower rating.

I took it that they were in a Catch-22 situation. If they gave the big films the reviews they deserved then they would lose the access they needed to sets and stars for features etc.

They've compromised too much though and now are little more than an advertising mag for the studios.

uncleoswald

Its a little too back slappy to be taken seriously anymore. Its high standing within the industry means they pull off some great scoops like getting Speilberg to guest edit and some beyond the usual personal interview time with directors such as Del Toro. The obvious downside to this is they are afraid to say or ask anything to upset the apple cart. I also don't care for many of their reviewers, with the obvious exception of Kim Newman.

I miss Hotdog...

Brimmy

homerun_homer wrote: »

when I started buying movie magsazines back in 2009 I bought Total Film and Empire, me thinking empire would be the better of the 2 but I always found TF more agreeable. It recognised the genius of Fight Club from the start, unlike Empire who gave it 4 stars and said it had a crap ending, they later have it as one of the best films ever and rate it appropriately since.
More often than not these days their reviews are just plain daft and wrong/bad opinions. Indy 4? how could they say it was decent let alone good? I laughed my way through the film, cringing and squirming in agony. The prequels didn't rape my childhood - Indy 4 did.

Sorry but Empire gave it 4 and Total Film gave it 5 I think. Convenientally though TF's website has it as 5 stars when you do a search then when you click on the link it's 3..

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?DVDID=117923

I used to read TF a lot then switched to Empire and now don't read it either due to giving up my job for college at the beginning of the year. Always found the writing in TF to be substandard really and although Empire can be a bit daft with reviews (as can TF) the features are usually good.

The thing about reviews is that they're always going to perceptive. It is only one persons opinion on the movie and the magazine has to go with that. Sure it might change its opinion when more of its staff have been given a chance to see it. The only reviewer I trust if any would be Ebert. I mean, you have to love the man who wrote his review of Garfield from the perspective of a cat

delbertgrady

The last straw for me was around 2000-2001, having been buying it since about 1992. Standards had plummeted, but there was one particular issue that was so bad - for a variety of reasons, none of which I'll bother going into now - it was obvious that nobody had edited the bloody thing, or if they had, it was a cursory glance before wandering off to film their bit for the latest Channel Four "Hundred Greatest..." list programme.

JohnnyChimpo

homerun_homer wrote: »

when I started buying movie magsazines back in 2009 I bought Total Film and Empire, me thinking empire would be the better of the 2 but I always found TF more agreeable. It recognised the genius of Fight Club from the start, unlike Empire who gave it 4 stars and said it had a crap ending, they later have it as one of the best films ever and rate it appropriately since.
More often than not these days their reviews are just plain daft and wrong/bad opinions. Indy 4? how could they say it was decent let alone good? I laughed my way through the film, cringing and squirming in agony. The prequels didn't rape my childhood - Indy 4 did.

They also give crappy 2 bit comedies decent reviews when they are pure ****e like the trailer makes you believe it will be. I now don't buy any film mag but TF would be the choice.

ah yes, the good ole days

nyarlothothep

Does anyone notice the really crap attempts at humour with the photo captions. They don't make any sense and are cringe inducing.

S.M.B.

I don't mind the reviews in Empire tbh. I used be an avid reader but now would only buy it in an airport or before the odd train journey.

What I can't stand about the magazine is the preview features. I stopped reading them a long time ago.

I do always enjoy their retrospective articles though.

speedboatchase

Ah I think people are going a bit overboard. It's very backslappy and I agree with the comment about reviews but it's still a hefty read, has genuine exclusives and the writers are really knowledgeable. This months issue (20th anniversary) is great too

homerun_homer

Brimmy wrote: »

Sorry but Empire gave it 4 and Total Film gave it 5 I think. Convenientally though TF's website has it as 5 stars when you do a search then when you click on the link it's 3..

I stopped buying TF long ago so didn't keep up with the comparisons. That's shocking - 5 stars. I don't know 1 person who liked that film apart from my 6 year old nephew. He's not the type of kid who would enjoy the original Indy films I have to add, too scary and grown up for him.

JohnnyChimpo wrote: »

ah yes, the good ole days

D'oh!! Fixed

chalad07

Superman Reuturns - 5/5. Enough said.

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?DVDID=117462

Brimmy

chalad07 wrote: »

Superman Reuturns - 5/5. Enough said.

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?DVDID=117462

And total film gave it 4/5.

I tend to find that TF are (or at least were when I still read it) more liberal with their 5 star ratings then Empire. This is just one instance where it's not and both publications are cometeply wrong, imo.

chalad07

Brimmy wrote: »

I tend to find that TF are (or at least were when I still read it) more liberal with their 5 star ratings then Empire. This is just one instance where it's not and both publications are cometeply wrong, imo.

I agree - the film is a pile of pants. 5 stars should be reserved for great films, and not handed out willy-nilly (great word that),

Is it that they are so in the Studio's pocket that they are forced to give films like this such good reviews? I havent met anyone that would consider Superman Returns 4/5, let alone 5/5.

I know this is only one example, but i think it typifies whats wrong with the mag,

foxyboxer

I've been reading Empire on and off since 1996. There have been some good issues particularly the 100th Issue but with the advent of the internet it's influence has waned as is to be expected. Exclusives and info (i.e. imdb.com etc etc) have somewhat diminished it's relevance. As one poster mentioned, it's only good now for a train/plane/bus journey.

There was a time when it's reviews were significant and a 5 star review was a rare occurence. It seems nowadays there are 1 or 2 5 star movies every month.

Some woeful lapses in judgement down through the years include:
Batman and Robin - 3 stars
Phantom Menace - 4 stars
Attack of the Clones - 5 stars :eek:

Cactus Col

I'm sure one or two people will agree with me when I say Neon was a great magazine!

Empire I generally buy, although I don't mind missing an issue or two. Total Film I'd only buy if I needed something to read, or they had an interesting cover.

Empire does contain some interesting articles, especially when they do articles about the industry's history, like those studio profiles they were doing a while back.

kronsington

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?SID=4797

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/ReviewComplete.asp?FID=9758

i remember them giving attack of the clones 5 stars when it came out first.

empire reviews are worthless.

total film reviews are not much better, but as an overall magazine i prefer tf.

on saying that, this month's empire with spielberg as guest editor is quality

speedboatchase

^^^

Thats a review of the Phantom Menace soundtrack. Also 4/5 for Revenge of the Sith is fairly close for me, it got 80% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Cant excuse the Superman review but still, over enthusiastic reviews do not a bad magazine make. Their 5 page interviews every month are fantastic

DeepBlue

Cactus Col wrote: »

I'm sure one or two people will agree with me when I say Neon was a great magazine!

Ah yes that was a great magazine way back in '97 - '98. It didn't last long though 'cos it was smart, funny and didn't lick Hollywood's arse.
It has some great, in-depth, well-researched features too that would put any Empire edition to shame.

A little reminder here.

johnny_ultimate

Read Empire for around four or five years, gave up around two years ago. I don't have any major problem with the magazine - it went a bit too mainstream for sure, but it is infinitely better than Total Film. I'd prefer a more in-depth magazine - Sight & Sound I guess is the best of the lot, but I never actually buy it - internet will do for most of my film needs these days.

niallon

Another point to note, Empire this month is guest edited by Steven Spielberg, oh wow, Total Film did it about two years ago with Peter Jackson!

Can't cite examples off the top of my head without the magazines at hand but I have also noticed in the last six months especially how Empire tend to only cover the upcoming mainstream flicks in main articles whereas Total Film have stuck to their excellent retrospective reviews and mythologies of Hollywood etc.

Arcee

Used to be a big Empire fan but two things pi$$ed me off in recent times......

So many movies get 4 or 5 star ratings now that you just can't take them seriously any more. I remember the days when you'd be lucky to see one single 5 star rating in the mag and maybe a few 4's but they're commonplace now and it feels like the reviewers have decided the rating based on the hype of a blockbuster rather than the actual content of the movie. Case in point - Twilight - 4 stars. WTF?

The second thing is the price of it. It's extortionately expensive over here considering the GBP exchange rate. I know they have shipping costs and blah blah blah but there's no justifying paying the bones of €6 for it here and just over £3 in the UK. And the subscription costs are worse - £18 for 12 months in the UK, £60 for 12 months anywhere else in the world (incl Ireland)

Duggy747

I always bought TF cuz it was far more balanced,Empire reminds me more of AICN and tends to go bananas over pure cock-custard movies!i do find the website feature articles hilarious like the Van-Damme celebration

jonsnow

I used to read both Empire and Total Film a lot but now would only get one for a long plane flight.I think Total Film is far superior to Empire.It has smarter writing and better interviews.But the main reason is that like many other posters have already pointed out is that Empire is often swayed in its reviews of juggernaut releases by the PR hype and usually gives them a star over what they deserve in reviews.No matter how anticipated or big a release if it is rubbish or even only adequate Total Film will pull no punches.

lostexpectation

it has to be empire TF is too ladsy.

empire has more stuff to read at the back.

can't read the inernet on the toilet, don't have laptop.

too many ads-reviews

TheIrishGrover

I read empire from pretty much the beginning. At the time there was only empire, UK version of Premiere (Now loooong gone) and Sight&Sound really. It used to share some of the same articles actually from Premiere (A serialised novel set in Hollywood and some photo articles etc. I used to ike the tone of the magazine. Not too highbrow (Like sight&sound in my opinion of the time) and not too Hello-gossipy style (Like Premiere).
However the last few years has seen a huge drop in the quality of the reviews, the type of films being reviewed etc (All IMO of course). I realise that they can only review films that are released but the final straw was this 24-7 coverage of the film Twilight. Now, I did not see the film and do not intend on seeing the film. It is not aimed at my agegroup and that is fine so it would be unfair for me to comment on their actual review. However, for months beforehand their magazine and site was riddled with every minutiae of production, preproduction, rumour, hype etc. And it is still continuing with the next one. About 6 weeks ago they had an article on their site broadcasting the fact that the cast had not read the script for the sequel.... because it was not written yet. Article just seemed to be there to have a twilight article in that week.

I know that I am no longer in the core demographic they look for (I'm 37) and that they need a new generation of readers but as a reader of 20 years I am a bit sad and just posted them a polite but sad email informing them as to why I was canceling my subscription. Oh well......

Still, as someone said, there is still Totalfilm which I DO enjoy

Ah yeah, used to like Neon and Hotdog.