Lyt til The Empire Film Podcast

It had to happen: the Empire podcast has finally gone to hell — quite literally in this case, as this particular show is episode 666. Perhaps appropriately, James is in the driving seat for this one, embracing this demonically anointed episode to bring you such thematically-relevant discussions as a Mount Rushmore of movie Satans and an off-topic discussion as to why subtitles are also the devil’s work. But that’s not all, because while Chris isn’t here in body, having hopped over to Ireland for a few rounds of golf, he is here in spirit, not least of all as he interviews all of this week’s guests, specifically three of the Thunderbolts — Hannah John-Kamen, Wyatt Russell and David Harbour (approx 57:36-1:13:09)— Another Simple Favour director Paul Feig (approx 11:21-23:48), and Ryan Coogler (at the very end) in a little tease of our Sinners spoiler special episode, which is available now on the Spoiler Specials subscription feed. Joining James and Helen this week is John ‘The Nuge’ Nugent, who does his best to justify his three-star review of Thunderbolts*, plus we review Another Simple Favour, Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope, and Die Hard in the Docklands film Cleaner.

It was foretold by the Ancient Ones: The Convergence (or Gunvergence, if you will), the day on which three absolutely slamming action movies will be released at the same time in the UK (albeit on different formats), ushering in a new era of sweaty dad bods, car chases, and many scenes where people die in a hail of bullets. And that day is today, folks. April 25, which sees the release of Gareth Evans' HAVOC on Netflix, Christian Gudegast's Den Of Thieves: Pantera on Prime Video, and Gavin O'Connor's The Accountant 2 in cinemas across the country. The Convergence has been keeping our Chris Hewitt going for some time now, and he gets to sit down with the directors of all three films on this week's episode: Evans at 22:24 (approx), O'Connor at 1:03:23 (approx), and Gudegast at 1:39:48 (approx). But that's not all. Chris is joined in the podbooth this week by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Beth Webb to run their eye over the week's movie news (sadly, last week's Fantastic Four trailer fell through the cracks), review the aforementioned action holy trinity, and tackle a whole bunch of Mount Rushmore scenarios in our listeners' questions section. And yes, we're very aware that we forgot to mention Close Encounters. Anyway, enjoy! ALL HAIL THE CONVERGENCE!

The Shameless Plug returns, folks, for a second glorious episode in which Chris Hewitt and Empire editor, Nick de Semlyen, sit down in the podbooth and tell you how (and why) the sausage is made. That sausage being the new issue of Empire, which is on sale now in all good, evil, and virtual newsagents. Our dynamic duo talk through the month's big cover feature, a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Jaws, look back to a dark moment in Empire's history, and Chris has a bone to pick with Nick. Enjoy.

This week's Empire Podcast (episode 664 if you're keeping score!) is more packed with goodness than your average Easter egg. Not only do Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and Alex Godfrey get into a discussion about what exactly makes a musical a musical (along with an impromptu visit to a certain mountain), but they tackle the week's movie news, including the revelation that the Oscars will finally have a Best Stunt Design category (note: this was recorded, due to the Easter holidays, before the new Fantastic Four trailer and Star Wars movie news. We'll get to those next week), and review Ryan Coogler's Sinners, Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza's Warfare, and the new Steve Coogan film, The Penguin Lessons. And if that weren't enough, our guest egg overcracketh, as Chris sits down with Steve Coogan and co-star Jonathan Pryce, [21:13 - 33:16 approx] and Sinners' genius composer, Ludwig Göransson, [1:31:25 - 1:45:01 approx] while Alex has an engrossing chat with Warfare's directors, Ray Mendoza and the other Alex G. [52:19 - 1:07:55 approx] And finally, there's an excerpt from Chris' wonderful spoiler special chat with The Monkey director, Osgood Perkins. [1:46:16 - 1:57:31 approx] Our full spoiler special for that movie is now up in our spoiler special feed. Phew, told you it was a packed show. Enjoy!

Kevin Macdonald's latest documentary, One To One: John & Yoko, is out now in cinemas around the UK, folks, and it's well worth your time for anyone with even a passing interest in John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, and their lives after The Beatles split up. But if you're a Beatlemaniac, this is manna from heaven as it not only brings you remastered footage of the One To One benefit concerts that Lennon and Ono performed at Madison Square Garden in 1972 (the only full-length concerts Lennon performed after leaving The Beatles), but also a glimpse into their lives and personal dynamic, courtesy of some incredible archive footage (video and audio). It also paints a portrait of the year 1972, and the political maelstrom that was swirling across America at the time. In this interview special, Chris Hewitt sits down on Zoom with Macdonald for a deep dive into how and why he made the film, and much, much more, including a little chat about The Runner, the action film Macdonald is just about to start directing any day now. Enjoy.