On sale next week - tickets to my hour-long BFI lesson on the crime genre. Join me for a whirlwind trip from Yakuza to mafioso, Michael Mann to Jean-Pierre Melville: whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/Online/d...

Please stop doing this! I know there are contractual reasons etc for name placements on posters but this is maddening. Unless it's a body-swap movie. Which it isn't. It hurts my eyes.

Lil' blurb on my big interview with Daniel Day-Lewis and Ronan Day-Lewis. I had an incredible morning with them in New York the other week, discussing filmmaking, family, fatherhood, acting, writing, the whole damn lot. Eight pages of it in the new issue of Empire, on sale this Thursday.

One ep of Alien: Earth to go and every time a beastie pops up I think of HR Giger, and how none of this exists without him. A gazillion films and TV shows over nearly 50 years, and arguably none of it would have hit - or endured - were it not for his art. An incredible legacy for such perverse work.

I like how much Nine Inch Nails' Tron Ares soundtrack pays tribute to Wendy Carlos. This one is basically A Clockwork Orange:

Five stars from me for One Battle After Another, because they wouldn't let me give it ten. An exhilarating, shit-kicking, rollicking piece of cinema. Seen it twice, love it to death. My two cents/700 words:

Six lesser-seen Robert Redford films you need to watch this week. Empire writers pick their favourite gems – from Sneakers and The Hot Rock, to The Old Man & The Gun. Read the list: www.empireonline.com/movies/featu...

Absolutely beautiful, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL piece on Robert Redford here by the one and only @christinalefou.bsky.social. I loved every line of this.

Robert Redford with a tiny cardboard cut-out of Paul Newman, photographed by John Dominis, Utah, 1969

David Lynch's 'compound' is up for grabs. I always find this sort of thing a little ghoulish. But this interior shot got me all emotional. I can just see him in here, tinkering away, smiling contently, conjuring dreams. variety.com/gallery/davi...

I went to see Sign O' The Times the other day, and it was an incredible and really quite touching experience. So I wrote this: about Prince, IMAX and immortality.

Crimes against cover art. This should be beaten to death and buried in a cornfield.

I went to see Sign O' The Times the other day, and it was an incredible and really quite touching experience. So I wrote this: about Prince, IMAX and immortality.

This was an atmospheric place to read “Pipe Dreams,” a hilarious retelling of Robert Altman and Robin Williams’ misadventures making “Popeye.” You can even see a little pirate ship out there.⚓️ By @jamie-graham.bsky.social in @empiremagazine.bsky.social Excellent use of the word “disgustipated.”

We at Empire have partnered with the London Film Festival to present Anemone, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, directed by his son Ronan. BFI Southbank, NFT1, Oct 14. Cast and crew will be there for a Q&A. I'm hosting. Positively quivering with excitement about it. Come along. More here:

Enjoying these two in Alien: Earth. Noah Hawley's basically doing a sci-fi Stepbrothers with these hybrid man-children. And why not.

I loved the shit out of Highest 2 Lowest. Not Spike at his very best - it's wonky and baggy - but definitely Spike at his most playful, mixing genres like there's no tomorrow, effortlessly throwing up properly showstopping setpieces, dialogue that SNAPS, and a hilariously relentless score. CINEMA!!

Terence Stamp: as beautiful as he was formidable. Hard to think of many other actors who had such presence, such gravitas, such authority. Eyes that could kill on sight. Tell them he's coming. Tell them he's fucking coming!

David Jonsson is a unique human: From Industry to Rye Lane, Alien: Romulus to The Long Walk, there's nobody else who moves and behaves quite like him. Been working on this since March, and love it - an incredible shoot from Sylvain Homo, and a tender interview from @ellenejones.bsky.social. Here:

She'll be back.

How utterly confounding. Brez has revolutionised film editorial at VF.

WEAPONS is absolutely fucking outrageous. Cinema x100.

A few weeks ago, I had the most incredible interview of my life, speaking to SPINAL TAP themselves. Not the actors. The band. In character. Tufnel. St Hubbins. Smalls. Unscripted and unrestrained. For an hour. I will never get over it. Six pages of it in our new issue; a little bit of it here.

This is a nutso situation, not quite Black Mirror/Hotel Reverie levels of inserting an actor into an old film, but not far off. Using AI to alter a 2013 release, changing a sad ending to a happy one - without the consent of the director or cast - is a sinister tipping point. The floodgates are open.

This is a big one 🔥 For our new issue I got to head to New Zealand to shadow James Cameron for 2 days, as he perfects Avatar: Fire And Ash. Eyeball-searing subs-cover art by Fire And Ash concept artist Dylan Cole. On sale Thursday. Available to order online from Monday. Subs copies dropping soon!

Been talking about the Taika Waititi Akira film that never happened and just remembered - Jordan Peele did it best already, in ten seconds. Done. Move along

All this talk of Rihanna playing Smurfette has reminded me of this feature I wrote in 2011, exploring how big-name actors took over the animated voiceover industry. Futurama's Billy West was on blistering form. "I only care about it because I don't wanna see the loss of a beautiful form of art."

Something different from @mojomagazine.bsky.social this month - one issue, a choice of two covers: a Brian Wilson memorial; and a Suede exclusive. Plus an excellent Suede CD with both versions. More info coming but you can order one (or both) here now: www.greatmagazines.co.uk/single-back-... 1/3

I love how well this story is doing today, that this piece of quality investigative journalism is being enjoyed and lauded. Drama, fakery and good old detective work. Can't beat it.

🚨ISSUE PREVIEW🚨 Empire's Tron: Ares issue zooms into stores and online tomorrow. Here's a look at what's inside this month's pages... ORDER: greatmagazines.co.uk/empire-augus... READ MORE: empireonline.com/movies/news/...

Very cool to have my new cover story ACTUALLY LIGHT UP. 5,000 of these limited-edition bad boys hitting the shops tomorrow. Viva magazines!

This oppressive heat reminds me of one of my favourite films: Jim Sheridan's In America, and Paddy Considine's Johnny, hellbent on dragging an air conditioner across town and up the stairs into his family's apartment. A very sweaty and beautifully sad film that I don't see mentioned nearly enough.

Regardless of what you think of the partnership, this is how you do a celebrity wedding. Eight guests, so they say, including roadies. No nonsense. Wear your pyjamas. Give each other a kiss and be done with it. Who cares.

EXCLUSIVE 🚨 Meet Jodie Turner-Smith’s “totally uncompromising” Tron: Ares character Athena – coming to cause chaos on the Grid and beyond. “I was like, ‘Ooh, villain era, let’s go’,” she tells Empire. Read more: www.empireonline.com/movies/news/...

⚡SPECIAL EDITION⚡ Empire’s Tron: Ares issue also arrives in a limited-edition light-up cover version, pulsing with the power of the Grid. Find it in WHSmith stores from Thurs 3 July – check for your nearest stockist here: www.google.com/maps/d/edit?... Limited quantities online from 3 July.

Last year I stepped onto The Grid. Touched a Light Cycle with my own hands. Watched some nefarious programs get up to no good. Here we are then: on set of Tron: Ares, our new cover story, for which I spent much time with cast and crew (highlight: Jeff MFing Bridges, no contest). On sale next week.

Back from Twin Peaks: The Return ep 8 at the Prince Charles, AKA the cinematic event of the year. Truly, having it fill a big screen cemented it: this 𝘪𝘴 cinema. Lynch would have loved seeing that audience, bathed in all the beauty and the madness. A genuinely spiritual experience. I miss him.

Hot sweaty nights lead me to this. There are many contenders, but the more I think about it, the more I know for sure: Miami Vice's use of In The Air Tonight is the greatest needle-drop of all time.

An extremely fun interview with Nicholas Hoult by @hayleycampbell.bsky.social. On being a proud Hollywood weirdo, on Lex Luthor, on Hugh Grant, on getting Nosferatu's wang framed, on breast milk... all the good stuff. Phenomenal shoot for us by Monica May too. All online here and now:

Yes... If you let AI do the writing for you... If you're only interested in the endgame, and not the process... If you're not going to do the actual work... then you're a bot too. Chat GPT = brainrot.

Extraordinary (old) Spinal Tap poster.

The long hot summer of Gremlin Dick.

Thank you to my son and his day care for this terrifying Father’s Day gift.

Also: culture. Good music, film, literature. The bands, cinema, TV & books I was into growing up formed my worldview as well as my tastes. Culture teaches empathy, compassion, sensitivity. Often easier said than done, yes, but it's vital & potentially lifesaving. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A class of Essex schoolchildren performing Gary Numan's Cars on the Ableton Move after a three-hour workshop. Says a lot about the song and the tech that this is kind of transfixing despite zero theatrics.

A dismaying story in The Washington Post about how the recruitment of workers from abroad has been the lifeblood of British care homes - and how the government's plan to kill it outright will be disastrous. Or, how Labour's battle to stave off Reform UK may well cost lives.

An awkward promo shoot.

Damn, Sly! He did it all. Invented everything, changed everything. If You Want Me To Stay: the greatest vocal of all time, pure sex. I went to his comeback gig in 2007 in... Bournemouth. Bournemouth! It was a shambles, but there he was, in the flesh. An actual alien. A truly seismic being. Godspeed.

New Empire has landed, so behold: my favourite openers: A glorious David Cronenberg illustration by Peter Strain. Nicholas Hoult in motion, shot for us by Monica May. A fitting spread by Chris Lupton for our feature on Oners. The Barbarian Brothers (!) by The Red Dress. Out now! Good enough to eat.