THIS MONTH

SLIME CAN BRING people together. It happened when

EMPIRE

WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO THIS MONTH IN

TALK TO US

COMMENT OF THE MONTH

MARK KERMODE’S MOVIE PLAYLIST

THE CRITIC AND SCALA RADIO PRESENTER CHOOSES HIS ULTIMATE CINEMATIC SOUNDTRACKS

6 OF THE BEST

Team Empire on the month’s essential movies

WIN!

A 50” SMART TV AND THE COURIER ON BLU-RAY

CLASSIC SCENE

Standout sequences from the great movies

No. /1“I found a voice inside me that had too long been silent”

Writing exclusively for Empire, Kenneth Branagh shares his experience of returning to his childhood for BELFAST, his most personal film

No. /2 Cinema’s strangest family just got a little bigger

Ivan Reitman tells us how he cast the third star of Twins sequel TRIPLETS: Tracy Morgan

EMILIA CLARKE

Hi, Emilia. How are you? I’m good! How

No./3 The Canary sings again!

Five things we want to see in the just-announced Black Canary spin-off movie

No./ 4 2021: the year of the musical

From In The Heights and West Side Story to Dear Evan Hansen and Annette, we’re in the middle of a moviemusical revival. The people behind them explain why

BLACK IN FOCUS

AMON WARMANN chews over the main moment in Black film and TV this month

The Matrix Resurrections

Unfiltered, uncensored, uncompromising trailer reactions from team EMPIRE

No. /6 Candyman’s bittersweet breakthrough

Nia DaCosta’s box-office hit is a milestone for Black female directors — but it’s one that is long overdue

No. /7 The story that Rebecca Hall had to tell

The actor explains how her family history led to her spending 15 years on her directorial debut, Passing

No. /8 Why Nolan is going nuclear

Christopher Nolan’s next movie is about the father of the atomic bomb. Here’s why it’s a perfect fit for his sensibilities

No./9 GIANT TENTACLES

They’re slippery, they’re scary. Whatever you do — do not anger these slimy enemies

No. /10 Confusing superhero multiverses — explained

Empire’s Chris Hewitt attempts to answer the big questions behind Marvel and DC’s upcoming blockbusters

No. /11 How Colombia inspired Disney to break its own rules

Three ways the South American country shook things up for new animation Encanto

No. /12 The horror team behind Host hit the road

Rob Savage and crew unleash a new kind of found-footage nightmare in car-based thriller DASHCAM

No. /13 NEXT IN THE SERIES

You fell in love with that incredible new TV show. And then it ended! Don’t despair — Boyd Hilton recommends the sibling shows to watch next

No./14 JEAN-PAUL BELMONDO: THE KING OF COOL

[ IN MEMORIAM ] Four legendary moments from the French actor, who died aged 88

No. /15 “I really feel like I’ve been there and back again, again!”

[ THE Q&A] ANDY SERKIS makes his comic-book-movie directing debut with Venom: Let There Be Carnage — but Middle-earth, it seems, is never too far away

No. /16 Welcome to the anti-Entourage

Jim Cummings takes a scalpel to Hollywood in The Beta Test

No. /17 CRYPTOZOO

A PSYCHEDELIC ANIMATION SET IN A HIPPY COMMUNE OF MYTHICAL CREATURES

No. /18 Farewell to a smallscreen titan

Remembering the late MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS with his five most iconic television performances

No. /19 Meet the BFG (the Bad Fumbly Golfer)

Mark Rylance on playing the world’s worst club-swinger in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN

No. /20 The best of the rest of the fest

Team Empire highlight the buzziest offerings at this year’s BFI London Film Festival

PINT OF MILK

SAM NEILL

[FILM] DUNE

OUT 21 OCTOBER CERT 12A / 155 MINS

[FILM] THE FRENCH DISPATCH

Jukebox jury: Timothée Chalamet and Lyna Khoudri couldn’t

THE GREEN KNIGHT

Clockwise from main: The axeman cometh — Dev

THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK

The citizens of New Jersey were entranced by

DEAR EVAN HANSEN

Social outcast: Ben Platt as Evan (right) with

FRESHMAN YEAR

Wigging out: Sam (Logan Miller, left) and Alex

SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS

Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi, here favouring a less circular

EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE

Strike a pose: Max Harwood as teen drag

LOCAL HERO

Each month, Empire puts a much-loved indie picture house in the spotlight

SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE

Jonathan (Oscar Isaac) and Mira (Jessica Chastain) cling

MIDNIGHT MASS

I am the light: Hamish Linklater (centre) as

Y: THE LAST MAN

Yorick’s (Ben Schnetzer) rider rating would struggle to

SEX EDUCATION: SERIES 3

Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) and Adam (Connor Swindells) were

CHECKLIST

Your at-a-glance view of this month’s reviews

THE FAMILY BUSINESS

NEARLY 40 YEARS AFTER IVAN REITMAN DIRECTED A STONE-COLD CLASSIC, THE SLIME-DRENCHED BATON HAS BEEN PASSED TO HIS SON JASON. IN A WORLD-EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW FOR GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE WE FIND OUT WHY BUSTIN’ MAKES THEM FEEL GOOD

INTO THE UN KNOWN

It’s bold. It’s big. And it could be the MCU’s wildest swing yet: a sprawling tale of super-gods directed by an arthouse maverick. Chloé Zhao and her cast tell us why ETERNALS enters uncharted territory

YE GODS!

Jack Kirby’s loopiest covers from the Eternals comics’ early run

GALAXY QUEST

WITH HIS SCI-FI EPIC DUNE FINALLY UPON US, DENIS VILLENEUVE HAS FULFILLED AN AMBITION YEARS IN THE MAKING. SHARING HIS STORY EXCLUSIVELY FOR EMPIRE, HE OPENS UP ABOUT HIS DEEPLY PERSONAL JOURNEY TO MAKE A FILM LIKE NO OTHER

PORTRAIT OF A FILM MAKER ON FIRE

WITH HER DREAMLIKE DRAMA PETITE MAMAN, CÉLINE SCIAMMA CONTINUES A WINNING STREAK OF SINGULAR, SCORCHING FILMS. EMPIRE SITS DOWN WITH ONE OF THE MOST VISIONARY VOICES IN CINEMA

THE NEW WEST

THE HARDER THEY FALL

RIDLEY SCOTT IS ON A MISSION

With two films out imminently, led by medieval thriller THE LAST DUEL, Ridley Scott seems in no hurry to slow down. Almost five decades into an astonishing career, we find out what still drives him

GODS AMONG US

In our regular series, we pay tribute to the towering, mega-watt stars who still roam Hollywood

GANGING UP

For Francis Ford Coppola, THE OUTSIDERS and RUMBLE FISH weren’t just movies: in a time of crisis, they were a chance to form a filmmaking family. He and author S.E. Hinton tell Empirehow the experience changed their lives

Last Orders

INDISPENSABLE HOME ENTERTAINMENT

All In The Family

Black Widow director CATE SHORTLAND on forging Natasha Romanoff’s familial ties

Tarantino by the book

QUENTIN TARANTINO talks turning Once Upon A Time In Hollywood into a novel

THE MASTERPIECE

We reassess the greatest films of all time, one film at a time

GEORGE LUCAS IN NUMBERS

Getty Images, Photofest, Shutterstock $7,200, 000,000 GEORGE LUCAS’

THE RANKING

Four Empire writers. Seven movies. Ordered definitively

THE FINAL LIST

= 1 TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY(1991) Nick: “Offers

THE CULT OF KIM NEWMAN

The critic and novelist on this month’s weirdest straight-to-video picks

THE VIEWING GUIDE

A deep dive into the must-see moments from the month’s big release

THE STORY OF THE SHOT

How iconic images came to life