Category Archives: Empire Top 500

Groundhog Day

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Irascible, anti-social weather reporter Phil Connors (Bill Murray) heads to the small town of Punxutawney, Philadelphia with his cameraman Larry (Chris Elliott) and new producer Rita (Andi MacDowell) to cover the Groundhog Day festival ceremony, wherein a prominently dentured rodent allegedly predicts the weather. It’s an annual occurrence Phil despises, and one from which he cannot wait to get away, but unfortunately for him he’s stuck there, reliving the same day over and over again, potentially forever more.

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American Graffiti

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It’s the last day of the summer vacation in 1962. Tomorrow, Curt (Richard Dreyfuss) and Steve (Ron Howard) are heading off to university, leaving behind their two friends Terry (Charles Martin Smith) and John (Paul Le Mat), as well as Steve’s girlfriend and Curt’s younger sister Laurie (Cindy Williams). Over the course of this night spent on their local driving strip, these four friends will undergo various adventures that may change their lives forever.

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Kind Hearts and Coronets

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This review was originally written for Blueprint: Review.

Despite living in modest conditions, Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price) is in line to receive the title of Duke of Chalfont, with the only problems being the many and varied members of his mother’s family, the D’Ascoynes (Alex Guinness), currently living and either holding the position or being further up the chain of succession than Louis. After the family denies his disinherited mother’s dying wish of being buried in the family cemetery, Louis sets out a mission to prune the D’Ascoyne family tree until he sits at the top with the title of Duke, hoping that will not only make amends for how his mother (Audrey Fildes) was treated, but will also win Louis the heart of his childhood crush Sibella (Joan Greenwood).
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Predator

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When a helicopter carrying an important cabinet minister crashes somewhere in Central America, the CIA enlists a team of mercenaries to go in and save him. What they find, however, is far from what they expected, as they become hunted by an unseen and incredibly skilled new foe.
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School of Rock

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When wannabe rock star Dewey Finn (Jack Black) gets kicked out of his own band and his room-mate Ned Schneebly (Mike White) needs money for the rent, Dewey fakes his way into a substitute job at a local prep school, only to discover that the genius, upper class kids are also very adept at playing classical music. Dewey sees a chance to finally achieve his rock stardom dreams by moulding the kids into an awesome rock band.
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A Matter of Life and Death

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Whilst returning home to England after a mission over Germany during World War II, RAF pilot Peter Carter (David Niven) reports back to American radio operator June (Kim Hunter) and alerts her to the presence of his squad, who all bailed out of their severely damaged aircraft. With his own radio technician, Bob (Robert Coote), dead and no intact parac/hutes remaining, Carter knows he will not survive the return journey, but plans to eject anyway, preferring to jump rather than fry, but during his brie dialogue with June the pair develop an attraction. Suffice to say, Carter bails out and his plane crashes but, miraculously, he awakes on shore, fully alive. You see there has been an error in Heaven and, due to the heavy fog across the English Channel, Carter’s body could not be found. An agent of Heaven, Conductor 71 (Marius Goring), is sent to retrieve him, but alas he has met in person with June and the two have fallen hopelessly in love, and therefore Carter is far from willing to accept his allotted demise, and instead intends to fight his case to the end.
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Batman Returns

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33 years after being dumped into the sewers as a baby by his horrified parents, Oswald Cobblepot (Danny DeVito), a disfigured, disgusting man, wants to surface and claim his rights as a human. Meanwhile, shy secretary Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer) works for business tycoon Max Shreck (Christopher Walken), who constantly belittles her. When she discovers his plans for a power station will actually drain and store Gotham’s surplus energy, he tries to kill her but fails, causing her to seek revenge. Also, there’s a bloke going around dressed as a bat, but clearly, he’s not as important.
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The Maltese Falcon (1941)

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It looks like just another day at the detective agency for Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) when Miss Wonderly (Mary Astor) walks in requesting his assistance in tailing a man believed to have run off with her sister, but when Spade’s partner Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan) is shot and another body shows up later that night, Sam soon finds himself under question by the police. His gift of the gab can only talk himself out of so many predicaments, as he becomes entwined in a desperate search for a priceless artefact that everyone seems to crave.
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Night of the Living Dead

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When siblings Johnnie (Russell Streiner) and Barbra (Judith O’Dea) visit their father’s grave to lay flowers, they notice a strange man ambling towards them, who attacks when he arrives. Johnnie appears to be taken down protecting his sister, who flees and finds shelter at a nearby house after discovering dozens more mindless attackers. Soon Ben (Duane Jones) shows up at the house too, and reveals this outbreak of unprovoked attacks seems to be happening everywhere. Ben safe-guards the house from the attackers, but it’s when they discover five more people hiding in the basement that the real problems arise.
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