Total Film Magazine - Issue 198

The Sci-Fi Issue

In the brand new issue of Total Film magazine (on newsstands now) , we probe into the hottest sci-fi movies headed your way.

Looper leads the pack, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis gracing our cover. A thriller geared up to blow the minds of wearied, cynical cinemagoers, we ask if it’ll be this generation’s Matrix …

On top of that we take a quantum leap into the future of movies to scope out Star Trek 2 , RoboCop , Godzilla , and Planet Of The Apes 2 .

Plus, we jump back in time to reunite the cast of E.T.

Issue 198 is on-sale now and comes with four incredible free posters, featuring Man Of Steel , The Hobbit , Skyfall , and Django Unchained .

Also, you may have already heard that Total Film is now available on your iPad , and it has an incredible new price - now just £1.99 per issue, or £12.99 for a whole year ($2.99 per issue or $17.99 yearly for the US and Canada, €2.39 per issue or €14.49 yearly for the Europe)! Read about the key features of Total Film 's interactive iPad edition .

Fans of the good old-fashioned paper edition need not worry – this version ain’t going anywhere! Like the look of that coverline-free, subscribers-only cover? Well, subscribe to Total Film magazine then!

Looper

With one of the year’s catchiest concepts, Looper looks set to shake up your multiplex malaise by splicing thrills with smarts.

As you’ll know by now, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s hitman is tasked with whacking his future self (played by Bruce Willis) in Rian Brick Johnson’s noodle-baker.

With full access to all the key players, we’ve got this unique vision of the future covered.

Taken 2

We man up to visit the Instanbul set of Taken 2 , the brutal, bruising follow-up to the action sleeper hit.

Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace and director Olivier Megaton explain how this sequel will be coarser and harder than the original.

On The Road

The said it was ‘unfilmable’. Some 50-plus years after its publication, Walter Salles ( The Motorcycle Diaries ) has finally managed to wrestle On The Road onto the big screen.

A cult favourite, the Beat Generation novel by Jack Kerouac has hefty movie expectations, having been burn-burn-burned into the minds of its legion of fans. We get the inside track from Salles and his stars.

Blake Lively

With Gossip Girl coming to an end, Blake Lively is looking to assert her position in Hollywood with a brave turn in Oliver Stone’s Savages .

Threesomes, smuggling, kidnap and torture are on the agenda, as Lively builds on the promise demonstrated in The Town . We catch up with her in Beverly Hills…

Nicolas Winding Refn

Making a play for the Most Stylish Man In Movies title, Nicolas Winding Refn talks about backing Pusher (a remake of his own breakout hit).

On top of that, the Drive director discusses his bromance with Ryan Gosling, his plans for Logan’s Run , and the moment he detonated an F-bomb on BBC Breakfast .

LA Story: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

Kid with a bike… Thirty years after the release of the sci-fi heartbreaker about a boy and his alien-botanist buddy, we reunite Spielberg’s cast for a full-on nostalgia overdose.

The whole gang share their memories of the life-altering shoot (well, apart from E.T. himself, that is. Spoiler: He was destroyed in a studio fire in 1986).

Buzz and Agenda

Chris Hemsworth shoots to kill in this month’s Buzz , as the long-shelved Red Dawn remake finally surfaces. That wait didn’t harm Cabin In The Woods , so we’re feeling hopeful about this one.

Plus, there’s a first look at Ang Lee’s Life Of Pi , an exclusive chat with Gareth Evans on The Raid 2 , a catch-up with Jack Ryan, and the movies’ most haunted houses.

And in Agenda , Zoe Kazan (granddaughter of the legendary Elia) makes her own waves with Ruby Spark s and we worship Scorsese’s right-hand woman, Thelma Schoonmaker.

Screen and Lounge

Looper makes its presence felt in Screen this month, bagging prime review real estate as the opener. Will this one endure for future generations? Find out what we thought inside.

Plus, our official verdicts on Lawless , The Campaign , The Sweeney , Killing Them Softly , Premium Rush and many more…

On the home entertainment front, this year’s biggest movie, Avengers Assemble has a costume party, while The Raid , The Cabin In The Woods and Bond 50 all get the once-over. We’ve also taken the time to rank the best home-ent hardware (so you can achieve the ultimate viewing experience), and spent time on the booze-soused set of Boardwalk Empire Season 3 .

Tim Burton -The Total Film Interview

“Once you get the moniker of being the weirdo, no matter what, that label sticks.”

With Frankenweenie soon to be reanimated in cinemas, we settle down for a monster chat with the master of gothic-pop, Tim Burton.

Discussing animation, box-office battles, Batman and his old pal Johnny Depp, the iconic director makes for a fun, fascinating interviewee.