Empire Records (1995)

Very Cool!!!

Nice effects though.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Empire Records is arguably the closest the 90s came to channeling one of those memorable 80s teen ensembles like the Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles or Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Occurring almost entirely within the confines of an independent music store and utilizing some then fairly unknown, but quality, young actors like Liv Tyler, Renee Zellweger, Ethan Embry, Rory Cochrane, Johnny Whitworth, and Robin Tunney with an excellent older cast Maxwell Caulfield, Anthony Lapaglia and Debi Lazar.Lapaglia stars as Joe Reaves, the manager of Empire Records, an independent music store facing hard times and on the verge of selling out to the Music Town franchise thanks to the evil owner Mitchell Beck (Ben Bode). For many of Reaves teenage staff, Empire Records is their last chance saloon. On the day after Lucas (Cochrane) in a last ditch attempt to save the store, steals all of the money from the store safe and loses it at a casino, Reaves tells his employees about the impending sale. With a past his prime 80s rock star Rex Manning (Caulfield, brilliant) visiting the shop to sign autographs the confused staff work through their various issues and try to come to terms with the coming change.The film has an excellent soundtrack and some great comedy scenes. LaPaglia is excellent and he is ably supported by the minor players. Cochrane's Lucas and Tunney's Debra being the standouts. Though Whitmore and Tyler do their best to drag proceedings down with a fairly unremarkable love story. This was a much loved film among teen audiences when it came out in 1995, and many years on, while dated, still stands up. It goes a little more deeply into some significant issues faced by the characters, without getting bogged down by them, though it does offer some too easy solutions.In the end if you take good performances, a great soundtrack, and an basic plot, you get a good movie.

Just saw this on a cable channel today and it's one of the worst out there. It's a 90's movie that tries too hard to be cool. It tries to tell the viewer that what these kids are doing and saying are cool - but it's not. It's datedly uncool - the girl that shaved her head to be like Sinead O'Connor - really??? Was this an attempt to be the 90's version of Fast Times at Ridgemont High? I see some similar characters, but these actors can't act, and they don't have much to do in the movie except behave like dumb shallow teenagers. Obviously before CDs became the norm, there's a few nostalgic scenes with a TDK product placement sign and shelves of cassette tapes. It reminds me of Tower Records when idiots take over. Pass on this garbage if you haven't seen it.

When coming to this movie there is so much in it that needs to be said and can be said that it is almost impossible to get everything out of it in 1000 words. Aristotle's unity of time and place plays out well in this film as the action occurs through a single day and plays out mostly in the record shop. Further, each of the characters in the film have an epiphany which will change the direction of their life.The first is Lucas. He is a character that had a hard life but Joe, the manager of the store, was willing to drag him out of the muck that he was in and give him a second chance. This willingness occurs at the beginning of the movie where he is entrusted to lock up, but he finds out that the store is going to be bought out so he attempts to win enough money to buy it out. What can be said is he fails, yet he still returns to face the problem, and Joe does not turn him over to the police, even though he deserves it. Lucas is basically the voice of wisdom. He has been through everything that everybody is going to, so even though he is facing the possibility of a lot of trouble, he is still able to console everybody and give them the wisdom that is needed.This brings me to Warren. He is a kid that is a shoplifter, but it seems that the kid has never had a close family. His background is not drawn out, but a lot of it is implied with his reaction to the close knit family that are the employers of Empire Records. He is hostile towards them, but the truth comes out when he enters the shop with a gun in a fit of jealous rage. He has never had a group of caring friends like those at Empire Records, so when he sees it, he wants to destroy it. If he cannot have it then nobody else can have it. The caring nature of Joe, and the people at Empire Records, turn to welcome him even though he stole from them and held them hostage.Debbie is the next namely because she faces up to Warren. It is not because she is tough but because she has been through death and is no longer scared of it. She enters the movie, goes straight into the bathroom and shaves off all of her hair. She constantly tries to avoid the questions of the others, though her bandaged wrist attracts their attention. Why did she try to commit suicide? Her answer is that she woke up and realised that everyday of her life was the same: the only difference was that the problems that piled upon her were different. But what was her real problem? We realise this at her funeral - she does not die but they give her a funeral so that she knows not only that she is a part of this family but that her death would hurt people and that she would be missed. She realises what her problem is - she simply wants to be noticed, that is why she dresses the way she does, acts the way she does, and shaves her hair - she simply wants to be noticed. At he funeral she suddenly realises that people not only notice her, but also love her.AJ is the next character. He is in love with Corey and wants to go to art college but he does not think that he is good enough. That is his problem: he does not have any faith in himself. He seems to be okay, but Lucas tells us at the beginning that everybody has a problem even though everybody denies that they do not have one. It is only when AJ is confronted by Corey that he realises that he has no faith in himself. He tells Corey that he loves her, but to Corey it is the wrong time. It wasn't because it started her thinking and she realised that she did love him, but even then he had given up because he did not expect it to happen, not to him. When confronted by Corey he realises that he is not hopeless and can do things, so he does.Gina doesn't really change because she already knows herself. She is more of a character that Corey reacts from. She and Corey are good friends, but Corey does not understand so when Gina screws Rex Manning, Corey freaks. She then realises that Gina was simply being herself and that is something that must be admired. Gina does not care what people think, and lets that known plain and clear.Joe is also an important character as he is the father figure in the movie. He has taken all of the characters in, including the delinquent Warren, and makes them apart of his family. Jane becomes the mother figure, or will as she does not take that role in the movie. Joe is the one that takes the big problems upon his own shoulders, but others come to him for help.Empire Records is a very good movie and as a friend says, it seems to capture the hopelessness of the 90's. It is a movie about family when the family unit is collapsing. It shows us that going out on our own never solves anything, and this is made clear right at the beginning when Lucas fails in his bid to win enough money to buy the store back. It is a movie that shows us that me must work together to survive and to overcome all of our problems, yet also shows us that there are somethings that we must do for ourselves.

Empire Records is directed by Allan Moyle and written by Carol Heikkinen. It stars, Anthony LaPaglia, Maxwell Caulfield, Debi Mazar, Johnny Whitworth, Liv Tyler, Renée Zellweger, Rory Cochrane, Robin Tunney & Ethan Embry. Plot centre's on one day at independent record store Empire Records. With the store under imminent threat of a take over by a corporate chain, this is no ordinary day. For on the day that the store will be visited by a fading pop star, they are forced to confront their personal issues, and maybe, just maybe, learn something about the people they work with.The film was a box office failure and was met with mostly negative reviews from the professional critics. Coming as it does from the director of critical/cult darling Pump Up the Volume, many were expecting a better and more hard edged picture than what they got. It also had to compete with certain 80's favourites brought to the cinematic world by John Hughes. While coming fast on the heels of the immensely popular Clerks (94) didn't help its cause either. Was it a case of bad timing? Is the film really just poor? And or, as mooted at the time: a career killer for those involved? Personally I think it's a film that needs revisiting now some 15 odd years after its release. In fact time has actually been kind to it and it now appears to have a good solid cult following. So unless you are judging it against the superior, record shop set, High Fidelity, you may find it's a film that's hard to dislike.Some of the complaints against it are fair, with the main one about it not having fully developed characters being as true as day is a day. While calling it one long stitched together music video has some substance when taking it at face value. Yet what is there is worthy of a second glance, they are interesting characters, and their respective hang-ups and pressures are evident enough for us to hang our hats on; even if it's set up to be accompanied by still more hipster indie rock music. There's also been much guff written about the film as regards calling it a teen angst film. Yes it is, but have these reviewers forgotten about the adults in the movie? LaPaglia's store owner, the father figure, trying to remain cool as his charges come under threat. Or Mazar, needing a wake up call from her job/career ignorance; and the big one, the delightful Caulfield (splendid bit of casting) as fading pop singer Rex Manning, imposter? Indeed. It's all relative as to why Empire Records deserves more than a once only viewing. As for the music, it does indeed rock, with each track carefully selected to be at one with the scene it accompanies. My favourite? AC/DC-If You Want Blood, a ball busting track for a vibrant and kicking scene.As for it being a career killing movie? The ladies of the piece have done rather well for themselves, Zellweger, Tunney and Tyler have made their marks in the industry, while Mazar has never been without work prior or post Empire Records. The guys haven't hit the heights of Zellweger and Tyler, which in the case of the excellent Rory Cochrane is not only a surprise, but also sad. Cochrane's Lucas is the key character and the glue in the middle of it all, always on hand with a dry quip or some philosophy, he's also supremely cool. Cochrane can be seen in serious mode leading 2006 thriller Right at Your Door. LaPaglia has always worked since 95, playing a number of different supporting characters, and Embry has appeared in big release's such as Vacancy and Eagle Eye. Caulfield has turned into the go to guy for TV shows and Whitworth, who quit acting for a while, pops up from time to time in minor roles such as in 3:10 To Yuma and The Rainmaker. So, not a career killer then.Stick it to the Man, Baby, Empire Records is a vibrant and funny movie. 7.5/10