Empire Records

Rating:
Summary: Empire Records rulez!
Review: I really love this movie! Good music, good actors and Liv Tyler!
She was the best!

Rating:
Summary: A Classic Teen Movie
Review: I *heart* Empire Records. In the mid-90s there were too few goofy, ensemble teen movies, the only one comparable would be Clueless. What's ironic is that ER was ignored back in the day, and yet teen movies that seem so dime-a-dozen these days tend to mimic ER's colorful, wacky humor.

The movie centers around a group of friends-- philosophical screw-up Lucas, beautiful overachiever Corey, torn artist AJ, sexy Gina, freaky stoner Marc, shaven head Deb, and punk rocker Berko-- who all share a common love of music (and employment) at the indie music shop, Empire Records. In the course of one day, the gang will battle a psychotic shoplifter, deal with a skeezy pop star, sort through various love entanglements, and counsel each other's personal dilemmas. Their boss, Joe, also admits the Empire is being bought out buy a commercial music chain. The only way to save the store is to recover the 9000 dollars Lucas lost in Atlantic City the evening prior.

This is not a deep, life-altering movie by any means, but it is perfectly cast and works well weaving each character's story into the mix. Rent this if you want to a good laugh, or if you want to believe that love and music will get you through any hardship. To boot, the soundtrack is awesome, lots of alternative 90s rock including the Cranberries, Toad the Wet Sprocket and the Gin Blossoms. Heck, even the schmaltzy "Say No More, Mon Amor" sung by Rex Manning gets addictive after awhile.

The DVD has a handful of deleted scenes, one which explains why Berko wasn't in the dancing montage in the end (this always bugged me before). Another further explains Lucas's fling with the older woman in the beginning of the film. Although the extras were good (like the full-length Rex Manning video-- bwah!), the DVD would've benefitted from a few more bits, thus making this truly worthy of being called a "Special Fan Edition." I would've especially liked director's commentary, or even from Renee or Liv, who've gone on to bigger and better since this project. It would've been cool to hear their opinions now about this underrated gem.

Best quote:

Gina: Am I fired?
Joe: Have I fired ANYone today?

Rating:
Summary: A funny quirky movie
Review: The basics of this movie is just there everyone has issues, it's how you deal with them. Oh, and the accomapnying movies to the problems. OH AND APPARENTLY THE AMAZON.COM EDITORIAL REVIEWER NEVER SAW THE MOVIE BECAUSE LIV TYLERS CHARACTER IS NOT "a lovestruck sweet thing trying to get up the nerve to express her feelings to a fellow employee". That was infact a male character. The Liv Tyler character wants to have sex witha pop star (among other story line). Although I am simplifing the story and characters (and there are more than only the the 2 or 3 mentioned), at least I don't make them quite so plain and 2-D as the editorial reviewer, who is clearly over-paid and not doing his job.

Rating:
Summary: The best
Review: Okay, I don't care what you reviewer says. I'm sixteen years old, and I normally go for the artsy movies, but this is the best. I have loved this movie forever. I mean, it can be sappy at times, but what about when 'Warren' tries to get the quarters off the floor? Classic! Or...you have to see it! Just...do it!

Rating:
Summary: Horrible!
Review: I bought this new version thinking it would be even better than the first version (which I loved), but I was proven wrong. This version is absolutly horrible! There are very unnessicary voice overs, for instance, when "Warren" came back to the store and said to stop calling him Warren, when they showed Eddie, Cory, Berko, and Mark, this scene shows a PERFECT example of not only an unnessicary voice over, but very poorly made voice over. They didn't even re-shoot that scene, they just voiced it over. I was VERY dissappointed with this version and I recomend the first version.

Rating:
Summary: Damn the Man! Save the Empire!
Review: That title pretty much says it all. I love this movie. The lip- synching to AC/DC is classic. Lucas' pearls of wisdon are genius. YOU JUST HAVE TO SEE THIS FILM! The cast is funny (Liv Tyler, despite being melodramatic is actually quite good.) Ethan Embry is hilarious. Besides, the music Mark listens to is 'guaranteed to make you sterile.' To which I always reply, 'maybe I WANT to be sterile.' Just watch the movie and you too can quote funny lines like that all day long!

Rating:
Summary: i dont feel a need to explain my art to you...
Review: ok...so empire records is the best movie of all time. who DOESNT enjoy a group of slacker teenagers in a record store with a celebrity that they all hate...ok besides cory and gina. and mark! ("well my name is with a k so i thought the band could be spelled with a c so you get that whole you know psychadelic trip thing") and then..there's warren...who's name apparently ISN'T warren. performances are great. soundtrack is awsome. i find myself quoting this movie CONSTANTLY. and searching for the full shooting scirpt online...and reading it over and over :-D i can't say a bad thing about this movie. except i want the scenes with andre and lilly! thank GOD for the remix dvd!! [...] THE MAN! SAVE THE EMPIRE!

Rating:
Summary: I Love This Movie
Review: This movie dispite what critics say is great. The movie leaves you at the end feeling great. The performances by all of the cast members is great. I wish this store was real I would fill out an application and give it to Joe immediately. I would highly recommend Empire Records.

Rating:
Summary: FUNNY, ENJOYABLE,SAY NO MORE MON AMOUR
Review: I really like this film, and it's helped me when I've gone through some hard times. Good performances and the story's funny. I love Liv Tyler, there's always something honest about her performance.
By Justine Ryan

Rating:
Summary: "High Fidelity" For Dummies?
Review: An amiable romp that will feel most fresh and original to those too young to remember "The Breakfast Club". A Day In The Life of a group of self-absorbed, angst-ridden Gen-X (or maybe "-Y"?) record store employees who find themselves a Cause Celebre when thier "hip" indie shop is suddenly threatened by the Dreaded Evil Corporate Buy-out. The episodic nature of the film works for and against itself; the draggy moments of forced, over-acted and underwritten "drama" are mercifully short and usually bailed by an amusingly dry one-liner or goofy, energetic "lip-synch" montage. A few inspired moments of music industry satire kicks the film up a notch, particularly in the snippets of video clips featuring an aging poseur pop singer (obviously based on Robert Palmer) who is making an "in-store" appearance. The cast is an interesting mix of later-to-be mainstream stars (Rene Zelleweger, Liv Tyler) and current indie film talents like Brenden Sexton III ("Boys Don't Cry", "Welcome To The Dollhouse") and Robin Tunney ("Niagra Niagra"). If only the same amount of thought that went into selecting the excellent, eclectic soundtrack had also been applied to the script and direction, we might have had a minor genre classic on our hands, a la "Clerks" or "UHF".