Contents
Reviews
How
Discs Are Rated
#
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
News
Archives
DVD
Guide
Contest
Video
Game Reviews
About
DVDlaunch
Meet
The Staff
Contact
|
Click above to purchase "Empire Records" at amazon.com
Empire Records
review by Eric Dahl
Rated PG-13
Studio: Warner
Running Time: 91 minutes
Starring Anthony LaPaglia, Maxwell Caulfield, Liv
Tyler, Renee Zellweger, Rory Cochrane, Ethan Embry
Written by Carol Heikkinen
Directed by Allan Moyle
Retail Price: $19.98
Features: Theatrical Trailer, Cast and Crew
Specs: 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English Dolby
Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, English Subtitles,
French Subtitles, Spanish Subtitles, Portuguese Subtitles,
Chapter Search (28 Chapters)
I'll have to admit that I had never heard of "Empire
Records" until about six months ago when a friend of mine
shoved an old 2nd generation video in my hand and told me to
watch it. Well, having nothing better to do that night, I
put the movie on. I wasn't expecting anything great going
in, but after the movie was all over, I had a huge grin on
my face. It's certainly not one of the best movies ever
made, by any means, but from time to time, this movie is
hilarious. It's just your typical, "oh, no, the corporate
bloodsuckers are trying to convert our little [insert type
of store here: sporting goods, books, whatever] into a chain
store, let's get everyone together and try to stop them"
kind of movie, a formula that's been retreaded and retreaded
over and over again in Hollywood's history, but it works
well here.
"Empire Records" is the story of, um, well, Empire
Records: a little music store in an unnamed town, and one
fateful day in the life of it's employees. Speaking of its
employees, well, let's see, there's Lucas (Rory Cochrane),
the guy who was supposed to close up the store and count up
the money the night before, but after discovering that
Empire Records was going to become one of the numerous
national "Music Town" chain stores, goes to Atlantic City
and wagers all of the money on craps. Well, things didn't
work out as planned, and the money is doomed to
"recirculation". The next morning, the store's manager, Joe
(Anthony LaPaglia), finds out about Lucas's escapades and
just doesn't take the news too well. It seems that the money
that Lucas lost the night before was to keep Empire from
being sold to "Music Town", and now everyone is pretty much
screwed. The rest of the movie deals with how they plan to
raise the money back again so they can save the store, how
they deal with a middle aged, past-his-prime, "Top 40,
teeny-bopper" singer named Rex Manning (Maxwell Caulfield),
who's making a guest appearance singing his albums, and a
shoplifter named "Warren" (Brendan Sexton III), who steals
the scenes that he's in, and is absolutely hilarious.
Yeah, the characters are cliched: there's the smart girl
(Liv Tyler), the slut (Renee Zellweger), the goofball (Ethan
Embry), the guy who's in love, but doesn't know how to break
the news to her (Johnny Whitworth), the depressed suicidal
(Robin Tunney), and the band member (Coyote Shivers), but it
doesn't matter, the movie's still great fun anyway.
If you want to see a movie that's a cut above the usual
teenage dreck that's released, go pick yourself up "Empire
Records": it's funny, it has a great soundtrack, and it's a
perfect Friday night movie to watch with your buddies.
The anamorphic widescreen transfer for "Empire Records is
overall very nice. The colors are good, nothing too
oversaturated or washed out. You get a nice sharp picture
for the most part, but I noticed a little softness in a
couple of scenes. Nothing reference quality here, but good
nonetheless. The DVD restores the picture to it's original
2.35:1 aspect ratio, so you can finally see the entire
"Empire Records" sign at the climax with Liv Tyler and her
boyfriend dancing on top of the building, other than "ire
Rec", which I remember seeing on my old VHS copy.
Due to this being primarily a dialogue centered comedy, I
didn't expect much from the 5.1 mix on this DVD for the most
part. The sounds are mostly front centered, but the
practically non-stop soundtrack (well, it is a music store,
isn't it?) sometimes bleeds into rears as well as ambient
sounds (a megaphone's squeal and the like). From the center,
we get clear dialogue with no noticable distortion, and the
.1 bass channel is used primarily for the music heard
throughout the movie. Overall a good, but not noteworthy 5.1
mix.
Nothing but Cast and Crew Biographies and a Theatrical
Trailer (in Dolby Digital 2.0, 2.35:1 Widescreen).
Barebones, you might say, as the two features we get are
pretty much mandatory on any disc.
Warner Brothers has released a pretty much barebones disc
with (in my opinion) a great movie. Although I wish they
could've added something, anything, to the disc, I can't
complain because the price is great. I picked mine up for
$15.00, and I've seen it for cheaper than that. If you like
the movie, definitely pick this one up, you won't be
disappointed. If you haven't seen it yet, give it a rent,
you might just like it enough to pay the small price for the
DVD.
 (4/5 - NOT included in
final score)
(4/5)
(4/5)
 (.5/5)
 (3.5/5, NOT an average)
|
