6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.6 |
A day in the life of the employees of Empire Records. Except this is a day where everything comes to a head for a number of them facing personal crises - can they pull through together? And more importantly, can they keep their record store independent and not swallowed up by corporate greed?
Starring: Anthony LaPaglia, Maxwell Caulfield, Debi Mazar, Rory Cochrane, Johnny WhitworthComedy | 100% |
Teen | 37% |
Coming of age | 26% |
Music | 17% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
German: Dolby Digital 2.0
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
Spanish 1.0=Latin
English SDH, French, German SDH, Japanese, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
The cult classic, Empire Records, has suffered almost as capricious a fate as its director, Alan Moyle, whose career was derailed for almost ten years by the failure of his first film, Times Square (1980). Moyle returned in 1990 with his only major success to date, the teen classic Pump Up the Volume, starring Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis. The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag (1992) barely made an impression, and three years later, the history of Times Square was repeated when disputes with the producers resulted in the release of Empire Records in a re-edited and truncated form. About forty minutes were cut, several characters were dropped altogether, and the story, which had originally spanned two days, was compressed into one. No one knows how Moyle's original version would have performed, but the producers' cut flopped. Moyle's cut of the film remains unreleased, but in 2003 Warner Home Video issued a so-called "Remix! Special Fan Edition" DVD of Empire Records with sixteen minutes of additional footage cut back into the film, plus four deleted scenes. For its Blu-ray release, one would have hoped that Warner would at least give the fans both the theatrical and "remix" versions of Empire Records, but only the theatrical cut has been included.
Empire Records was shot by Walt Lloyd, reuniting with Moyle after Pump Up the Volume. With much of the film shot on a single soundstage (exteriors were filmed in Wilmington, NC), Lloyd had to rely on production designer Peter Jamison's profusion of posters, merchandise and rock 'n' roll bric-a-brac for visual interest, plus the non-conformist clothing that the staff would have to surrender if Music Town took over and imposed a uniform. Warner's "Remix!" DVD of Empire Records was advertised as being from an "all new 2003 digital transfer", but this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray appears to have been mastered from the even older transfer used for the DVD of the theatrical cut. It's colorful enough, but the image lacks sharpness, and fine detail is often weak and indistinct. Especially in a film where working at the record store of the title has become the focus of the characters' emotional lives, every element in the store should be as clearly visible as possible, but in this presentation, it isn't. The Blu-ray certainly improves on the DVD, but it is far from the best that Empire Records could look. Warner has placed the 90-minute film on a BD-25, resulting in an average bitrate of 22.95 Mbps. The bandwidth is adequate, especially given the lack of fine detail, but the film would probably need more with a better scan.
The film's original 5.1 mix has been encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA. Nor surprisingly, it emphasizes the diverse soundtrack from an array of artists ranging from those who appeared on the CD (e.g., Gin Blossoms, Evan Dando, Toad the Wet Sprocket) to others who were left off the album but were included in the film for thematic or period reasons (such as The Buggles for "Video Killed the Radio Star" or The Flying Lizards for their cover of "Money (That's What I Want)"). The songs have been mixed to have an enveloping presence that uses the entire surround array, which conveys a sense of music's centrality in the characters' live. Other sounds, even the cacophony of an Atlantic City casino, are underplayed.
Although the Blu-ray contains the theatrical cut of the film, which was released on DVD in 2001 with just a trailer, the extras have been ported over from the 2003 "Remix! Special Fan Edition" DVD.
Even though it's only been twenty years since the release of Empire Records, the entire notion of an independent music store fighting off a major chain has been rendered quaint. Today it's the chains that are fighting for survival, and most have already lost the battle. The music has gone elsewhere, as it always does. It went elsewhere in 1995, when the CD for Empire Records did better than the film. Both the album and the many songs that didn't make the collection are enjoyable listening (if, in some cases, a little dated). The film itself, however, is a busy mess that's strictly for existing fans and the occasional new initiate, who will most likely be someone of a tender age. The Blu-ray is no more than adequate on its technical merits. In no event should anyone "blind buy".
1999
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20th Anniversary Edition
2001
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1992
2008
1991
Choice Collection
2001
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2000
30th Anniversary Edition
1985
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1992
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Unrated and Cream-Filled
2008
1993