This is the "Special Fan Edition" of "Empire Records, in which I'm not sure what the differences are from the original cut of the film. To me, this movie is basically "wallpaper". I added it to my queue because it was something I could have playing in the background that I didn't really have to pay a whole lot of attention to. That's probably from growing up with cable TV and being a total couch potato that I occasionally like to work around the house with the TV on.
Its not a great, or even a good movie by any measure. Allan Moyle is probably best know for this, "Pump Up The Volume" and to a lesser extent (maybe too obscure?) "Times Square". The latter I haven't seen in ages, so I don't remember if its any good. I remember not liking it, but I need to give it another chance. They used to play all three of these movies on cable a bunch.
This movie is "dated', but I like movies that are dated because they're more or less time capsules. "Empire" would make a good double feature with "Clueless" (which is a much better movie) if you're feeling like going back to 1995.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm hard pressed to believe that there would be that many employees (with the exception of Liv Tyler who showed up early for Rex Manning day) would be working at once in a somewhat little Mom and Pop store. I could be wrong.
This was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina where I played a show recently at The Juggling Gypsy. I think the Empire Records building was downtown, which we drove through on our way to our next show. We did however, stop to eat at the Goody Goody House which is famous for its great omelets. I wonder if any of the cast/crew of this movie ate there? If not, they missed out.
Its funny that the characters in the movie complain about the change from an independent store to a chain store, which I agree with. The aprons though (pictured), is definitely a sign of the times in retail. Nowadays, you have to wear (in my case) red and khaki, or __ and khaki at most retail stores. I would be thrilled if I could whatever I wanted and just throw an apron over it. There's no limit for my distaste of uniforms; I hate them.
A couple things really bug me about this movie.
ReplyDelete1) The record store they work in already seems like a chain store
2) For supposed music snobs who talk about music all the time, they have TERRIBLE taste in music (Gin Blossoms?) Molly Ringwald's record store crew in Pretty in Pink had infinitely better taste. Think about that for a second.