Empire Records Review

Just let me introduce you to everybody. This

is Gina, Roy, Lucas, AJ. The staff of Empire

Records had the coolest jobs on earth. Do you

think the story is already written? Or do you

think a bold and courageous act can change the

course of history? Something happened to me last

night in Atlantic City. Did you win anything?

No, I did not. But Lucas blew it. Everyone knew

it. You were a bi -empire? Well, that's a good

thing, right? The money is gone. Where's it going

to? I think it's recirculating. You're turning

us into a music town? I have to pay for what

Mr. Brilliant here did. I'm the idiot. You're

the screw up, and we are all losers. Now, five

friends have one day to decide what to do with

the rest of their lives. AJ loves Corey, not

the whole story. Today is the day that I'm gonna

tell Corey how I feel about her. That I, uh...

Love her. Yeah. Do you think it is possible for

someone to be in love with someone else and not

even know it? In this life, there are nothing

but possibilities. That is so sweet. I think

I'm in love. Corey wants Rex first time at sex.

Hey, Rex, what happened to your hair? I will

offer myself to Rex Manning. I wish I could be

brave. You are brave. I have to bring Rex's lunch.

I'm bringing Rex's lunch! Mark's rage and mad.

Best day he's had. Help me, help me, help me.

If I was in a band, they would not be doing this

to me. Deb shaved her head and made out she was

dead. I tried to kill myself with a lady bag.

Mr. Typical Nutty Teenager. You did have hair,

right? I was tired of being invisible. Gina did

it again, this time to a friend. You get smarter

the shorter your skirt gets. I wanna sing in

a band, but I don't have the guts. Is this how

your life's gonna be now? You're just gonna screw

every husband? I'm starting! I wanna know more.

Check out the store. Empire Records open till

midnight this mark. Midnight! Empire Records.

Featuring the music of Better Than Ezra, Gin

Blossoms, Apehangers, Evendando, Toad the Wet

Sprocket, and The Cranberry. What is wrong with

you people? Rock and roll. Coming to rock your

world this fall. Hello and welcome to the 46th

episode of the Mwire. Today we're discussing

Empire Records. I am TF2Unlike and as usual I'm

joined with Steve Megatron. Hello, sir. Hello.

How are you? Pretty decently well. That's good.

What's been going on with you? Um... Not much.

Turned 24. Yep. Batman Beyond Season 2 on Amazon

yesterday. See, you're learning. Well, there's

no way in hell I was going on eBay. I lucked

out with one of the other shows on eBay, but

yeah, I don't think I'm gonna buy any more digital

media on eBay. No. Toys only. Or comics. I did

snag Batman Adventures, which is the animated

series yeah comics the rid the first run not

the Batman and Robin or the adventures of Batman

and Robin or the Gotham Adventures, which I'm

gonna start collecting too, but I did snag comics

one through ten of the Batman Adventures for

about five bucks It's not bad. It's a good deal

actually Got that on eBay. I was like hmm cuz

it only went for 99 cents and shipping was like

four bucks So I was like sweet Can't find it

in any of the comic shops Yeah, that's probably

cuz they're not are they still currently producing

those I don't know like yeah 1992 to you know,

2000 Yeah, that's what I figured that that's

why you're not gonna find them in comic shops.

Well, then again Somebody could probably find

a spider -man number one worth $25 ,000 somewhere,

but I seriously doubt anybody would sell that

but anyway Yeah, I we gotta get this damn podcast

back on track I have no idea what the hell happened

No, I think it had to do with the time off and

then we didn't have a couple of chords. Well,

it's I I honestly have no freaking clue what

the hell happened to this because it's not so

much that we're behind on the actual releasing

in the in the episode order of the show we're

behind on the actual recording of the show and

it's like Holy crap. I'm looking at the schedule

and it's like this episode which Episode 46 wasn't

even originally gonna be Empire Records, but

anyway This was supposed to be recorded and released

by like last month Or something like that I have

no about four or five episodes behind yeah, you

know pretty much I'm trying to I'd like to get

us to the point where we've got 48 through 52

done before July 1st, or well, 46 through 52

done before July 1st, because episode 53, which

is Superman 3, is the one year anniversary show.

So, yeah. I don't know what the hell happened.

So did you get to run, you know, 12 to 14 podcasts

every week or every other week? Holy crap. Yep,

one of them's gonna get shafted somewhere. Talk

about a Shawshank Redemption. How are they gonna

dig us out of this hole? Alright, so getting

right into it, Empire Records is a 1995 comedy

film that follows a group of record store employees

over the course of one exceptional day. The film

is directed by Alan Noyle and stars Anthony LaPaglia,

Robin Tunney, Rory Cochran, Renee Zellweger,

Ethan Embry, and Liv Tyler. Have you ever seen

this film? No. Okay, um basically if you take

Trying to think I'm trying to make a John Hughes

reference here, but if you take a majority of

the characters from Breakfast Club Samus Fire

and Whatever other teen comedy thing that he

did in the 80s Put them in the 90s and put them

in a music store. That's pretty much what you

have here See other than the fact that you don't

have the the bender character so much as far

as You know just the the over angsting rage I

guess Liv Tyler's character might be be that

but I don't think so But yeah when I was watching

it because I've got the They actually call it,

where the hell is this stupid thing? I had it

a second ago or yesterday, I just watched this

damn thing yesterday. I have the Remix Special

Fan Edition, which I have no idea why it's remixed.

Well, there's four additional scenes that even

this remix couldn't contain. There's some music

videos, the theatrical trailer, which... I don't

see it. I don't understand why everyone lists

The specifications of the DVD like the audio

quality or you know whatever like Dolby 5 .1

or whatever the hell it's supposed to be I don't

see that as a special feature. That's that's

a that that's an aspect of That's that's a speck

of the of the of the film or whatever. Anyway,

this is a really cool movie getting into the

plot here, maybe Empire Records is a small independent

record shop managed by Joe. His employees are

all high schoolers and young adults. The store,

like the employees, is eclectic and unique, and

the staff is very much a self -created family,

with Joe as a reluctant and perpetually exasperated

father figure. Joe selects Lucas, played by Rory

Cochran, to close the store for the first time.

While counting the day's receipts, Lucas discovers

that Empire Records is about to be converted

into a branch of Music Town, a large and generic

franchise music store. Lucas has had an epiphany

and, with an attempt to save the store, takes

the day's cash receipts to Atlantic City. While

initially very lucky, he loses the entire amount.

The next morning, Mark, played by Ethan Embry,

and AJ, played by Johnny Whitworth, find Lucas

asleep behind the store still perched on his

motorcycle. They quickly deduce that Lucas has

made a grievous mistake while entrusted with

the store money. Lucas adopts a bizarre, almost

zen -like attitude towards his actions. AJ and

Mark feign ignorance as to the missing money

when Joe discovers the night deposit was never

made, and the money is missing. Joe is distracted

from dealing with this immediate crisis due to

a scheduled publicity stunt. Rex Manning Day.

Rex Manning is played by Max Caulfield. A pompous,

fading pop singer is due to arrive and sign autographs

and promote his new album. No one is really looking

forward to Rex Manning Day except Cashier Corey,

played by Liv Tyler, an overachieving student

headed for Harvard University who has a schoolgirl

crush on Rex and plans to lose her virginity

to him. Corey's friend and fellow Cashier Gina,

played by Rene Zellweger, a more adventurous

and free spirit than Corey, she encourages Corey.

in her pursuit of the much older Manning. Empire's

owner Mitchell Beck, played by Ben Bodie, arrives

to collect the missing deposit, but Joe covers

for Lucas and plays for time by handing Mitchell

a bag full of loose receipts. AJ, okay, I'm sorry,

I gotta stop. Holy shit. So you're telling me

throughout this whole friggin' movie that this

douchebag Mitchell... Didn't even think to look

in the fucking bag He went to the bank after

he left that scene. He was supposed to be quote

unquote going to the bank So you're telling me

this bank in whatever town they're in cuz I don't

think it specifically says it's somewhere New

Jersey, maybe but I'm not sure it doesn't I don't

think it ever specifically says maybe it does

maybe I just don't remember right now But you're

telling me the bank there doesn't open A giant

green pouch to find blank receipts. That makes

no sense. That just seems dumb. Yeah. AJ confides

in Joe that he loves Corey, and he has chosen

Rex Manning Day as the day he tells her. Lucas

returns and rather than show repentance or guilt,

calmly and repeatedly insists that everything

will somehow work out. Much to Joe's growing

confusion and frustration. Joe forbids Lucas

to leave the store or even the couch in the break

room, until he is able to repay the $9 ,000.

Deb, played by Robin Tunney, who, when I first

saw her, didn't realize it was Robin Tunney.

I thought it was freaking, uh, not Drew Barry,

more, uh, Demi Moore, because she kinda looks

like her from G .I. Jane. We'll get to that in

a second. Another employee arrives. She, as usual,

is hostile and anti -social to the rest of the

staff. She immediately locks herself in the bathroom,

where she impulsively shaves her head. As she

exits the bathroom, AJ sees that her wrists are

bandaged, and she admits that she attempted suicide.

It's revealed that Berko, played by Coyote Shivers,

a local rock musician and another store employee

had just broken up with her. but Dev insists

that he wasn't the reason for a suicide attempt.

A young shoplifter who identifies himself only

as Warren Beatty, played by Brendan Sexton III,

is apprehended outside the store by Lucas. Soon

after, Rex Manning arrives with his assistant

Jane, played by Debbie Mazar. Manning is condescending

towards Joe, the rest of the staff, and his fans,

quarrying after demanding at the top of her lungs,

that she allowed to bring Rex's lunch awkwardly

attempts to seduce him during his lunch break.

When Manning responds with a crude pass, Cory

runs off, crying in embarrassment. A lovesick

AJ finally attempts to tell Cory how he feels

about her. Cory, emotionally overwhelmed by her

encounter with her idol, tells AJ that she cannot

handle his admission. Crushed, AJ abandons his

plan when Corey later attempts to deal with AJ's

feelings by telling him she doesn't think of

him that way. He rebuffs her. In the meanwhile,

both Joe and Berko attempt to reach out to Deb,

who refused to explain her behavior or the circumstances

that led to her abandoned wrists. Deb buries

herself in work, but is clearly upset. As the

afternoon progresses, the plan to convert Empire

Records into a music town is revealed, and Joe

admits that he had hoped to buy Mitchell out.

However, Joe will now have to use his money to

replace what Lucas lost. Empire Records is now

doomed to become a record town. Joe finally pummels

Lucas in frustration. Yeah, that was a pretty

funny scene Basically drags him into the office

like old mafia style shuts the door in this in

the office has Lines on it that if you throw

somebody up against them, they're gonna make

noise so nice. Yeah, it was pretty cool The afternoon

continues to spiral downward. Corey accuses Gina

of encouraging her ill -advised behavior around

Rex, implying Corey's effort to emulate Gina's

promiscuity was Gina's idea, and ultimately at

fault for the failed seduction. And that Corey

doesn't have to, quote -unquote, behave that

way around men, outraged at the accusation and

seeking to hurt Corey, Gina seduces Rex, manning

much to the horror of her friends. AJ attacks

Rex, who leaves after getting in a lucky punch

against AJ. When Cory confronts her, calling

her a slut, Gina real retaliates by revealing

Cory's secret. Amphetamine habit? Okay, that's...

I think it's diet pills or... Oh, speed. Okay,

there we go, speed. Which helps her stay up all

night studying. Cory has a hysterical episode

and has to be physically restrained by Joe. Uncharacteristically,

Deb shows sympathy towards the always perfect

Cory, having a near meltdown and helps calm her.

Cory, after hearing about Deb's suicide attempt,

arranges a funeral for her where all her friends

gather. around and say things that they love

about her. Lucas reveals that Joe actually rescued

him from the orphanage as a teen and was trying

to repay him for his kindness. Deb admits she

tried and failed to kill herself with a disposable

razor with a moisturizing strip. Yeah, in the

film they say she used a ladybic. That's right.

I mean, you know, suicide's no joke, don't get

me wrong, but wow that's a rough way to try holy

crap yeah uh during the mock funeral quote -unquote

warren returns with a gun and holds up the store

deb uh boldly confronts Warren, confusing him

and distracting him from his plan, and the rest

of the staff persuade Warren to admitting he

has only returned because he has felt a kinship

with the rest of the misfits, in the store leading

Joe to offer him a job. After the police leave,

Lucas admits defeat and suggests calling Mitchell.

However, his friends and co -workers, along with

Jane, who has quit working for Rex, pool their

resources to replace the missing money. Despite

their best efforts, they are thousands of dollars

short. Suddenly inspired, Mark runs out of the

store, impulsively jumps in front of a news crew

covering the holdup, and announces the late night

benefit party slash concert to save Empire. Between

AJ's art, the various money raising efforts by

the rest of the staff. A rooftop concert featuring

Berko and Gina, who is finally fulfilling her

long -time ambition to front a band, enough is

made to replace the money Lucas lost. Joe and

Lucas return the money to Mitchell, and promptly

quit. Mitchell appalled at the debacle, and the

prospect of managing the store without Joe offers

to sell it to him, cheap. Joe agrees, and Corey

tells AJ that she really does love him too. But

now, she hates him for waiting so long to tell

her how he felt. AJ tells her he has quit the

store and has been accepted to an art school

in Boston and they finally kiss. Underneath the

closing credits, Mark and a local pizza restaurant

employee and friend, Eddie, discuss music while

sitting on the curb outside the store. Thoughts?

Sounds like it could be a good movie. I mean,

I honestly haven't had time to actually watch

it or get a hold of it. But yeah, it definitely

sounds like something I would watch next time

I find it on my Netflix Instant. Yeah, unfortunately.

This is one of those great 90s cult classic films

or some sort of comedy. This is, like I said

before, it's a 90s version of some sort of breakfast

club type of atmosphere. I mean, you have all

the classic characters here. Deb could easily

be the Ali Shidi character. There really aren't

any athletes. Maybe Joe could be considered that,

but really not because there's no... Maybe Joe

and Jane could be considered Andrew and Molly

Ringwald, but neither of them actually act that

way in the film. Um, unfortunately, the film

did poorly at the box office and received generally

negative reviews. As of December 2009, it has

only a 24 % fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Oh boy, here we go, our favorite asshole. precessantly

predicted some of the actors might have a future

in other, better films. La Paglia, Cochrane,

Embry, Zellweger, Tyler, and Tunney all went

on to achieve significantly greater fame. Despite

its poor box office performance, the film has

achieved something of a cult classic status,

as I said. This, I think, of course I would have

to really research this. This was the first film

I think I ever saw Renee Zellweger in. This was

before her You had me at hello crap. I'm not

a big fan of hers Yeah, I can take her or leave

her. She was okay and me myself and Irene though

Yeah, but I don't know. I just I don't really

care for her whatsoever. She's her own this movie

has a awesome awesome soundtrack I thought this

movie was way older than what it was and then

I remembered oh yeah 95 uh -huh you got tracks

from the Jim blossoms the cranberries told the

wet sprocket better than Ezra let's see else

Yeah, just a whole bunch of really good stuff.

The version of the song Sugar High that appears

in the movie differs significantly from the one

included on the soundtrack. The main differences

are that the movie version has an additional

lyric and chorus vocals provided by Rene Zellweger

and is musically one semitone lower than the

CD version. Francis Coyote Shivers, the artist

who released the song, played the lead singer

of the song in the movie. Also notably absent

from the soundtrack are the tracks, This Is the

Day by The Vuh, which makes no sense, Seems by

Queen Sarah Saturday, Romeo and Juliet by Dire

Straits, Snakeface by Throwing Muses, If You

Want Blood You've Got It by ACDC, Money by The

Flying Lizards, Video killed the radio star by

the Buggles. I shot the devil by suicidal tendency

Sonoma dogo by goire rock and roll EGA by Daniel

Johnston and Plowed by sponge which probably

the reason why those weren't included It's probably

music rights issues. Everything is music rights

issues these days Yeah, a lot of it ends up in

that category. Nope Let's see The film was severely

edited in post -production, removing three significant

characters and up to 40 minutes of film. The

story was also condensed down from occurring

over two days to just one. The film exteriors

were filmed at the actual music store on North

Front Street in Wilmington, North Carolina, and

the large mural of Madonna, which Mark kisses

early in the film, was visible behind the store

on South Water Street for many years. Coyote

Shivers was in a long -standing relationship

with Liv Tyler's mother, Baby Beal, at the time

of the filming, making his co -star his step

-daughter. Oh boy. Yikes. Oh boy. Wow. Yikes.

In addition to the many actors in the film who

went on to much bigger roles, future Spider -Man

star Toven McGuire was also featured in the film.

But all his scenes were edited from the final

version. Actress Diana Miranda was also cut from

the final edit despite dating director Alan Moyle.

She was to play Lily, Warren's sister. In a deleted

scene, Rex Manning realizes he has become a sad

parody of himself and admits he is unhappy with

his life and apologizes for his boorish behavior.

Another deleted scene shows him jamming with

Berko's band having rediscovered his passion

for rock and roll. Yeah, let's not go there.

Let's see. So the cast, really quick before we

close this out here, it's kind of a backwards

-ass episode this week, but Anthony LaPaglia,

He is most famous now for Without a Trace. Sounds

familiar. He plays Jack Malone. It's on CBS.

It usually follows CSI on Thursdays, I think.

And Robin Tunney, she was in... One thing I remember

her in was Paparazzi with Cole Hauser and Tom

Sizemore. Oh, okay. Ethan Embry went on to do

stuff like Can't Hardly Wait and other stuff.

And see, this is the funny thing about this film.

I saw Can't Hardly Wait before I saw this. So

when I saw this, I'm like, oh, wow, that's Ethan

Embry. What the hell is he doing in here? That's

the same thing. It's kind of like the same thing

like when I saw Ace and Mask. And then some strange

weekend on cable I saw Once Bitten, and I'm like,

whoa, that's a big departure for Carrie. Liv

Tyler, which very, very awesome in this movie.

There's one thing that I noticed between this

and Armageddon. She falls in love with AJ and

with NAJ in both films. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. And

Renee Zellweger, she's good in this. She's alright.

She plays the typical teenage slut for the most

part. She's fairly good. The only reason why

I can really put up with her in this movie is

she really doesn't. She's not the main focus.

This is not Bridget Jones, thank God. Oh God.

I will never watch those films. Holy crap. No.

I, like I said, I don't really like her all that

much. I mean, I can tolerate her in a movie,

but she's not one of those ones that I generally

like any of her movies. Yeah, I agree with you

there. Yeah, that's pretty much it, as far as

the cast goes. Overall, it's a really good movie.

It's a nice music movie, if you want some 90s

music. Of course. Michael Wilson is probably

on his way with the family to BotCon, but I sent

him a message on Twitter Yesterday when I was

watching this because didn't realize that gore

Was in this and he's a huge gore fan, and I'm

thinking oh, okay And I thought gore was just

like an old 80s metal hairband or something But

apparently they came out of the 90s or something

I don't know. Thank you for joining us here on

MWIRE Movie Weekend Review There are so many

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through the fan page. We hope you enjoyed this

episode of M .Y. I wish you would join us next

time when we will be reviewing Half Past Dead.

Which is what I am about right now, holy crap,

it's early. Oh. For that I have diffed you and

Michael with. Steve Megatron Phillips? Thank

you for listening, until next time. Do not be

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to your regular program. Did you know that Justin

Bieber is actually Webster in a girl suit? Did

you know that Teddy Ruxpin's friend Grubby is

actually a tapeworm? Did you know that Gargamel

is really a cat lady? Did you know that Billy

Zane is the only man to ever be Chuck Norris?

If you didn't know any of these things, then

you should be currently listening to Chicken

Pop Pod Retro Comedy Podcast. Catch it at chickenpoppod

.com. Always play with their minds. Nice selection.

What? Help you with anything? No. I'm alright.

Thanks. You like music? Yeah. Me too. The fat

man walks alone. What? What are you? Some kind

of weirdo? It's a big coat you're wearing. Lots

of pocket room. Yeah. See ya. I'm sure I'll bump

into you. Isn't it customary to leave the scene

after committing the crime? Definitely not a

chance. Attention, Rex Manning fans! To your

left, you will notice a shoplifter being chased

by Night Manager Lucas. This young man will be

spotted deep -fried in a vat of hot oil and served

to our first hundred customers. Just another

tasty treat from the gang at Empire Records.

In a world... There, I said it. Happy?