Review of Empire Records (1995) by Shane D — 04 Nov 2009

Firstly, this was one of my cousin Julia's favourite movies, thats why it made the list of 70. So first and foremost, I was watching it with that in mind, with Julia in mind.

========================================Wow, film #54, Empire Records, what an interesting statistic, 83% of viewers loved it, but only 24% of the critics loved it. I wonder what you can summise from that? Well, I'll take my shot. This was a big teen film back in the day and it appeals directly to those kids who first started listening to Nirvana and thought they'd up their cool factor by listening to Lou Reed or the Velvet Underground or Nick Drake or something like that. Having worked in a record store myself for 6 years, I can tell you, no ones getting about dancing in the aisles or spending their lunch break looking cool or brooding. Instead, there were more conversations about whether Phil Collins No Jacket Required was better than Lionel Richie's "Dancing On The Ceiling" or the mental health of Adam Ant or the various collectibility status' of UK or US pressings of Beatles albums. Ah,....now I sound like an old man...but I always though High Fidelity was a more accurate depiction of life in a record store, this is more like the Home And Away version. Plus you also see Liv Tyler in her undies, that probably caused some of the films success. Overall, its an a-typical 90s film, which only really provides nostalgia originating from its soundtrack, throw Reality Bites into this category too. If you were 10-25 in 1995, you'll more than likely love it, otherwise, you will not see the point of it.