Empire Records (1995) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Biographies-Cast Listing-Cast & Crew Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1995
Running Time	89:56 (Case: 91)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,4	Directed By	Alan Moyle
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Anthony LaPaglia Rory Cochrane Johnny Whitworth Robin Tunney Renee Zellweger Liv Tyler
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$34.95	Music	None Given

Video (NTSC)		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French Spanish Portuguese	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Lucas (Rory Cochrane) is a very unusual individual working at Empire Records and on his first 'close' decides, on a whim, to take $9,000 and gamble it at a casino. Unfortunately, this doesn't work out well and the store comes out on the bad side. Joe (Anthony LaPaglia), the store manager, is less than impressed to find the store's takings gone and this results in some hilarious antics. Meanwhile, Debra (Robin Tunney) is a teen with an attitude aching for attention, A.J. (Johnny Whitworth) is pining for Corey (Liv Tyler) who is pining for Rex Manning (Maxwell Caulfield). The store psycho, aptly named Berko (Coyote Shivers), does his best to constantly play death metal while Gina (Renee Zellweger) does her best to wear as little as possible. That is by no means a bad thing. Will Empire Records survive or will it be overrun by a heartless, funless, corporate institution? - Well, that is for me to know and you to find out!

    Throw into this great young cast a shoplifter, an armed hold-up, a complete loser, a whole heap of great music, and a love story. Great entertainment that I don't hesitate to recommend.

Video

    This movie comes in the 16x9 enhanced aspect ratio of 2.35:1. It is good to see the correct ratio being used on this movie, but it would have been even nicer in PAL.

    Sharpness is never excellent, varying from poor to very good. This transfer has quite high levels of foreground and background grain that really affect the sharpness of the transfer. Shadow detail is acceptable, but there is not a lot of need for good shadow detail in this movie as it is generally filmed in good lighting throughout.

    Colour is well saturated throughout, with no problems to speak of.

    There are numerous MPEG artefacts during this transfer. Gibb effect and pixelization are evident during the opening credits and occasionally on background detail throughout the length of the feature. Film-to-video artefacts occur constantly throughout this transfer, mostly in the form of aliasing. Aliasing occurs on just about every sharp edge or straight line throughout the movie. Some examples can be found at 5:46, 11:41 (monitor), 18:14, and 43:46 (sign). I stopped recording all the minor aliasing but it is always evident on Berko's chain. There is also significant telecine wobble occurring at times during the transfer. Film artefacts seem to be a little more obvious than usual so it is safe to say this was taken from fairly old film stock.

    Another problem that I noticed throughout the transfer was some mild ghosting. I could not quite identify where the problem was originating but it was starting to irritate me towards the end of the movie. It was most obvious in close-ups on faces - as the face moved, the highlights, especially cheek bones took a little longer to move, giving this strange ghosting effect.

    The English subtitles seem to be quite accurate and well paced - no problems. There is no layer change on this disc as it is single layered.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are two audio tracks available on this DVD. English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 at 384kbps.

    Dialogue is generally good throughout with no audio sync problems. Occasionally, the dialogue seems a little distorted but nothing to be concerned with. There are some nasty clicks/pops at around 61:00 - 63:00, but that is the only occurrence.

    Empire Records has an excellent soundtrack featuring great alternative bands like the Gin Blossoms, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and Better than Ezra. The choice of music really suits the movie, as can be expected for a movie about a record store.

    Surround presence is fairly limited with nothing to really reach out and grab the listener. The subwoofer chimes in well to support the music. This is not a huge action flick so the use of surrounds and sub is no less than necessary to tell the story.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

Theatrical Trailer (2.24)

Cast and Crew

    The video quality is quite ordinary.

    The audio quality is satisfactory.

    The extras are close to non-existent.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall