Directed by Allan Moyle
Written by Jacob Brackman, Allan Moyle, Leanne Ungar
Starring Trini Alvarado, Robin Johnson, Tim Curry, Peter Coffield
Runtime: 1 hour 51 minutes
Rated R
Special Edition Blu-ray available from Kino Lorber May 24

by Audrey Callerstrom, Associate Editor

I remember an issue of Entertainment Weekly in 1995 that listed all of the upcoming fall releases. One of them was called Empire and it starred Liv Tyler, whom I had a crush on, of sorts (I thought she was interesting and she was in my magazines a lot). I circled it expecting that it would be in theaters soon. And it wasn’t - or maybe it was, and just not advertised or available at a theater near me, and it was now called Empire Records. I bought the soundtrack on cassette (it’s a really good soundtrack). But I watched the movie at a sleepover and promptly fell asleep. It’s not good. It feels like it’s written by children. The setting (a record store) is cool, and the actors (Tyler, Johnny Whitworth, Renee Zellweger) are hot, but the movie is not.

I bring this up because Empire Records was directed by Allan Moyle, whose early film, Times Square (1980), is getting a Blu-Ray release thanks to Kino Lorber. Previously it lived as a fond memory upon Generation X. It was probably a welcome respite from a traditional children’s film, but in spite of the setting (Times Square New York, mostly at night) and a soundtrack that hits every major punk and rock artist from the late ‘70s, Times Square is fully a children’s film. The adults feel like they’re written by children, but the children never seem like children. Every character is an outline, not colored in. Times Square is about two teen girls, who, under the most ridiculous circumstances, wind up in the psych ward because they’re a little “out of the ordinary.” Nicky Marotta (Robin Johnson) is an anonymous runaway whose origins are undetermined, but she has a bad attitude so she undergoes tests. At one point someone says it’s to identify if she has a tumor that would account for her behavior, which, I don’t know what the medical field was like in 1980, but that seems suspect. Nicky is punk. She doesn’t take shit, she cusses, she wears a leather jacket adorned with buttons. She blasts “I Wanna Be Sedated” from a boombox.

Pamela Pearl (Trini Alvarado) is more timid. Her dad, David (Peter Coffield) is the commissioner. During a presentation on future developments in Times Square, David tells a story about Pamela wanting to see One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in a theater near an intersection where there’s crime. The reference to Cuckoo’s Nest is obvious foreshadowing, because after he commits Pamela to a psych ward (for being sullen and quiet, I guess), Pamela meets Nicky and they break out of the hospital. It’s no matter, because the film never justifies putting them there in the first place. For some reason, their journey draws the attention of popular DJ Johnny LaGuardia (like the airport!), played by Tim Curry, so he talks about them on the airwaves. The film fully feels like every scene is written right before it begins. Somehow Pamela and Nicky manage to find gigs, a place to sleep, showers, and a support network. They’re never in real danger. It feels very Adventures in Babysitting. They become local heroes.

Johnson is the standout as Nicky. She holds her own on stage, with an original punk song called “I’m A Damn Dog.” It’s a pretty good song. The soundtrack also boasts Patti Smith, Talking Heads, XTC, The Cure, Gary Numan, and The Cars, among others. The film’s opening scene is Nicky walking through Times Square looking badass, set to “Same Old Scene” by Roxy Music. But there’s never enough momentum in the story to make any of these songs really hit. So it stands alone as a good soundtrack, but not much more. The sound on the Blu-Ray is good, but the resolution and color still look like you’re watching a VHS. Neither main character ever has an arc, and LaGuardia doesn’t really fit into the story, either. Not to mention that neither of these young women ever feel like young women. It feels like they might have been originally written as two boys, but then the writers (there’s three of them) decided to change it at the last minute. They have chemistry, but they never truly feel like two misfits banding together. Or maybe Nicky, with her vaguely British accent and checkered past, does, but Pamela doesn’t. Times Square started a pattern for Moyle. After Times Square and before Empire Records he directed Pump Up the Volume (1990), another film about a badass DJ and like, sticking it to the man, and stuff. The soundtrack included Pixies, Soundgarden, and Sonic Youth. When it comes to Moyle, skip the films and stick to the music instead.