Moyle, Allan

Empire Records (Remix! Special Fan Edition)

The director of Pump Up the Volume cranks it up another notch with Empire Records Remix! Special Fan Edition including 16 minutes of never-before-seen footage. A comedy about an eventful day in the lives of the young slackers doers and dreamers who work at a bustling record store. Stars Renee Zellweger Liv Tyler Anthony La Paglia Ethan Embry and Robin Tunney. Gin Blossoms the Cranberries Toad the Wet Sprocket Cracker Evan Dando Better Than Ezra and more hot alternative rock underscores virtually every scene.Running Time: 100 min.System Requirements:Running Time 106:57 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG-13 UPC: 085392322220

This story about a day in the life of an independent record store, truly a threatened species, screeches with the sound of teenagers falling apart emotionally every five minutes. The script, which feels like an old guy's idea of how kids talk and think, concerns the young employees of a Delaware music shop faced with imminent extinction. While the ship is sinking, the staff indulge in tantrums, depressions, and run-ins with low self-esteem. There's a lot of noise in this thing, but not a lot is really said. Rory Cochrane has the best part as a secretive guy who loses the store's proceeds one night while gambling, Anthony LaPaglia is the adult boss and unofficial dad to the others, Renée Zellweger plays a promiscuous girl, and Liv Tyler is OK as a lovestruck sweet thing trying to get up the nerve to express her feelings to a fellow employee. --Tom Keogh

Pump up the Volume

In the suburban hinterlands of Arizona, pirate-radio DJ Hard Harry wages a one-man war against boredom from his bedroom transmitter by night. In between great Lenny Bruce-style stream-of-consciousness rants, Harry attacks the airwaves with the likes of the Descendents, Bad Brains, and Concrete Blonde, as well as occasionally kickin' it old school with some early hip-hop. By day, though, Hard Harry is Mark Hunter, a painfully shy new kid who's anonymous to the point of being invisible at Hubert Humphrey High School. Completely misunderstood by his '60s-era parents, Mark is desperate to keep his radio alter ego separate from his day-to-day persona, especially as his radio shows draw more attention from the authorities. Fellow misfit Nora (Samantha Mathis, in her first feature role) eventually discovers Hard Harry's true identity, much to Mark's chagrin, and the two of them become torchbearers against the stifling status quo of the town as they dodge the police, the school administration, and the FCC. There are familiar high school authority archetypes (the assistant principal with clip-on tie, lemon-yellow K-Mart short-sleeved dress shirt, military flattop, and bulky key ring) and a rather strained subplot of a corrupt school administration. Mainly, though, this is a rousing teen call-to-arms that showcases Slater's talents as he developed the cynical, sarcastic neo-Jack Nicholson delivery that would become his trademark. He's at his best during his radio monologues (making them truly seem ad-libbed), and his influences become clear as he checks out a copy of How to Talk Dirty and Influence People from the library. --Jerry Renshaw

A shy teen turns on the high school crowd when he broadcasts outrageous nightly monologues on a pirate radio station. Starring Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis.

Weirdsville

Royce and Dexter are two slackers who live in the strange little town of Weedsville. When Royce's girlfriend Matilda overdose's on their stash and dies they decide to bury her in an abandoned Drive-In theater. Things get out of control when they discover Satanists performing a ritual sacrifice right where they were going to bury the body...System Requirements:Running Time: 90 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 876964000888 Manufacturer No: 10088

Empire Records

This story about a day in the life of an independent record store, truly a threatened species, screeches with the sound of teenagers falling apart emotionally every five minutes. The script, which feels like an old guy's idea of how kids talk and think, concerns the young employees of a Delaware music shop faced with imminent extinction. While the ship is sinking, the staff indulge in tantrums, depressions, and run-ins with low self-esteem. There's a lot of noise in this thing, but not a lot is really said. Rory Cochrane has the best part as a secretive guy who loses the store's proceeds one night while gambling, Anthony LaPaglia is the adult boss and unofficial dad to the others, Renée Zellweger plays a promiscuous girl, and Liv Tyler is OK as a lovestruck sweet thing trying to get up the nerve to express her feelings to a fellow employee. --Tom Keogh

The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag

New Waterford Girl

Filmed on location in damp, windswept Nova Scotia and set in the 1970s, New Waterford Girl centers around the attempts of Moonie (newcomer Liane Balaban) to flee the constraints of small-town life. The lanky lass would like to be an artist and is encouraged by her teacher, Sweeney (Andrew McCarthy), to apply for a scholarship that will take her out of Cape Breton. In the meantime, she befriends Lou (Tara Spencer-Nairn), the tough girl next door, who helps her to devise an alternate plan. As in his previous features, Times Square and Pump Up the Volume, director Allen Moyle is interested in pop culture and teens who don't quite fit in. Despite the presence of better-known actors like Cathy Moriarty (Raging Bull) and Mark McKinney (Kids in the Hall), this is Balaban's film and she carries it with an awkward, yet endearing grace. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Xchange

Man in the Mirror - The Michael Jackson Story

Flex Alexander's affecting performance in the lead role lifts Man in the Mirror, an account of the troubled, turbulent adult life of Michael Jackson. And a grim, melodramatic, and sometimes way over-the-top tale it is, as the film chronicles the litany of catastrophes visited on Jackson since Thriller turned him into the self-proclaimed King of Pop. It's all here: the Jehovah's Witnesses' horrified reaction to the supposedly blasphemous "Thriller" video (a disclaimer was added at their behest); the filming of the Pepsi commercial during which Jackson's hair caught on fire; the constant hectoring and bullying by his father, Joseph Jackson, and his subsequent alienation from his family; his many cosmetic surgeries; the debacle that was his marriage to Lisa Marie Presley; the controversial incident when he dangled his newborn son from his Berlin hotel room window; and, of course, the ongoing allegations of child molestation (to their credit, the filmmakers are fairly circumspect about the latter, neither condemning nor exonerating him). Through it all, Alexander plays Jackson as a true innocent, guileless and easily manipulated, wondering how the world can be so wicked ("What's wrong with love?" is a frequent refrain), and yet essentially kind, likable, and devoted to his fans. Alexander has Jackson's voice down, as well as some of his dance moves, and if Man in the Mirror contains no actual Jackson songs or realistic performance footage, well, that's life in the low-budget world of made-for-TV movies (it originally aired in 2004 on VH-1). Man in the Mirror hardly qualifies as great art, but in the end, it's nothing more, or less, than diverting, voyeuristic good fun. --Sam Graham

MAN IN THE MIRROR: THE MICHAEL JACKSON STORY portrays the glitz, glamour, fame and scandals associated with pop superstar Michael Jackson throughout the years. Without asserting his innocence or condemning his guilt, the film walks the fine line between comedy and drama as it portrays Jackson's rise to fame and infamy from the early "Thriller" era to the scandal filled present day. The objective tale provides a glimpse into the life of one of the most enigmatic and extravagant pop stars of our time and tells the story of the man who has enchanted and baffled the world for the 35 years.

Jailbait!

It's not easy being the most popular couple in high school. Adam and Amber are the golden pair of Gaitlin High and are very busy being cool. Yet somehow Adam finds time for extracurricular activities like making it with Ginger a sophomore in the bathroom of a local restaurant. Soon Adam's tidy world starts to fall apart when he finds out Ginger is pregnant. An ambitious Assistant District Attorney decides to file charges against Adam. Trying to help Adam's parents hire a third rate attorney whose every move just make matters worse! "Jailbait" is a wickedly funny look at how far some guys will go to score. Can Adam find a way to keep himself out of jail and his girlfriend by his side?System Requirements:Starring Kevin Mundy Mary Gross Matt Frewer Running time: 94 minutes Copyright Artisan Entertainment 2003Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 012236140771 Manufacturer No: 14077

Say Nothing