EarDelightBase Waste of Money.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

jazzfi Growing up in Los Angeles, Tower Records was the one stop megastore to hit for the latest LP's, imports, posters etc. It definitely has its place in the lexicon of California culture, and the Sunset Boulevard store had a nice selection of indie punk rock 45s during the late 70s where you could stop in after a show at the Whisky a-go-go and find the latest vinyl.I don't know how much truth there truly is in the story offered here, although the cover notes state that it was not the internet that brought about this company's demise. Sorry, I find that very hard to believe.While other reviewers have noted greed and price fixing was responsible, ultimately it was the internet, and digital technology and the obsoleting of the cassette and, in one word, progress. The founder Mr. Solomon remained mistakenly sold on the fact the buyers would always want to have a library collection of music in their homes in the form of vinyl LP's boxed sets, CDs and the like, but this would not apply to later generation of buyers with their new gadgets i.e. iphones, ipads, e-pods, a-frames, tampads, etc etc ad nauseum.And then add Napster, Kazaa and all the other "wares" to the mix, the writing was on the wall. They were nice store personnel and more often knew their stuff, styles, genres, and history, but it just couldn't last without a product to sell. Much in the same way that X-rated theaters went the way of all flesh with the boom of the videocassette and the DVD, technology eventually trumped it all.Nevertheless, they remain a wonderful memory in the annuls of history and made a difference in the lives of so many music fans during the earlier days of rock and roll and they should be proud.

Michael O'Keefe This a feature documentary film taking a good glimpse at the rise and fall of a legacy. Tower Records dominated the retail music market for decades coming to rise in 1960. The birth child of the flamboyant and rebellious founder Russ Solomon. Humble beginnings becoming a powerhouse in the industry. By 2000, Tower records was worth $1 billion and six years later fell victim to the Internet and free streaming music sites, proving a major lesson of objectivity to how business is at the fate of realities in the ever changing marketplace. In 2006, as Tower Records faded in the sunset of bankruptcy, two hundred stores in thirty countries, the heart and soul of the music world stopped beating. But the legacy remains.Some of the music featured: Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys, Perry Como, The Rooftop Singers, the Beach Boys, T. Rex, Steve Miller Band, Rolling Stones and George Harrison.Sharing commentary are: David Geffen, Steve Knopper, David Grohl, Chris Cornell, Elton John, Chuck D., Bruce Springteen, Heidi Cotler, Steve Nikkel, Mike Ferrace and Russ Solomon.

jake_fantom Here's an essentially fraudulent history of Tower Records, one of the most successful music businesses in history — until it wasn't. We get the usual endless interviews with employees, plus a few now-doddering celebrities babbling on about the wonderful times they all had. The employees from management on down were apparently loaded on booze and who knows what else day in and day out. What a party they all had! (Somehow, this doesn't jibe with my own recollections of Tower, where sullen clerks with nails pounded into their faces couldn't find their own behinds with both hands, but maybe that's just grumpy old me.) Anyway, the fascinating (not) interviews about the glory days take up most of this pseudo-documentary. Then comes the big reveal. What killed Tower's business was — wait for it — digitized music and its subsequent piracy. Gosh, I never would have guessed. And when you stop to think about it for a minute, there's a big lie at the heart of this revelation. What killed Tower Records and the CD business in general was their own greed. To get the one decent song you wanted, you had to shell out 20 smackers for a CD filled with more bloat tracks than Samsung packs crappy apps into their phones. It was a colossal rip-off. So when Steve Jobs came along with iTunes and let you go back to the grand old days of the 45 rpm single, and you could buy the one track you wanted for 99¢, it was time for all the record store pirates to say goodnight. In any case, I fell asleep four times trying to watch this train wreck to the end, so for its narcotizing properties, I am awarding this turkey two stars instead of one star.

subxerogravity It's a great documentary, especially for those of us who remember a time before iTunes, when you had to go to a store to buy new music. It's very meaningful even for those like me who Tower Records was not the friendly neighborhood "supermarket" of music. I remember the Tower Records that was very close to me, but I went to another store, a store which probably had the same story (or at least the same ending to their story).Actor, Collin Hanks directs this documentary of the rise and fall of an important landmark in music history, from behind the scenes (as we all are most likely familiar with the surface of the story (especially it's end).The interviews and narrative take me back to the days when you could not download a single, and had to go into a store to buy an album. Watching footage of rows and rows of albums and CDs fills me with the memories.And the documentary truly points out what an interesting place Tower Records was and how interesting the people who worked there are, as they talk to people who were either there from the beginning or started out as a stock clerk at the original store and worked their way up to VP of something. It felt like the cool place you wish you had a job at.Especially if Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl was a fellow Stock Clerk. He and Bruce Springstein and Sir Elton John told about their personal experiences at the store and showed their love for it.It seems so recent, but Tower Records is now just a part of music history. This doc did a good job of showing that history from beginning to end.