The Last Blockbuster

Last updated
The Last Blockbuster
The Last Blockbuster poster.jpg
Poster
Directed byTaylor Morden
Written byZeke Kamm
Produced byZeke Kamm
StarringSandi Harding
Lloyd Kaufman [1]
Jamie Kennedy [2]
Kevin Smith
Adam Brody
Samm Levine
Ron Funches
Paul Scheer
Doug Benson
James Arnold Taylor
Brian Posehn
Greg Camp
Ione Skye
Narrated by Lauren Lapkus
Edited by Tim Skousen
Production
companies
Popmotion Pictures
September Club
Distributed by 1091 Pictures
Release date
  • December 15, 2020 (2020-12-15)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Last Blockbuster is a 2020 documentary film about Blockbuster LLC's last store, located in Bend, Oregon. [3] It was released on December 15, 2020, by 1091 Pictures.

Contents

Synopsis

The documentary tells the story of the rise and fall of Blockbuster Video, a video rental business that was popular during the 1990s. The documentary explores how Blockbuster put independent video rental stores out of business by striking revenue-share deals with film studios (allowing Blockbuster to negotiate lower prices in exchange for a cut of the rental fees), and how Blockbuster itself collapsed as a result of poor management and the financial crisis of 2007–2008. The film also documents the business model and continued survival of the last remaining Blockbuster store, in Bend, Oregon. [3] [4] [5] [6]

Cast

The film follows Sandi Harding, the general manager of the last store over the course of a number of years. Actor and Clerks director Kevin Smith discusses the kind of businesses that Blockbuster put out of business and how they inspired his debut film. Other interviewees include Adam Brody, Samm Levine, Ron Funches, Paul Scheer, Doug Benson, James Arnold Taylor, Jamie Kennedy, and Brian Posehn. [3] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 68% based on 28 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The site's consensus reads, "Slight but entertaining, The Last Blockbuster doesn't add much to the saga of the fallen video rental store, but should satisfy nostalgic customers in the mood for a quick diversion." [14] Metacritic gave it a score of 59, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Studio Ghibli</span> Japanese animation studio

Studio Ghibli, Inc. is a Japanese animation studio based in Koganei, Tokyo. It has a strong presence in the animation industry and has expanded its portfolio to include various media formats, such as short subjects, television commercials, and two television films. Their work has been well-received by audiences and recognized with numerous awards. Their mascot and most recognizable symbol, the character Totoro from the 1988 film My Neighbor Totoro, is a giant spirit inspired by raccoon dogs (tanuki) and cats (neko). Among the studio's highest-grossing films are Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008), and The Boy and the Heron (2023). Studio Ghibli was founded on June 15, 1985, by the directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and producer Toshio Suzuki, after acquiring Topcraft's assets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Video rental shop</span> Physical retail business that rents home videos

A video rental shop/store is a physical retail business that rents home videos such as movies, prerecorded TV shows, video game discs and other media content. Typically, a rental shop conducts business with customers under conditions and terms agreed upon in a rental agreement or contract, which may be implied, explicit, or written. Many video rental stores also sell previously viewed movies and/or new, unopened movies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blockbuster (retailer)</span> American video rental corporation

Blockbuster is an American multimedia brand and former rental store chain. The business was founded by David Cook in 1985 as a single home video rental shop, but later became a public store chain featuring video game rentals, DVD-by-mail, streaming, video on demand, and cinema theater. The logo was designed by Lee Dean at the Rominger Agency. The company expanded internationally throughout the 1990s. At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster employed 84,300 people worldwide and operated 9,094 stores.

Redbox Automated Retail, LLC is an American video rental and streaming media company, based in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois. Redbox specializes in its namesake automated DVD rental kiosks, and also operated transactional and ad-supported streaming video and television services. Since 2022, Redbox has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment.

DVD-by-mail is a business model in which customers rent DVDs and similar discs containing films, television shows, video games and the like, ordering online for delivery to the customer by mail. Generally, all interaction between the renter and the rental company takes place through the company's website, using an e-commerce model. Typically, a customer chooses from a list of titles online and adds titles to a queue. As a customer's requested titles become available, the company sends them out. When the customer is finished with the disc, they mail it back to the company.

<i>The Last Days</i> 1998 American film

The Last Days is a 1998 American documentary film directed by James Moll and produced by June Beallor and Kenneth Lipper; Steven Spielberg, in his role as founder of the Shoah Foundation, was one of the film's executive producers. The film tells the stories of five Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust, focusing on the last year of World War II, when Nazi Germany occupied Hungary and began mass deportations of Jews in the country to concentration and extermination camps, primarily Auschwitz. It depicts the horrors of life in the camps, but also stresses the optimism and perseverance of the survivors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laika, LLC</span> American stop-motion animation studio

Laika, LLC is an American production company specializing in stop-motion animation and forthcoming live-action feature films, commercial content for all media, music videos, and short films. The studio is best known for its stop-motion feature films Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings and Missing Link. It is owned by Nike co-founder Phil Knight and is located in Hillsboro, Oregon, part of the Portland metropolitan area. Knight's son, Travis Knight, acts as Laika's president and CEO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Stone Quarry</span> American film production company

The Stone Quarry Inc. is an American production company established in 2004 by filmmaker Zack Snyder, his wife Deborah Snyder and their producing partner Wesley Coller.

Ozark is an American crime drama television series created by Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams for Netflix and produced by MRC Television and Aggregate Films. The series stars Jason Bateman and Laura Linney as Marty and Wendy Byrde, a married couple who move their family to the Lake of the Ozarks to continue their work laundering money for a Mexican drug cartel. Bateman also serves as a director and executive producer for the series. The first season was released on July 21, 2017; the second season was released on August 31, 2018; and the third season was released on March 27, 2020. The first three seasons are 10 episodes each. In June 2020, the series was renewed for a fourth and final season consisting of 14 episodes split into two parts; the first part was released on January 21, 2022, and the second was released on April 29, 2022.

<i>Everything Sucks!</i> 2018 American comedy-drama web television series

Everything Sucks! is an American comedy-drama television series created by Ben York Jones and Michael Mohan. The series is set in the real-life town of Boring, Oregon in 1996, and focuses on a group of teenagers who attend the fictional Boring High School as they proceed to make a movie together while dealing with issues such as finding their sexualities, mental health, and growing up.

<i>Dirty Money</i> (2018 TV series) 2018 American television series

Dirty Money is a Netflix original television series which tells stories of corporate corruption, securities fraud, and creative accounting. All six one-hour long episodes began streaming on Netflix on January 26, 2018. The show's executive producers include Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney. Each episode focuses on one example of corporate corruption and includes interviews with key players in each story. A second season of the show premiered on March 11, 2020.

<i>Queer Eye</i> (2018 TV series) Netflix original series

Queer Eye is an American reality television series, initially released February 7, 2018 on Netflix. A reboot of the original 2003 series produced by Bravo, each episode has five advisors spend a week applying their expertise to help improve someone's life situation.

<i>Wild Wild Country</i> 2018 documentary series

Wild Wild Country is a Netflix documentary series about the controversial Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho), his one-time personal assistant Ma Anand Sheela, and their community of followers in the Rajneeshpuram community located in Wasco County, Oregon, US. It was released on Netflix on March 16, 2018, after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. The title of the series is drawn from the Bill Callahan song "Drover", which features prominently in the final episode, and it also echoes the comments of Jane Stork about first seeing the ranch, shown at the beginning of episode 2: "it was just so wild, so rugged, but vast—really wild country".

<i>Theyll Love Me When Im Dead</i> 2018 American film

They'll Love Me When I'm Dead is a 2018 American documentary film, directed by Morgan Neville. It documents the ill-fated production of The Other Side of the Wind, directed by Orson Welles. The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on August 30, 2018. It was released on November 2, 2018, by Netflix.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blockbuster (Bend, Oregon)</span> Blockbuster video store in Bend, Oregon, U.S.

Blockbuster, colloquially known as the Last Blockbuster, is a video rental store in Bend, Oregon. In 2018, it became the last Blockbuster store in the United States, and in 2020, it became the world's last remaining retail store using the Blockbuster brand.

<i>Blockbuster</i> (TV series) American comedy television series

Blockbuster is an American workplace comedy television series created by Vanessa Ramos, who also serves as showrunner and is executive producer. Based upon the Blockbuster brand, the series stars Randall Park as Timmy, the manager in a fictionalized version of the last Blockbuster Video store, set in Grandville, Michigan. The series premiered on Netflix on November 3, 2022. In December 2022, the series was canceled after one season.

Netflix vs. the World is a documentary film by Shawn Cauthen and Gina Keating about the origin and success of Netlfix. The film was premiered at the Lone Star Film Festival in 2019, later released on Amazon Prime Video in 2020.

References

  1. Miska, Brad (November 18, 2020). "'The Last Blockbuster': Troma's Lloyd Kaufman Gets Brutally Honest and Annihilates Blockbuster In This Exclusive Clip". Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  2. "The Last Blockbuster | Film Threat". December 15, 2020. Archived from the original on February 3, 2022. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 Debruge, Peter (2021-03-15). "'The Last Blockbuster' Review: A Fond Homage to the Hobbled Video Giant, Now on Netflix". Variety . Archived from the original on 2021-03-18. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  4. Analysis by Brian Lowry. "'The Last Blockbuster' is about more than just a video-rental chain's demise". CNN. Archived from the original on 2021-03-16. Retrieved 2021-07-05.
  5. Kenny, Glenn (December 15, 2020). "'The Last Blockbuster' Review: All the Nostalgia, With No Late Fees". Archived from the original on July 2, 2021. Retrieved July 6, 2021 via NYTimes.com.
  6. Anderton, Ethan (March 11, 2021). "Watch The Last Blockbuster Documentary on Netflix Next Week". SlashFilm.com. Archived from the original on January 18, 2022. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  7. "Netflix is releasing a documentary on the last ever Blockbuster video store". March 9, 2021. Archived from the original on November 4, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  8. "Oregon is home of the world's last Blockbuster. This show offers a dose of nostalgia". Peoria Journal Star. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2021-11-19. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  9. "World's last Blockbuster more popular after Netflix show". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  10. Parker 2, Bryan C. (March 25, 2021). "'The Last Blockbuster' Is a Fond Farewell to the Nearly Defunct Video Chain". Texas Monthly. Archived from the original on November 10, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. "Friday Film Review--"The Last Blockbuster"". KPCW | Listen Like a Local. March 29, 2021. Archived from the original on 2022-01-16. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  12. "The true story of the world's last Blockbuster". The Independent. March 16, 2021. Archived from the original on March 4, 2022. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  13. says, Bob McGowan jr (December 17, 2020). "Review: The Last Blockbuster — Movies for the Rest of Us with Bill Newcott". The Saturday Evening Post. Archived from the original on June 30, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  14. "The Last Blockbuster (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango. Archived from the original on 2021-03-20. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  15. "The Last Blockbuster". Archived from the original on 2021-07-02. Retrieved 2021-07-06 via www.metacritic.com.