Saturday, April 17, 2021

15/52 - The Last Blockbuster

 


I had high hopes for this documentary going in. Hitting up Blockbuster to rent some movies and grabbing a pizza was an absolute weekend staple, not all that long ago. I mean it doesn't seem like that long ago, but it was long enough ago that my practically adult children couldn't begin to wrap their heads around the process. In that vein it is totally shocking to me that one remained open. Who's still renting movies in those kinds of numbers? I mean, we don't even own a DVD player anymore. While this was entertaining, it wasn't overly informative. Sidenote, if you'd like a more in depth lesson on the demise of Blockbuster and the rise of Netflix, I will point you in the direction of the documentary Netflix vs The World over on Amazon Prime. 

The documentary, by and large, focuses on manager Sandi Harding and her dedication to keeping this location open and stocked with new releases with her weekly Target runs. She seems like a sweet lady, well liked in her community, who plans to go down with the ship, no doubt about it. This documentary also features a large number of interviews from minor celebrities that reads as a love letter to a bygone era. Some of those are more entertaining than others. I always love to hear from Kevin Smith and Jamie Kennedy reminiscing about being on the Blockbuster Entertainment Team marketing campaign with Jim Gaffigan was a highlight. All in all it was a nice little nostalgia trip.

We watched this on Netflix.

1 comment:

Betsy Hart said...

Their Twitter feed is hilarious! (@loneblockbuster)