Ghek Remembers Video Stores and their Employees in movies
The list author says: "For over 25 years Video Stores and their employees were a familiar place in our culture...sometimes they showed up in movies with big or small roles to play....here are some of them... (thanks for suggestions from the King of Pepsi, Kitty Cosmos, Oramin, siblings, MVP Clancy and my work team)"
"Well the bummer is that your local video store is long gone...and so is Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, Tower...There are basically no more rental video stores left in this country." - Charles Band 2014 (director of Trancers, promoting FullMoonStreaming.com)
(Mid-west nearly 800 Family Video stores. 2022 online only now.)
New: Berlin is in Germany (2001) Upcomming: Captain Marvel
Other Updates 5/29/2023: Munchies Videostore loc found.
(Note: Many of the list items may contain spoilers due to the nature of setting the scene and describing the action flow.)
"Well the bummer is that your local video store is long gone...and so is Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, Tower...There are basically no more rental video stores left in this country." - Charles Band 2014 (director of Trancers, promoting FullMoonStreaming.com)
(Mid-west nearly 800 Family Video stores. 2022 online only now.)
New: Berlin is in Germany (2001) Upcomming: Captain Marvel
Other Updates 5/29/2023: Munchies Videostore loc found.
(Note: Many of the list items may contain spoilers due to the nature of setting the scene and describing the action flow.)
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- DirectorMel BrooksStarsMel BrooksJohn CandyRick MoranisA star-pilot for hire and his trusty sidekick must come to the rescue of a princess and save Planet Druidia from the clutches of the evil Spaceballs.Dark Helmet(Rick Moranis) after ordering "Spaceballs 1" to go "Ludicrous Speed" (aka "Plaid") has lost his quarry. Colonel Sandurz ( George Wyner, and yes a chicken joke gets made) sends corporal/video operator (Mitchell Bock, well known assistant director) to the "Mr. Rental" video store on his monster battleship (Which features all Mel Brooks' vhs movies, Friday the 13th 1-14, and Rocky 1-14.) They then fast forward "Spaceballs", the movie he is in, to find out where the heroes are so they can catch up to them. This is one of the funiest vhs visual uses in film history.
SANDURZ Pardon me, sir. I have an idea. Corporal, get me the video cassette of Spaceballs-the Movie.
CORPORAL Yes, sir.
CORPORAL walks to a wall labeled, "Mr. Rental." Then opens the rollup wall cabinets. He looks through the selections.
HELMET Colonel Sandurz, may I speak with you, please?
SANDURZ Yes, sir.
HELMET (lifts up mask) How could there be a cassette of Spaceballs- the Movie. We're still in the middle of making it.
SANDURZ That's true, sir, but there's been a new breakthrough in home-video marketing.
HELMET There has?
SANDURZ Yes. Instant cassettes. They're out in stores before the movie is finished.
HELMET Naaaaa.
CORPORAL Here it is, sir. Spaceballs.
SANDURZ Good work, Corporal. Punch it up.
CORPORAL starts the tape. It starts on the FBI Warning.
SANDURZ Started much too early. Prepare to fast-forward.
CORPORAL Preparing to fast-forward.
SANDURZ Fast-forward.
CORPORAL Fast-forwarding, sir.
Starts fast-forwarding through the ludicrous speed scene. Helmet is thrown into the panel at a high-speed.
HELMET Nnnnno. Go past this, past this part. In fact, never play this again.
SANDURZ Try here. Stop.
The movie stops at the exact same thing that is actually happening now. HELMET looks at the camera, then he turns back to the monitor.
SANDURZ looks at the camera when HELMET looks back at the monitor, then he looks back at the monitor. HELMET looks at the camera when
SANDURZ looks back at the monitor. When HELMET turns back, he waves his hand. He turns back to the camera.
HELMET What the hell am I looking at? When does this happen in the movie?
SANDURZ Now. You're looking at now, sir. Everything that happens now, is happening now.
HELMET What happened to then?
SANDURZ We passed then?
HELMET When?
SANDURZ Just now. We're at now, now.
HELMET Go back to then.
SANDURZ When?
HELMET Now.
SANDURZ Now?
HELMET Now.
SANDURZ I can't.
HELMET Why?
SANDURZ We missed it.
HELMET When?
SANDURZ Just now.
HELMET When will then be now?
CORPORAL rewinds the tape. He stops at the point when LONE STARR (Bill Pullman), BARF (John Candy), PRINCESS VESPA (Daphne Zuniga), and DOT MATRIX (voice of Joan Rivers) are walking through the desert.
SANDURZ Soon.
HELMET How soon?
CORPORAL Sir.
HELMET What?
CORPORAL We've identified their location.
HELMET Where?
CORPORAL It's the Moon of Vega.
SANDURZ Good work. Set a course, and prepare for our arrival.
HELMET When?
CORPORAL Nineteen-hundred hours, sir.
SANDURZ By high-noon, tomorrow, they will be our prisoners.
HELMET Hoooooo. (mask falls down) - DirectorJohn McTiernanStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerF. Murray AbrahamArt CarneyWith the help of a magic ticket, a young movie fan is transported into the fictional world of his favorite action movie character.Given ten minutes to prove that he is inside a movie, Danny Madigan (Austin O'Brien), takes Jack Slater (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to an ACME VIDEO store (Blockbuster-> Wells Fargo 23705 West Malibu Road, Malibu, California 90265) where all women are beautiful like the interested blonde customer (Bobbie Brown 555-3812) or the redhead video clerk (Angie Everhart) and Terminator II stars Sylvester Stallone...who Jack admires greatly and phone numbers are 555-xxxx...
- DirectorBarry SonnenfeldStarsTommy Lee JonesWill SmithRip TornAgent J is sent to find Agent K and restore his memory after the re-appearance of a case from K's past.Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) and Agent J (Will Smith) go to "Tapeworm Video" where K's membership card hasn't been used since before the video clerk Hailey (Colombe Jacobsen-Derstine) was born. Conspiracy buff Newton (David Cross) lets them watch the reserved vhs Mysteries in History Episode 27: Light of Zartha (narrated by Peter Graves)...Neuralyzed Hailey and Newton head off to Cambodia for a lobster dinner. (From the book: Newton "You don't remember me, 1997? The morgue? I was the guy slimed on the ceiling?" David Cross - Morgue Attendant MIB 1997)
- DirectorKevin SmithStarsBen AffleckLiv TylerRaquel CastroA widower must look after his precocious daughter and rebuild his life and career after he's sidelined by an unexpected tragedy and a personal blowup.Ben Affleck is having a lot of issues like epic job loss, dead wife, live child, and having to live with his dad (George Carlin)...then he interacts with MUB & RENEE'S VIDEO BLAST (Paulsboro NJ) clerk Liv Tyler and has a chance to make a good future. (Liv Tyler: "Man cannot live on porn alone")(video store at Paulsboro Plaza, Paulsboro NJ 08066 - West Broad Street at Cedar Ave next to the closed ACME Grocery store soon to be a Save-A-Lot supermarket.)
- DirectorMichael DowseStarsTopher GraceAnna FarisDan FoglerFour years after graduation, an awkward high school genius uses his sister's boyfriend's Labor Day party as the perfect opportunity to make his move on his high school crush.MIT grad Matt Franklin (Topher Grace) works at the Suncoast Video store in an LA mall(fake vhs store in Metro Center Mall second floor where the TOTALLY CHI is, 9617 N Metro Pkwy W, Phoenix, AZ 85021 which stands in for the old Sherman Oaks Galleria)... sometimes his best friend or twin sister hang with him and fun happens...but when the girl he adored in high school (Teresa Palmer) walks in, he slips out of his work attire and comes back in to bump into her there...he tells her to just take the video she wants and he will pay the clerk when he shows up...He told her he works for Goldman Sacs...and he might see her at the party later...(among the extras on the disk is the best music video party ever!)
- DirectorJean-Pierre JeunetStarsAudrey TautouMathieu KassovitzRufusDespite being caught in her imaginative world, Amelie, a young waitress, decides to help people find happiness. Her quest to spread joy leads her on a journey where she finds true love.Amélie (2001 french with english subtitles)
Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) had a sad childhood in Paris...she was home schooled due to a bad diagnosis and other things happened, she had one friend in the early days but lost touch...she got a waitress job and moved out of her fathers home to a 5th floor apartment...one day she finds a old box of lost childhood treasures and sets out to hunt down the owner and return them. After recieving much help, she masterminds the return using a public phone ringing as bait...and then is a part of the crowd for his story...she is now resolved to help others...and even herself, perhaps....like the twin towers of Greater and Lesser Helium, she has her coworkers to help and also assist her at The Two Windmills Cafe (Cafe des Deux Moulins 15 rue Lepic, 75018 Paris 18, France - thanks to the movie many pilgrimage here, just don't expect too much...for example the glass menu in the seating area was added by the movie crew and removed by them, Just to sit and enjoy the place everybody must order...the Amélie shrine is in the common sink area of the bathroom...where something happened!) and her apartment locals who assist in her plans which includes helping them...(one, however it seems much be punished for his behavior, Amélie does have a "dark" side)...It has taken many years for her to realize her emotionally distant father needs help...she uses an 80's common european prank, "steals" her fathers favorite garden gnome from her mothers shrine and sends it around the world via a flight attendant accomplice (like the later Travelocity Gnome)...her father recieves airmail with just pictures of his gnome's activites...to help her childhood friend and much like Hastor, a nearby city in the Helumatic Empire, she aquires allies at the Palace Video sex shop (37 Boulevard de Clichy, 75009 Paris, France - right by where the director lives, he knows it well...the walls and tables are full of vhs/dvd's except for the peep show area and the "toys"/clerk counter). Robe wrapped Eva (Claude Perron) tells Amélie that she got Nino Quincampoix (Mathieu Kassovitz) the job at Palace Video, except for Wensdays when he works at the Funfair on The Ghost Train...Eva says that he doesn't keep girlfriends long and that the "Times are hard for dreamers"...Amélie has his lost photograph album that contains clues to a mystery he is working on...Now begins a series of spy games, disguises and mysterious appointments with trails to follow which allow us to see some of the common areas of Paris...At the Video Palace, Eva won't tell Nino much about "the girl"...average height, not a dwarf or a giraffe. Normal. Pretty for her type...not a redhead..unless... And Amélie must decide if the game has an "end" before he gives up...but she is also working on solving his mystery. - DirectorKirk WongStarsMark WahlbergLou Diamond PhillipsChristina ApplegateSocially anxious hitman Melvin Smiley, an expert in his lucrative field, goes on a job and falls in love with his kidnapping victim, turning his world upside down.Hitman Melvin Smiley (Mark Wahlberg) is in big trouble for kidnapping the bosses feisty goddaughter Keiko Nishi(China Chow), and is harassed by Big Top Video employee (Danny Smith) to return "King Kong Lives" VHS...his picture is on the wall "Wanted for: Video Truancy"...he returns the tape on his way out of town...just one of many fights, this one ends with the video store exploding! (Big Top Video aka Willie's Club - [Blues Brothers 2000] Front and Cherry, Toronto - it was built and destroyed for the two movies - adjacent to the historic Canary Restaurant building [The Long Kiss Goodnight / Maximum Risk] 409 Front Street East, Toronto ON M5A 1G9)
- DirectorGeorge ErschbamerStarsMichael DudikoffLisa HowardBen ImmanuelJersey Bellini is a bounty hunter who forms an uneasy partnership with a rival to capture a fugitive. But the hunters soon discover that the crook is also the man the mob most wants dead! Ready to battle anyone in their way, these hard-hitting Bounty Hunters won't quit until they've brought in their man... and brought down the mob!(toplessness) Bounty Hunter Jersey Bellini (Michael Dudikoff) goes to the Bombastic Video store (Vancouver, BC) on his motorcycle to get the home address that goes with the video rental reciept for an adult video found in the stolen gold Rolls Royce, the nice video store cashier (Jayme Knox) won't give him the address (even though she like most girls in the movie she really likes him) til he foils a robbery attempt by stuffing the robber (Michael Sunczyk) who has a nylon over his head in the popcorn machine. Jersey leaves her the robber's gun that he had been been holding while talking with his hands and she covers the would be robber two handed...and she tells him to "Freeze!" when he starts to move.
"Does this mean there will be cookies in the cookiejar again?" - Word (Marcus / Ashanti Williams) the wiseguy next door neighbor kid who had been kidnapped referring to Jersy and B.B. (Lisa Howard!) making up. - DirectorMabrouk El MechriStarsJean-Claude Van DammeValérie BodsonHervé SogneJean-Claude Van Damme gets involved in a bank robbery with hostages situation and reflects about his life during it.(can't get a break comedy) While watching "The Delta Force", two arabs at the Video Futur video rental store (Brussels south side: Rue du Pavillon 34 1030 Schaerbeek, Belgium/north side: Rue Van Schoor 102 1030 Schaerbeek, Belgium) are discussing how the action stars are treating arabs as villians in various movies when Vidéo club Client (Mourade Zeguendi) says "Jean-Claude Van Damme". Vidéo Club Vendeur (Vincent Lecuyer) replies "He never hits arabs!" Then they are outside the video store having their pictures taken with him. Soon a hostage situation arises at the post office/bank (Brussels - Rue Van Schoor 65 1030 Schaerbeek, Belgium) across the street and Video Futur is taken over by the police and their actions are coordinated from there by Commissioner Bruges (François Damiens).
- DirectorFredde GranbergStarsLeif AndréeJohan HedenbergCecilia FrodeA dead body is found and police detective Mårten Späck draws the conclusion that a serial suicide killer is at large. Späck with his colleagues Grünvald Karlsson and Irene Snusk suspect a gang who distributes pirated DVD's of 'bottom-of-the-barrel' Swedish movies.("Inspector Blubber" sweedish language police detective parody of the Beck series - utube first 40)
Kommissarie Mårten Späck (Leif Andrée) pulls a dvd case out of a dead man (Andreas Samuelson) who was making dinner when killed...(he was a pincusion of knives and kitchen tools)...his conclusion was serial suicide killer...after using impossible computer technology they are able to read a crumpled note in the pocket of a guy seen in the end credits of a video which leads them to MALMROS VIDEO...Ulf Malmros (self) gets the dvd "GÖTA KANAL 5" from under the counter and gives it to a customer (popular singer/actor Marko 'Markoolio' Lehtosalo) after getting a hefty fee...before he has time to leave, super policewoman Irene Snusk (Cecilia Frode) rides in on her motorcycle and confronts Ulf who whips out a shotgun and shoots directly at her but she pushes up, does the splits off her handlebars and dodges the shot...the customer (Marko) behind her didn't get a chance to enjoy his video and falls dead...while Ulf is chambering another round, the redhead pulls her badge out of its holder and ninja stars him in the forehead with it...zipping them both up in body bags, Irene tows them out of the video store and down the street doing a wheelie while Komminssarie Späck watches from the car with huge binoculars. Späck's other assistant Grünvald Karlsson (Johan Hedenberg) then accidently breaks a window in Späck's car and he explains that as a ten year old (Oscar Sandberg) he was inspired by the vhs tape "Karate Kid" but his best friend Stefan (Adrian Athanasopoulos) that he shared it with made copies of it, sold them, and started a street karate school without him. Grünvald takes the place of Ulf behind the video store counter...a mature woman customer using a walker (Christina Rothlin Löfqvist) asks him/makes a comment about dvd "Monster Cock 7" and he whacks her forehead against the countertop...then the Rat (Omid Khansari) brings in a box of videos which Grünvald opens and whips out his gun and badge to arrest him but the Rat throws the dazed women over the counter at him and runs down the street but is captured after a unique chase... - DirectorMcGStarsReese WitherspoonChris PineTom HardyC.I.A. operatives wage an epic battle on each other when they discover they are dating the same woman.Reese Witherspoon meets on the make Chris Pine at Vicks Video L.A. (HMV 788 Burrard Street, Vancouver Canada) after leaving a blind meet with his best friend Tom Hardy...she discusses "The Lady Vanishes", other Hitchcock's and how other girls in the store are poor choices for him as he looks like "the kind of guy who's interested in a one day rental, if you know what I mean"...she chooses Star Wars V...he has Vicks records hacked...
- DirectorHugh WilsonStarsBrendan FraserAlicia SilverstoneChristopher WalkenA naive man comes out into the world after spending 35 years in a nuclear fallout shelter.After 35 years in a bomb shelter, Brendan Fraser is told by his father (Christopher Walken) that the the adult video store (fake - 7218 Topanga Canyon Blvd, Canoga Park, CA 91303) down the street is full of invisible poison gas...when Alicia Silverstone and her brother (Dave Foley) go into the store looking for him and stomping on the floor...the clerk tells them "all the really good stuff is right up front."
- DirectorJohn WatersStarsKathleen TurnerSam WaterstonRicki LakeShe's the perfect all-American parent: a great cook and homemaker, a devoted recycler, and a woman who'll literally kill to keep her children happy.Teenager Chip Sutphin (Matthew Lillard) works at Video American ("Baltimore's Best Video Store" 400 W Cold Spring Ln, Baltimore MD 21210 - closed march 2014) and loves to watch gory horror movies. Beverly (Kathleen Turner), his serial killing mother, kills a customer with a leg of lamb for not rewinding a tape...(Traci Lords has a small part as Chip's girlfriend)
- CreatorMasakazu KatsuraStarsSam VincentJennifer CoppingBrad SwaileAfter a crushing rejection, the heartbroken Youta Moteuchi trudges home. On his way, a dimly lit video store catches his eye, and he ends up purchasing a "video girl" tape meant to ease the hearts of lonely men. However, when he tries to play it in his broken VCR, a beautiful girl leaps out of his TV and lands on his bed. Calling herself Ai Amano, she looks like a golden opportunity for Youta to finally experience true love-that is, until her personality, now troubling thanks to the broken VCR, shows through. Despite her flaws, however, Ai wholeheartedly promises she will ensure Youta finds happiness and true love in his life. Video Girl Ai follows the daily life of a teenage boy and his pursuit of a fulfilling romance. With the help of his virtual guardian angel, Youta sets forth to find the girl of his dreams.Video Girl Ai (1992 animated Japaneese/English for both sound/subtitles, it has six episodes that covers the first two of the 15 manga series, the animation is similar to "Speed Racer - HB" but often has highly detailed faces/eyes, the mouths are somewhat unique.)
After the girl he loves, Moemi (Yuri Amano/Jennifer Copping), tells Youta (Takeshi Kusao/Brad Swaile) that she loves someone else (Youta's best friend, Takashi Niimai > Kôji Tsujitani/Sam Vincent), Youta visits the Video Shop GOKURAKU ("Paradise")...and is the third customer to the shop, the wise old owner (Richard Newman) tells him only the pure of heat can rent from them...he took home a Video Girl tape and played it on his dad's vcr which is barley working and the picture buzzes and fluxuates...Ai Amano (Megumi Hayashibara/Maggie Blue O'Hara) tells him she is there for him, and Video Girls make their own rules...she is going to help him and after a mighty stuggle comes out of the tv and lands on his bed, asleep....he wakes up to find her there and undergoing some changes (internally unplanned emotions, externally her breasts are shrinking - she is losing her feminity!!!)...Ai wakes up and she is alternatley coy, teasing and accusing...she also has feelings she didn't expect for Youta, is no longer detached, she blames him for having a malfuntioning machine...I guess driving you crazy could be construed as cheering you up! (The tape is a one month rental, the remote affects her when used and Ai says she will dissapear if the vcr is stopped or turned off.) (Ai's creator [Hirotaka Suzuoki/Ron Halder] is not happy with her performance...the video store owner dissagree's...and when Youta wants answers the video store can no longer be found by him.)
(There is some fake advertising for THEMRMILOR 3: STORMMING OF RELENTLESS [terminator], also there is a bouns interthreaded report that Video Girls have super powers of a violent nature.)
So we have a group of high school teen friends who's parents are never seen, at school there basically are no teachers. Youta lives entirely alone, his mother is "gone" and his father is always away on business. At one point, Ai shows up in his classroom and in a panic he tells everyone that she is his little sister which his best friends don't even question, obviously a crazy one! (I think cousin would have been a better choice.) Everybody loves Youta, they think he has endearing qualities, the girls, intentionally or accidently make life very difficult for him...hopefully he has hospital insurance as Ai often plays rough and he often falls down stairs, etc. Sometimes things are intermixed sound wise, the beautiful songs with subtitles are playing while a character is thinking out loud and the three don't always mesh well... - DirectorJoe DanteCarl GottliebPeter HortonStarsRosanna ArquetteMichelle PfeifferArsenio HallA spoof of low budget 1950s science-fiction movies, interspersed with various comedy sketches and fake commercials making fun of late-night television.At Tower Video (in LA), the clerk (Russ Meyer), has a "personalized" vhs tape for Ray (Marc McClure) that features the considerable talents of Sherrie (Corinne Wahl)...the perfect simulated date or so it seems at first...another segment has "Video Pirates" on the high seas...and the first segment has Arsenio Hall nailed in the forehead by a super-ejected tape.
- DirectorStephen HerekStarsKeanu ReevesAlex WinterGeorge CarlinTwo rock-'n-rolling teens, on the verge of failing their class, set out on a quest to make the ultimate school history report after being presented with a time machine.At the worlds most famous "Circle K" convenience/video store in San Dimas, CA (1010 West Southern Avenue, Tempe, Arizona, USA, which boasts simultanious visits by the same time machine/phone booth), taking a food break as requested by Bill's dad ([J. Patrick McNamara] so he could spend time with his wife Missy [Amy Stoch], the boys former classmate, in Bill's room!) from their impossible task of preparing a quality of life/Wyld Stallyns band saving "A+" level history report to be presented the next day before the student body in the auditoriam...Bill S. Preston "Esquire" (Alex Winter) and Ted "Theodore" Logan (Keanu Reeves) are sitting outside under the "Video Rentals To Go" and "Quick Flicks 99¢" posters ("Out of Africa" 1985, "Gung Ho" 1986, "Iron Eagle" 1986, "Pretty in Pink" 1986, "Down and Out in Bevery Hills" 1986)...
Ted asks the CircleK clerk "Excuse me, When did the Mongols rule China?"
ck/vsc (Marcia Darroch):"I don't know. I just work here."
...the guys havn't found anyone who knows anything here so they are getting ready to head over to Thrifty Mart when [time lord] Rufus (the one and only George Carlin) arrives from out of the sky in a american 60's phone booth (20¢ a call).
...Ted: "Strange things are afoot at the CircleK."
CircleK is a good example of the small business that rents videos in addition the filling their other customers needs, they offer 24 hour convenience and speed, possibly even saving a trip to elsewhere...this video rental type includes mini marts, gas staions, and even some resturaunts among its many combination possiblities...some CK company video history:
(1986) Circle K Corp. plans to put its "QuickFlick" video rental program in about 75% of its nearly 3,300 convenience stores by April. Circle K, with overall revenues of $2.1 billion, expects video rentals to generate $25 million in the first year of operation.
Yeti4623 -"I remember going to the Circle K, to rent movies as a 4 and 5 year old, circa '86 and '87. I remember if the movie was in, the box would have a smiley face clip type thing, stuck on the front, and if it wasn't, it'd be a frown."
1987- "In the past 18 months, Stars to Go has installed video-rental displays in more than 4,900 convenience stores nationwide. And it has contracts to place its video systems in another 11,000 stores."
nytimes 1989 - "Another $50.6 million in good will came from a transaction in which Circle K took control of its bankrupt supplier of video rental tapes, Stars to Go Inc. Had it not made the acquisition, however, it would evidently have been forced to write off a substantial amount of money that Stars owed it. Instead, that amount was recorded as part of the good will."
May 21, 2009 - PHOENIX -- Circle K has signed an agreement with Redbox Automated Retail LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Coinstar Inc., to expand the presence of the redbox fully automated DVD rental kiosks. Redbox kiosks are currently installed at select Circle K stores in Arizona, California and Ohio. The agreement will expand redbox kiosks to more locations throughout the Circle K network.
Guam 2011 - "76/CircleK" convience/gas stations "During a small ribbon cutting ceremony at the Sinajana station, South Pacific Petroleum Corporation (SPPC) Retail Area Manager Gordon Guerrero says the Movie Queen Express kiosk is the latest in services and conveniences offered to their Sinajana and Malojloj customers. The touch screen display carries 250 of the latest movie titles and video games that you can either rent or buy using state of the art technology."
By Mrs. G | 11/3/2014 - The reason for the stop was for the red box. It was convenient.
Michael DeMocker, journalist, 2016 - "As I wandered around the parking lot, shooting pictures and treading on the sacred asphalt where Rufus, Bill and Ted once tread so triumphantly, a Circle K employee came out for a quick break.
"Bill and Ted?" he queried across the parking lot.
I answered with my best Bill and Ted air guitar
"Most excellent," he replied. - DirectorJeff LiebermanStarsKevin DillonDeborah GoodrichChristopher WynneA video store clerk stumbles onto an alien plot to take over Earth by brain-washing people with a bad '50s science fiction movie. He and his friend must find a way to stop the aliens before the tapes can be distributed worldwide."Remote Control" is a movie about people watching a futuristic fifties scifi movie called "Remote Control" starring Eva (Deborah Downey), Milo (Will Nye) and EE ("knowing"), attempting to project what life would be like in the 1980's and it also serves as the interactive plot for the 1988 movie...this is during 1987 at the height of the new Do it yourself, sports, workout, self made video craze only this Home Video Invasion is specially prepared by Polaris Video which is about to distribute it world wide... video store clerk Cosmo (Kevin Dillon) is supposed to be working with manager friend Georgie (Christopher Wynne) to set up the new large display for "Remote Control" - "YOU CAN'T CONTROL YOURSELF" with a whirling antenna at Village Video (478 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90731 fake, inside Warner Grand Theater - 1931) but he keeps getting distracted by brunette customer Allegra James (Jennifer Tilly) and especially new fashion fan Belinda Watson (Deborah Goodrich) to whom he talks about "Stolen Kisses" (1968 - French New Wave "provisional love") while "Blue Sunshine" (1978) is playing on the screen in the background (also by the director). Alpha male customer Victor (Frank Beddor) wants the new tape but Allegra has the last one and Cosmo has to intervene between them...we also find out that Victor is Belinda's boyfriend (and he later uses the directors VCR)...(one of many inside jokes, the day calendar indicates "Friday the 13th")...the couple is back the next day and Cosmo proposes an understanding with Belinda while Victor gets "Remote Control"... later, when the police are chasing Cosmo and Georgie as murder suspects, they take Belinda back to VV to figure things out...they go to nearby Sattalite Video store (421 W 6th St, San Pedro CA 90731) where more mayhem takes place and the manager (A. Michael Lerner) is involved...then they go to the Polaris Video media factory (water treatment plant) and things get out of hand with manager Bill Denver (Bert Remsen)... they take a Polaris Video truck from the driver (Dick Durock - Swamp Thing) which has a clipboard with video stores listed on it: Al's Video, Vid-O-Rama, Cove Video, Satallite Video, Village Video, Airport Video...they have a troublesome time with young adults at Vid-O-Rama (possibly "OK Video" at the New Seoul Hotel and Shopping Center 2666 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90006, #104 fits, per locals at #103, per phone book #113 and Western Luggage was at #113 per locals, per phone book #5 [105]. The street side #101-106 line was reconstructed after the time of the movie, creating new store space out of hallway segments and removing pillars. Yellow brick lines crossing the hallway indicate where pillars used to be.) in a mall and find out from the clerk (Ina Romeo) that a copy was rented by his sister Patricia (Kaaren Lee) and another by the "Retro" disco club where Belinda tries to prevent its showing...
(No cgi or blue screen, filmed with a lot of tricky camera shots) ("Jake Speed" (1986) posters, etc at all video stores! and there is a lobby card in the VV ticket booth for John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl's vhs training tape "The Winning Edge" [1985] which includes them playing to music videos. Amazon still carries it!...order "Remote Control" directly from the directors website) - DirectorKen TiptonStarsStacie ShakarianCarrie ArmstrongConrad BachmannVideocassette tape rental store owners fight against a religious fanatic group for the right to keep their controversial film on the shelves for sale.(HEART of the BEHOLDER [2005] short sex scene, adult issues, written, co-produced and directed by Ken Tipton, based on his experience in starting the first video rental stores in Saint Louis back in the early 80's and the actual conspiracy of local religion, govenment and others to force him out. For a fun look at the Freedom of Speech amendment vrs the definition of obscenity, watch Walter Matthau and Jill Clayburgh as Supreme Court Justices in "First Monday in October" [1981])
Mike Howard (Matt Letscher) gets a free betamax recorder as a bonus for some quick computer repair, his wife, nurse Diane Howard (Sarah Brown!) wasn't happy about it even though it was free as they are trying to save money for a house before the baby comes...then she got called into work that night, the very night that the world was going to learn who shot JR on the extremely popular Dallas tv show...he was going to be able to record that for her to watch later...(score)...One of this friends is law enforcement Lt. Larson (Michael Dorn of Star Trek) whom we meet at a poker game. Mike has tried a number of things at this point and decides he wants to start the first video rental store in Saint Louis which is a tough sell to his wife, this could mean no money for the house....as he is starting to setup his store, he has a tough decision to make....vhs or Beta...(Beta has the market on the east and west coast at this time)...so he has his unborn child (daughter molly/Chloë Grace Moretz!) make the decision....she kicks for vhs!...(IRL the first video store was a small house on 1st Capitol Dr by Highway 94 with an inventory of 68 vhs movies and the locals not happy as they had beta machines, it opened on 4/1/1981)...At the "VIDEO LIBRARY" - "VHS MOVIE RENTAL", having trouble making the rent so they were thinking about closing when a large black man wearing a leather jacket came in and video store clerk Patty Simpkins (Arden Myrin!) was really hoping it wasn't a robbery...in a very large credit card transction he rents 30 videos for thirty days at $2 each per day....Its well known musician Chuck Barry (Tony Todd) who wants to feed his new machine but not have to drive back and forth all the time as he lives in another town...with this start things are going well and more stores are opened (after christmas 1981 when lots of people got vhs machines)...then one day a religious organization starts picketing the store and intimidating the employees...(later, guess why they objected to "Splash") - DirectorMichel GondryStarsJack BlackYasiin BeyDanny GloverTwo bumbling store clerks inadvertently erase the footage from all of the tapes in their video rental store. In order to keep the business running, they re-shoot every film in the store with their own camera, with a budget of zero dollars.After Jerry (Jack Black) becomes magnetized, antagonizes customer Sherry (Heather Lawless) and erases the videos at the "Be Kind Rewind Video and Thrift Store"(261 Passaic St, Passaic, NJ 07055) where Mike (Mos Def/Yasiin Bey) works they try to save the store by making there own versions of the movies ... meanwhile, the owner, Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover) is in New York City spying on and visiting a West Coast Video store (Video Room 1487 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10028 -> 1403 3rd Ave New York, NY 10075) for two hours and getting asked to leave by the clerk (Jon Glaser) ...Earlier, Mike had gone to West Cost Video (461 Passaic St Hackensack, NJ 07601) to get "Ghostbusters" but was figured out by employee August Darnell (Kid Creole), later they break into the store to "borrow" the Epson video projector and wake up August who has been secretly sleeping in the Adult video room at night.
- DirectorTrey ParkerStarsTrey ParkerMatt StoneApril StewartThe boys are excited to go trick-or-treating, dressed as the Avengers, but Stan is unable to come because Randy has bought a Blockbuster Video franchise location in South Park.South Park: Season 16, Episode 12 "A Nightmare on Facetime" (October 12, 2012)
Randy Marsh buys a Blockbuster Video franchise for $10,000....then tells his family...the kids get shirts "MY DAD IS THE OWNER OF BLOCKBUSTER! VIDEO"...Stan Marsh:"Renting dvd's is more ancient then Madonna's boobs"...Randy slowly goes mad ("The Shining") as there are no customers...he talks to the ghosts of customers, actors and employee's...Sharon, Shelly and Stan all have to help on Halloween as Randy is expecting a rush of customers...Stan goes virtually with his friends dressed as Captain America peering out from a towed Ipad with its own candy collection pumpkin...the boys dressed as the Avengers try to stop a robbery of a Redbox at a "Kum and Go" store...the robbers are the four adult "Redbox Killers" (who havn't figured out that nobody uses cash in them) and the clerk is dead...the boys with real legs run away...(later, avitar Stan, the now scratched Ipad, is back and it is on top of a Gangnam frankenstein costume with a policeman inside)...at the end, the Blockbuster burns down and they may get some of their money back from the insurance company. - 1997– 22mTV-MA9.4 (6K)TV EpisodeDirectorTrey ParkerStarsTrey ParkerMatt StoneNico AgnoneThe boys set off on a mythical quest to return a copy of the "The Lord of the Rings" movie to their local video store, while defending it from sixth graders.(South Park Season 6, Episode 13 "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers" aired 11/03/2002)
One of the all time favorite episodes of South Park begins with "The Lord of Rings" style role playing by the wizard (Eric Cartman), the ranger (Stan) and the paladin (Kyle is also referred to as the "covetous Jew" as Jews cain't be paladins according to Cartman but which makes no sense in roleplaying)...Stan's parents send them on a quest to deliver a VHS copy of "The Lord of the Rings" over to Butters since he hasn't seen it yet. The idea is that it will keep Butters busy for hours while his parents find something else to do in the bedroom...(The vhs case shows that it was rented from "The Two Towers VideoStore")
After the kids are gone, Stan's dad reveals that he also rented another video...a porno...they get ready and he explains that the guys at the office told him he had to watch this video as its the hottest porno ever made...they listen to the beginning..."I hate when porno's try to have a story"...they soon realize they are watching "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)"...and the boys have the hottest porno every made...
Meanwhile our hero's make delivery after passing though minor adventures...Butters parents hand him the tape in the basement and he promises he won't get scared...Butters things its neat and good at first...
Stan's parents find the hero's coming back and send them on an even more important quest to get the tape back and hopefully avoiding have to explain to Butters parents what happened...Butters is upset when they grab the tape...he thinks it great and wants to keep watching it...but they head back to Stan's house with it...the tape is now Butters "precious", after Butters acts oddly, they won't let him come with them but he secretly follows later...they are intercepted by sixth graders on bikes (orcs), who grab the tape and look inside to find "Back Door Sluts 9", so its three sixth grades vrs three fourth graders...except Kenny's soul is trapped inside the wizards body so the fourth graders have four....the wizard flicks the tape out of his hand to the paladin and they run...they hide as the 6th graders sniff above them...they go to see the high elf of Faragon (clyde), the high council is called to meet at Talingharr the Black's back yard to consider the evil tape...it is decided that Talingharr (Tolken), the mighty paladin can determine if the tape is evil and not be tainted...he returns...
T: I'm not playing anymore.
Ranger: what did you see?
T: I don't know, I don't want to know, I'm out...
high elf: This tape can not be trusted with anybody, It must be returned to videostore from whence it came.
paladin: The Two Towers Videostore in Conifer
The dwarf wants to take it, but he is a kindergartner and cain't be trusted, the Ranger volunteers but the High Elf says he cain't go alone, its to far and too dangerous..."Take with you the wizard, the dwarf, the warrior, the cleric and the Jew (paladin)"...Very well, You shall be the Fellowship of the Lord of the Rings....(and Kenny's soul in the wizard)...they traveled to snowy Kenosha Pass...they arrive at Bailey and exchange insults with Harry Potter role players....the the 6th graders (about 25) ride down upon them, the clric (Jimmy Valmer) tries to hold them off but they go right by...the wizard says the 6th graders can't stand water so they plan to cross the river/stream...the dwarf and the warrior ran off to play with the Harry Potter kids...the 6th grades go to look for a bridge...the Fellowship is lost but Butters shows up and guides them to the videostore to be near the precious...the videostore is closed, and the 6th graders are upon them....they notice the drop box but Butters grabs the tape...the paladin grabs Butters and throws him in the drop box in the side of the building...the 6th graders are pissed...all the parents show up in the nick of time...(they have been practicing explaining the porno tape in "context"...actually an amzaing "safe" guide to "understanding" adult movies.) - DirectorMike NewellStarsGabriel ByrneEllen BarkinCiarán FitzgeraldGrandpa Ward gives a horse he found to his grandchildren, who keep it in their tower-block flat in Dublin. The horse is stolen from them, and the two young boys set out to find it and flee on it.Two young Irish school boy brothers with a troubled family life, who are Travelers (gypsy like Celts), find town life incompatible when they try and keep a mystical white horse "Tir na nOg" found by their grandfather in an apartment. After the horse is taken away they go to the local video store to look for a good western they haven't seen...while there they notice their horse on tv in a jumping competition and ask the shop owner(Vinnie McCabe) to turn up the volume...The boys, Ossie (Ciarán Fitzgerald) and Tito (Rúaidhrí Conroy) are determined to get their horse back. (Later the three of them watch Back to the Future part III in a movie theater.)
- DirectorJames ErskineStarsJohn BarrowmanEve MylesBurn GormanThe invisible spirit of a hit-and-run victim tries to convince Gwen to locate the 'alien' who might have been responsible for his death.Torchwood s1e9 "Random Shoes" 12/10/2006
Twentyeight year old Eugene Jones (Paul Chequer) wakes up as an invisible "ghost"...but some of his dreams come true as he follows police liaison sensitive Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) who he has adored and never been able to connect with while she investigates his death as she suspects some sort of alien involvement. (at the Torchwood hub Dr Who's spare hand is seen in a jar) Eugene remembers very little but helps guide the investigation by "hinting" which things may be important to Gwen who may or may not be able to get the message... (This is like somewhere between the Ghost Whisperer and Raines [the Jeff Goldblum] short police detective tv series) Gwen notices that teammate Owen Harper (Burn Gorman) is watching the "A for Andromeda" (series 1961) and he admits that it is a dvd rental that Eugene had checked out but not yet returned... Owen thinks there will be a fine for being late... annoyed by his "borrowing" Eugene's things she then takes the three rental dvds of the series and heads out for lunch... video clerk Josh (Steven Meo) at the video store (Vision Often 289 Cyncoed Road Cyncoed, Cardiff, CF23, just north of Sherborne Ave, 2nd on the left)... He tries to hit on Gwen and charges the full amount for the way overdue videos, 34 pounds ($55+) and makes it clear that he hasn't seen Eugene in months and wondered if he had passed by suicide in an insulting manner...we find out later he knows a lot more about and was involved in what was going on... Josh:"A lot of people come in here, they don't want to be themselves anymore, they want to be someone else, they want me to transport them"... and implies that Eugene never recovered from the "failure"...Gwen finds out that Eugene was going sell an "alien eye" from his collection to get some money to help a friend... later, when Gwen is in danger, Eugene acts and solves the riddle of his life... - DirectorHettie MacdonaldStarsDavid TennantFreema AgyemanCarey MulliganSally Sparrow receives a cryptic message from the Doctor about a mysterious new enemy species that is after the TARDIS.Sally Sparrow (Carey Mulligan) is sent by her disappeared friend's letter to Banto's DVD Store "NEW, SECOND HAND and RARE" on Queens Street (Diverse Music 10 Charles Street, Newport, NP20 1JU Great Britian) to see her friend's brother Lawrence Nightingale (Finlay Robertson)...Banto (Ray Peacock) tells her that he is in the back. Larry has the list of 17 DVD's with easter eggs of a mystery man (Dr Who / David Tennant) talking, they work to figure out how to deal with the Weeping Angels and later end up running the shop as a team...Sparrow & Nightingale "Antiquarian Books and Rare DVD's". (Dr Who Season 3, episode 10: Blink)
- DirectorJoel SchumacherStarsJason PatricCorey HaimDianne WiestAfter moving to a new town, two brothers discover that the area is a haven for vampires.New in Santa Carla (Santa Cruz) and mother of two boys is Lucy (Dianne Wiest) who gets a job working for Max (Edward Herrmann) at Max's Video Store (17 Municipal Wharf Suite D Santa Cruz, Ca. 95060, now the Santa Cruz Bay Company on the warf). Max has plans for Lucy and the local vampires have plans for Lucy's boys...
- DirectorWon Shin-yeonStarsGong YooPark Hee-soonSong Boo-gunBetrayed and on the run, a North Korean agent tries to uncover the volatile secrets hidden inside the eyeglasses of a dead man.The Suspect (2013 aka "Yong-eui-ja", english subtitles, heavy action)
Two North Korean super skilled opertatives who are often assigned assainations or industrial secret gatherings have gone to South Korea...Ji Dong-chul (Yoo Gong) officially defected after being left to die on a misson and informed his wife and child are dead...he is searching for the other skilled operative, Lee Gwang-jo (Seong-gyoon Kim), who is in South Korea as well and was at the death scene...Ji lives quietly, publicly works for a major CEO, Chairman Park who was a North Korea refugee as the night driver while also giving interviews and geting local info from former reporter, now female documentary maker, Choi Kyeong-hee (Da-in Yoo, who hides her evidence data disk in a [Sympathy for]"Mr Vengence" [2002] dvd case who's stars include Doona Bae)...then his boss is assassinated but manages to give him topsecret instructions as he is dying, now Ji is framed for the murder...everybody, including old South Korean super adversary Colonel Min (Hee-soon Park) is hunting him in over the top fight, escape and driving action sequences...and plenty of them...you will see downtown, freeways, residential areas, back alleys and military training where if you washout, you don't come back...
At a Seoul mall, Choi is directed by Ji Dong-chul on her cell phone to go to Joy Mart on the 2nd floor, #153 ...she gets a note, as directed, off the wall on the store next door "DVD Heaven has movied to #101" and goes to DVD Heaven which is adjacent to a stairwell...50% off clearence sale!...the 15 by 15 foot space is so crowded with a dozen shoppers at the counter racks, and waiting to make purchases, it's hard to see the covers on the dvd's..."Dune" (1984), "2001 - A Space Odyssey" (1968), "2046" (2004), The Gold Rush (1925, Charlie Chaplin) and "Lolita" (1997) are movies that stand out...Choi is directed to take the staircase there having momentarily eluded the listeners on her phone, the watchers on the security cams and the hunters on foot who were trying to track Ji at the same time...in this case, going to a video store to physically escape is like going to a video store and getting a video to find escape from daily life! ...but the hunter surveillance team realizes that Ji is now hiding in Choi's 1996 Hyundai Santamo minivan (thanks IMCDB)...time for lots of action...
The videostore Mall is probably located here 서울특별시 용산구 한강로3가 2-8 , just south of it is the parking lot used in the movie and the big building with blue column's was south of the parking lot but was torn down by 2015...if you go back to the 2009 street view then you can still see it...also it is just north of the Yongsan Station (for trains). Three much taller towers with attached partial space areas between them, looks sort of like this "LM", have been built since then.
DVD Heaven is an actual business with a website in South Korea that supplies dvds and blurays to video stores and individuals...they even offer advice on web chat sites for buying cheap videos in Seoul and will personally guide you!...others on the chat sites warn that street venders and those near the door of the cheap video purchasing area mostly sell low quality bootleg versions...Seoul is appearntly a major destinaion for cheap video purchases... - DirectorJohnnie ToKa-Fai WaiStarsAndy LauTakashi SorimachiKelly LinTwo very different hitmen find themselves to be in each other's way. They use all their skill to solve the problem.Chin (Kelly Lin) works at a Japanese video store (Hollywood Video Club, next to the Central Mid-Level Escalators) in Hong Kong by day...at night she cleans Ono's apartment three times a week. Ono is secretly "O" (Takashi Sorimachi), the greatest HK professional assassin and he watches her from where he actually lives across the street. O is interested in Chin but as Ono pretends not to be and she can't understand why he hired her as she has no experience. Chin even asks Ono about it. Lok Tok-Wah (Andy Lau) a flamboyant assassin who wants to challenge "O", "stalks" Chin by wearing american president masks to the video store every day and asking her out....(some english, english subtitles)
- DirectorMinh CollinsStarsShirly BrenerJoey LawrenceAndrea EvansWhile dating a woman (Shirly Brener) with anger-management issues, a hitman (Joey Lawrence) finds her journal and uses it as a guide to prove how much he loves her.At Main Street Video (exterior: iconic round building - 1600 Main Street Venice, CA 90291, closed Sep 2011, interior: "Eddie Brandt's Saturday Matinee" 5006 Vineland Ave., North Hollywood, 91601 - still going with 72,000+ videos and 20,000 DVDs dating back to 1892, 50cent rewind fee, 1st LA store to offer video rentals, they also have thousands of videos of unreleased footage that can be "borrowed" when you rent, the film buff/researcher's paradise, also seen in "Beyond the Gates" on this list) Video Expert Wick (Chris Owen):"What'cha got here?...Casablanca (1942), Love Story (1970), When Harry Met Sally (1989)...If your life were a movie, would it be titled 'Romantic Witness'?...Wow! I think you qualify for a frequent flyer program, 75 rentals in one week! And you get to own your own franchise!..." Charlotte Murphy (Shirly Brener) almost puts his name on the list in her notebook...Wick and the next customer are trying to figure out where the dog poop smell is coming from, but that train wreck has left the station...then she meets a "perfect" guy, Lyle (Joey Lawrence) via a dating service....one night they are in the video store...she has trouble remembering which scenes go with which "Godfather" movie and she also nixes that rental idea but suggests "Alien 3" (1992) but Lyle says there are too many bald people in that...Lyle suggests "Thelma and Louise" (1991) but Charlotte says its too chick...they think Terminator (1984) is perfect...previous customer (Donovan Brandt - family owner) leaves with video, then clerk Wick gets fired up, then goes off on a wild scent tangent about Lyle being a paid escort that goes both ways and implies the Lyle is interested in him, Charlotte pulls out her notebook and puts him on the list "#7: Wick - smartass little video store pissant". Wick "You've got fangs!"...Lyle pleasantly says he will see him "soon".
Charlotte notices that what was "her" annoying people list is now a list of mostly missing people (and a dog)...so while Lyle is sleeping she takes his car keys and finds Wick dead in the trunk!...she puts the keys back, checks on more people from her list, then goes to the police department. She gets Detective Carter (Duane R. Shepard Sr.) and his partner to look in the now bodyless trunk..."There was a dead video store employee in that trunk!", they laugh and leave...now she is going to try and come up with proof... - DirectorGustavo Graef MarinoStarsArmando AraizaPatricia RiveraWilly SemlerA young low-class student gets involved with the wrong people and takes part in a non successful video rental robbery.Johnny 100 Pesos (1994)
(nudity, english subtitles, based on a true event with some real news footage, the movie helped revitalize cinema under the new democracy in Chile)
Johnny García (Armando Araiza) is having a bad day afternoon in Santiago, Chile three blocks from the capitol...four of his associates talked him into helping to rob the Manhattan Video Club, a vhs video rental store on the 8th floor (#83) of a mixed commercial and residential building. Johnny goes in first in his high school attire to look around...Carlos (Claudio Viancos) the frontman lets him in after Parker (Boris Quercia) the counter guy hits the door release...then Carlos shows him the sections and hands him Clint Eastwood's "White Hunter Black Heart" from the action section and tells him he has to be 18 with an id to rent adult movies. Grandpa Peralta stops by revealing the illegal money exchange business in the back behind a sturdy metal door and the real reason for the robbery attempt. When Johnny's associates arrive to exchange dollars they aren't going to let them in til Johnny pulls a gun out of his backpack. The assault on the money exchange takes some time and boss Don Alfanso (Luis Gnecco) won't call the police. "Who will believe 20 million pesos and $50,000 in a video club?" "Then we go to jail for tax evasion!" But they do call Mercedes (Gabriela Hernández), the building super who is suspicious and sends the building security/cop (Vittorio Yaconi) to check it out...then the police/special forces are called in and a media circus erupts which turns into a political crisis as well as Johnny's school id was in his backpack that gets thrown out the window. The politicians want it wrapped up fast with no injuries. The reporter Manual Mena Mendoza (Sergio Hernández) goes to his high school and have his classmates, friends, mother and would be girl friend send him messages via tv. Johnny is left in charge of the prisoners and has some interesting exchanges with Gloria (Patricia Rivera) , former prostitute and Alfanso's mistress/secretary. Robber Leo (Eugenio Morales) tries to escape out a window. Wild negotiatons with Freddy (Willy Semler) and Loco (Aldo Parodi) telling Johnny what to say and army assault plans collide for a lot of comedy as the robbers try to avoid the mandatory five day visit to the police station to have confessions beat out of them and other things that might happen there and in prison. (also the great moment when the restaurant owner wants to know who is paying for having lunch sent up!) - DirectorFiona GrahamStarsRobert O'ConnorRaymond S. KinsellaToni BaileyTwo petty criminals tired of living on the breadline, decide to branch out on their own. They pull off their first job but quickly realise they've messed with the wrong person. Now time is running out as they try to escape retribution.Nickser, Nixer (n): a job done on the quiet so that no tax has to be paid on the wages.
Middleaged Eamon (Rory Mullen) works at the Home Screen video store (the door next to 144 Church Road East Wall, Dublin Ireland) and his relief, Twentysomething, blonde, Jessie Gallagher (Toni Bailey), is late as usual in this family run operation. All vhs, small bedroom sized, it continues to have a loyal following. Eamon thinks Jessie should be replaced with a hard working immigrant girl and she says that he doesn't pay her...also the plumbing still needs work and he says the plummer didn't show. He does let her know there will be a special shipment comming in late tonight and not to wander off early. Regular customer Kevin (Paul O'Bryan) comes in he looks at the paper and she gets them mugs...he complains about the last movie "Intermission" (an Irish videostore movie I won't list for content") as Colin Farrell is like white ass, everything he touches turns to crap...Kevin is working on dating her but the timing isn't right yet...meanwhile two of Tony's boys Michael (Robert O'Connor) and Daniel (Raymond S. Kinsella), are restless...because of Daniel's lack of control, they don't let the team actually make collections but they get the point accross to those who are late with payments... Daniel comes up with a plan to rob the video store as he was told they keep a sizeable amount in a safe in the back...eventually they do rob the video store but Daniel pistol whips Jessie for trying to hide something from him...they got a lot more stuff then they expected and are on top of the world til they find out how big a mistake they made..... - DirectorReza BagherStarsSara SommerfeldAlexander SkarsgårdSaid OveissiNazli is18, born in Iran, raised in Sweden. She lives with her father Abbas and her older sister Mahin. Nazli, who want to blend in calls herself Sara. One day Abbas tell her how he sees her future.Wings of Glass/"Vingar av glas" (2000 Swedish)
Having lived all her life in Sweden, but with her parents from Iran, eighteen year old Nazli (Sara Sommerfeld) finds its hard to get a job with her heritage, but she is hired by her cousin Hamid (Rafael Edholm) to work at his video store (but according to other family members she has actually been sold to him in an arranged marriage)...a customer complains as he wanted to rent The "Matrix", but received "The Sound of Music" instead, she is blamed...she is also told she is dressing too revealingly...Nazli arranges to take motorcycle riding lessons so she can get a license...then one night, local Johan (Alexander Skarsgård) decides to rob the video store after it looks like everyone has left, he puts on a ski mask and slips into the store...Nazli is down behind the counter and doesn't see him, he doesn't see her and looks around...two big guys in the back by the drink cases start yelling at him and he turns to run and crashes into a display spinner rack...Nazli pops up from behind the counter and he pulls his mask up to straighten it out so he can see again...he looks at her, she at him, then he looks at the guys in the back and they point out the door to him...off he goes...he then realized that she saw him and goes back...Nazli locks up the store and he follows her, he calls to her to wait but she moves quickly and catches a bus...shut out at the front door he slides in the back door of the bus...he sits by her and tells her he is in a bind, behind on his rent and asks her not to tell the police...she jumps up and goes out the rear door...he gets the bus stopped and goes out too...he catches up to her at a bar with Lotta (Josephine Bornebusch) and tries to give her his advanced cell phone but she doesn't want anything to do with him...he retreats to the bar counter...Lotta recognizes him and how his mother was a drunken piano player who committed suicide...she is sad about that but tells Nazli that all he wants is sex...Nazli says that's what she wants...she feels he is like her (both lost mothers, are tall, etc)...and goes over to talk to Johan instead of leaving with Lotta...
While at the video store counter, Hamid gives her a gold necklace/earring set which she refuses...later they are working in the back room and he gets her to drink some whisky with coke and talk about their family...the more he plans out her life, the more she rejects it, then he grabs her, wrestles her to the floor and pulls her clothes half off and tries to kiss her, she knocks him away and escapes...Nazil refused to go back to work and is grounded by her father... ... ...
Nazli stops at the motorcycle training office and the owner wonders if she is there because he is late in returning videos! She tells him she doesn't work there anymore, and trys to talk him into hiring her and part of her pay can be in discounted lessons... - DirectorJoko AnwarStarsTara BasroChicco JerikhoMaera PanigoroA female cheap salon worker and a pirated DVDs subtitle maker fall in love during the turbulent presidential election in Indonesia.A Copy of My Mind (2015 Indonesian, English, clothed sex, woman attacked, torture, slow pacing - my viewing was Indonesian only, a gentle version, the interesting part was that some Indonesia phrases are adopted from English...but it still leaves me fuzzy on the details. This film is a good, fun, love story to begin with and includes a lot of street shooting in the low rent districts.)
In Jakarta, Sari (Tara Basro) works at a woman's Salon that does mostly facials, but wants to move to more advanced treatment types at a higher class salon...she visits a big inexpensive video store where pirated videos can be purchased off the shelf (actually filmed at one of the very few video stores that sell legit dvds, dressed up as a normal pirated store...unsettling to the owner), she likes to pass time in the evening watching budget priced dvds....she does complain while she is there that the (Indonesian) subtitles are not very good...She also visits one of the the Electronic City stores to at least look at her dream of having a nice home theater setup someday...Sari interviews at Salon Edrea (3 Jl. Hang Tuah Raya, South Jakarta, Jakarta) with Bandi (Paul Agusta). The next time Sari comes into the video store, she is introduced to Alek (Chicco Jerikho) who has been doing a lot of the subtitles and makes a lot of his living that way (bringing the updated dvd's to a back door and getting paid in cash [filmed in Glodok at the real piracy site]) ...they start talking and then go out...Alek takes her back to his apartment and tells her how he creates the subtitles on his laptop with the help of Google Translator. Their relationship develops into sleeping overnight together...Sari has been training for the new job at Salon Edrea and is sent to do a facial for a corrupt official who is in jail (with big tv, fridge, big comfortable bed, private bathroom, etc)...Sari steals a dvd from her, but a search by the customer finds it in her bag (but not the one she hid on her person). Later, Sari is "fired" and attacked by Bandi who knee's her in the torso against the wall and kicks her a few times on the floor...the stolen dvd shows the jailed official meeting with high level city figures and arranging deals. One night Alek leaves while she is asleep to look for something at her room and he disappears in a bad way. Sari is not sure what has happened, but she takes over Alek's responsibilities ....giving his "gran" a hot meal in the late afternoon and doing subtitles for a video ("Transformers 6") and delivering it to the back door for cash...(first part of a planned trilogy about corruption and societal theft at all levels in Indonesia - My Heart, My Soul) - DirectorBruce PittmanStarsDean CainLexa DoigEric RobertsA businessman becomes the target for a ruthless criminal who mistakes him for the thief who stole his drug money.No Alibi (2000 toplessness, gun violence, smoking)
Bob Valenz (Dean Cain) is working his way up as a businessman in New York City (mostly shot in Montreal) but he hasn't found that special someone yet to share his life with...his brother Phil Valenz (Peter Stebbings) takes care of business without any visible means of support...they play basketball on the weekends and sometimes Bob loans Phil his BMW...Phil has a gorgeous, long time Italian girlfriend named Stella (Melissa DiMarco) who runs her own video rental store named "Stella's" with english and italian signs over the sections, she also sells vcr's and lottery tickets (membership card $2.50)...one night Phil gets a tip and acquires a dozen new VCR's from a secured warehouse area, he might have gotten more but but security and another guy came along and he was shot at as he sped away (the warehouse guard [Lou Vani] is killed)...he stores them in the personal area at the back of the video store for a few days till Stella reminds him "firmly" that the items need to move on...Stella is also very direct and intense about making up...so later Phil decides to watch a movie but the vcr wont' track properly so he pulls one of the "NANOWARES" vcr's out of the box to try it and it won't even take the tape...he takes it apart and finds its very valuable on the inside and so are all the others...this can't be good... - DirectorJ. Lee ThompsonStarsCharles BronsonKay LenzJohn P. RyanArchitect/vigilante Paul Kersey takes on the members of a vicious Los Angeles drug cartel to stop the flow of drugs after his girlfriend's daughter dies from an overdose.Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) using intel that "Nathan White" (John P. Ryan) gave him, went to see Max Green (Tom Everett) at his LA drug handling center in the back of a west side video rental store (11777 San Vicente Blvd suite 130, Los Angeles, CA 90049). During a short but violent dicussion Max agreed: "If I don't do it, someone else will". Six shots for him from the silenced Mac-10 makes sure that he won't...two shots for the next henchmen and one for the last. Detectives Sid Reiner (George Dickerson) and Phil Nozaki (Soon-Tek Oh) stop by to checkout some trash, they think its the vigilante who had stopped by the video rental store but Lieutenant Higuera (Gerald Castillo) says "Bodies all over the place don't make good press, and there's an election comming up" and to "Forget the vigilante, this case has high priority". (no vhs tapes were harmed in the shootout at the video rental store)
- DirectorKen SanzelStarsStephen BaldwinTia CarrereRenée EstevezA young cop gets thrown in with a special police squad who are acting as assassins against hoods and who don't care who gets in the way.(aka Scarred City) At the "Eukland" adult video store (NY), undercover clerk Janice (Dana Eskelson) tells a customer "Thanks a lot, have a nice day." Bobby (Steven Flynn) is in the back watching and talking to Janice on the radio ..."who says police work doesn't prepare you for a competitive job in the private sector?"...John Trace (Stephen Baldwin) comes in the back way to relieve Bobby and Five black men: Long Coat (Dexter Locke), Short Coat (Andy Duppin), Ski Jacket (Al Thompson), Denim (Jalil Jay Lynch) and Leather (Michael Broughton) come in and subtly "suggest" the other customers in the back leave the store by showing them their guns. Ski robs Janice sitting with her diet coke, a dildo and a newspaper "...Just give me the damn paper!(money) Thanks" Janice: "Hey man, you forgot something" Ski: "What?" And Janice starts blasting them with a pistol...a lot...shots are flying all over and VHS boxes are spurting tape...(Two blow up dolls were harmed and police rules were violated...then Candy [Tia Carrere] sings the blues in lingerie at a strip joint.)
- DirectorMagnus MartensStarsKyrre HellumMads OusdalHenrik MestadTerrified and bloody, Oscar Svendsen awakes clinched to a shotgun in a strippers joint. Around him 8 dead men, and police aiming at him. To Oscar it's clear that he is innocent. It all started when four chaps won 1,7 million on the pools...(aka "ARME RIDDERE" Norwegian/Swedish with english subtitles - black comedy with some gore)
Norwegian "Hangover" style tale (novel by Jo Nesbo) with Oscar Svendson (Kyrre Hellum) waking up in in the blood dripping stacks of a popular stripjoint/adult video store that had once been a gas station called "Pink Heaven Dygnstripp & Video" (Svinesundsveien 380 1789 Berg i Østfold Norway) near the Norwegian/Sweedish border (arched Svinesund Bridge is seen)...dead people all over with only some of them being strangers (including the owner Lasse/Peter Andersson, video clerk Johan/Gøran/Fredrik Petersson, police Clausen/Jan Grønli, and three unlucky walk in customers Niklas Brennsund, Jan Karnå, Daniel Lindman), a shotgun in his hands with a fat dead stripper (Ina Kosik) on his back,and the police have just noticed he is not dead! At this point in Norwegian police methodolgy according to Solør (Henrik Mestad), he has a choice of being a witness or a suspect, but he *will* be interrogated with a lie dectector. How much does he know, how much does he remember? Just yesterday, he had been at his supervisor job at "Evergreens" recycling plastic/etc into small christmas tree's with parolee workers...then the four of them, mostly math challenged, picked a winning soccer series ticket! To get a soda from policewoman Gina (Marie Blokhus) to quench his thirst he has to give up a dead body elsewhere...then they want to know where the head is!...some field trips happen including revisiting Pink Heaven...(A christmas movie in the Die Hard tradition...with a twist.)
Tarzan referance: Oscar is explaining he works with criminals but he is not one of them and Norwegian polieman Solar goes on a rant "That's what Tarzan said. But he did swing from vines. He wasn't one of them either. But he smelled like an ape. He walked like an ape. Thought like an ape." (more ape refs later)
Director Patty Jenkins (monster) and writer David Callaham (expendables) are teaming up to make an english language
remake! - DirectorFred WilliamsonStarsFred WilliamsonMaud AdamsBo SvensonA Chicago policeman (Fred Williamson) hunts his partner's killer and catches on to a cover-up.The Kill Reflex (1989 aka "Soda Cracker" which you can get in dvd, it's also the old cable shown title, there's also a 2009 book by this name about a Vancouver Mountie who's partner Phil is snipered. The thanks for spotting this movie for me goes to Eric Spudic who starred in "Satan VHS" and he was also in "Zombiegeddon", both on this list.)
Detective Soda Cracker (football player turned action star Fred Williamson, who also directed it) of the Chicago police gets his partner Phil Gillespe (Tom Webb) up for their special duty that mornng of escorting the governor at a cubs game...strange thing is nobody knows who assigned them the job ...also Phil's wife Nancy (Julie Gregg) complains that Phil likes Soda more then he likes her!...a roof sniper fires one shot, shoots Phil dead and dissappears...the police decide that Phil was collateral damage in an attempt on the govenor but don't seem to be looking hard for the killer...Soda suspects the Moss brothers Ivan (Bo Svenson) and Ace (D.R. Jones) are getting revenge after he finds out that they are somehow out of jail early and they keep showing up...he does his own investgation against his superiors instructions with some help from new Detective Crystal Tarver (Maud Adams!)...
Everybody is at a jaz club...Irene (Phyllis Hyman), Ivan's girlfriend, sings a full, sweet, rendition of one of her songs (which is one reason some people get this movie!) while wearing a big, custom, lime green dress with open cleavage and lots of clothing malfuntion potential which doesn't happen but it's fun to watch...Soda had sent them on a collision course and Irene starts looking for a way out before she gets dissapeared....
At Soda's birthday party on a high terrace, Pete (Bernard Mixon), his older, fatherlike, replacement partner is killed by a radio controlled, black, model hellcopter...Soda goes streetlevel for a hide and seek game that goes his way...
Soda's boss sends him out of town, on a jet plane...of course he ducks outside and Crystal is waiting for him... Soda knows about an illegal video porn operation...They park near Erols Video Club...At Erol's door #507 in the back the two detectives (who are spending a lot of quality time together oohlala) burst into a mostly supplies shelving area...
Soda flashing badge: Police!
Crystal pointing gun: Don't anybody move!
Erol's employee? and/or bad guy?: You can't come in here!
Crystal shoots *Bang Bang Bang* two supersized normal Erols video cases are shot on a shelf, "Evil Dead 2" (1987 starring Bruce of the Cambel's) and another one: That means the mouth too, puke!
They put three vcrs/electronics in the trunk of her car...
Crystal: I have not had so much fun since police school!
Soda: Ah, come on Dirty Harriet...I'll go it alone from here...you stuck your neck out far enough, what I have in mind, you don't want to be a part of...
But we never find out what Soda was going to do with that equipment she left with as the bad guys escalate things into a grand finale before he can set things up...possibly he was just trying to hassle the bad guys and gather evidence...The "Evil Dead 2" vhs tape might even have suvived such an attack due to the way the cases are padded!
Erols was the largest early rental chain in an early market with 200+ stores at the end (1989) and I never heard of it before. There were imitators in other countries with different spellings like two "r"s in their name, using the same color scheme and so forth. So, for the 200th entry on this Ghek Remembers Video Stores list we salute Erol Onaran, a Turkish immigrant who jumped in with both feet to multiple chains of stores for computers, videos, etc and also offered an unheard of fixed monthly price for internet service instead of charging by the minute or hour. Erols Viedo Club Lifetime Membership $59.95...$2 a day rentals plus 1$ for each extended day, limit six at one time and a "no reservation" policy. Erols was family run and oriented with a no xrated policy...if enough customers had requested that, he would have changed it however.
Per EdSouth: What really set Erol's apart from the other videos stores was that the movies came in gigantic red boxes. These boxes were at least three times the size of a regular video tape box. Everytime Erol's got new movies in, the poor Erol's employees would have to cut up the original video boxes and literally paste them onto the huge red Erol's boxes. It was cool to be able to take home the box with the artwork and information on it, but if you rented more than two movies you would need a friend to help you carry the mammoth boxes to the car!
Erol's was eventually bought by Blockbuster. Erol's that were in competition with Blockbusters were closed, other Erol's became Blockbuster. I actually worked at a strange Erol's/Blockbuster hybrid for a while. The store said Erol's on the outside and it looked like an Erol's on the inside. But we wore Blockbuster uniforms and had Blockbuster video boxes. To complicate things even further we accepted both Erol's and Blockbuster membership cards. Oh, you can imagine how crazy it was! - DirectorMichael AlmereydaStarsEthan HawkeKyle MacLachlanDiane VenoraModern-day New York City adaptation of Shakespeare's immortal story about Hamlet's plight to avenge his father's murder.With his Uncle Claudius (Kyle MacLachlan) now the CEO of Denmark Corporation, Hamlet (Ethan Hawke), slowly paces the Action section of a Blockbuster Video while scenes from "The Crow: City of Angels" (1996) play, wearing a scandinavian hat and ponders his future "To Be or not to Be...". ( I like when he pauses in the corner and many copies of "Lost In Space" [1998] are behind him, fitting!) His turmoil is unnoticed by the Blockbuster clerk (Bernadette Jurkowski) ...This is New York where how you stalk your videos is up to you.
The good prince Hamlet stops by Blockbuster after completing his video project, "The Mousetrap", he slouches over the counter with his hand on his wallet...the vsc (Bernadette Jurkowski) is scanning a stack of nine vhs tapes and glancing at him in between each...the scene ends before we get what I suspect is bad news...many are probably overdue and there will be a hefty fine in true Blockbuster style...
I can't prove it 100% since we were given no external view but I think the Blockbuster location used was 2510 Broadway,New York, NY 10025...it is now known as 2512 and has 4000 sq ft...[an "alley" building to the right is now 2510]...there is a slope in the area and the floor was raised like 2.5 feet with access gained by a short set of stairs...in the movie you can see this as slouching Hamlet and the vsc, even with the forced perspective, are still tall compared to the door, it is the bottom floor for a seven story building so it has support columns in the front that match the movie brick internals and the support column in the middle of the floor lines up with the door support column like in the movie, also the floor tile pattern matches the movie...the location has window areas that match very well to the movie and to the left of the "Deep Impact" (1998) poster/above the Small Soldiers (1998) poster are outside lights that look to match the halfgreen/halfwhite globes over the subway access on the sidewalk outside...[the ceiling does look to have been raised/replaced since then and the overhead light pattern is "now" different from the movie].
Big Director Joke? the video store is on a raised platform or "stage", the address is on Broadway: Hamlet is performing his soliloquy on stage on Broadway...in a movie.
For his project, Hamlet was using an old camcorder, perhaps from his childhood, the Fisher-Price PXL2000 (1987), intended for younger people it was a fraction of the cost of a "real" camcorder...it recorded in black and white images with sound at a slower frame rate and saved it internally on audio cassette tape at a much faster then normal speed (a 60 minute tape would get you about 5 minutes per side)...some people today use them for ghostly or art like special effects, they can still be bought on ebay for about $300 (much more than the original cost!) I have one, but mostly I used the accessories which reached blowout prices, the cool camera bags, the utility belt with a hook for the camcorder, spare audio cassette holder module, and best of all the spare sixpack double-A battery module like a mini cartridge belt...I would load up like a gunslinger for Lazer Tag battles with lots of spare batteries for quick field changes if needed. Duracell was/is the gold standard and back in the late 80's/early 90's Energizer must had some serious quality control problems as about one in six had reverse polarity! - DirectorGraeme CliffordStarsChristian SlaterSteven BauerRichard HerdA young avid skateboarder uncovers a government conspiracy while investigating his adoptive brother's mysterious death.Vinh Kelly (Art Chudabala) who was adopted by the Kelly family, works at Bolsa Video (in Little Saigon north of Bolsa Ave at Pagoda, Westminster, CA 92683 heavily remodled now) for Colonel Trac (Le Tuan) who also organizes shipping and funding for the Vietnamese Anti Communist Relief Fund. As a bonus he also works with his girlfriend, the Colonel's daughter , Tina Trac (Min Luong). While going over the manifest for a medical shipment he thinks that the weight is at least twice what it should be and that the shipping company is ripping off the fund...when he brings it to the attention of Colonel Trac, the Colonel says its a clerical error and puts him on other duties in the store. Not satisfied, he sneaks into the shipping company's warehouse...later he is found dead of suicide (hanging) in a motel room accros from Disneyland...his brother Brian Kelly (Christian Slater stunt doubles Mike McGill, Rodney Mullen, and Mark 'Gator' Rogowski) all attitude skateboarder, isn't satisfied and goes on the hunt himself and later has to bring in his crew to help including Buddy (Tony Hawk). Lots of great skateboarding action happens...the title was a joke about doing the impossible, skating around the surface of a cube with style.
- DirectorFrancis LawrenceStarsWill SmithAlice BragaCharlie TahanYears after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure."Last Man on Earth" LT. Colonel Robert Neville (Will Smith) stops by his video store (Tower Video) to talk to people (dressed mannequins) as he works his way through the "G" dvd's...he's attracted to the "girl" in the adult film section and chats up "Hank" the clerk about her. Later, upset, he says to her "Please say hello to me..." (Tower Records-Video-Books the Silk building 20 E 4th St, New York, NY 10012 aka 383 Lafayette St. Manhattan NY 10003 aka 692 Broadway Manhattan NY 10012 - the corner of 4th and Lafeyette)
- CreatorJohn GrayStarsJennifer Love HewittDavid ConradCamryn ManheimMelinda Gordon, a newly married woman, possesses the gift of communicating with the dead. With her best friend Andrea's assistance, she helps the earthbound spirits to find peace and cross over.Ghost Whisperer: Season 5 Episode 14 "Dead To Me"
(airdate Feb 5th 2010)
Spirit Study's Professor Avery Grant (comedian Margaret Cho) and student Ned Banks (Christoph Sanders - who works for Melinda Gordon / Jennifer Love Hewitt at the antique store "Same As It Never Was ANTIQUES") have come to the conclusion that the "ghost" who is haunting her wants her to go to a "Lethos Treo" concert outside city hall (aka the "Back to the Future" Clock Tower) where her phone throws itself next to a guy, then she has to rush off as she is late for an important meeting...then later Ned gives her a ride as it obvious that now the ghost wants her to return a defective dvd back to the Video Shmideo (appears to be a fancy, multistory set that is modeled after the layout of the frugal, multistory Video Shmideo at 11 W Victoria St, Ste 22, Santa Barbara, CA 93101 - South corner next to the parking lot)...where things fall over and the same guy, Brian (David Julian Hirsh) comes over the help...Brian notices that she has the video he has been wanted to rent, "The Big Lebowski" (1998)...
B:"The best Coen Brothers movie ever!
A:"Ahh, the best Coen Brothers comedy."
B:"Aren't they all?
A:"You may have a point!"
...they sit outside, then decide to go get coffee and talk about things where they realize they have a lot in common...... - DirectorRobert SchwentkeStarsRyan ReynoldsJeff BridgesMary-Louise ParkerA cop killed by his own partner joins RIPD, an afterlife law enforcement department working to apprehend various monsters disguised as humans living on earth, and gets paired up with a smart-mouthed veteran.Lineless clerk(Ben Sloane)at the VCR Service and Repair shop (Sulgrave NewsStand 6 Milk St, Boston, MA 02108 - thanks to sallyandthecity.com) in Boston has some vhs for sale but the only action he see's is RIPD coming in and out of his restroom all the time...especially Roy (Marisa Miller/Jeff Bridges) and Nick (James Hong/Ryan Reynolds) as they are sent off on missions by Proctor (Mary-Louise Parker). Roy:"When's the last time you've had your VCR repaired?"
- DirectorWes CravenStarsNeve CampbellCourteney CoxDavid ArquetteA year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a masked killer who targets her and her friends by using scary movies as part of a deadly game.Movie buff Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) works at the video store (Bradley Video 3080 Marlow Rd # A19 Santa Rosa,CA) "If this were a scary movie, I would be the prime suspect!" ... "Everybody's a suspect!"... He thinks its in poor taste for the main murder suspect, Billy, to be standing in the horror section. At a party, he explains THE RULES!
- DirectorLuke RicciStarsDameon ClarkeMatthew Gray GublerLaura ReganA serial killer decides to teach the secrets of his satisfying career to a video store clerk.At Rocket Video (726 N La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038 -> 315 N La Brea Ave Los Angeles, CA 90038 closed 2011), video clerk Bart has an unhappy potential customer...
"You guys are zero for three on my girlfriend's list...
(Along came Polly, the Breakup, Hitch)
Sometimes it takes a ******* village to find a video...
The ******* tard they got working here can't do ****
...Customer Mike Wilson (Dameon Clarke) wants to know what he would do to that guy if he could....and then shows him what he could do. He then introduces Bart to the theory, rules, etiquette, and practice of being a serial killer...(upbeat and often fun)
Mike - "There are over six billion people in this world and it's no secret that a lot of them deserve to die." - DirectorNicole HolofcenerStarsCatherine KeenerAnne HecheAmy BravermanJust as Amelia thinks she's over her anxiety and insecurity, her best friend announces her engagement, bringing her anxiety and insecurity right back.Discontented Amelia (Catherine Keener) rents videos from Palmer Video #38 (470 HUDSON ST NEW YORK NY 10014) where schlock enthusiast clerk Bill (Kevin Corrigan) has taken an interest in her...Great "Why didn't you call me" scene in a video store!
- DirectorGeorgina Garcia RiedelStarsElizabeth PeñaAmerica FerreraLucy GallardoThree generations of women in a Mexican American family experience sexual awakenings over the course of a summer.Blanca (America Ferrera) is looking for Sal (Leo Minaya) who may or may not be her boyfriend...he didn't show up for work this morning and she goes over to Movie Time (227 West Main Street, Somerton, AZ 85349) with a girlfriend but the clerk Victor Reyes (Steven Bauer) says he hasn't seen him...and he tells her to say hi to her mother (Lolita/Elizabeth Peña) who works across the street at the butcher shop...(her friend whispers to her - is it true what people have been saying about Victor and her mother...)...all three generations of Garcia Girls are loose cannons this summer..
- DirectorFrancine McDougallStarsMarla SokoloffMarley SheltonMelissa GeorgeA popular high-school cheerleader becomes pregnant by the star quarterback and turns to crime to support her desired lifestyle.Transfer senior quarterback Jack Bartlett (James Marsden) scored big with head cheerleader Diane Weston (Marley Shelton)...twins in fact...and a wedding ring...after being fired from a few low paid jobs fans want him to work with them, but his job at Video Update left just one secret option for the bride...gather the squad and pull a heist...they all wanted things...
- DirectorSanaa HamriStarsAmerica FerreraAlexis BledelAmber TamblynFour college freshmen and best friends find that it may take more than a shared pair of jeans to help them stay in touch as their lives go in different directions.Manager Phil (Erik Jensen) tells Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) to take the rest of the month off from the video store after suggesting "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" for a romantic evening...as she deals with her emotional crisis...he hopes to rebuild his clientele while she is gone...everybody goes to Greece to find the missing pants...(Two Boots Video 44 Avenue A, Manhattan, NY -> moved inside Two Boots Pizza 42 Avenue A, Manhattan, NY closed 2014 Pizza still open)
- DirectorTerry ZwigoffStarsSteve BuscemiThora BirchScarlett JohanssonTwo eccentric best friends graduate high school and respond to a man's romance-seeking newspaper ad as a gag, only to find their lives becoming increasingly complicated.Jamie (Patrick Fischler) is not helping a customer's (Daniel Graves) search for 8 1/2 by Federico Fellini as Masterpiece Video employee (Matt Doherty) tries to help uninterested seniors Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson) who are planning their last free weekend before work descends on Rebecca.....much craziness and angst ensues...(Gumnaam dance clip)
- DirectorTina HirschStarsHarvey KormanCharlie StrattonNadine Van der VeldeA scientist discovers a strange little creature in a cave. The "munchie" is obviously of extraterrestrial origin, but what he doesn't know is the danger it represents.Munchies (1987 Video Store found update 2023)
Paul Watterman (Charlie Stratton) and his father, Simon Watterman (Harvey Korman) are investigating an old native area and digging using local help in Machu Picchu, Peru when an old cave of statues and artifacts opens up...Simon is excited that he may be able to write a professional book on the subject, make some money and be respected by his peers...they also find some glowing green goo and a small creature they can't identify...(they sneak it back to the US in a gym bag)...at home Simon refuses to go through with a deal to sell his land to his "evil" twin brother, Cecil Watterman (also played by Harvey Korman! Per Roger Corman, "Used Cars" was an influence in the movie as it had the fighting brother car lot owners.)...and Paul's girlfriend Cindy (Nadine Van der Velde, who may be familiar to the Gremlins' genre fans as she was farmer Browns daughter in Critters [1986]...she may look a little chunky but she knows how to throw some sexy moves at the Munchies as a distraction later) and wants to get it on and so distracts Paul from his job of babysitting Munchie "Arnold" as she has named him...things get out of hand next door after Arnold is stolen, Munchie multiplies, Dude is sonically disrupted to death and they steal a car ("Dude's yellow AMC Gremlin with tinted windows), participate in roadrage with a old ladies dodge, push a motorcycle group off a bridge, chase two blonde girls in a lake, attack an ice cream shop where the employee's wear full inverted fake icecreme cones on their heads, a burger joint where the crew are midgets, then Melvisland mini-golf (new 36 holes!)...where the law catches up with them....(Robert Picardo from later Gremlins 2 [1990] and multiple Star Trek series also gets some screen time as Bob Marvalle, ice cream shop owner and again at mini-golf)...Why did the Munchies go from cute to girl chasing killers? most people seem confused about that but when "unsupervised" Arnold watched TV, looked at playboy and the first bad person they chewed on after he chopped Arnold up is Cecil's "stepson" Dude (that per the director, Dude is "just" a deadhead with "no drugs" because it was the Reagan era) and rock music playing...also Arnold crawled into ePaul's bed when he was "having sex" with Cindy...seems obvious to me that when they multiplied via being chopped up, new personalities developed from all that input: violence, sex, junk food, rock and roll!
Following a drain pipe, the seven Munchies wind up in a video rental store (with posters for Ghostbusters [1984], Gremlins [1985], and Blazing Saddles [1974 featuring Harvey Korman]) and they set off the alarm...they start tossing lots of vhs boxes out the door along with a Client Eastwood "Pale Rider" (1985) standie that is used by Paul and Cindy as a riot shield to advance into the store with Deputy Sherriff Eddie (Charlie Phillips) covering with his gun ...Munchies: Aw come on I'm sick of these stupid educational films man!...Yeah, where are the ones with the naked women?...one of the Munchies yells "Banzai!" and launches himself at them but ricochets off of or is smacked by Paul with "Clint" into a tv screen, breaking the screen, being eletrocuted and turning to stone! (a modern tv probably wouldn't do anything to them)...They have discovered what "fire of the gods" means! (lightning/electricity), from an old journal identifying the one way to stop the creatures. The Munchies retreat into a trapdoor that leads to a well lit tunnel that goes to Cecil Watterman's food factory/warehouse...the three compadres go after them via the tunnel with more perils of Cindy to follow...This film seems to ranked about 4th out of the ten or twelve films in the genre from that time period. Frank Welker did some of the Munchies voices so they may sound familiar...
The out of print, used dvd prices start around $80, so I opted for the much cheaper VHS...Filmed somewhere around Los Angeles (Palmdale, San Fernando Valley, Venice Beach, etc), it's a Roger Corman movie, but directed by Tina Hirsch who edited Gremlins!, Independence Day and other "trashy" films/tv series you probably think you like. (per writer Lance Smith: I think I named it “Hucas” or something like that because it was an Inca word for the palace guards. The Munchies were the guards brought to life by lightning. They weren’t aliens even though everybody in the movie thought they were. It was Roger who named it “Munchies.”)
[from Francesco Borseti's "It Came from the 80s!: Interviews with 124 Cult Filmmakers"]
From the Thank you list I was only able to track "Robin Rose Ice Cream" which was smoking hot trendy back in the 80's and 90's with the main shop at 215 Rose Ave, Venice, CA 90293. For a while they also held traffic school there with ice cream snacks...surprisingly, the location is now the Los Angeles office for "Rodeo FX", a world top five special effects company working on the movies you love.
Lance Smith also gave general shooting areas and I was able to find some locations.
Inca Cave/Peru camping in Bronson Canyon/Cave (aka Batman's Batcave) near the Hollywood Sign..
"Deleted" Inca Ceremony at Roger Corman's lot in Venice Beach
The Watterman houses (exteriors only) are in Sylmar, CA...I was able to match the north mountain hillside at the top of Badger Avenue...Simon's house is at 14134 Badger Ave, Los Angeles, California and looks the same from the front, Cecil's house, next door at 14120 Badger Ave has had big modification, the three car garage is now interior space and a two car drive-thru wing has been added on the right...
Malibou lake - the bikers group are forced into the water on the east end of the Lake Vista Drive bridge were Medea Creek flows into it...the two swimming girls look to be in the midlake area off of Lake Vista Drive...the lake is a few miles southwest of Agoura Hills, CA.
Palmdale desert driving scenes and "Marsella" ice cream shop...(along the Pearblossom Highway [138] per Cinematographer Johnathan West who also said the end factory scenes were in Santa Clarita at a bathroom cleanser factory...also, all the interiors, like the houses, were at Roger Corman's Quest studio stage in Venice Beach)
"Melvisland" - Sherman Oaks Castle Park mini golf course in the valley near the San Diego Freeway at 4989 Sepulveda Blvd, Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, CA 91403
The video store? somewhere in the "horrible" San Fernando Valley...in a strip mall...seems to be a hint that there was a laundrymat next door...UPDATE 2023: looking at the Amazon streaming version I can see it clearly is a United States Post Office next door...the zip code on the store front is very hard to read and I have yet to match the location with potential numbers. Then I got the blueray version and was able to identify the Post Office. The Muchies videostore shares a wall with the post office (12302), address:
12304 Pearblossom Hwy, Pearblossom, CA 93553
Currently it is used as a worship facility with services on Wednesday and Sunday.
[This would have been the 200th item on my list but the "Clerks III" development stub I was using for tracking, which was not filmed, was deleted from my list and the imdb data base "sort of"...it still screws up list location calculations and sometimes it takes over a half hour to get a movie loaded in the right spot for the way I want it to be so that if you see something you like, something similar in some way should be next to it like old vhs video store categories, for fun try and figure out the association, it's almost a game...sometimes I give up trying to get a movie in the exact right spot..but they have fixed the issue and Clerks III
is back as done movie now!] - DirectorChris HazenbergStarsZach KlinefelterJess ManleyBenjamin Barton"The Knight Jerks Trilogy" is a Sci-Fi/ Comedy trilogy of short films which features an unusual blend of humor, super-powers, and slapstick. In "Knight Jerks," two best friends happen upon a giant stash of cash. The duo starts going on a spending spree, but Schroyer, the evil man whose money they took, starts stalking them... leading to a super-powered climax with the Knight Jerks vs. Schroyer. In "Knight Jerks II: The Quickening," Schroyer returns from another dimension to seek his revenge against the Knight Jerks who sent him there. Crazier than ever, the duo must train for a second, darker confrontation against an even more powerful Schroyer. Only by consulting the great and wise Orakle can they hope to save the universe from Schroyer's dark powers once again. In "Knight Jerks III: The Final Frontier," the saga concludes as Schroyer returns with enough power and hatred to incinerate the planet. The Knight Jerks join forces for a climactic showdown against their seemingly immortal opponent.(low budget starwars/matrix parody mini-trilogy-in-one)
Knight Jerk 1 (Zach Klinefelter), 2 (Jess Manley) (and later 3 - David Kelley) often go to Crazy Mike’s Video (1066 Lakeway Dr Bellingham, WA 98229) to satisfy their rental needs..which may take quite a bit of time to pick...sometimes its just a video for a good time, sometimes for inspiration in their struggle with Schroyer (Benjamin Barton)...who thinks they found his bag of money and took it...(perhaps they did!)...Sometimes Schroyer shows up there as well...sometimes he uses his mental powers on the video clerks (Ophelia Nelson, Nina Kali Wawracz, and Keith Carmack) so they aren't concerned when he takes a video...the Knight Jerks also do not pay sometimes, but they don't influence the clerks...anyway they are all very odd fellows who may or may not be human and may or may not be from earth... - DirectorDoug NaylorStarsChris BarrieCraig CharlesDanny John-JulesRimmer's replacement, Katerina, is determined to guide Lister back to his home planet. But Earth in 2009 is not everything the boys had expected, and Rimmer has no intention of being replaced.Red Dwarf Season 9, Episode 2 "Back to Earth" (2009)
Hologram Katerina (Sophie Winkleman) attempts to send the boys via a makeshift portal but it defaults "TAKING TO NEAREST VALID REALITY": Hologram Arnold J. Rimmer (Chris Barrie), Dave Lister (Craig Charles), Cat (Danny John-Jules) and Kryten (Robert Llewellyn) land hard (except for cat who lands on his feet) in the (John Lewis Department Store - Kingston upon Thames, Wood St, Kingston, Greater London, KT1 1TE, United Kingdom) tv section where promos for Red Dwarf are showing. Salesman Mike Mellington (Tom Andrews) explains he doesn't think highly of the show to a customer couple (Jon Glover and Karen Admiraal). They take the escalator up to the video sales department.
Lister:"What are these things?"
Kryten:"They're Digital Versatile Discs, sir. DVDs for short. They were very popular in the early part of the 21st century before they died out and were replaced with what we use now."
Lister:"Oh, you mean videos?"
Kryten:"Precisely. Back then no one knew that the human race were utterly incapable of putting the DVDs back in their cases. Case in point: over 2 trillion went missing in just over 20 years. Videos are just too big to lose."
They discuss how upseting it is that they are fictional characters...They find out that their characters are going to be killed off and read the back of the DVD box to find out what they are going to do next! (like Spaceballs!)...so after checking sofa's in the department store to get some earth cash, they are off to the science fiction shop "They Walk Among Us" (26 Red Lion St, Richmond, Greater London TW9 1RW -> rayguncomics) and talk to clerk Noddy (Jeremy Swift) who also has the Red Dwarf series and other dvds for sale. Noddy understands the dimension skid they are undergoing. He calls the president of the Red Dwarf fan club but he won't help per Space corps directive 596. Rimmer:"596?...596?...Space superchimps performing acts of indecency in zero gravity will lose all banana privleges." Kryten:"No sir, the crews files are for the Captain's eyes only." Lister:"Oh, so we're smegged!"
Then Noddy sends them sans show tech by bus to visit a propmaker who knows the people doing the show.... - DirectorTim SkousenStarsJustin LongJeremy SumpterAddie LandYoung fantasy and science fiction aficionado Gavin Gore and his friends stumble onto some huge footprints in the woods. A local cop, reporter, and a renowned Sasquatch authority investigate, while two of Gavin's dim-witted neighbors hatch a scheme to profit from the situation.The Sasquatch Gang (2006 aka The Sasquatch Dumpling Gang - for added fun the timeline events are somewhat jumbled)
Highschooler Gavin Gore (Jeremy Sumpter) is in his room watching "The Bigfoot Video" ("Bigfoot: Man or Myth?" with Dr. Artimus Snodgrass/Carl Weathers) when his mom (Lenora/Veanne Cox) tells him he has vistors and ushers in punk dressed Crone (Ray Santiago - "Ash vrs Evil Dead" series) and Dagen (Jeff D'Agostino). They have come to transact a little business, and assure Gaven that they don't hang out with Shane (Michael Mitchell) anymore.
Gaven's hand titled video collection shown is:
"U.S. Military Black Ops"
"JFK Assassination Footage"
"Captain Eo"
"Real Ghosts caught on tape"
"Our under water allie from the Loch Ness"
"Ferries, Dwarves and gnomes"
"Fake Moon Landing exposed"
"Virgin Mary sightings"
"Illegal Alien Autopsy"
"Best of Gymnastic Falls and Goofs"
"Siegfried and Roy Tiger mauling"
"Illegal street racing crashes"
"Michael Jackson burnt hair Pepsi commercial"
Gavin rents out his videos!....They want to rent the Michael Jackson video "Captain Eo", but Gaven says no can do, the last person to rent it lost the 3D glasses...then they want the Bigfoot video..."Excellent choice, I was just watching it myself" and hits the remote eject....he collects three dollars from them and its due back next Tuesday. (So here we have a Home Rental business, strictly under the table.)
Later, at the trail head, Gavin trys to get "The Bigfoot tape" back, as now Shane has it, he tells Crone and Dagen they are banned from renting for life...Shane makes a bet out of it, Gavin and friends will get their tape back if Sasquatch tracks have been found by them, if not, Shane and company get Gavin's video collection...
Gavin is at "Video Vern's" ("Thank you for renting from VIDEO VERN'S Where all videos are only one dollar!") deciding between "Jason and the Argonauts" (1963) and "Clash of the Titans" (1981)...When video store clerk Sophie Suchowski (Addie Land) mentions the Pegasus we know its "CotT" and Gavin tells her that if you pause the tape you can see that its really just a white horse...they list favoite fantasy moives... "Labrinth" (1986), "Dragon Slayer" (1981), "Lady Hawk" (1985), "The Dark Crystal" (1982) , "Legend" (1985), "The Never Ending Story" (1984) - "I think only boys like that one." Sophie suggests they can watch classics together sometime and Gavin is like ok, yeah...so he starts to walk off and she gives him her home phone number...Gavin calls her to have her meet him at the park with active wear...
Gavin wan't able to watch "The Crow" (1994) with his friend Hobie Plumer (Hubbel Palmer - looks like a young "Jaws" [Richard Kiel]) who had rented it from Video Vern's as Gavin was meeting Sophie at the park, but he let Hobie stay there to watch the movie as his grandma doesn't want him watching R-rated movies at home. Hobie later goes to rent "Clash of the Titans" and try to get Sophie to watch it with him but she isn't interested...he leaves without renting...then Zerk (the Justin Long) sneaks in wearing a purple mexican wrestling mask...
Zerk: Ok girlie, empty the register now!
Sophie: Oh mygosh, please don't hurt me!
Zerk: You ddddeaf girl?, give me the cash now! (waving pocket around) I ain't messing around, this is a gun in here, it ain't my hand in case you were wondering...Hey, whats wrong with your mouth?
Sophie: I got my jaw wired shut so I can (mumble = lose weight)
Zerk: You don't really look like you need to.
Sophie: Thanks, I guess..
Zerk: Pipe it, I ain't here to make friends. I know what your doing, I know the way of the female, the way they seduce you, try'n to be friends with you and all of a sudden you'r sitting there with a valentines that they don't want. Give me the cash.
Sophie: Here.
Zerk: That's it? Is this some kind of joke?
Sophie: It's...please don't hurt me 'cause it's not a lot..
ZerK: Would you shuddup, I was counting, now I lost count....Its like 97 bucks, thats all you got?
Sophie: Videos only cost a dollar and we don't get much business since "MEGAFLICKS" came into town..
Zerk: I didn't ask about your stores financial problems. Allright! Is there a safe somewhere or somethung?
Sophie: Serious?
Zerk: Yeah, a safe, you know like where they keep money, pearls and things...
Sophie: What safe?!..
Zerk: I can't do this...I'm taking this though ("Clash of the Titans"). Sucker! (laughs and collides heavily with the door and has to try to leave again after adjusting his mask) Shuddup!
Sophie: gosh (breathing heavily grabs the phone and dials) Hello, We've been robbed! Its at Video Vern's, Pleae hurry! No, my jaws just wired shut. No, to lose weight!
Sophie was inspired to lose weight when she was clothing shopping with her overweight mom who thought Sophie would not get her thunder thighs into a pair of pants she liked. On the way to the dressing room she overheard Dagen explaining to Crone about a young womans "FP" or Fat Potential by looking at her mom, which in this case they described as a heifer...then they were making "moo"ing noises...Sophie looked at her own mom who was trying on moomoo's....Our video store clerk also had a bad time with Shane at the nickle games arcade who tried to force a kiss on her...it did not go well for him at all...but it left her upset...rough week...Sophie also doesn't know that Hobie reimagined that Sophie insulted him when he attempted to date her in the video store and imagined totally face punching her which we were able to see...
(MEGAFLICKS note - the signage bad font choice makes the "LI" look like a "U"!, not seen in this movie.)
(video store [NW end] and grocery scenes filmed at: "Steve's Select Market" aka "STEVE'S MARKET", aka "BridgeCity DVD Rental" 13927 Holcomb Blvd,Oregon City, OR 97045 - since 1979 known as a grocery store, gas station, atm, video rental, catering, etc.)
(I can't find an offical connection for "Video Vern's INC", but it was a popular trio of video stores in the Salt Lake City area from 1989-2003 "Utah's Lagest Video Store" with an agent office in Portland, Oregon where the company was registered as a foriegn business for multimillionairs Charleen and Vernen G. Dickman, a tiny part of his gas station/mobile phone/etc empire..."Video Vern’s was huge! They even had a pet section with live pets in a video store.")
(Good Laser Tag battle...making a note in case I start a list for that.) - DirectorToby WilkinsStarsTyler PoseyCrystal ReedDylan O'BrienLydia and Jackson witness a werewolf attack at the video store. Stiles is worried for his father, the sheriff. Allison's aunt gives her a family heirloom and encourages her to use it to learn more about the family history. Scott and Allison play hooky on her birthday. Derek confronts Jackson about what he saw the night before. Derek gets a surprise visit. At the parent teacher conferences Scott's mom and Allison's father find out they both skipped school that day... After the conference someone pulls a gun...and uses it.(Teen Wolf Season 1 Episode 5: "The Tell" airdate June 27, 2011)
At "VIDEO 2 C" (6398 Highway 85, Riverdale, GA 30274), the video store clerk (uncredited, but it appears to be episode director Toby Wilkins, ...much later it is revealed that the vsc is an arsonist) is up on a ladder replacing one of the fluorescent light tubes...Lydia Martin (Holland Roden) is driving her boyfriend, Jackson Whittemore (Colton Haynes) over to get a video for them to watch tonight...he wants to rent "Hoosiers" (1986) and is listing all the great things about it....she wants "The Notebook" (2004)..."I am not watching "The Notebook" again!"...(on the left single door is a poster for "Splinter" 2008/I which eipisode director Toby Wilkins also directed)...he goes inside...("I want Candy" 2007 with Carmen Electra is displayed more than once, also on this list!)...the store phone is ringing, he looks around, asks "Can someone help me find "The Notebook"?...he notices feet stiking out of the horror asile...the vsc is dead with his throat slashed open under "Bob Funk" (2009)...Jackson hears something and is startled, he collides with the ladder which hits the overhead light fixture that was being worked on and makes all but the red lighting in the store flicker on and off...the creature with glowing red eyes dominoes the video stacks down on him ...crouches over his neck and see's something that sends him crashing through the front window startling Lydia as he hurtles past...Stiles Stilinski (Dylan O'Brien), Scott McCall's best friend, is riding/arguing with his dad, Sheriff Stilinski (Linden Ashby), in Unit One when the 187 call comes in and they join the circus in front of the video store (plenty of parking in the rear also as the ground slopes and there are two, two story businesses on the backside of the building and a strange, grassy, fenced in flood control "swimming pool" as well)...Jackson Whittemore is almost out of control, arguing with Sheriff Stilinski, who won't let him leave til medical personnel check him over...with one arm dangling, the mostly covered vsc is wheeled out and away...meanwile on the roof, watching, Scott McCall (Tyler Posey new werewolf) and Derek Hale (Tyler Hoechlin college age werewolf) are sure its the rogue alpha male werewolf who is recently active in the area who wants to add Scott to his pack and kill Derek (if the werewolf hunters don't get Derek first!...and Scott is dating the main werewolf hunters daughter!)...Scott:"This isn't standard practice, right? We don't go around in the middle of the night murdering everyone, do we?"...Derek:"No, we're predators, we don't have to be killers." Scott:"Why is he a killer?", Derek:"Thats what we're going to find out." ...as they leave we can see a red spiral on the roof of the video store which is a symbol of revenge among werewolf packs ...("Texas Chainsaw Massacre" gets mentioned later in a joking way about Derek's sister who was cut in two.) - DirectorLogan McMillanStarsMorgan WilliamsRobert FaithAshleigh SouthamA contagious virus is turning everyone into zombies, and the only hope for survival lies in the hands of three couch potatoes.With their shopping carts full from Pack & Save the guys break into Real Groovy (Music Movies Games new/used 179 to 187 Tuam Street, Christchurch New Zealand moved) where Johnny's (Robert Faithold) girlfriend (Annette Sikora) worked and pick out more stuff...she shows up as a zombie with the album he wants and he says "sorry babe" as Morgan (Morgan Williams) and Ash (Ashleigh Southam) beat her.
- DirectorTodd SheetsStarsAuggi AlvarezChris HarrisFrank DunlayA meltdown at a nuclear power plant turns a bunch of folks into lethal shambling flesh-eating zombies who go on a gory rampage....735 Zombies, some of them may have your name on its list...
(Tv Reporter) Valerie Knight (self, Radio DJ 98.9 the Rock, Kansas City):"You are listening to 105.7 Saint Louis and its time for the news. Things have gotten really crazy in Kansas City, It seems some crazy bunch of people, possibly a millitant gang, have been killing everyone they can find, it appears to be a random and sensless bloodbath. City officials have called for government help in cleaning up the problem...".
Video customer (Keith Bloss) enters Fantastic Video (Outside scene on vhs only: 2506 + 2504 NW Vivion Rd Kansas City, MO -via dreamagic Inside: Roscoe Video 3636 Noland Ct [Rd], Independence, MO 64055 -> left wing of Aaron's at 3634) and asks where the zombie movies are to the pretty blonde girl video store clerk (uncredited, she appears to be Tonia Monahan who has the role of street gang leader "Sherry [Walsh related]" and was pregnant at the time) indicates over there to her left...behind her are posters for "Under Siege" (1992) and "Passenger 57" (1992)...the young man looks at a few covers and (VHS only) closeups of "Mandroid" (1993), "Remote" (1993), "To Sleep with a Vampire" (1993 "He'll seduce you til dawn then have you forever"), "The Bodyguard" (1992), "The Cemetery Club" (1993), and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III" (1993)...the shop bell had tinkled softly and he is suddenly overwhelmed by about eight zombies and dragged to the center asile where his middle is removed piece by peice and eaten for a few minutes...the vsc is grabbed from the rear by a number of zombies behind the counter (shurely they are approaching the zombie limit at the store) , her middle is grabbed and munched as her white Kansas City Chiefs tshirt turns red....(this part of the scene shows up in trailers, specials and end credits)...
"Roscoe’s Tv Videos & Video Game Rental" and other names - one store, some of it's locations over sixty years (Lee Roscoe -2001,and Dorothy Roscoe -2007, children Skip Roscoe, Lyn Villalobos)
33rd and Troost in Kansas City, Mo (first 1948-)
7421 Broadway St Kansas City, MO 64114 -> the "Well" bar with second story terrace
39th and Noland Road, Independence, MO (1974-?)
3636 Noland Ct (Rd), Independence, MO 64055 -> left wing of Aaron's at 3634 (movie location! ?-1993-?)
1705 S Noland Rd, Independence, MO 64055 (Noland and Gudgell)
11720 E. 23rd St., Independence, MO (last 2004-2008)
1975 - First in the Midwest to rent tapes, and the only one that would rent to truck drivers. Up to 42,000 videos at the peak. - DirectorJ.R. BookwalterStarsPete FerryBogdan PecicMichael GrossiAn elite anti-Zombie team is assembled by the Government to cope with an ever-growing undead infection and the religious cult zealots who fanatically protect the festering foes.("The Dead Next Door shot mostly in 1986, released in 1989 shares most of its cast with "Robot Ninja "[1989])
Out at the farm, an experiment by Dr Bow (Lester Clark), has gone awry...he tries to protect his daughter Anna (Maria Markovic)...
It seems to be a mostly horror day for Video Store Clerk "Spud" (Jeffrey W. Scaduto) of PIC-A-FLIC VIDEO (409 Darrow Road, Akron, Ohio -Director J.R. Bookwalter told me where it was via FB, thanks!) as a customer is picking from the horror section and a female customer wants to rent The Evil Dead (1981) and Creepshow (1982)...he just finishes with her and four videos are set on the counter...Dawn of the Dead (1978), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), The Evil Dead (1981), and Creepshow (1982)...he looks up to see the zombie customer looking at him and three more pop up behind ...then he and the other live customers are running out of the store...soon the whole Akron area is overrun by masses of zombies .....a few years later, Zombie Squad 205, lead by Raimi (Pete Ferry) is tasked with tracking down Dr Bow's notes on his experiment with his cool squad station wagon (a collectable model would be neat!) full of men and scientists...a gory challenge lies ahead in this trek from Washington DC...where Zombies are climbing on the White House fence. (Nineteen year old director/writer/scorer J.R. Bookwalter and crew are almost arrested by the secret service, FBI, CIA, and the police...you see they hadn't finished the payment part of the paperwork to film in DC and they wouldn't have let them climb the fence anyway...they are permitted to film "quietly" elsewhere in DC by the DC Film Office sans payment)...
(Behind the Scenes - 1153 Canton Road, Akron, OH 44312 - the Production office is in the basement of a video store [A&? Video], a decaying quonset hut...then they acquired the upper level as a sound stage and built the farm house bedroom beheading set and others inside of it ...currently it is a vacant lot next to 1155 [Kung Fu]. JR had gone to apply for a job on Evil Dead II, but when Sam Raimi saw what he done already, he told him he should be making a movie, so he secretly financed him in one of the worst kept secrets in horror filming...this would turn out to be the most expensive film shot in 8mm...then when the sound was bad, Bruce Campbell said the cheapest fix would be to dub everyone...so he took charge of it, matter of fact its one of my favorite parts of the movie as the tribute main character "Raimi" doesn't just sound like Bruce, it *is* Bruce's voice!. [new Ultimate Version Bluray has an option to have the original voices - Tempe] ) - DirectorChris WatsonStarsMark AdamsAri BavelUwe BollZombies are taking over the world!(picture of Bruce Cambell!...female nudity, no tigers were harmed in this movie, 150th entry to my list)
Video Store clerk (Andrew J. Rausch producer) is checking out a sex magazine when a customer (Steve Hugunin) comes into the store (302 Main St, Parsons, KS 67357 - NE corner of the 300 building just south of Kay Lane ->Aaron's ->?) to look around...he looks at the New rack which is mostly Joe Estevez moives, some Troma and other ones related to cast members.....he choses a vhs copy of Ozone (1995 J.R. Bookwalter) and puts it on the counter...the vsc shares a viewing of the sex magazine (all girl action which leaves nothing to the imagination)...then the vsc looks up his account in the computer and its bad news...$94! of late fees for "Mob Daze" (2002 which shares a cast list with Zombigeddon of Ari Bavel, Joe Estevez, Brock Short, Chris Watson, Robert Z'Dar, Richard Zwaduk and Mike Schmille) ...the customer doesn't beleive it...the vsc says that if he pays half then he will be able to rent a movie today...the customer thinks it some kind of mistake...the vsc asks him to put the moive back on the shelf before he leaves...instantly the customer appears as a slighly trashed zombie, comes over the counter and rips pieces of his chest out and bites them...the vsc rolls up his eyes and falls down...the customer slides on some shades now looking like terminator zombie.....grabs the video, the sex magazine and walks out (don't tease zombies!)....many zombies have been activated (sort of like "Trancers" [1984], there is a zombie master who controls them) and help is needed at the college (main and south 14th), ...two corrupt cops, Cage (Ari Bavel) and Jeff Jackson (Paul Darrigo who has a Grimm like bloodline) work with library survivers Harper (Jeff Dylan Graham), Mandy (Jennifer Greer would have made a fine scream queen but she became a surgeon) and others to figure this out whats going on after the cops are green puked by zombie (Andrew J. Rausch producer)...of course now they are disarmed as they took time out from their personal brawl to chase the puker...
video store list connections: "Radio station DJ Laura Reynolds" (Brinke Stevens scream queen) -> Body Double. "Principal Russo" (Linnea Quigley scream queen) -> Robot Ninja. "Reporter Jenny Jackson" (Tina Krause scream queen) -> Bloodletting, Nikos the Impaler. "Melissa" (Felissa Rose scream queen) -> Nikos the Impaler. "Bill the janitor" (Lloyd Kaufman president Troma Pictures) -> Nikos the Impaler, Tomorrow by Midnight, Orgazmo. "voice of Todd" (Ron Jeremy 1,427 movies) -> Orgazmo. "Dean Martinson" (Conrad Brooks 92 movies) -> Blood Slaves of the Vampire Wolf. "Crazed professor Harvey Lawson" (J.R. Bookwalter) -> The Dead Next Door. "Voice of caller 1" (Joe Fleishaker) -> The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie. "Zombie" (Eric Spudic) -> Satan VHS.
some well known others: "Police dispatcher voice" (Julie Strain scream queen). Brooks (Joe Estevez actor in 274 movies). "Lord Zombie" (William Smith actor in 271 moives). "Uwe Boll" (self producer, directory, writer, actor). "Voice of Fred" (Fred Olen Ray Director of 147 movies, Producer, Writer, Actor). "Radio station zombie" (Robyn Griggs scream princess). "Ali" (Lilith Stabs scream princess). "God" (Edwin Neal - “Hitchhiker” Texas Chainsaw Massacre plus 60 other movies). "Jesus Christ" (Tom Savini actor in 64 moivies, makeup, special effects). "Harper" (Jeff Dylan Graham actor in 67 movies) - DirectorStephen BradleyStarsSamantha MumbaDavid LeonTadhg MurphyA boy declares his love for his girlfriend, only to die the same night. He is brought back to life by his mother as a flesh-craving zombie, who sires more teen undead while trying to control his, er, appetite for his beloved.It the usual teen angst John Hughes style on the Isle of Man til someone is brought back from the dead incorrectly...In the Reel Mania video store (Isle of Man or Dublin, Ireland) Henry (Laurence Kinlan) and Diggs (Tadhg Murphy) pick out a video to to rent. As they go up to the counter they hear an odd sucking/chewing sound...Henry: "Hello?" Diggs: "Video boy, serve us." As they look over the counter they see a schoolmate zombie chewing on the video clerk's guts....they scream and run dropping the dvd...they hide til they decide a friend will need help...(also stars a snake named Buffy)
- DirectorBo ZengaStarsSteve HoweyDiora BairdKenan ThompsonA spoof on many horror movie series. Ending his shift at the video rental, Stan's picked up by his BFF and 2 cute girls, all going to a Halloween party. Will they even get there?(horror parody) After fighting off an amorous seven foot tall bug in the ladies restroom, Slacker Stan Helsing (Steve Howey) who works at "Schlockbuster" video store (Meadows Video 12143 Harris Road, Pitt Meadows, BC V3Y 2E9 Canada) is forced to deliver adult videos on his way to a Halloween party by manager Sully (Chad Krowchuk). His buddies date is a stripper and he sits in back with his hot ex-girlfriend...monsters are out to get him (his motto is "don't get involved")...Six of the worst nightmare characters from movies go "Slockbuster" looking for him, nobody realizes they are the real thing as many people are in costume...
- DirectorCharles BandStarsRhonda GriffinJustin LauerBill MoynihanMad scientist brings Dracula, the Wolfman, the Mummy, and Frankenstein's Monster to life... but there's a problem and they end up three feet tall.Deformed Monsters (org "The Creeps" 1997 - "Undersized, Undead, And Angry")
Directed by Charles Band (Full Moon Video, Wizard Video, etc) it's alomst Disney like except for a long topless "ravishing" scene ("nude" "virgin" "sacrafice") and a short "tryst" with a "Jane Erye" book...it's a comedy, rating low on the action, horror and gore...but it rates well on the library, videostore, annoying babe and mad scientist catagories.
Locations: Located Anna's house see below, videostore, havn't found it yet, but looking at pictures online I figured out that the Rare Book Annex and at least part if not all of the mad scientist lair were filmed at DC Stages & Sets 1360 E 6th St Los Angeles, CA...making use of the two story Law Library and City Hall/rotunda hallway sets, also an outside door to the parking lot on the SE corner of the main building when they enter/escape from the lair...nobody else seems to know this...a multiset, two day shooting schedule there cost about $12,000 in 2014...
Fetching Rare Book Librarian Anna Quarrels (Rhonda Griffin, who was often an undocumented bit parter in soaps) has a problem...besides the fact that her boss Miss Christina (tall, intense, Kristin Norton) is trying to hit on her, at her new job...because when she slips into the locked archives against regulations (of which there are many, designed to keep *anyone* from *ever* touching the books), to see for herself, the original, handwritten, Frankenstein book, she finds it has been replaced with blank pages...and she had just checked it out that day for a gloved, masked, viewing to a guy who it turns out, isn't who he claimed to be!
Anna knows her job is on the line and must find the thief so she seeks a private detective to help her...the address leads to a video rental store! Sporting a bare midriff, she goes in the vhs store to the counter (movie posters line the walls and she walks past "The Head of the Family" another Full Moon production)...and over D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996) poster, she checks the address with video store clerk Stella (Andrea Harper [Squibb]) "927 Central"...who checks with Shelia (in the back) who confirms the video store address...Anna is looking for David Raleigh (Justin Lauer)...Stella says he's here....now Anna confirms with Stella that this is the David who is a detective...."He will be so thrilled!, Whats the case?, divorcing or something?...Oh, confidential"...and sends her in the back...
A fan is blowing red ribbons by the wooden coatrack, videos, a rollodex and a phone are scattered about, inbox is full, light comes in through the window blinds and a "One Fine Day" (1996) poster in the door area...[this room looks to be an office set at DC Stages] David Raleigh (Justin Lauer) to Larry on the phone: No, no, no, no, its a boxed Laser Set...right, right, we have Barbed Wire Dolls (1976), "Irina the Bare Breasted Countess" (alternate version of "Female Vampire" 1975), and Vampyros Lesbos (1971) ...yep
Larry: Original versions?
David: They're all uncut, completley uncut, directors approved editions...right, of course they are letter boxed, Larry. How long have I been working with you...[Anna walks in].....let me call you back!...yes I am on the lookout for the uncut "Cut and Run" (Inferno in diretta 1985)...ok..ok, bye.
David: Hi hi hi...you need a membership, right?
Anna: Im' sorry?
David: We just need some ID and a recent telephone bill.
Anna: No, No, No...I am looking for David Raleigh..
He says it's him (in french) and confirms he is a private detective...then tells Shelia "No intteruptions!".
Sitting in wooden chairs, David shows her his ratecard (for his rich clients) and Anna explains that she found out about him from David's sister Maggie who she has dance class with...and "that if I was looking for someone cheap, you were it"...Anna explains her situation at the library, the missing book cost at least $170,000 twenty years ago...which would be a career ender and the police can't be involved...she is still paying off student loans...(yes, romance is in the air, a la Moonligting)...so when he is not managing the video store, the plan is to locate, recover somehow, and put it back..."I won't dissapoint" "Given my expectations, I doubt that you could"...
Hours M-F 11am to 9pm Kinyo VHS Uv-413 Rewinders $12
Sat 11am to 9pm Cleaning Tapes $4
David explains to Stella that the crazy glue vapors in the fish tank now lidded will stick to the finger prints on the library viewing application which has at least 75 questions on it...blue fingerprints appear!...he starts a finger print search on his cumputer for a male, 35-65, caucasion...$650 search cost...David surprises her at her near "Selma Ave" house (1533 N Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046 I found it!)..with the suspect's identity, which he had chosen from several probables...Dr Winston Berber (Bill Moynihan)...now that the identity is confirmed, he will work on finding him.
...Two weeks later at the video store she walks past a Chain Reaction (1996) poster then video games - Cobra Command, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 , RoadBlasters, and a Teed Off Pinball machine as she strides to the front of the two man line, Video Store Customer (J.W. Perra aka Myron the Head in FMV's "Head of the Family" 1996) objects but she tells him she's not checking out a video tape. David is "working" on it...Berber has a degree in physics, mathmatics, folklore, and philisophy..."Great, a renaissance thief"...then David calles her "honey" and earns a riot...the impatient customer says "come on honey, move out of the way" and asks David if they have "Portrait of a Lady" (1996) but its out, Customer "Thank God!, my wife is out of luck. Give me "Bad Lieutenant" (1992) and see if you have "Head of the Family" (1996 he stars in it). Stella goes to get it...David explains that he expects to have an address the next day after the computer is fixed (they are work arounding with index cards at the moment)...Anna: You want to know something, you'r fired!...do you understand? you are fired... Customer asks about the Bridges of Maidison County (1995)...its out...Oh great, can I have "Wild at Heart" (1990) and is Hideious (1997 FMV starring Rhonda Griffin standing next to him) available yet? She won't wait for his emergency...and under the "Trancers II" (1991 Jack Deth with both wives) poster she lets him have it...
Anna: No, I have an emergency sitution and you're not dealing with it! You know its true what they say, you get what you pay for! Now I'm going to do what I should have done in the first place get a real detective out of the yellow pages!
Anna jets out of there, the Customer holds up a mangled vhs and says your tape messed up my vcr, What are you going to do about it?...
Berber shows up to check out the original Dracula book and a very exciting conversation ensues while she points a pair of scissors at him (Freeze Book Thief!) then calls for David and Stella "Hotshot Video" gets him on the line...then the line goes dead...soon Berber is striding the dim corridors, pushing a library cart with an unconcious librarian drapped over it...(priceless!)
Danial shows up at the Mad Scientist's Lair (the entrance conviently is the SE corner, main buiding, DC Stages) just in time to save Anna, they grab the four monster manuscrips and leave (exit same door)...what Danial missed: How annoying Anna can really be "So now you have to steal books and tie up intellectually superior women to get some sort of sexual thill?"...Berber "Strident librarians don't fullfill any fantasy of mine!", the dicussion of her virginity state solved by deduction, the decision to do math adjustments to the formula rather then attempt to strip her for nude virgin sacrafice (excuse, he was in a hurry, math is easy for him and he already had to adjust for the other thing). The machine continued to run after they left...four halfsize figures emerged: a constantly drooling Wolfman (Jon Simanton), a disorganized Mummy (Joe Smith), a somber Frankenstein's Monster (Thomas Wellington) and an intense Dracula (Phil Fondacaro) who speaks for the four, who will flip the mad scientest's master/slave revenge plan...in order to fix the size problem, they need the live girl back, the four go to the Rare Book Annex and capture the blonde librarian there easily by cordinating, just tripping her and bagging her...its the wrong one...but they decide to try to use her anyway...drooling Woofman crouching over her on the table, rips off her blouse and bra (Franki rips off her skirt then rubs her legs), Wolfman continues to paw her (still drooling)...by her reaction this isn't one of her fantasies. Dracula: "Death is the least thing that could happen to you tonight."...having overheard the criteria, Miss Christina says she is thirty-three and a virgin by the definiton they give her...(ha)....they run the machine, she "disappears" twice! and they are back at square one, they need Anna...
On the way back Anna tells David she broke up with her last boyfriend because Ayn Rand was his favorite author and she won't go out with him because 1: I'm smarter then you, 2: I'm older then you, 3: We have nothing in common...sorry. David: Well, don't be sorry now. Wait til you get my bill. ($6,200)
(Team) Franki goes to Library, after a slow chase, Anna is short a shoe and her blouse is wrapped around her foot...(a la Die Hard)...then its back to the lab for everybody...(boxes under the counter are labled "Love Leters David Duchovny" and "Elvis Sightings")..after a math dicussion, a male virgin is to be added for the process to work...David trys talk his way out of that one...things don't go according to the mad scientists scheme....
Back at the video store.."See what I got for you: "A Better Tomorrow" (1986), "A Bullet in the Head" (1990), "A Better Tomorrow II" (1987), "(The) Killer{s}" (1989) and "The Killer Angel{s}" (1997 all John Woo moives and this was a planed sequel/reboot perhaps)...oh I forgot to tell you, they are all in Cantonese with Japanese subtitles...No, No english...[what am I going to do with that?]...Do you want some crop dub thing or do you want the directors orinal intention complete with all the gore?...you better believe it!... (a blonde with a bare midriff walks in) ...oh listen Larry, Larry I got to go...right, yeah, I'll give you a call back...yeah, alright, bye......(you will just have to watch the movie for the full scenes and others not mentioned).
WILLIAM SHATNER'S HALLOWEEN FRIGHTNIGHT: THE CREEPS..."The Creeps" stars a whole lot of the classic movie monsters of the 30's and 40's...Frankenstein, Wolfman, Betty Davis, they are all in there, in a sort of great big Bouillabaisse of Spookyosity. - DirectorPablo IllanesStarsPedro di Girolamo CamposLuciana EcheverríaFrancisca DíazIn 1992, a young man who works at a video store takes shelter in it (along with his friends and family) during a "possible" zombie invasion.It's 1992 in Ñuñoa/Santiago, Chile and eighteen year old Miguel Jiménez (Pedro Campos) has the perfect job working at Video Club as he loves movies and tries his hand at making horror films with his sister Tati (Francisca Díaz) including a shower scene which gets him in trouble with his parents...also his boss says she wants him to not play just horror films on the monitors...Then Daniela Estévez (Luciana Echeverría) comes in looking for Andrei Tarkovski's "Stalker" and he has a new goal in life to focus on...at least til people become infected and start acting like zombies. He and his friends hole up at the Video Club. "Get ready, nobody said the end of the world would be easy!" (indie film, not actually available yet but I have listened to the soundtrack a few times and enjoyed it.) Update: 10/15/2022 A few months ago I found Videoclub on utube and was able to watch it finally. The government seems confused in how to combat the zombie outbreak...they want to collect blood samples and deliver test medicine to try but Miguel and his friends eventually break out of the video store and flee to an upstream area where the movie ends......it's not an especially nice ending...but the sound track is great!
- DirectorMicheal BafaroStarsLiane BalabanLuis GuzmánColin CunninghamSix years after a violent car crash claimed her parent's lives, Jesse is still trying to put her life back together. Jesse visits an old abandoned mental hospital to shoot a movie, she finds out that the hospital is housing a sinister secret.Zan (Colin Cunningham), the video store guy, who works at "Home VIDEO Rentals" (3274 Coast Meridian Road Port Coquitlam, BC V3B 3N4 Canada aka Treasure Chest Games & Collectibles) flys through the video store and out in front where he pretends to be chased down and run over by "director" Kevin's (Warren Christie's) motionless new mustang, then pops up "Greetings comrads, Tis with bold purpose we join this day to make reply!"...Zan is excited about getting to be in a movie and has located just the place the director wants to make an independent horror film this weekend and leads the way in an orange VW van with his "cousin" Kellie (Jessica Kate Meyer) to an abandoned mental institution where Ramon (Luis Guzmán) is meeting them with a truck load of video equpment. ("And none of this goes back scratched!")...what could go wrong? ..."actress" Jesse (Liane Balaban) has to have Kevin stop the crowded mustang on the way to throw up as they pass the spot where her parents died.
- DirectorChuck HartsellChance ShirleyStarsChuck HartsellMichael SheltonKyle HolmanResidents of a small Southern town contend with bloodthirsty zombies, a mysterious flying saucer, and bad television reception.Chuck (Chuck Hartsell) owner of "Chuck's Super Video World" (Movies Unlimited 13709 Al Highway 168, Boaz, AL 35957) in a small southern town knows a lot about videos...especially the creepy kind...when his first undead customer (Stephen Johnson) acts unruly Chuck puts him down or so he thinks...and as there are no services this weekend leaves it with the secretary at the police station...to her dismay...also flying saucers/Homeland Defense...
- DirectorDon Roy KingStarsVanessa BayerAidy BryantTaran KillamSketches include Rob Ford Cold Open, Cheap Applause Monologue, Anti-Depressant for Obama, Kimye Talk Show, Album Offer, Weekend Update with guests Mr. Senior and Jebidiah Atkinson, Co-op Board, Spotlightz Acting Camp, 4th Grade Talent Show, Blockbuster, Rose Zone, and Old Lady Gaga.(SNL skit S39 ep7 November 16, 2013) Blockbuster employees find out that they are losing their jobs...some find their way to a secret carnival island like gathering of former employee's...some find a new place to work that is amazingly like their old place! (hulu,utube also search for "Blockbuster training video")...
(No video link for
SNL skit Season 9 Episode 13 - 2/18/84: "Semi-Competant Video Store Clerk" with James Belushi
SNL skit Season 20 Episode 19 - 5/6/95: "Karl's Video: Customer Familiarity" with David Spade guest Bob Saget...can be seen on yahoo) - DirectorLeon IchasoMatthew MeshekoffJames SignorelliStarsDavid SpadeFred ArmisenTom Arnold(skit - also SNL season 19 episode 3) At Karls Video Store, Karl (David Spade) annoys Jeff Goldblume (self) while picking videos and embarrassing him for renting "On Golden Blond" Rob Schneider is also shopping, Chris Farley and Steven Tyler are directed to the back corner."
- DirectorAmy HeckerlingStarsJason BiggsMena SuvariZak OrthA college student, branded a loser by his roommates and booted from the dorm, falls in love with a coed who has eyes for their condescending professor.With a video plan to top off a pizza, Paul Tannek (Jason Biggs) asks the video clerk (David Spade) which is better "when Harry met Sally" or "The Piano"...he shoots both of them down with weird logic and gives him a winner!?! "Simon Birch"...Then he is off to meet Dora Diamond (Mary Suvari)...His Dad (Dan Aykroyd) says "Oh man, at your age you're going to get your heart broken no matter what city you live in." ... (The band Everclear appears in concert.)
- DirectorDennis DuganStarsDavid SpadeJon HederRob SchneiderA trio of guys try and make up for missed opportunities in childhood by forming a three-player baseball team to compete against standard children's Little League squads.While Video Spot (Mega Value Video 12411 Burbank Blvd Los Angeles, CA 91607) manager Marty (Charles Dugan age 93 and father of the director) shelves videos from his walker, clerk Richie (David Spade) takes off with Clark (Jon Heder) after angering renter (Adam's wife Jackie Sandler) to become someone and meet his destiny, salad girl Sarah (Erinn Bartlett) of Pizza Hut...Marty "I don't know who you are!"
- DirectorRon HowardStarsMatthew McConaugheyJenna ElfmanGeoffrey BlakeA video store clerk agrees to have his life filmed by a camera crew for a television show.Ed Pekurny (Matthew McConaughey) works at North Beach Video (1398 Grant Avenue, San Francisco, CA closed - with blockbuster type styling and rarely seen) doing what is often described as a job for twelve year old's and he is thirty-one and has no plan...His brother Ray(Woody Harrelson) is at a bar with his girlfriend Shari (Jenna Elfman who is a doll in her UPS delivery outfit later) and does a tryout which Ed joins in for a chance to be the star of a national live tv show about a working guy. They notice Ed and choose him for instant stardom with all the fun and problems... when he throws two teens out of the video store for disrespecting Burt Reynolds, falls for Shari or dates Jill (Elizabeth Hurley) everybody knows and ken (Clint Howard the directors brother) gets all the best angles.
The store was completely redesigned and expanded to twice its size for the movie. It was stocked with Universal films, new paint, carpet, plate-glass windows and Stan Woo got a check. The expansion enabled Woo to switch from an outdated system of keeping videos behind the counter to storing tapes on the shelves. - DirectorAna BarredoStarsPaul KolsbySharon RepassAlan NataleMeet John St. Clair, a happy employee at Videoland, home of a thousand movies. One fateful night while serving behind the counter, he meets Denise Hunter, the girl of his dreams. Their love blossoms amidst a colorful array of characters: John's movie-savvy coworker intent on breaking into Hollywood, their perpetually angry Indian boss, and an old school pal who points John to a new, upwardly mobile career at Goldbar, Inc. Going from t-shirts to neckties, John takes on his new job to impress Denise. However, his conscience is torn when his new corporate life threatens to wipe out his beloved video store and swallow up time he could be spending with his true love. Romantic complications ensue in this touching, fast-paced comedy, packed with movie in-jokes and witty banter. Discover for yourself how nothing seems easy once you're tied down to... "A Real Job!"Videoland's greatest guru John St. Clair (Paul Kolsby) meets movie marketeer Denise M. Hunter(Sharon Repass) after twenty years at the store and lamely asks her out with proding from clerk Vinny (Alan Natale). Feeling a need to better himself he gets a low level office job that turns into making automated video stores and they want him to get Videoland from Henry Hrundi (Pramod Mishrekar)... (Laser Blazer 10587 W Pico Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90064 where the producer Ana Barredo worked at in college and counter scenes plus at "Sound Stage 21" - the garage of producer Henry Rivas, - fun informative commentary)
- DirectorDaniel AchtAli EckertStarsFabian BuschWotan Wilke MöhringMonica Nancy WickFlo and his buddy Hotte work in the lousy video store Video König in Neukölln. No wonder, because Hotte shines with zero film knowledge, and Flo has to deal with the fact that his girlfriend left him.Video Kings (2007 German Language, no subtitles)
Video Konig (Video King) is a vhs video rental store with a large front in Berlin or Frankfurt Germany, seems to be a fake video rental store with a lot of inferior shelving and posters over all the windows - "Resident Evil" (2002), "Hope Springs" (2002), "Willard" (2003), "Naked Weapon" (2002), "Dark Blue" (2002), "City of God" (2002), "LOTR: The Two Towers" (2002), etc. At the beginning of the movie, while bringing in boxes of his belongings, Flo "Niagara Falls"(Fabian Busch) knocks a foot tall action figure of Captain Red (played by well known actor/director Til Schweiger, flying superhero in commercials and in a critical animated sequence at the end, he also was in "This Means War" on this list) off the videostore counter...Flo and videostore sidekick Horst "Jetlag" (blond Wotan Wilke Möhring, a popular actor he often is himself in some tv series, he also played the male lead in "Cowgirl", also on this list) try to fix it on multiple occasions during the movie. As if they didn't have enough bad luck/karma already, this didn't help...this is one of those movies that would be enhanced by a large consumption of alcohol, (ability to understand german,) and pre-familiarity with other works of the actors as you plow through an hour of setup for twentyplus minutes of climax is the advice of the critics...loosely stated...Flo is living at the video store, there is a kitchen area and a bed in a back room that he crashes on sometimes...there is internal re-construction for store expansion that is happening at a really slow rate but after Flo and Horst "accidentally" damage a wall, symbolically perhaps, next to the x-rated room area, they, with much difficulty make a small hole in it...the view is into the apartment of neighbor goddess Ramona (sandy haired Monica Nancy Wick who was also in "Bang Boom Bang - Ein todsicheres Ding" on this list) whom Flo has suddenly fallen completely in love with...beautiful in worn jeans... whenever she starts to undress, the phone rings, etc...on her table the top vhs is "Die Hure" (1991 aka english WHORE)...Ramona is expecting a vhs tape of her performing on stage to arrive at the videostore, but due to a mixup at the counter she may have received a tape of Flo making a speech and then dramatically throwing up or surveillance footage showing Horst with their bosses wife. They spend a lot of time working on getting the tape back while dodging a collection agency...(Life would be so much easier of course if people labeled vhs tapes!)...after a round of moonlight roofgolf a la Adams Family that ends with a missing golf club and a big traffic accident per the sounds we hear, they find an explanation for why they lose all their money to "smart" guy Bernhardt (Peter Thorwarth, who also wrote/acted in "Bang Boom Bang - Ein todsicheres Ding" also on this list) when they play along for money with tv sessions of a quiz show "Show Down" with Jetzt Werbung (hosted by popular actor Steffen Wink)...Bernhardt wants to buy the store cheaply as it is in financial trouble...Horst and boss Dieter (Hendrik Arnst) prepare a suitable revenge...it's nice having the boss on your side for once!...perhaps even stunning Maria (tall brunette Carolina Vera) will stop marching in and slapping or yelling at him! (She's an unhappy, possibly pregnant by him, Italian, ex-girlfriend) at one point she leaves on the back of Peter's motorcycle (Oliver Korittke, at one point married to "Ramona" in real life, he also played the videoclerk in "Cowgirl" also on this list)... the local thief Tommy (Bela B.[Felsenheimer]is the Drummer/Singer of German Punkrock-Band "Die Ärzte" who also sang in "Der Todesking: The Death King" also on this list) brings stuff he has ripped off to the store to see if someone wants to buy it. One time it is an old special bottle with only a little liquid left in it that produces some sort of sound, Flo trades him a "Bat Bitch" video tape for it...soon it becomes big trouble for Flo...Andreas (Thomas Schmidt) hangs around renting and commenting on videos, he goes off on "Memento"(2000) when returning it...
Andreas:"Memento was a shit movie!"
Flo:"Why was that shit?"
Andreas:"I forgot!"
(lots of muttering about more interesting things they could have done in Memento)
...Andreas tells Flo he needs to up his game to the champion level if he wants to win Ramona's heart and have a life...After Flo is knocked out by the flung special bottle, Captain Red chimes in during an animated sequence in which Flo thinks he is dead and Captain Red argues his case at heaven's gate...
The music is really good, even nerfherder plays in it and mostly in English which reminds me of watching "Tomorrow by Midnight" [2001] aka "Midnight 5", aka "After Midnight" [german language release, try amazon.de] also on this list as it was made in english in Los Angeles but never released here or in english as it would be compared to the Columbine High School Massacre and people would protest it...Video Kings was a low/no budget, no official studio support project with many popular actors/etc "volunteering" to be in it...most "successful" people in the movie are part of three person power teams which bully others...sometimes considered a german imitation of "Clerks"...but one crossed with "Dumb and Dumberer" or something...
Christian Horn - The idiosyncratic marketing of "Video Kings" is still worth mentioning: Since the filmmakers have no financial backing, they operate an innovative and quite contemporary way of marketing. For example, you can send an e-mail to the lender for inclusion in the credits. A simple and sparkling idea, because everyone who appears in the credits wants to see it in the movies - at best with his friends. Furthermore, the Internet is used as a platform, targeted cooperation with magazines (such as the Berlin magazine "Uncle Sally's") and special "Secret Screening" in the run-up to the theatrical release. And on myspace.com is advertised for the film, in times of Web 2.0 actually a compulsory exercise (remember the Internet hype around "Snakes On A Plane").
Video Kings is a German movie that was shot in March 2004.
The film was performed on 17 February 2007 at the Berlinale in the Babylon Cinema in Berlin-Mitte.
The official premiere took place on June 22, 2007 in Dortmund. On September 6, 2007, the film was released by Madhouse Pictures GmbH & Co. KG / Barnsteiner-Film . There it reached 23,823 spectators and was able to import 106,903 euros. The budget of the film was 120,000 euros. - DirectorSteffen HaarsFlip Van der KuilStarsSylvia HoeksFlip Van der KuilHuub SmitTwo brothers have their friendship put to the test when they both fall in love with the same girl.(Dutch with english subtitles, retarded patient sex issues, some crude language, humor, actions)
Two young brothers (one adopted) are told by their divorcing father (Ton Kas) to never enter into a relationship...they work clubs/bars together using the story that one of them has just broken up with a girlfriend and it is both their birthdays, ordering four Long Island Ice Tea's, they have fun with the girls and never see them again...chicks usually come in pairs, Max (Tim Haars) always gets the "other" one: "Ugly chicks have to try harder, so they're smarter, funnier and a better lay."
Jules (Daniël Arends), the adopted bro, is an AssIsTant manager at a large grocery store, mr crude attitude, he makes use of his female minions in the stock room...he is not popular with the manager (Dick van den Toorn)...
Almost thirty, Max wakes up just before noon and walks downstairs to work at VIDEOCORNER (EXTERIOR: Bonne Louise Groenten en Fruit - Zijlweg 45-ZW, 2013 DC Haarlem, Netherlands - NW corner of Pieter Kiesstraat and Zijlweg, Haarlem, North Holland INTERIOR: VIDEOLAND - Herensingel 316, 1382 VW Weesp, Netherlands) which has Plan C (2012 the Dutch Fargo) and RUNDSKOP (aka Bullhead 2011 Belgian illegal beef hormones) posters on the door...living the dream, getting paid to watch movies and hoping no customers come by...starts to watch "First Blood" (1982), everybody's favorite movie and its often quoted and then a couple (Jules Seegers/Bo Maerten) drop off "The Big Lebowski (1998), they didn't like it so he gives them "Costa" (2001??? "best dutch film ever")...two young lads (Joost Koning and Nils Verkooijen) stop by and want to know the most awesome movies recently out..Max tells them Django, "Casa de mi Padre" (Will Ferrell) and TED...they will download them at home: "Who the **** still rents movies at the video store?"...Their good friend/roommate René (Henry van Loon) drops by complaining about Suzanne (Jennifer Hoffman) eating half his lunch while "Forrest Gump" (Jordy/Huub Smit) stiffly goes to the porn room...they are watching him on the monitor abuse himself and the dvd boxes when a girl ambles in and time slows down for Max...She's looking for a guy who's not all there, Max points to the backroom monitor...S***...she goes in and picks him and the four movies up...they come out and she apologizes to Max and wants to rent two movies...Max:"You can take all of them. No one ever rents them anyway."...she thanks him and leaves...Max catches up with them outside and asks for a phone number..."Sorry. Jordy doesn't just give his number to anyone. And he's not attracted to guys, so..." (Jordy puts his hand on her breast..What did we agree on? Jordy: Sorry. Sure.) Max:"I need your phone number for the films, or your customer card number. but your number would be easier." She punches her number into his phone..."What's your name, by the way?" "Anna" (Sylvia Hoeks) "I'm Max."
Anna is in his apartment later...with Jules...who says he met her at the store and is done with her...but its not so...she is over again watching a movie, but then Jules has to take off for an appointment he "forgot" about...leaving Anna with Max all evening...Anna returns the videos, Jordy is to be put in isolation after the debacle at the play practice for the national competition...while she is there, the store is robbed for 300, but when the robber (Marco Maas) points the gun at Anna, Max jumps over the counter and knocks him down but Anna is shot in the arm by an accidental discharge...the robber takes off grabbing a video on the way...Max tears off one of his work shirt sleeves and wraps it around the wound (Why? Rambo S***) ...VIDEOCORNER owner Kenrick (Pieter Bouwman) shows up and is very upset about the small amount taken, the police are suspicious of the chinese people next door...after a bday party for Suzanne, Max brings Eefje (Juliette van Ardenne) home for the night...after dealing with a customer who made a suggestion about sex with his mother (my mother is dead. sorry), Jules says that Anna needs some porn for Jordy and wants him to take it over...Anna shows Jordy the porn cover thru the isolation window and he calms down immediately...Kenrick says there is a bunch of porn movies missing...which is important since a customer reserved them (he lists the titles in front of a woman and child customer, so does Max when he calls Anna..."Shindler's Fist" etc)...on his way out, Kenrick trips over the robbers gun under a shelf and takes it...Anna drops the videos off but Max won't come out to the counter...Jules is busy "training" the three new female minions so Max goes with René to the fair, Suzanne shows up with Eefje who is all over Max...Anna shows up and rescues him by kissing him...they have fun at the fair, then they kiss again...then she has to run as Jordy is shooting people with arrows...they discuss the kissing mistake next day at VIDEOCORNER....then everybody's life changes...Jules moves out with help from his minions, to be with Anna taking all the electronics (TV, game machines)...Kenrick tries to rob the chinese next door, he and others die...turns out he was bankrupt and Max is out of a job per the police detective (Raymond Thiry - "Blackout" 2012): "Who still rents movies at a video store? I download them. Why pay for something you can get for free online?"...then things get crazy...... - DirectorKevin SmithStarsBrian O'HalloranJeff AndersonMarilyn GhigliottiA day in the lives of two convenience clerks named Dante and Randal as they annoy customers, discuss movies, and play hockey on the store roof.Randal (Jeff Anderson)"works" at RST Video (60 Leonard Ave, Leonardo, NJ 07737) next door to his best friend Dante's (Brian O'Halloran) convenience store job...(Jay and Silent Bob hang outside)...When not offending customers he helps destroy Dante's life with his own ideas and makes social commentary..."Even though I work in a video store, I choose to rent movies at Big Choice"...this is the first movie in Kevin Smiths "Askewniverse", most other movies of his share events, characters and attitude.
- CreatorDavid MandelScott MosierKevin SmithStarsBrian O'HalloranJeff AndersonJason MewesThe continuing adventures of clerks Dante and Randal, who try to make the best of their menial labor, with no help from Jay and Silent Bob.Animated six episode tv series with the voices of Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Alec Baldwin, and Charles Barkley...(add 100!) Randal spends very little time working at RST Video...but has plenty of time to add to the chaos in Dante's life...They face a super rival Quicker Stop (which also rents videos), getting trapped in the freezer, getting trapped in RST Video, a possible outbreak of incurable disease, being sued, Indianna Jones and the Little League World Championship...etc...
- DirectorKevin SmithStarsBrian O'HalloranJeff AndersonRosario DawsonA calamity at Dante and Randal's shops sends them looking for new horizons - but they ultimately settle at the fast food empire Mooby's.After rebuilding...Randal (Jeff Anderson)"owns" at RST Video (60 Leonard Ave, Leonardo, NJ 07737) next door to his best friend Dante's (Brian O'Halloran) Quick Stop convenience store owner job...(Jay and Silent Bob hang outside)....Elias (Trevor Fehrman) turns in a job application but Randal rejects it....Dante approves it and convinces Randal to approve the application. Becky (Rosario Dawson) joins in the celebration. (Earlier she did the best sexy dance to the tune of "ABC".) Dante:"Today is the first day of the rest of our lives."
- DirectorAnesty CarasoulosSpiros CarasoulosStarsDavid CormicanRachel SehlJ.P. AzadaThis comedy takes place during the course of one day in a video storeA (fantasy) day in the life of clerk Tom (David Cormican) as he rules Video Depot Superstore (1053 Pape Ave, Toronto Canada pretended to be USA)...wheeling, dealing and excommunicating as a slightly mean spirit moves him...he completely frustrates sexy pop star Mindy (Rachel Sehl) as she tries to get her career ending sex tape back...(acting good, 2nd half better, needs two views to appreciate)...
- DirectorPetrichor BharaliStarsKoel PurieCharles SinghSitara HewittSweet but downtrodden video store clerk Kavita fantasizes about being a Bollywood star, just like her idol, Kohinoor.Kavita (Koel Purie) works as a Toronto video store clerk and dreams of being an actress in a bollywood movie...her wish comes true after cleaning staff Naomi(Rachel Sehl) gets her into the studio and she is hired to secretly double the kidnapped Kohinoor...Cham-cham (Sitara Hewitt) adds lots of fun
- DirectorBruce McCullochStarsMolly ShannonWill FerrellElaine HendrixA nerdy Catholic schoolgirl, Mary Katherine Gallagher, dreams of superstardom.Mary Katherine Gallagher(SNL's Molly Shannon), orphaned catholic school girl living with her grandmother has a plan to kiss the most desireable guy (Sky Corriganin/Will Ferrell) at school by becomming a superstar. The "Rewind Girl Wanted" position at Kip's Video Warehouse is just the place to learn all she can about superstars ...the videos slide down to her backroom rewinding station (speed job on that..its two dollar Tuesday) ...and she watches a lot of them...almost everybody's favorite seems to be "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble"...and when she needs to speak out she calls upon the monologues she has learned.
- DirectorDaniel FilhoStarsMarieta SeveroDébora FalabellaAntônio FagundesA 50 year-old woman who analyses her past. She pictures herself when she was 20 years old and she re-creates the story of her life through a game of innumerous possibilities... What if she wouldn't have gone to that ball? What if... instead of meeting the man of her life, with whom she married and had kids, she would have called a girlfriend and they went to the theater? What would be her destiny? What would have happened? In the plot the present talks to the past. A young woman projects her future in a fascinating game between memories and desires."A Dona Da História"/"Owner of the Story"
(2004 - Portuguese with english subtitles)
At fifty, Carolina (Marieta Severo) decides to change her life and divorce her husband of thirty years as she feels she never accomplished anything with her life...then she thinks about her life and relives it making different decisions for when she was twenty...her first alternate life has Carolina as a lonely woman who never married but instead has worked in "Ipanema Video", a Rio de Janeiro video rental store for thirty years!...While rewinding a tape one day a man comes into the store who looks familiar but as he buys a treat she realizes that he is not her husband from her parallel life...he then askes her if they carry Camel cigarretts but they don't...Carolina then askes his name and he says Adalbert Santos (Henri Pagnoncelli)...she wanted to be a movie star and she has lived her life in movies, watching them over and over...and as she tells her younger self (Débora Falabella) in her upstairs room ...she was very demanding with men when she was younger and now they are very demanding of her so she lives alone...her regret at fifty is that she didn't go to (young) Nicolau's (Rodrigo Penna's) party...and sends her younger self off to change her past...(again)... - DirectorNuno RochaStarsLuke AshlockeJolyn JanisDaniel MooreWhile working at the local video store, Vicky meets Sam, who quickly becomes a regular costumer. Both fall in love, ignoring the true reason for their rendez-vous.Vicky and Sam (2010 14m Vimo full movie link in the message board, great music, acting and production values)
Sam (Andrew Hlinsky) rides his bike over to "I Luv Video" (2915 Guadalupe St, Austin, TX 78705 with pizza restaurant next door!, now closed, inventory moved to their other store location 4803 Airport Blvd, Austin, TX 78751) where Vicky (Tinghui Zhang) works in the well lighted, high ceiling stacks putting away some dvds in the SciFi/Horror section...after he prowls the asian and fantasy asiles they accidentally collide in the drama section, he helps her pick up the dvd's and their eyes meet briefly, he smiles...At the Austin Diner (5408 Burnet Rd, Austin, TX -> 5222 Burnet Rd, STE. #550 Austin, TX), Mike (Luke Ashlocke ~ FAT BASTARD lite) says "Ahh, come on, you've got to be kidding me!..." John (Daniel Moore) thinks its nice...Kim (Jolyn Janis) thinks that because Vicky is asian, Sam can be in the Asian section and their eyes meet through the shelves...and they do...Mike, John and Kim continue to robustly thrash out what happens (like renting videos so the first letters spell out a message "L'Avventura" [1960], "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" [1975], "Vertigo" [1958], "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" [2004], "Yojimbo"[1961], "Once Upon A Time in America" [1984] and "Unforgiven" [1992]) and the depth of their relationship as Sam and Vicky hook up in the video store...then they show up at the Austin Diner...is it really them?, they have to test...but not everybody is up to the moment....
----------------------------------- interesting rental rules
Rental Rates & Policies:
Stock Titiles (non New Releases): $3.00 for 7 nights [Late fees are $1.00 per night & build up on your account. You will be notified each time you rent if you have lates].
New Releases: $4.25 for 2 nights [Lates are $2.00 per night & build up on your account. You get $1.00 credit on your account if you turn in your new release a day early. You will be notified each time you rent if you have lates or credits].
All VHS and stock family films are only $2 for 7 nights! - DirectorDaisy FaithStarsDaisy FaithArabella BarbourMillard DardenWhen Delilah goes to a new age therapist to change her hum drum life of working in a video store she gets more than she bargained for. Now that Delilah has learned to channel her inner Marilyn Monroe she will discover that when you go outside of yourself you find out who you really are. Is it too late for her to realize her love has been waiting in the video line all this time?Delilah (Daisy Faith is also the directory and writer of this very short film you can watch on IMDB) isn't happy with her current life as a video clerk with no love prospects as far as she knows...the guys she finds interesting aren't interested in her...she is advised to channel her inner Marilyn Monroe and things happen...some things she doesn't like.
- DirectorMichelle Chen MiaoChen JinStarsRoy CheungAngelica LeeYe Liu(Mandarin with english subtitles)
Mi Ni (Li Xinjie) works with A Kang (Liu Ye) at a dvd-cd-vcd video store which seems to be named "Sui Bo Zu Liu" in Shanghai...MiNi is living with her mecenary aunt (Zhang yingdi) while she follows in her mothers footsteps by training to be an aerial acrobat specializing in ribbon suspension...she performs well and is hired by Big Chen's (Zhang Yaoyang) company to do some performance advertising work... both Big Chen and A Kang are interested in her...A Kang is very helpful around the store deciding that a "teacher" has made the right choice in "L4YER CAK3" (Layer Cake 2004) and making a "Madam Courier" comment. He is so interested in people that he pickpocket's them to find out more about them, what their soul is like. He says he loses money that way as he returns all there stuff and he pays for the postage! It's going to get you in a lot of trouble someday.... - DirectorDaniel MacIvorStarsJames AllodiCallum Keith RennieElliot PageA day-in-the-life dark comedy concerning a group of islanders, their respective secrets, and one man's plan to kill himself quietly.Vivacious mantrap Sandra Anderson (Rebecca Jenkins - who also sings for the soundtrack) stops by tiny Jarvis Video (33 George St, Shelburne, Nova Scotia - "VHS RENTALS * POPCORN * WESTERNS A SPECIALTY" "New Release 3.99, Old Favorite 1.99" Posters for "Swing" [2002],"Justice is Coming", "Himalaya" [1999 aka "l'enfance d'un chef"], "Seven Ways from Sundown" [1960]) with a cup of coffee for Dan Jarvis (James Allodi) and apologises for the way another customer at her cafe (Iggy's Diner "Where the sweet meet to eat") had acted towards Dan...he is closing down the video store, his wife has left him, and the newspaper may link him to allegations that local law enforcement (Buddy French/Paul Gross) is investigating concerning activities at the Wilby Watch undeveloped shoreline area...the local handy man, Duck MacDonald (Callum Keith Rennie) wants to get handy but he takes care of the noisy situation at the motel where Dan is staying involving Sandra's daughter Emily (Ellen Page!)...later Carol French (Sandra Oh), way over the top real estate agent, cuts him down for hanging around a house she is trying to sale to the mayor, Brent Fisher (the late great Maury Chaykin also seen in "Love and Death on Long Island" on this list).
- DirectorJazmin JamiasStarsKristine GerolagaJessica EtheridgeJose AngelesAfter a tragic accident, Sophie and her brother Junior inherit their parent's video store. They are faced with the harsh reality that the business is not only a money pit but considered obsolete. These siblings fight the inevitable in their own special way, proving that every problem can create a world of possibilities. And by the way, it's a comedy.("I Hate the Color Red" 2015, 19 minutes, fun with excellent acting, music and camera work - director/writer Jazmin Jamias, thanks for the special access)
Opening sequence, a young woman alone in the night wearing a baseball outfit with face covering blue makeup, has a mighty bat resting on her shoulder...she looks hard at a Redbox video rental kiosk (Verizon Wireless 1189 Admiral Callaghan Ln, Vallejo, CA 94591), lifts the bat and charges...Sophie Mendoza (Kristine Gerolaga) wakes up to the alarm clock...she notices her brother Junior (Jose Angeles) out walking Gavin (Goober) the dog again, films it with her dad's 8mm and thinks its odd, wakes up Julie Childs [Jessica Etheridge] and tells her about it but Julie thinks she should come back to bed... Behind windows filled with showcased posters, while wearing a George A Romero "Dawn of the Dead" tshirt under her jacket at Awesome Video - 345 Main Street, Vallejo, CA (the store was half the size it had been in 2008, 5000 Freeport Blvd Sacramento, CA -> [moved due to noisy neighbors] 4524 Freeport Blvd Sacramento, CA 95822, still open late 2016, owner Mai Thu), she listens to a vinyl record while repairing a vhs tape of a "Sam Wiles" Movie "Three Guns and a Nun"...Junior is 45 minutes late, she reminds him that this is their livelihood...he says he had sh** to do...regular customer "John" (Edwin Schenderlein) greets them on his way to the curtained off adult section...she doesn't want to talk about her netflix fascination or the new Redbox nearby, "Another red robot dispensing death!"...she goes in back to read the bad new...(90 day eviction notice, 30 days to catch up on payments)...over lunch Sophie, Julie and Junior brainstorm options besides "What do you think about a going out of business sale?" ...advertising?, the last commercial they had was neither good nor effective, they think Sophie should make a commercial, Julie thinks she should enter the 1st Annual Vallejo Film Festival...Sophie says that the student films she made were experimental and nobody got them...Junior storms out, then comes back to grab his burrito...later that night, about to leave, Sophie looks at the festival flyer and gets to work on the computer...the next morning, the Vallejo Police (Tony Greenwell and Greg Agnew) stop by and catch Junior as he tries to run out... Sophie's film was accepted for the Festival - may 21-22, 2015, at the Empress Theater (330 Virginia St, Vallejo, CA 94590)...Julie goes with her to see it in front of a tiny audience..."A classic love story about a girl and her video store." - "Hometown Video" (footage of her growing up in the video store, her parents - the accidentally deceased former owners, her feelings, some security cam footage of Junior, etc) ......Later, one of her favorite directors who also hails from Vallejo, "Sam Wiles" (Christeon Gordon) comes to Awesome Video...He had seen her festival film and wants to help save her video store...(during the end credits Junior does funny, animated commercials)...
Junior vrs Redbox: Vallejo security cam footage:
Sonoma Blvd (7-Eleven - 11 SerraVista Square at 411 Gellert Blvd, Daly City, CA 94015)
Georgia St (7-Eleven - 137 W Manor Dr, Pacifica, CA 94044)
Spring Rd (7-Eleven - 293 87th St, Daly City, CA 94015)
Marin St (7-Eleven - 137 W Manor Dr, Pacifica, CA 94044 used twice!, different angle)
No Redbox video rental units were harmed during the making of this film (afaik), but there are fewer of them like the majority of video stores they replaced to streaming and that they raised the cost of disk renting..."Outerwall, the parent company that owns Redbox, has announced that their revenue for the fourth quarter of 2015 dropped by 17% as total movie rentals have fallen by nearly a quarter year-over-year. Outerwall admits that this is not an isolated drop. According to Variety, they expect rentals to decline an additional 15%-20% in 2016. They’ll also be reducing the total number of Redbox kiosks by as much as 2,000 units, though this will still leave more that 35,000 of the kiosks in service."
This movie showed me that there is a local regular video rental store still open in the Sacramento area, I had thought the closest was in Davis, CA... - DirectorAtom EgoyanStarsMichael McManusArsinée KhanjianGabrielle RoseA lonely woman stalks a co-worker by obsessively watching videos he appears in. He is an actor trying to get a part in a new TV movie, written by his lover. She has written about her brother's death, but is losing control of the project.(some nudity, suicide)
Lisa (Arsinée Khanjian) works at the Windsor Arms Hotel (Toronto) as a maid and is obsessed with her coworker Lance (Michael McManus), but he ignores her and won't meet her gaze...she gets vhs tapes from AFTER DARK VIDEO (1043(A) Bathurst Street, Toronto, ON M5R 3G8) where Eddy (Tony Nardi) works...Eddy tries to figure people out and Lisa doesn't add up, she rents the same movies twenty times or more, they are only partially wound, multiple categories...so he thinks there is a problem, but she says there isn't and shows him Lance's actor resume where the videos are listed ...she just watches his scenes and refers to him as her lover...which Eddy doesn't believe...Eddy says that Lance is just an extra...that he is in these movies but he doesn't have a speaking part...she says that he is on screen and there is nothing special about words...
Lance is young and still hopeful of being a star someday, he has a shadow job with the hotel management which has him rented out to certain hotel guests...he also tells management that Lisa doesn't bother him so that they won't fire her...the hotel specializes in catering to the entertainment industry and while cleaning a room, he finds an opportunity to promote his acting secretly with a new guest...He keep secrets from everyone, some to protect himself and some to protect his reputation...neither he nor management want Lisa to know about his other work at the hotel...
On her next video store trip, to break up her rental pattern Eddy suggests "The Decline of the American Empire" (1986 Canada french) as it is rented out a lot...but says he hasn't watched it...
Eddy:"I never watch these things, people check out the cover and take what they want"
Lisa:"Do you like working here?"
Eddy:"Not this part..."
Lisa:"What other part is there?"
Eddy explains that they also rent equipment and people make their own public/private videos and sometimes he tapes the "events" for them...later, Eddy tells her he gets all the footage he can and for a public event he gets individuals alone and asks about their thoughts and feelings...after watching one, Lisa wants to do interviews and pleads with him to let her try...
Lisa goes to After Dark Video, but Eddy isn't there, his coworker (Patrick Tierney) says he is taping a video and she wants to know where as she is supposed to help...but its a special kind of clothing optional crowd of small intimate encounters...Eddy says for her to go and he will explain later at the store...Another day, Eddy has Lisa privately interview a bride at a wedding but it doesn't go well...Eddy tells her that bad interviews never happen to him (he doesn't lose objectivity) but perhaps it should happen (he doesn't really care about what he films)...after things happen at the hotel, Eddy takes a minute to listen to Lisa, then he tells her to stop watching Lance's videos and get some rest (she has begun to see things that aren't there, like the customers in the store are all extras from the videos she has been watching)...
Indie film buffs lost a local landmark this month -- and so did insomniacs. After Dark Video, possibly the only video store in the city that kept its doors open until 2 a.m. every night (formerly 4am!), closed three weeks ago, after 22 years in the business of renting rare indie films. Known to stock niche titles from directors such as Russ Meyer and John Waters, the small purple store on Bathurst Street south of Dupont has cleared its shelves after years of declining sales.
In the beginning, After Dark thrived, with husband-and-wife co-owners Gerald Beeston and Beth McKellar offering films so obscure only foreign film festivals screened them in theatres, but the store's novelty wore thin once such titles were affordable on DVD. "It was pointless for us to continue," Ms. McKellar says. (Published Saturday, Apr. 29, 2006) - DirectorAdam GoldbergStarsMarisa CoughlanJudy GreerShalom HarlowThe film follows fictional movie star Gray Evans through the disintegration of his marriage, his gradual mental breakdown, and his increasing obsession with a young film student who reminds Gray of his own life before becoming famous. A dark psychological drama, this movie explores the pressures of fame and the difference between getting what you want and wanting what you get.I Love Your Work (2003 - some toplessness, horrors of being famous)
In a psyco thriller slant movie with flashbacks and imaginary scenes, its difficult to say for sure what is going on. It seems to be about a famous movie star couple where the husband (Grey Evans/Giovanni Ribisi) may be going obsessivly mad from being famous...during the process he destroys relationships and lives...(or not, mebbie it's all a dream)...One day Grey ducks into the "REEL LIFE", "VIDEO SALES & RENTALS" (looks like New York City but it's filmed in Los Angeles) and meets the owner John (Joshua Jackson) and his wife Jane (Marisa Coughlan)...who are both fans in different ways...Shana likes his photography show at a gallery while John wants to make movies...Gray gets togther with him on a project while fantasising about John's wife...who's fantasy will be comming true?
Stiev (Vince Vaughn, last minute replacement), Mia Lang (Franka Potente, Grey's wife) and assistant Samantha (Judy Greer) are fun to watch, as well as Elvis Costello who plays himself...Some scenes are shot in the cramped, but fully stocked video store, small hand lettered signs on the ends of shelves indicate the sections..."annual membership $29.95, lifetime membership $50.00, free rentals with membership, 50 rentals $100, 25 rentals $55"...first visit: Grey is charged $37.24 for three dvd movies...Jane appears between the Vintage and Horror signs and delivers a muffin to her guy. For this introduction, Grey takes off his sunglasses...... - DirectorRichard KwietniowskiStarsJohn HurtJason PriestleyFiona LoewiGiles De'Ath (Sir John Hurt) is a widower who doesn't like anything modern. He goes to movies and falls in love with movie star Ronnie Bostock (Jason Priestly). He then investigates everything about the movie and Ronnie. After that, he travels to Long Island City, where Ronnie lives, and meets him, pretending that Ronnie is a great actor, and that's why Giles admires him.London professor, writer, widower, Giles De'ath (recently deceased John Hurt) has been in a bubble for twenty years...he decides to go out to see an old colleague's work and ends up in the wrong theater number which is playing "Hotpants College II"...which is terrible but he does notice one actor that intrigues him so after he gets back into his house he had locked himself out of, he decides to gather information and catch up with the modern age...
At the electronics store, Giles is looking at the microwaves, he is surprised to find out they are not vcr's which the clerk (Robert McKewley) takes him over to look at..."Lets start with this little humdinger, it's got it all this one - nine channel digital stereo, long play facility (sp= 2 hours, lp= 4 hours, ep/slp= 6 hours), fourteen-day eight event timer, two speed slow motion...its the top of the range this one, its in your interest to keep up with the technology."
After a ~$275 Phillps vcr is delivered to his house, the tech wants to know where his telly/gogglebox is? Giles seems to have overlooked that somehow...
At the Video Store (as id for membership he used his british passport and a utilities bill) and is told by the clerk that after a ten pound deposit, he gets a 2 pound Bernies Pizza voucher and can rent two videos. On the Comedy shelf are: "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure"(1989), "Cheech and Chong's Next Movie"(1989), "Porky's"(1981), "The Bikini Carwash Company"(1992), "Skid Marks", "Earth Girls Are Easy"(1988), "Private Lessons"(1981), "Revenge of the Teenage Vixens from Outerspace"(1985) ...he picks "Skid Marks" .....At the Action section shelf he looks at are: "American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt"(1989), "Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence"(1993), "The Terminator"(1984), "Cliffhanger"(1993), "Tex Mex", "No Escape"(1994), "Terminator 2: Judgement Day"(1991), "Only the Strong"(1993)...he picks "Tex Mex" starring "Ronnie Bostock"(Jason Priestley) ...per the video store clerk at the counter (Danny Webb), it is out - they only keep one copy of everything unless its very popular at Blockbuster, no explanation of why the case would be on the shelf when it is out....and per the video store clerk in the back, Harry (Andrew Barrow), "Skid Marks" is "buggered". Giles can't place a reservations and tapes are only let out overnight...Giles mentions that at the library a book can be checked out for two weeks, the vsc says "it takes two weeks to read a book" ...eventually, he gets to watch them...and orders pizza with the coupon he received with the membership...
After a rare new public lecture, he goes to holiday in America, where he gets some help from Irving Buckmuller (the late great Maury Chaykin) at the Chez d'Irv diner on Long Island.
December 1998 - For a video recorder costing pounds 155 (->$124 1997 exchange rate), a five-year Mastercare Coverplan service agreement from Currys costs pounds 104 ($83). At Comet a Five Star Supercover extended warranty costs pounds 99.99 ($80), and at Tempo a five-year Tempo Coverplan costs pounds 79.98 ($64). In short, extended warranty agreements sold by these high-street retailers are expensive. (At the electronics store Giles was at, they were offering Tempo Coverplans.) - DirectorNoah BaumbachStarsJosh HamiltonEric StoltzSamuel GouldA bunch of guys hang around their college for months after graduation, continuing a life much like the one before graduation.Out of college and not wanting to live at home, Otis (Carlos Jacott), gets a job at Video Planet (after two interviews) and is inducted into the myriad movie locations by Zack (Dean Cameron) who is planning to make his own movie...his roommates Grover (Josh Hamilton) and Max (Chris Eigeman) try to plan their future...Grover's girlfriend Jane (Olivia d'Abo) unexpectedly goes off to Prague...
- DirectorAdam BowersStarsAdam BowersJayme MargolisValerie Jones RashA neurotic twenty-something struggles to figure out which girl he really belongs with: the best one he's ever known, or the worst.New Low (2010 many awkward moments)
Wendell Roland (Adam Bowers - producer/director/editor) decides he needs to dump Amber (Torey Greenwald), but he can't do it himself so he sits there and has his buddy Dave (Toby Turner) tell her after she gets out of the shower that they think she isn't mature enough for a real relationship (ha, she isn't buying any of this...but goes with it..this isn't as bad as the time that Wendell told one of Dave's girls that he was dead...later she ran in to Dave and was crying and upset)...
At "Video Rodeo" (1119 Western University Ave, Gainesville, Florida - aka Florida highway 24, red window frames, red wire racks) a guy (Brock Savage?) rents a video, but Wendell is so zoned out, he gets confused and tries to repeat the transaction (due back on sunday, etc), then Joanna (Valerie Jones) rents an environmental movie about deforestation and she realizes that he hasn't seen it...its ok....
Wendell and Dave discuss Levi Strauss zipper issues....he always has to check to see if it is up.
Dave gets him to help a woman (Vicky/Jayme Ratzer) with her lighter...he can't get it to work....she writes her number on his arm...they meet at a bar for a drink (since she says they aren't going to have sex, he has her pay) and she mentions Valerie Solanas (feminist radical who shot Andy Warhol and wrote the SCUM Manifesto)...Wendell thinks they have a movie about her ("I Shot Andy Warhol" [1996]?), she wants to know if she can rent it for free.."ah..sure"...he doesn't know if he is a good kisser...she rates him a 5 (out of 10?)...he tries to leave a couple of times, she invites him back to her place and chugs her beer....kissing continues, she puts "lip explosion" on him to give her something to kiss!...his lips are now bloated...they wake up on the sofa bed without clothes...he tries to leave, but she asks if he wants breakfast...she dumpster dives and comes up with some bagels!...
Wendell: "She pointed out all my flaws but then we had sex" (thin, starting to bald, thin lips), Dave is impressed with her observations...he is going to see her again tonight...Joanna returns the environmental movie...she liked it...
Wendel spends a lot of time with Vicki. He has a number of awkward moments and couple of fights...she always seems to have beer and cigarettes, but food is acquired by various means...including an art gallery...now if he could only get some sleep..
At the video store he waves the late fee for Ernie (Brian Jaeger), he is too tired to deal with it...Joanna thanks him for doing it as Ernie is on a tight budget and invites him to the CMC (Civic Media Center - 1021 Western University Ave, Gainesville, Florida) for the monthly meeting of "Food Not Bombs"...walking back he asks her if she has a job or does karma pay that well, she tells him she works for the "Organization for Strong Families".
Vicki gets pissed, breaks up with Wendel after he mentions Joanna and she complains about his "vacant" state of mind...hands him a cd "Wendel's Breakup Mix"....thoughtful...
Weldel hangs out with Joanna now, helping her put up fliers and move supplies...they kiss and he says its really nice because he wasn't desperate...Dave want's to know if this caring for others works for him, if its the way he wants to be...he isn't sure...his niche is working at the video store...they run into Vicky and he introduces his new girlfriend to his old girlfriend...he might have a future...but then he gets concerned about Vicky and he isn't sure who he is again and spends a night with her after he got drunk...he is almost late for his job interview, when he goes in, its Amber, his previous old girlfriend and pretends he just dropped by to see her but she knows he is there for the interview anyway...and makes him continue...[he may not know who he is, but he does try to find out]... - DirectorJeremiah S. ChechikStarsJohnny DeppMary Stuart MastersonAidan QuinnA mentally ill young woman finds her love in an eccentric man who models himself after Buster Keaton.Barely able to communicate, Sam (Johnny Depp), after being "won" in a poker game from Mike, lives with Benny and Joon. Inspired by Joon's interest in him he decides to use his acquired knowledge of early films including his personal favorite ones with Buster Keaton to get a job. So he applies at American Classic Video (423 West 1st Avenue, Spokane Washington) by holding out the help wanted sign and gets a form provided by the video clerk (Ramsin Amirkhas) which he has to take home to fill out. He gets the job and later is seen helping a customer (Faye Killebrew) with a movie question (Roman Holiday) when Benny (Aidan Quinn) stops by looking for him to mend their relationship and help Joon (Mary Stuart Masterson).
- DirectorP.J. HoganStarsToni ColletteRachel GriffithsBill HunterA young social outcast in Australia steals money from her parents to finance a vacation where she hopes to find happiness, and perhaps love.Muriel Heslop (Toni Collette) spends a lot of time in an ABBA dream world and accomplishing nothing in life. After her "friends" reject her and stealing the family money via a blank check and blowing it on a vacation (great ABBA karaoke and catfight) to get back at her "friends", she runs away to Sydney and works at Videodrama Video Shop (135 Oxford St, Sydney, Australia) across from where Rhonda Epinstalk (Rachel Griffiths) works and even has a guy who asks her out to face that way so Rhonda can see his face..."You should join our Video Addicts club, it's for people who take out too many videos, you know..a lot. You get a dollar off every new release." With many ups and downs "Marial" finally finds herself.
- DirectorMark DeimelStarsMarc McClureJennifer EdwardsDiane StilwellA single woman's best friend makes her call a man who had put his ad up in the newspaper. When they meet they both lie about their interests, later on finding out the truth about eachother the hard way.(VHS) Tower Video clerk Nancy (Jennifer Edwards) talks to coworker Vicky in the park.
"I spend my entire day renting out xrated movies to horny middle aged morons."
"I just spent ten minutes today, trying to get out of a conversation with a man who just rented the movie 'Lick Me Part 3'."
Vicky (Diane Stilwell):"Your twentynine years old, you've been in collage ten years and who knows when you'll graduate."
Later Nancy checks out videos to the Death Movie Customer (Richard E. Young)
"I Drink Your Blood (1970)"
"I Eat Your Skin (1971)"
"I Dance On Your Corpse"
"I Spit On Your Grave (1978)",
-"Have a nice day."
Vicky:"Getting into some heavy drama tonight?"
DMC:"I'm planning a very intense weekend, either of you two care to join me?"
Vicky: "Sorry, we return to the womb on the weekend."
Nancy's manager, Wilhauser (Edward Mehler), wants her to not play classical music on the turntable as its discouraging sales...."give the customers what they want".
Meanwhile, slob Tim Wainwright (Marc McClure), total Lakers fan, goes to work for a conglomerate and is moved to the 6th floor expansion....he is the only one in a great expanse with huge windows...his brother John (Rob Paulsen) gets him to interview for a personal add, but he answers the questions in a way he thinks will interest the interviewer Tammy (Karen Witter -> Karen Lorre)...His last date stole his jeep and totaled it...he used to work as a photographer for the Daily Planet. (Mack McClure played Jimmy Olsen in five Superman/Supergirl movies!)....Vicky pushes Nancy to answer his ad....cultural expectations mayhem follows... - DirectorScott CoffeyStarsEmma RobertsEvan PetersJohn CusackA naive college graduate, Amy, who believes she's destined to be a great poet, begrudgingly accepts a job in a shop while she pursues a mentorship with reclusive writer Rat Billings.Amy (Emma Roberts) has racked up big school debt while she is finishing her degree in poetry...her parents are not going to continue to support her efforts to win contests and become published for much longer...Amy is going to have to work like everybody else (reality check!)...she has a poster of her poetic heroine, Sylvia Plath, on the wall (Sylvia had issues and a very hard life). Then she finds and takes "Screams of Abandonment" by Rat Billins (John Cusack) from an abandoned car with his famous phrase "escalator to oblivion" in it and others...Rat hasn't done much new stuff in twenty years, but he is teaching at the local collage! Amy interviews for a few jobs from the listing in the paper but her skill set and possibly her attitude isn't getting her anywhere...sitting in her car she notices a help wanted sign across the street, eventually she pulls the sign from the window and steps into the "Adult World" (715 N Salina St, Syracuse, New York, this one is fake, but there is a real "Adult World" video rental/toy store that is also a strip club a few miles to the east at 2870 Erie Blvd E, Syracuse, New York) adult video rental/toy/magazine store, freaks out when approached by Mary Ann (Cloris Leachman) and runs away with the sign...with no other options, she comes back with the sign a few days later...owners Mary Ann (who does the ordering) and husband Stan (John Cullum) hire her (even though she is still freaking out a little) and introduce her to manager Alex (Evan Peters, soon to be her real life fiance for a couple of years)...Alex explains the video filing system they use called "SPARFS"... SexualPreference, Age, Race, Fetish, Size....exceptions have green dots, but no one knows who assigns them...part of the job is testing "dolls"!...(Alex is also an unknown artist on the side)...in between learning how to handle customers (Joshua Barry Ward, Justin Nappi, and Alexander Edinger), going to class and immediately finding a place to live, she stalks Rat aggressively trying to get the burned out poet to mentor her (director Scott Coffey appears as the bookstore owner where Rat is doing a signing)...a lot of interesting negotiations and some parties while she finds her niche in life...(Both her teacher and her mentor try to get her to find her "reading voice" in poetry...kind of like your inside voice vrs your outside voice.)
- DirectorHannes StöhrStarsJörg SchüttaufJulia JägerRobin BeckerWhen Martin, a former GDR citizen, is released from jail, he lately becomes confronted with the consequences of the German re-unification.Berlin is in Germany (2001, upper torso nudity, German Language, Dvd won't play on regular machines, Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Turkish, and German for hearing impaired...the movie tittle is from eleven year old Rokko's homework assignment tittle "My name is Rokko, I live in Berlin, Berlin is in Germany", re-unified Germany.)
1989 - Martin (Jörg Schüttauf, He considers this his best film out of his 125 acting credits) A T-72 tank driver for the GDR in East Germany, he doesn't want to be forced to attack his own people, especially his wife, who is pregnant, so he and a few buddies plan to go over the wall using some climbing equipment. His apartment manager finds the illegal equipment and hides it to keep him from using it (because it's a dangerous thing to do), when attempting to get it back, Martin shoves the manager who falls down and dies from hitting his head. Martin is put in Brandenburg Prison on a murder charge...typical corrupt East German police policy, it should have been manslaughter.
2000 - Martin is released from prison, but is still on probation with a lot of rules and regulations, people to report to...he walks out with his personal TV, paperwork, gate money, and a few pocket items from when he went in, including old money from a country that no longer exists.
Martin Shultz wanders around a bit, goes to a Hotel, then looks up some of his buddies and where his wife, Manuela (Julia Jäger with 96 acting credits) is living...he meets his son Rokko (Robin Becker) but does not reveal his idenity...he see's that Manuela has a boyfriend who is a teacher (Wolfgang/Robert Lohr) where Rokko goes to school. Manela works for a worldwide travel agency service...Martin meets his Bewährungshelferin (Probation Officer/Carmen-Maja Antoni/137 acting credits) but wants to try doing things his way instead of following the full reintergration program and gets together with buddy Peter (Tom Jahn), whom he talks down from jumping off the top of his apartment building where a crowd has gathered...they go though the want adds trying to get a job and using a phonebooth as their office. (Often we hear a beeping or ringing during the movie and Martin realizes that a lot of people have cell phones, something he has only seen on tv.)
He goes to visit Victor (Valentin Platareanu, who had a crime boss role in "Cowgirl" also on this list) at his sex video rental shop with live sex show in the back...several hundred vhs videos are seen but the tittles can't be made out...so I can't tell if any normal films are also availiable, but I doubt it...Victor presses the button to unlock the live sex door access for a free show (up front fee normally for one or more at a time)...and Ludmila (Edita Malovcic) is requested via the shop intercom/loudspeaker system...(several girls names are mentioned at one point, but Ludmila is the only one we ever see)...she is very attractive and does a strip tease in a small stage area open to the "hallway" where 15 to 20 people could stand and watch...normally she would discuss at this point what would happen next and how much it would cost but they just talk a bit...Victor later offers Martin a tiny area where he can live/crash...it's more like a wide spot in a back hall where there is a padded bench/couch for sleeping and he puts his small tv on the other side where he can watch it...Victor then offers him a job working the front desk which Martin decides to accept for now...Victor has spent several years in jail for various things...and still thinks about theft crimes he can pull off...he may have things going on the side Martin realizes when a customer wants a special tape and Martin doesn't know where or what they are...Ludmila takes him out to see the town and the taxi driver turns out to be buddy Enrique (Oscar Martínez) who then helps him work on becomming a taxi driver, but doing the test prep is tough for him as he learns the West German streets and has to relearn the East German Berlin streets as a lot of the names have changed!...the fun adventure/date night ends up back at Ludmila's place......(One thing Martin likes to do is have an unlit cigarette in his mouth, he quit smoking years before...my grandfather had to quit smoking and he then liked to chew on the end of kitchen matches)...after some other trouble, the video store is raided by the police and illegal video's are found...the nature of the illegal video's is not revealed, but it is considered serious and they believe Martin is involved, Victor has disappeared!...(a later comment is made indicating that it would be five years of prison time)...Martin's friends, Probation Officer and wife have not yet abandoned him...
So, the movie presents a personal view of the reunified life in Berlin, it's well crafted, acted and the most negative comment about it is that parts of the movie are "predictable"...I left out a number of "action" sequences so you could discover them for yourself...but I think you will appreciate them when you see them. One of the extras on the disk is a much shorter version of the film where some of the actors are different.
- DirectorPeter Paul BaslerStarsMatthew D. McCallumJessica GannonDavid RansonPepper has always been in love with Sarah, but Sarah was way out of his league--the prettiest and most popular girl in town, she had her pick of boys, and Pepper wasn't one of them (although his older brother was). Now Sarah has returned from a trip around the world--and has completely changed from the town sweetheart into a punk. Pepper sees this as an opportunity to get to know her in a way he couldn't have before.Small town Ethan 'Pepper' McClure (Matthew D. McCallum) mopes over Sarah (Jessica Gannon), his brothers old girlfriend at Forbes' (David Ranson) (The) Video Station (Inc 55 Union Pl, Summit, NJ 07901->Summit Video Productions 18 Bank St, Summit,NJ 07901) The other employee's like Rita (Kristen Caldwell) are often non-responsive which leads most people to think Pepper works there as he does help them...Forbes is always up to something, even duplicating rental vhs tapes illegally in the back and justifying it by not selling the copies just the originals...he copies the FBI warning as it adds authenticity.
- DirectorDoug HufnagleStarsJoe RowleyLiz DuChezJennifer RoseAs an ex-convict, Lee Ferguson's biggest desire is to leave his past behind and make a fresh start with Katie, his new love. But when Lee finds out Katie is a Christian, his pre-conceived ideas and her moral standards clash. Through engaging action and drama, this film explores temptation, sin, forgiveness and redemption, while helping seekers and believers understand one another!Lee Ferguson (Joe Rowley) returns to his home town (downtown Chagrin Falls/Cleveland, Ohio) after ten years in prison. One night while working at the grocery store he rescues a woman from her ex's attentions. She, Katie Markum (Liz DuChez), runs the local Family Video store (800+ current locations in 19 states and Canada) with help from Kenneth (Sean Szaller). Katie stops by to thank him and offer him free video rentals. At the video store they discuss westerns and if John Wayne was a better cowboy or a soldier. Dating becomes a rocky path as the former stripper turned Christian struggles to maintain a balance between their relationship and her new core values...(The details of God's plan are not easily understood in this movie, but his overall plan is unchanging.)
Location: Family Video - 1250 Northmoreland Blvd, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223, thanks to "The Path of the Wind" facebook page for sharing that with me. Verified from outside looking shots. - DirectorKrzysztof KrauzeStarsAndrzej ChyraMaria KaniewskaKatarzyna SmiechowiczWielkie Rzeczy ("Great Stuff") (2000) is a miniseries of three hour long movies in Polish made for tv about things men need: System (TV tecnical diffculties), Gra ("Game" cars as status), Seic ("Network" mobile phone relationships)
Segment Gra: Jerzy Jastrzebski (Andrzej Chyra) and two buddies are unemployed and comically trying to sell bra's on the street that they received as bundles of black and white of the larger sizes...He is depressed, with no car and on his way to being an alcoholic which is not helped by his family mostly ignoring him. Jerzy's beautiful, sexy wife, Kaska (Katarzyna Smiechowicz) and young teenaged son, Artur (Bartosz Obuchowicz) have left him for another man, Tomasz Dedek (Stacho Tomczyk), who drives an Audi and runs a successful vhs rental store "Videoland" "St.Tomczyk" (owner) by the shore...One day in a drunken stupor the phone rings...so he slowly drags himself over to it and hears the voice of a gorgeous local tv reporter (Agata Mlynarska) telling him to turn on the tv as he has been randomly chosen to answer a book title question...if answered correctly he will win a new, luxury, Renault Megane Kombi (family wagon)...the title names are colors and he randomly guesses correctly ...although he will not receive the car for a few days, he is perceived as being successful now and decides to change his life...Jerzy has been carrying a yellow, car steering wheel locking device (early club like) with him everywhere he goes...does it represent his desire to have a car to put it on (again) or just protection (as a weapon)...at one point he throws it (away) in frustration and his son later finds it and returns it to him. Early one morning, possibly to rent "Smokey and the Bandit" (1977), he goes to Videoland and accidently knocks over a tall spinrack of vhs...Stacho and he are polite at first but it becomes confrontational and Stacho pulls out a baseball bat from behind the counter, indicating the should should leave which he does after a final comment and popping in and out of the door...Jerzy has a lot of work left to do... - DirectorTerry GilliamStarsJeff BridgesRobin WilliamsAdam BryantA former radio DJ, suicidally despondent because of a terrible mistake he made, finds redemption in helping a deranged homeless man who was an unwitting victim of that mistake.Shocked former New York shock jock Jack Lucas (Jeff Bridges) hangs around his girlfriend Anne's (Mercedes Ruehl's) Video Spot! store (15 Ann St, New York, NY 10038) and "helps" himself to drinks...After "Perry" (Robin Williams) saves his life, they help Perry meet his dream girl Lydia (Amanda Plummer) who is told she is a store prize winner and they pretend Perry works at the store...
- DirectorPeyton ReedStarsJim CarreyZooey DeschanelBradley CooperA man challenges himself to say "yes" to everything.Jim Carry gets a phone call while inside a Blockbuster Video store (2175 Colorado Blvd, in Eagle Rock CA) but says he is somewhere else even though his friend can see him through the window. He picks out "300" and "Transformers" then stands in line while still on the phone. (No interaction shown with employee's.)
- DirectorDan ZukovicStarsDan ZukovicSusan HeimbeinderMark RuffaloFrom a bland tract house on the outskirts of Los Angeles, Simon Geist (with occasional help from his platonic girlfriend Darla) wages war against all of modern American popular culture. Geist starts up a magazine called "The Next Big Thing", which he uses to confront and insult upcoming actors, comics, models and rock bands. As Geist's mysterious Underground Agenda escalates, will he become the "last big thing", or be co-opted by the very forces he is railing against?(Pre Title - a video store in LA) A man (Ron Zwang) walks with a woman (Maria von Hartz) who picks vhs movies off the shelf and alternately comments "this is a good movie...this is a bad movie ...this is a great movie...this is a really bad movie" until Simon (Dan Zukovic) speaks to them "They are all bad movies......Every movie in the store is a bad movie...No that's not entirely correct, there are some movies over here (CLASSICS - mostly Bogart and the Wizard of Oz) that are in your lexicon *great* movies...four of them were directed by Orson Wells...There are some good movies in that section over there (FOREIGN) ...but here in this section (NEW RELEASES) ...they are all BAD...movies...he wanders off...but Darla has noticed him and follows...the woman goes back to commenting on the movies on the shelves...
(In Palmdale) Darla Hames (Susan Heimbeinder) is typing on her new apple Powerbook "I met Simon Geist after a period of deep depression that lasted from the age of four to twenty-three. This included two suicide attempts: one bogus, one serious. We met in a video store. (We see them in the video store)...There was something about him I immediately connected with, obsessed with...Darla to Simon:"excuse me"...a mystery, the mystery of someone who appears to have...an agenda...(now shown driving) Simon was in the process of questioning every aspect of our culture, he was having profound visual epiphanies on a daily basis.