DVD Review: The Last Blockbuster, directed by Taylor Morden

The Last Blockbuster

directed by Taylor Morden (DVD 338.76 BloYl)

 

Talk about irony — I had multiple friends recommend The Last Blockbuster when it first showed up as a streaming or downloadable film several months ago. But, like a partial luddite, I don’t do streaming or downloadable content, so I had to wait until the DVD/BluRay combo got added to the libraries’ collection.

 

All of which is a preface to show that I am this documentary’s target audience — somebody who grew up in the era of both Mom & Pop video rentals outlets, as well as Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. I actually looked forward to the experience of wandering the rows and racks of several different Blockbuster locations in Lincoln, checking out the new releases and exploring each locations different older film selections.

 

This documentary does a remarkable job of capturing what the consumption of rental entertainment was like in the 1980s to the early 2000s. I already knew many of the details of what ultimately led to Blockbuster’s demise as a chain, though I still learned quite a bit from this film. Most fascinating was to learn that it wasn’t Netflix that killed Blockbuster, but rather the use of Blockbuster by its owners to prop up other businesses, which were also failing.

 

All of the wonderful little interviews with people as they share their memories (both good and bad) about either being a customer or an employee of Blockbuster lead to a great deal of poignancy as we focus on the final Blockbuster store in existence…in Bend, Oregon, and its personable manager, Sandi Harding.

 

I appreciated that the filmmakers took a positive approach to their subject matter, when they could easily have filmed this documentary with snarky movie fans mocking the concept of video and DVD rentals in an era of digital downloads. But, instead, The Last Blockbuster was a pleasant trip into nostalgia. The discs in this set include several extras, including longer interview segments that were truncated in the film itself, and some additional “behind-the-scenes” footage that didn’t make it on screen.

 

The only reason I’m giving The Last Blockbuster a “9” instead of a “10” is that I wish the filmmakers had interviewed even more people than the core group that are included in the film. Otherwise, an absolutely terrific documentary, which I strongly recommend.

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this documentary ] | [ official The Last Blockbuster Facebook page ]

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Services

 

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