The Last Blockbuster

The last Blockbuster video rental store in America is in Bend, Oregon. In a recent viral video, it vows to survive the apocalypse, like the mighty cockaroach:

After the video appeared on social media, business at the shop increased 200%.

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Top image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Almost Anakin Skywalker

9 year old actor Devon Michael was one of three boys who auditioned at Skywalker Ranch for the role of young Anakin Skywalker in“The Phantom Menace,” a “Star Wars prequel. The role went to Jake Lloyd, who later quit acting after merciless bullying. A New York Times Op-Doc directed by Ben Proudfoot.

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2022: People will do anything to get what they need!

“It’s the year 2022… People are still the same. They’ll do anything to get what they need. And they need SOYLENT GREEN.” 1976 movie trailer.

Soylent Green, MGM’s 1973 science fiction thriller, is set in the distant year 2022, when unchecked population growth, global warming, and infrastucture decay make New York City — and the world — nearly unliveable, except for the wealthy few who monpolize resources. Sound familiar?

The movie is loosely based on Harry Harrison‘s 1966 novel Make Room! Make Room!, set in 1999.

More:

“Soylent Green predicted a grim 2022. What did the dystopian movie get right?” Amanda Kooser, CNET

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Movie theaters aren’t dead. Yet.

Studios are intent on streaming their films, and COVID only intensified that. But big movies still come out in theaters first. A Vox video by Edward Vega.

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Audio Anxiety

When a movie wants to inspire fear, unease, or anxiety, a film’s composers and sound designers use the “drone of dread” to introduce a sense of impending doom. A Quartz video.

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A Pro-America Rally

We’ve has some alleged “Pro-America” rallies lately, but the pattern was set at Madison Square Garden in 1939. Not by the MAGA crowd, by the Bund. A Night at the Garden, a film by Marshall Curry.

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America

“America,” composed by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, from the 1961 film West Side Story. Rita Moreno (Anita) and George Chakiris (Bernardo) are the principal singers in the movie; their roles were originally created on Broadway by Larry Kert and Chita Rivera in 1957.

“Life is all right in America, if you’re all white in America”

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Gun Shop

“Gun Shop,” a short 2019 film by Patrick Smith. 2,328 guns in 90 seconds @24 frames per second. There are 393 million firearms owed by civilians in the US, 1.2 guns per person, children included. It would take a bit longer to show them all.

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Jacksonville Was Almost Hollywood

In the early 1900s, New York film companies searched for a warm-weather home, and they looked at Jacksonville, Florida, down the East Coast. J’ville’s town fathers recoiled at the thought of film actors running wild through Florida’s sunny streets, so the film folks decamped for far-off California. A Vox video by Phil Edwards.

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Art of the Car Chase

Justin Lin describes five breathtaking movie car chase scenes (including of one his own) and explains what makes them so effective. A New York Times video.

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