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The MOVE Fire

This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985 Philadelphia police fired thousands of rounds at the MOVE house, city officials approved dropping an explosive device on the roof, the resulting fire was allowed to burn, 11 people—including five children—died, and 61 homes were destroyed. Philadelphia City Council later called it a “brutal attack carried out by the City of Philadelphia on its own citizens” and acknowledged that no individual faced criminal consequences for the bombing. One timeline correction worth preserving for the BHP record: the major previous MOVE-police confrontation was August 8, 1978, about seven years before the bombing, not a year or two earlier. Officer James Ramp was killed, other police and firefighters were wounded, nine MOVE members were later convicted, and television cameras recorded police beating Delbert Africa during his arrest. The 1985 MOVE Commission later specifically criticized city planners for failing to adequately use lessons from that 1978 confrontation. And that actually strengthens the point you’re making: 1985 did not happen without precedent or institutional memory. There had already been a deadly confrontation with MOVE, years of conflict, negotiations and police involvement before Osage Avenue.

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BLACK FACTS
The Truths They Never Taught You...

Wilmington 1898 — An American Coup

Wilmington, North Carolina once had a thriving Black middle class and an elected interracial government. In 1898 white supremacists used violence to overthrow that government, kill Black residents and drive many others from the city.

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Wikipedia

The Last Blockbuster

For the store, see Last Blockbuster.

The Last Blockbuster
Poster
Directed byTaylor Morden
Written byZeke Kamm
Produced byZeke Kamm
StarringSandi Harding
Lloyd Kaufman[1]
Jamie Kennedy[2]
Kevin Smith
Adam Brody
Samm Levine
Ron Funches
Paul Scheer
Doug Benson
James Arnold Taylor
Brian Posehn
Greg Camp
Ione Skye
Narrated byLauren Lapkus
Edited byTim Skousen
Production
companies
Popmotion Pictures
September Club
Distributed by1091 Pictures
Release date
  • December 15, 2020 (2020-12-15)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

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

Synopsis

[edit]

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

Cast

[edit]

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

Reception

[edit]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 71% based on 28 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The site's consensus reads, "Slight but entertaining, The Last Blockbuster doesn't add much to the saga of the fallen video rental store, but should satisfy nostalgic customers in the mood for a quick diversion."[14] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[15]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Miska, Brad (November 18, 2020). "'The Last Blockbuster': Troma's Lloyd Kaufman Gets Brutally Honest and Annihilates Blockbuster In This Exclusive Clip". Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  2. ^ "The Last Blockbuster | Film Threat". December 15, 2020. Archived from the original on February 3, 2022. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Debruge, Peter (March 15, 2021). "'The Last Blockbuster' Review: A Fond Homage to the Hobbled Video Giant, Now on Netflix". Variety. Archived from the original on March 18, 2021. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  4. ^ Analysis by Brian Lowry. "'The Last Blockbuster' is about more than just a video-rental chain's demise". CNN. Archived from the original on March 16, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  5. ^ Kenny, Glenn (December 15, 2020). "'The Last Blockbuster' Review: All the Nostalgia, With No Late Fees". Archived from the original on July 2, 2021. Retrieved July 6, 2021 – via NYTimes.com.
  6. ^ Anderton, Ethan (March 11, 2021). "Watch The Last Blockbuster Documentary on Netflix Next Week". SlashFilm.com. Archived from the original on January 18, 2022. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  7. ^ "Netflix is releasing a documentary on the last ever Blockbuster video store". March 9, 2021. Archived from the original on November 4, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  8. ^ "Oregon is home of the world's last Blockbuster. This show offers a dose of nostalgia". Peoria Journal Star. Associated Press. Archived from the original on November 19, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  9. ^ "World's last Blockbuster more popular after Netflix show". ABC News. Archived from the original on December 22, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  10. ^ Parker 2, Bryan C. (March 25, 2021). "'The Last Blockbuster' Is a Fond Farewell to the Nearly Defunct Video Chain". Texas Monthly. Archived from the original on November 10, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "Friday Film Review--"The Last Blockbuster"". KPCW | Listen Like a Local. March 29, 2021. Archived from the original on January 16, 2022. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  12. ^ "The true story of the world's last Blockbuster". The Independent. March 16, 2021. Archived from the original on March 4, 2022. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  13. ^ says, Bob McGowan jr (December 17, 2020). "Review: The Last Blockbuster — Movies for the Rest of Us with Bill Newcott". The Saturday Evening Post. Archived from the original on June 30, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  14. ^ "The Last Blockbuster". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 5, 2026.
  15. ^ "The Last Blockbuster". Metacritic. Retrieved May 5, 2026.
[edit]

Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.

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Wikipedia

The Last Blockbuster

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

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Wikipedia

ClayFighter

ClayFighter is a fighting/beat 'em up series of video games. The series has character sprites rendered from clay-animated figures, and parodies other fighting games such as Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. ClayFighter: Tournament Edition and ClayFighter: Sculptor's Cut were only released as rental games from Blockbuster LLC in the United States.

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Wikipedia

Bonnie Doon Shopping Centre

Bonnie Doon Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in Edmonton, Alberta, at the intersection of Whyte Avenue and 83 Street in the Bonnie Doon neighbourhood. It has over 60 shops and services including Dollarama, Shoppers Drug Mart, Stitches Factory Outlet, Planet Fitness, and Safeway. Former tenants include Sears, Target, Sport Mart, Blockbuster LLC, and Zellers. It is managed by Morguard. Bonnie Doon has 492,123 sq ft (45,719.7 square metres) of retail floor area.

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Wikipedia

Blockbuster (retailer)

Blockbuster or Blockbuster Video is an American multimedia brand which was founded by David Cook in 1985 as a single home video rental shop, but later became a public store chain featuring video game rentals, DVD-by-mail, streaming, video on demand, and cinema theater. The company expanded internationally throughout the 1990s. At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster employed 84,300 people worldwide and operated 9,094 stores. Poor leadership and the impact of the Great Recession were major factors leading to Blockbuster's decline, as was the growing competition from Netflix's mail-order service, video on demand (including the Netflix streaming service), and Redbox automated kiosks. Significant loss of revenue occurred during the late 2000s, and the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010. The next year, its remaining 1,700 stores were bought by satellite television provider Dish Network; by 2014, the last 300 company-owned stores were closed. Although corporate support for the brand ended, Dish retained a small number of franchise agreements, enabling some privately owned franchises to remain open. Following a series of further closures in 2019, only one franchised store remains open, located in Bend, Oregon. As of 2025, the corporation that owned Blockbuster before Dish remains in existence as a shell company under the name BB Liquidating, Inc., which gained notoriety in the GameStop short squeeze in 2021.

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TOPIC OF THE DAY

Greenwood / Black Wall Street

Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.

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TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE DAY

Which Supreme Court case ruled state-sponsored public-school segregation unconstitutional?

Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.