The Last Blockbuster
Director: Taylor Morden
Year Released: 2020
Rating: 0.5
The once formidable video rental company, Blockbuster, went from having over 9,000 stores (circa 2004) to just one in 2019 (specifically Bend, Oregon) due to a multitude of factors: poor management, the subprime mortgage crisis in 2007-2008 (which led to the Great Recession) and, of course, the emergence of a little company called Netflix (which they downplay). This is something of a nostalgia bomb for Generation X and the Millennials - who seem to regard the franchise with fondness - but all I recall was that they ran Mom and Pop video stores out of town (which this also glances over) and that roughly 16% of its revenue (or 800 million, according to Business Insider) was from late fees and that they censored/edited a lot of their movies (which is never good). Sandi Harding, who is the manager of the only existing store, seems like a nice lady and all, but I refuse to believe the place isn't selling cocaine in the back room to make ends meet, and the documentary runs out of material about halfway through, where it just turns to Doug Benson to do a little improv and plug his own movie, Super High Me. Personally, I'm with Lloyd Kaufman and I'm glad it's (almost) gone.