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-MA9.3 (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...