What a great way to begin and end my TIFF experience this year. Even as TIFF celebrates its 50th year, so does my favourite movie of all time, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. I’ve told the story countless times of how it was my first ever film experience. I’ve seen this movie more times than any others…
Tag: video store
Clerks (1994) – Kevin Smith
I remember when Clerks came to VHS. I was working at a video store and it resonated with everyone of us. It was like someone had taken our lives and put it on the screen. We as a crew identified so much with the film that we’d printed up labels with our names on it…
Blue Steel (1990) – Kathryn Bigelow
The fantastic Kathryn Bigelow directs Jamie Lee Curtis in this crisp, occasionally brutal thriller. Megan Turner (Curits) is a rookie cop, who on her first day on the job shoots and kills an armed thief (Tom Sizemore) in a supermarket showdown. When the thief’s weapon isn’t found at the scene, Turner finds herself suspended, and…
The Shadow (1994) – Russell Mulcahy
I remember taking this one home from work at the video store when it came out. And I enjoyed it. Sure that was some thirty years ago (how is that possible?), would I still like it if I watched it today? Apparently the answer is yes. A pulpy blend of special effects, characters and production…
Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) – Christopher Gans
I hadn’t seen this film since it had DVD back in the day. It seemed everyone I knew was talking about it in the video store, in fact, for a brief moment, it seemed to be everywhere. And now it doesn’t seem to be anywhere. So I was more than willing and, in fact, delighted…
I Like Movies (2022) – Chandler Levack
I regret that I missed this one at TIFF, but now that it’s on Netflix it’s going to be able to reach a wider audience. And any film fan who grew up during the 80s and 90s will no doubt recognize parts of themselves in the film’s lead, cinephile Lawrence Kweller (Isiah Lehtinen). Lawrence is…
Boys Don’t Cry (1999) – Kimberly Pierce
It’s been a while since I’d settled in to watch this. In fact, I hadn’t seen it since its original release onto home video, back when I was jockeying a till for a video store that no longer exists. And while it may not have been cast, or even produced the same way today as…
Empire Records (1995) – Allan Moyle
Empire Records was one of those films that gained cult status in the video store I worked in when the film was released to, yup, VHS. My staff loved it, and it would go into high rotation as something played in the store. Set in a music store, the film is set over the course…
Phantasm II (1988) – Don Coscarelli
I love the Phantasm movies, all of them, every piece of the five movie collection. I remember first coming across the series when I was working at a video store, but recalled the poster for the second one showing up in a lot of DC comics I was reading in the 80s. Low budget, or…
Big Trouble in Little China (1986) – John Carpenter
I love rolling out with Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) and the Pork Chop Express. From the moment I saw this Carpenter film on the big screen, I knew I would love this movie for the rest of my life. And I’ve yet to be proven wrong on that count. There was a time when I…
The Mind Reels 