PAGE 20 • GO! MAGAZINE
THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2021 • THE BULLETIN
MOVIES & SHOWTIMES
bendbulletin.com/gowatch
‘The Last Blockbuster’
is a delightful nostalgia trip
BY MAKENZIE WHITTLE
The Bulletin
More Information
W
e’re lucky in Bend. We’ve never
seen a time since the early years of
video rentals where we’ve not had
an option to rent something obscure, new or
a familiar favorite on a Friday night. That’s
the rest of the world’s loss.
Famously, our local Blockbuster video on
Revere Avenue is the last of its kind. stand-
ing resolutely in its iconic blue and yellow.
In local filmmaker Taylor Morden’s and
writer Zeke Kamm’s latest documentary,
“The Last Blockbuster,” they remind us of
the joy renting a movie can bring, introduce
us to the beating heart behind the stalwart
store’s resilience and give some insight as to
why our little store that could has lasted this
long.
The film hangs hard on the nostalgia
factor and that viewers probably still have
their old Blockbuster card floating around
in a drawer somewhere. But they do it well,
blending those pangs with the work that
general manager of the Bend Blockbuster
Sandi Harding puts in to ensure the store
can still run, including repairing old, out-of-
date computers because they’re the only ma-
chines the store’s software can run on.
We also get a plethora of stories from ac-
tors, comedians and directors, including
Brian Posehn, Doug Benson, Paul Scheer,
Lloyd Kaufman and Kevin Smith, as well as
those on the business side of the Blockbuster
phenomenon, walking through just what
“The Last Blockbuster”
84 minutes
No MPAA rating
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Popmotion pictures
Sandi Harding and her family during a virtual interview as seen in “The Last Blockbuster.”
happened to the company.
Morden and Kamm weave the rise and fall
of the corporate structure in with the whole
story of the Bend store from its beginnings
as a Pacific Video to becoming a franchisee
carrying the Blockbuster name (as a Bend
kid, I was thrilled at the mention).
They also throw in some cute imag-
ery like stick puppets, actual puppets and
Drunk History-esque reenactments to help
move the story along, introduce the big
players and keep the feeling light.
But the real bright spot of the documen-
tary lies in two people: Harding and Jared
Rasic.
Rasic, the movie critic for The Source,
gives his memories of going to rent movies
just like all the other actors, comedians and
directors that were interviewed as part of the
documentary, but his recollections are more
effervescent than the rest.
Now, full disclosure, I know Rasic and
know he is a wonderful human being and a
delight to be around, so it is entirely possi-
ble that my admiration for his story in “The
Last Blockbuster” stems from that, but I
don’t think so.
Rasic’s joy at recalling how he can make
one turn from his house, walk down Revere
Avenue a few blocks and go rent a movie is
infectious.
His, along with Doug Benson’s segments,
are highlights around the overall heart of the
story.
And that heart is Harding.
She calls herself the “Blockbuster mom”
throughout, and we can easily see why. Her
kindness and positivity to her employees
and customers shines through any cynicism
one might have about any kind of tip to a
corporate hand.
She and her staff clearly love what they
do and have a great affection for each other,
too.
In the end, “The Last Blockbuster” is a
delightful story that everyone who has ever
rented a movie can relate to, can feel for and
brings every one of us back to those nights
that were made by Blockbuster.
e e
Reporter: 541-383-0304, mwhittle@bendbulletin.com
Movie note
Locally made ‘A Stone in the Water’
available to stream
If you still can’t get enough locally made films,
Bend writer-director Dan Cohen has just the
thing.
His 2019 thriller “A Stone in the Water” is now
available to rent and stream online through Am-
azon, Vimeo, FandangoNow,
Hoopla, iTunes, Google Play,
XBOX and Playstation stores
as well as most cable on de-
mand channels like Comcast,
Charter and Blue Ridge.
The film starring Bonnie
Bedelia of “Die Hard” fame and
Melissa Fumero of “Brooklyn
Nine-Nine” fame also features
a few local faces including
Ryan Klontz, Kimberly Lee-
mans, Michael Coffman, Mary
Kilpatrick and David DaCosta.
The film centers around two
women who, producer Howard
Schor described in a December 2019 interview,
“couldn’t be more different. One has lived on a
farm her whole life in, like, rural Oregon...(Fum-
ero) is a younger woman who’s almost kind of a
drifter. She works in a bar, she dates this crook.
… They come together at the farm by happen-
stance.”
— Makenzie Whittle, The Bulletin