New on Video

[BeyondTheGrave]

AndyC wrote:

> Mom & pop shops should endeavour to be different, offer
> something the big stores don't, and try to grab a niche market.
> All that has kept this guy open is that the town is still, just
> barely, too small for a Blockbuster. As soon as one comes to
> town, he's screwed. Still, if all your local independent store
> can do to compete against the big players is try to imitate
> them, who really cares if it disappears?

You are correct with mom and pop be different they can beat blockbuster types. A couple of years ago a big ass blockbuster move two blocks away from my house. Their are about 2-3 video stores within the area of that blockbuster. Eventually the blockbuster closed a year later. You know how? Those mom and pops stores (which are still around today) have EVERYTHING. I am talking Indian movies (Bollywood) Spanish, Asian, whatever movie you could think of they had. (even hard to find B-movies). Their sheer selection beat them out. Granted it took three stores, each had their own unique selection but they beat them out.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can’t give it, you can't buy it, and you just don't get it!-Aeon Flux

[BeyondTheGrave]

Also I foregot to mention was that my neigborhood is very divers, The blockbuster could not keep up with their foreign selection.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can’t give it, you can't buy it, and you just don't get it!-Aeon Flux

[Yaddo 42]

The characters in "Hell in the Pacific" were killed by naval shelling, not a landmine, you hear the screech of incoming shells as the characters argue. Since their old biases and hatred returned when they were exposed to their cultures on the new island. I think it was supposed to be symbolic, these two small men being destroyed anonymously by the war once they got close to returning to civilization. Director John Boorman said the original ending was to turn out that the Japanese had retaken the island. Japanese troops would behead the captured Lee Marvin, and then kill Toshiro Mifune when he attacked them upon finding out what they did.

I've been in a similar rut when trying to find new stuff to rent lately. I've mostly been working my way through the local Hollywood Video's scant new foreign film releases.

I watched "The Return" a very good dark and moody Russian drama, makes you think it'll be a straight ahead thriller, but it takes a different turn.

"Carandiru" a long Brazilian film based on real events in a brutal prison in the early 90s. It's was interesting but felt more like a TV miniseries since there was not one central plot but rather lots of interlinked stories of the people who were confined there.

"Warriors of Heaven and Earth" was a Chinese period action film (a HK stunt crew helped with the film, but this was not a HK-style film, minimal wirework and the fights are more based in reality) set in the wilderness and deserts of the Chinese interior. Beautiful scenery, the story was like an old fashioned western/adventure/quest film (I can see why they refer to it as an "Eastern" in the DVD extras).  I had considered starting a thread on it here and recommending it to Scott. Not as deep, well acted, plotted, or meaningful as say "Hero" or "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" but not meant to be either.

I may just start working my way through their old VHS of films I want to see but haven't, since the store is so packed I wonder how long until they get rid of all the old VHS.

[AndyC]

We have a store around here that tries to have everything (and I mean everything), owned by people who really love movies, and it's thriving. It no doubt helps that this is a city with two universities and lots of high-tech industry (and all the intellectuals, creative types, and geeks who go with that). Still, they pull in business from a wide area. Mention the name to movie fans from anywhere in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, and most of them recognize it. In a city buried in Blockbusters, the people who really love movies are willing to drive downtown (I used to drive in from out of town before I lived here) to get what they want, and it's a pretty substantial market for one store.

I think the mistake that the little stores make is that they keep trying to go head-to-head with the corporate stores, for the whole market. They think the way to get more business is to appeal to the widest number of people, and then they cut costs on the niche market stuff, because it's not as popular and the big stores don't stock much of it either. Suicide. People who only want mainstream new releases are going to get them at the place that can stock 50 copies, and is located in the power centre, right next to the fast food restaurants. The way to succeed is to find the neglected markets that are sufficient to keep the store afloat, and cater to them. They'll seek out a little store. Stock the new releases for the people who want that, but build up a selection of everything else. The independent stores that have done that around here are succeeding.

Even the big, venerable electronics store that was allegedly selling off its excess stock in the 90s is advertising selection and variety. Most of their radio ads for the past couple of years have been geared toward promoting selection and expertise - they have that movie you vaguely recall, but can't remember the title. They ran a very good campaign with people walking into the store and giving a half-assed description (much like we often see here), and being told what it is and where to find it.



Post Edited (03-14-05 08:46)