There were a few others I really wanted to pick but I think I have been hanging onto a couple of these for ages waiting for the right theme to use them. Don't forget to check out what Wandering Through the Shelves picked, the blog that started Thursday Movie Picks.
Empire Records
The Prince Charles Cinema in London have hosted a Rex Manning Day a few times and every time I want to go but I've got no one to go with me. No one loves this film as much as me. Its such a crazy group of, dare I say it, misfits and their worn out manager. The actual store is amazing and I wish I could live in it. But as music is not really my thing, I would replace it all with movies. It also represents a time when the indie stores were being bought out by the chain stores but then of course now all the chain stores are shutting down and losing out to the internet. A bit like You've Got Mail. Anyway for those yet to see this 90s gem, the film takes places over one day where staff try to make back the money that one lost to buy the store before its taken over my the big bad Music Town company.
The Shop Around the Corner
Speaking of You've Got Mail, TSATC was actually the precursor to the modern adaptation of the play. Starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan as the co-workers who don't get along in the shop where they work but are actually slowly falling in love through letter correspondence. It a great film and I actually wrote a comparison post some months ago. That has all I can say about this amazing film.
Be Kind Rewind
I didn't think of Michel Gondry's film straight away but it suits this theme perfectly. Be Kind Rewind, a VHS rental store, a dying breed. Again what is strange that even back in 2008, Movie Rental stores were shutting down, ones with DVDs. The film was behind the times slightly but that's not what it was really about. It's more about what Mos Def and Jack Black do when the latter stupidly erases the tapes by being magnetized. They recreate the films using craft and imagination. Their versions are pretty brilliant actually but there was something sad about this film too. Gondry gets in to include his make-shift craft animation that appears in The Science of Sleep (loved) and Mood Indigo (hated). The end film with everyone watching is amazing and probably my favourite bit.