Latest news with #Videoheaven
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Videoheaven' Required Maya Hawke's Voice, a Decade of Close Viewing, and Seinfeld Jokes
There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment in 'Lethal Weapon 3,' a tracking shot, that isn't meant to draw any kind of attention to itself. But it did draw the eye of director Alex Ross Perry and appears as part of his essay film, 'Videoheaven' because in the background of the shot, there are not one, but two video stores. Perry and editor Clyde Folley have watched movies and television shows for a decade now, hunting out depictions of video stores in cinema. 'Videoheaven' isn't just charting their rise and fall across the American commercial landscape, but the ways in which the cultural reception of video stores in films and TV shows allowed cinema to speak to and about itself, and to position us as viewers and consumers in a moment in history. More from IndieWire Ebon Moss-Bachrach: Mark Ruffalo Made Me Less 'Anxious' About Working with CGI for 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' Henry Golding Wanted to Do Something Totally Different - Nacho Vigalondo's Sci-Fi Love Story Fit the Bill The resulting documentary – narrated by Maya Hawke from a script Perry wrote with deep fondness whether she's talking about her father's work in 'Hamlet,' the significance of Troma posters, her own throwback video store scenes in 'Stranger Things,' the social peril of picking out tables as demonstrated in multiple episodes of 'Seinfeld,' or the soft power of the video store clerk — is a beautiful balance of films and shows that tackle the video store as a setting head-on and those that simply reflect what it was like to live in a now-vanished world where they existed. Creating it required, simply, the time to watch a lot of movies. 'I'm confident no one has ever noticed that [shot from 'Lethal Weapon III'] except for me,' the writer/director behind 'Pavements' and 'Her Smell' told IndieWire. 'Between 2014 and November of last year when we were conceivably finishing 'Videoheaven,' either I watched this movie, Clyde watched this movie and texted me, a friend of ours watched it and said, 'I got one for you,' I saw a clip of it on Instagram… everything came piecemeal, which is the benefit of doing something for so long.' 'Videoheaven' has about 200 sources from films, TV shows, commercials, news reports, and related media. But acquiring that material is not the same time as creating a narrative and every single clip was up to Perry's and Folley's discretion about where, how, and why it should be used in visually demonstrating the message of the documentary. Perry knew from early on that he wanted to start with the clip of the 'To Be Or Not To Be' soliloquy in Michael Almereyda's 2000 version of 'Hamlet,' which takes place as Hamlet (Ethan Hawke) experiences choice paralysis in the aisles of a Blockbuster. But beyond that, there was no roadmap. 'We don't know what the next thing you see is. It could be literally one of 200 things. And the challenge for us is looking at every single clip and saying, 'What visual goes hand in hand with what our narration is saying right here.' But also, what do you show people at minute three that they know there's 160 more minutes? Because it could be anything, but it has to be something that is the exact right clip,' Perry said. The process of building and swapping out clips happened slowly, in Folley's and Perry's spare time as they worked on other projects, but Folley told IndieWire that ended up being a benefit to their work. 'Something that's really unique about this project is that, ostensibly, we didn't have deadlines for a very long time. We didn't have producers breathing down our necks. We didn't have money people to answer to. It's just one of those things where it took as long as it took and then it just started feeling, at some point, more like a movie,' Folley told IndieWire. The project started as a hard-drive of around 60 notable examples of video stores in film, given to the 'Videoheaven' team by film scholar Daniel Herbert, and a script idea. Folley spent a couple of years, in moments of free time, putting together rough assemblies and guessing at what clips might work well against his scratch VO track of Perry's script. Two or three years into the process, the team started to watch the latest four hour assemblies in Folley's apartment and use weekly edit sessions to refine it. 'We would just huddle around my desk and work on this. It really felt a lot like chiseling away at this larger stone before it becomes the statue,' Folley said. Films like 'Be Kind, Rewind,' and 'Watching The Detectives,' which are set in video stories, required lots of time and effort to find the essential clips, both video-only and audio-included, that would fit inside of 'Videoheaven.' But sometimes the process of chiseling away at the statue could be incredibly streamlined. 'Literally mid-stride between last week's session and next week's session, I see online [that] they went to a video store in last night's episode of 'Yellowjackets,' here are the tapes they talked about. I send it to Clyde and to Drew, our downloader… and that episode was in our timeline probably within 10 days of it airing,' Perry said. Perry and Folley's refining work wasn't just at the level of clip selection, of course. The team needed to make sure that the film said absolutely what it needed to say in the right tonal mix between academic interest and pop history. ''Los Angeles Plays Itself' has like one and a half feet in the academic and 'Room 237' has two feet in the pop. And I wanted to straddle the difference,' Perry said. Once 'Videoheaven' went from having temp narration to Hawke's voiceover, it started to feel even more like the bones were in place. A festival acceptance at Rotterdam gave it a helpful deadline to meet. It's a mark of the finished film's success that Folley observed that he keeps referencing points the film itself is making when talking about the making of it. 'The movie says so much,' Folley said. 'I feel like there's not a lot that's just left on the table.' Even so, Perry told IndieWire there's an alternate world where they're still working on 'Videoheaven,' because the act of making it was such a pleasure. 'I just can't overstate the joy of working on something with no pressure, no external necessity, no money on the line, no deadlines, no anxious producers, and no reason to finish it other than because we think it's the best version it could be, and that purity is entirely — I mean, you can't do that at a profession level. That's called a passion project. That's called being an artist.' 'Videoheaven' is now playing at the IFC Center in New York City. Best of IndieWire The Best Thrillers Streaming on Netflix in July, from 'Vertigo' and 'Rear Window' to 'Emily the Criminal' The Best Lesbian Movies Ever Made, from 'D.E.B.S.' and 'Carol' to 'Bound' and 'Pariah' All 12 Wes Anderson Movies, Ranked, from 'Bottle Rocket' to 'The Phoenician Scheme'
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Uma Thurman Reveals What Makes Her Say ‘No' to a Project: ‘I'm Really, Really Practical'
Uma Thurman won't just do any project these days. The veteran actress, who currently stars with Charlize Theron in 'The Old Guard 2' on Netflix, revealed the conditions she will absolutely say 'no' to every time. 'I'm really, really practical,' Thurman told The New York Times in a joint interview with Theron. 'If there's not a big enough budget and there's a bunch of crap underwater, I'm just like, 'Sorry, guys.' I'm like, 'What's your budget? There's a bunch of underwater stuff here? No.'' More from IndieWire 'Dexter: Resurrection' Review: Against All Odds, Michael C. Hall's Serial Killer Finds New Life 'Videoheaven' Required Maya Hawke's Voice, a Decade of Close Viewing, and Seinfeld Jokes Theron agreed with Thurman, 'I am so with you. I went from like, yeah, I'm a pretty good swimmer, to: never again. I do not want to hear anything about water.' Thurman and Theron also discussed the epic battle scene their characters, Discord and Andy, have in 'The Old Guard 2,' which Thurman said they 'were winging.' 'I was told I had at least five days to rehearse, and then we went and met up and they were like, 'Oh, the schedule changed. It's actually going to be tomorrow,'' she said. 'And I was just like, ugh. And they asked, 'Do you want to stay and go over it?' I was like, 'No, no, I'm going home. I'll see you tomorrow. There's nothing I can do in the next two hours that's going to actually make a really significant difference.'' While she may not have had much rehearsal time for that particular scene, Thurman told Forbes she generally enjoyed getting back into training for her action comeback. 'Honestly, it was really fun,' she said. 'I had a profound and amazing experience making 'Kill Bill' movies and I had left it there, but to go into a room and start learning movement sequences and swinging a practice sword again, I've really enjoyed it.' Last month, in an appearance on 'The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon,' Thurman detailed why she took such a long hiatus from action movies. 'I never really followed 'Kill Bill' up with action because I didn't kind of want to be in a whole bunch of 'B' action movies,' Thurman said. 'When you do 'Kill Bill,' you never stop hearing about… 'Oh, got to be very careful about what I do next.' So I did other stuff.' Thurman will soon be seen in the upcoming continuation of 'Dexter,' appropriately titled 'Dexter: Resurrection,' which premieres July 11 on Showtime. On 'Fallon,' Thurman praised star Michael C. Hall, calling him 'really, really sweet and kind.' 'There's often these kind of, like, inversions, where, like, the material's kind of heavy or dark, but like, then the people are the nicest you've ever worked with,' she said. Watch the 'Dexter: Resurrection' trailer below: Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie Nicolas Winding Refn's Favorite Films: 37 Movies the Director Wants You to See
Geek Tyrant
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Trailer For VIDEOHEAVEN Doc, Which is a Tribute To Video Stores of the Past — GeekTyrant
Here's a trailer for a upcopming documentary film titled Videoheaven , which is a tribute to the video stores of the past that many of us grew up with. I have so many fond memories of spending time in video stores as a kid with my freinds looking for movie to watch for entertianment. It's also how we educated ourselves in filmmaking 'For some thirty years, from the 1980s until their decline in the 2010s, video shops were crucial arenas for film culture – and both highbrow and lowbrow American cinema has documented their rise, fall and changing meanings. 'Alex Ross Perry's Videoheaven, a labour of love ten years in the making, retraces this history using solely appropriated footage from a vast array of films, ranging from huge Hollywood productions to non-professional no-budget affairs, sold solely at their neighbourhood video shop. 'Inspired by Daniel Herbert's book "Videoland: Movie Culture at the American Video Store", Perry renders the video shops a mirror for a wider social history of various developments in media, community structures and the flow of capital – how, for example, the early video shops with their bespoke, responsive curation, were pushed aside by chains with commercial, centralised selections, and how a culture of secret knowledge once generously shared was turned into an institution for the manufacturing of consensus...' The movie was directed by Alex Ross Perry and it was narrated by Maya Hawke. The doc is also a full-on 3 hour film! If you grew up in the day of video store, this is sure to take on on nostalgic trip back in time. Videoheaven opens in select theaters starting July 2nd, 2025.
Geek Vibes Nation
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Vibes Nation
'Videoheaven' Review - A Profound And Beautiful Ode To The Video Store
' The video store is a place of hope and anxiety about the future.' It is an ancient establishment in our modern entertainment complex. However, at one time, the institution stood on par with the movie theater itself. A communal face to gather and engage—a sanctum for cinematic curiosity and movie consumption. And yet, now, these one-thought mainstays are relics of history. Eloquently described as a part of the world but no longer a part of ours. Alex Ross Perry's new documentary , Videoheaven , analyzes the video and its place in society. Running for almost three hours, this movie vividly depicts the rise and fall of an industry. Through the use of movie clips, Perry crafts a narrative that is as much about the industry as it is about us—the consumer. In the song Video Killed The Radio Star by the Buggles , the lyrics decry the advent of television as both a natural progression and a regression. More eyes and ears could experience a song, while at the same time, musical talent meant more than simply having the vocal chops. It is a tale as old as time, the advent of new technology replacing the existing stock. It may be challenging to believe in our modern consumer culture, but before 1977, videotapes were not readily available for public consumption. The invention of the VCR heralded a new era in the burgeoning home entertainment industry. Interestingly, in 1980, an estimated 1.9 million homes had VCRs; by the end of the decade, that number had increased to around 64.5 million. If films were available to watch at home, this called for a new industry: Enter the video store. Videoheaven plays like a well-researched essay, complete with calming narration by Maya Hawke. It presents six segments showcasing the video store's spectacular rise and quiet collapse. This story captures the seismic impact on American movie culture, from the mom-and-pop shop on the corner to conglomerates like Blockbuster. Before videos, movie interaction meant going to the theater or watching a TV broadcast. Video stores and movie rentals gave birth to a cottage industry that, for a time, looked impenetrable and unstoppable. Using clips, it places video stories in movies and TV shows, telling a unique, quintessentially American story. This means it is a complex story of hope and existential dread. Six parts make up the narrative of this piece. At the beginning, the film asks the appropriate question in the past tense! What was the Video Store? Before the concept gained mainstream popularity, Hollywood films like David Cronenberg's Videodrome and, more aptly, Brian De Palma's Body Double helped shape the public's perception of the institution. While both films are more nefarious in these exploits, later movies, such as Disconnected , set up video stores as a place for community gathering and a sanctuary for cinematic knowledge. The 1980s are remembered in many ways, but mass consumerism is the most significant and lasting imprint. Everything became more accessible, so people had to have just about everything. Video stores sprang up nationwide, growing rapidly and accomplishing in ten years what had taken movie theaters fifty years to achieve: cultural relevance. At the start of the decade, what might have been a niche marketplace became fodder for mass consumerism and corporatization. We see the turn from mom-and-pop video rentals being the norm to becoming a relic and out of step. Enter the corporate giants that would tower over the industry into the early 21st century. Maya Hawke narrates Alex Ross Perry's Videoheaven. Photo Credit: Cinema Conservancy. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, video stores experienced their heyday, but like all eras, nothing lasts forever. The film dutifully illustrates the change in tastes and perceptions of the establishment. It was an intersection for community, ritual, and expression. Video stores were vehicles for story and character interactions in countless indie films. However, as the institutions became more prevalent and lost their luster, the locations became nothing more than simple window dressing or plot devices, in large part for nostalgia-driven stories. The film notes how the 2012 film This Means War shows the last video store ever meaningfully captured on screen. The documentary uses eye-catching facts. For example, in 2000, there were approximately 20,000 video stores in the United States, with 5,000 of them being Blockbusters. Of course, today, video stores are like fossils, and there is only one Blockbuster left in existence. As TV killed the radio star, DVD heralded the end of VHS. This media earthquake ultimately contributed to the decline of the video store. The film reminds us of the age-old question we used to ask every time we went to the video store: what do we want to watch? Our tastes and preferences were predicated on discussion or discovery. The video store became a parlor for exchanging ideas and opinions on movies. A person's cinematic identity could be defined by the types of films they rented. In this age, where even physical media is a question, the film poses a more poignant and perhaps unanswerable question: what do we want? The answer is ambiguous and remains up to us, the viewers and consumers. Videoheaven does its thesis by asking what happened to the video store, but this film is not only a documentary. It is an engaging and ultimately tragic account of what happened to a seemingly unstoppable empire. This grand video essay weaves an interlocking narrative commenting on the store's status as a 'socio-cultural hub' and 'consumer mecca.' The film is an engrossing analysis, yes, but the use of clips, coupled with Hawke's narration, makes this not only feel but also play like an obituary. It is a tribute to a part of cinematic history intertwined with the love of movies, as inexplicable as one's taste. The film honors this once mighty institution and makes us mourn for it. Videoheaven is now playing at New York's IFC Center courtesy of Cinema Conservancy. The film will expand to LA's Vidiots on August 6th as part of a larger theatrical rollout.
