I ended up watching this documentary on Amazon Prime video (ironic given the title, more on that later) because I wanted to see another documentary on the VHS format.
Maybe half the documentary actually plays service to that, the rest is video hunting of VHS tapes in stores that would go out of business before the movie would be released, and complaining about piracy ruining film as an artistic medium, specifically the making of indie films.
The thing is, most films these days (speaking in 2019) outside of major studio releases will never make it to physical media, they will go straight to Netflix, or ironically in this case, to Amazon Prime Video. The straight to VOD (video on demand) contract is similar to the straight to video in the 1980s, the only difference is lack of a physical release. Of course, when you go straight to VOD it makes it even EASIER to pirate the film and distribute on file sharing sites from simple capping of it from a digital source.
Thus we have a documentary where I appreciate the argument and the love put into it, but it just falls flat on its face as it has become already a piece of history, even though it was shot in 2014 and released in 2016.
Maybe half the documentary actually plays service to that, the rest is video hunting of VHS tapes in stores that would go out of business before the movie would be released, and complaining about piracy ruining film as an artistic medium, specifically the making of indie films.
The thing is, most films these days (speaking in 2019) outside of major studio releases will never make it to physical media, they will go straight to Netflix, or ironically in this case, to Amazon Prime Video. The straight to VOD (video on demand) contract is similar to the straight to video in the 1980s, the only difference is lack of a physical release. Of course, when you go straight to VOD it makes it even EASIER to pirate the film and distribute on file sharing sites from simple capping of it from a digital source.
Thus we have a documentary where I appreciate the argument and the love put into it, but it just falls flat on its face as it has become already a piece of history, even though it was shot in 2014 and released in 2016.