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Screener Squad: The Last Picture Shows

THE LAST PICTURE SHOWS MOVIE REVIEW

From documentary filmmaker Rustin Thompson comes The Last PIcture Shows, an elegiac tour of old movie theaters in rural America. Thompson logged over 10,000 miles across 10 Southwestern states to document over 100 small town movie theaters and drive-ins that were built in the early 20th century. Some are ornately decorated movie palaces, others are humble mom and pop affairs, yet each of them were once important meeting spaces and cultural hubs for the communities they served. Now most small-town cinemas are shuttered or demolished, and the ones that remain struggle to stay open as local economies collapse, younger generations move away, new technologies offer fierce competition, and movie studios and distributors make increasingly onerous demands on cinema owners. And yet, Thompson’s film offers more than just mournful reminiscences of a bygone era; it finds glimmers of hope as owners keep their theaters running, and entrepreneurs refurbish once closed theaters and get them operational once more. Eoin, Mike the Editor, and Marco review this love letter to the movie going experience, while reminiscing about some of their own favorite theaters and movie going experiences. While the film is not currently streaming, it continues to be shown at festivals, independent cinemas, and even benefit screenings at some of the actual theaters shown in the documentary. You can find a list of upcoming screenings here,  and if you’re lucky enough to live near one of the places showing the film, you might get to see it for yourself on the big screen, in an actual movie theater.

 

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Rustin Thompson

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Marco Noyola (Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Audio Editor)

By day, Marco is a mild-mannered office worker, but by night he is a mild-mannered movie watcher. He does other mild-mannered stuff too.
“I’m not a film critic. I just play one on the Internet.”

 

Eoin Daly

Born and raised in Dublin Ireland, Eoin currently lives in London and has been an avid film lover from as far back as they can remember. Eoin enjoys going to the cinema weekly regardless of the film: new, old, or the most random title. They have no preconceived notions when taking in a new film. They tend to look for the good in any film they watch and will always love the art form. They are a major fan of actress-led cinema and will never apologize for this one film bias.

 

Mike J. McAllister (Screener Squad, Staff Writer, Head Video Editor)

Mike J. McAllister is an award-winning creative jack of all trades, and is pretty competent with most of them. He is a writer, director, animator, video editor, and motion graphics artist. He has tried his hand at nearly every form of artistic expression at least once. He was born and raised in Western Pennsylvania where he fell in love with film, writing and special effects at an early age. His obsession with film would lead him to being locally known as a “human IMDb” and being on a first-name basis with every video store clerk in town. He would study film in Pittsburgh before taking his talents to Austin. Not letting something like Tourettes get in his way, he has produced a handful of animated short films that have won awards from film festivals all over the globe. He has also written several yet-to-be-produced screenplays and TV pilots, with some of them being recognized in screenwriting competitions. He has even created motion graphics and animations for several clients, from movie theaters to Twitch streamers. When not creating or watching films, he enjoys MST3K, classic video games and buying vinyl records. He loves dogs, dropping obscure pop culture trivia and watching travel videos. He currently resides in Austin Texas and can be followed on the Instamagrams at @ohheyitsmikejm. His body of work can be found at his homepage or you can take a gander at his somewhat-impressive IMDb listing here.

 

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