London Movie Rental stores

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Surely there are some good ones? Because I can't to seem to find crap here that is any better than the average Blockbusters.

To give an idea of what I was used to, my old local place in the States had lots of DVDs and VHS stuff (b/c let's face it - there still is a lot of good stuff not out on DVD yet). And it ordered the films by director's name. And it had plenty of bootlegs and PAL>NTSC copies of stuff that couldn't be bought by any other means. I never had a problem getting stuff I was looking for.

Now I can't seem to find a place here in London that is at all vaguely like that. They either don't have enough older and foreign films, or they don't have a wide ranging collection, or so on... And I'm not interested in the online DVD mailing services - I want to be able to get instant gratification and pay for it by the instance.

Is there any place for me?

― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 17 March 2004 00:52 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah theres that one on kingsland road at the bottom near the bridge, called something like "tomorrow is shitty" or something. that only does arty indie stuff or something.

― ambrose (ambrose), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I like Archway Video, on Archway Road, a couple of minutes down the hill from Highgate Station.
There is nothing to recommend Brockley, where I used to live, except a brilliant video shop called Homeview. Knowledgeable staff with a sense of humour, etc etc

― Japanese Giraffe (Japanese Giraffe), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 13:43 (twenty-two years ago)

You're thinking of today is boring Ambrose.

― Anna (Anna), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 13:52 (twenty-two years ago)

The Film Shop, Stoke Newington Church Street, is probably the best video rental shop I've ever been to. Films by drector's name: yes. Film by country: yes. Loads of weird stuff I haven't seen anywhere else. Nice staff. Not too expensive either.

― Morgen, Wednesday, 17 March 2004 14:01 (twenty-two years ago)

And the boys in there are cute, so I'm told.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 15:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Archway Video is very good. I can second that emotion.

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 15:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow, I didn't know that my local veejo shop was so classy. I might just register. Or I could stay at home and watch Futurama DVDs while eating crisps in bed.

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 15:21 (twenty-two years ago)

No, there's nothing as good as the US/Canadian video stores in London -- plus, they're horrendously overpriced and generally don't stock Criterion/cult DVDs. That said, there's a store round the corner from Camden Town station (behind the Sainsbury's) that's terrific. Maybe not that good with DVDs, but a fantastic VHS selection.

― Chuck Tatum (Chuck Tatum), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 15:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Living in Harringay = most of this stuff near me. Yay! I'll check these out soon. Lemme know if there's anything else worth making the trek to. Any location around the city is fine, too. Thanks all!

― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 17 March 2004 22:50 (twenty-two years ago)

And it ordered the films by director's name.

That's a lame idea though! And rockist-auteurist to boot. Plenty of classic films have been made by otherwise rub directors. Order 'em alphabetical under title or not at all!

― Strachey, Thursday, 18 March 2004 10:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Agreed why would any video library want/need to have two copies of say Stalker just so they could file under S and T. (And Russian national cinemas.)

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 18 March 2004 10:26 (twenty-two years ago)

It doesn't have all videos ordered this way - it just has a few classic director sections, as I recall.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 18 March 2004 10:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow - thanks for the tip on Homeview, JG, it looks very good indeed. I live on Lewisham Way and had given up on finding a decent video shop!

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 18 March 2004 10:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Films by drector's name: yes. Film by country: yes.

Well, you can't have both...

England > Hitchcock
US > Hitchcock

Argh! As for co-productions...

― Strachey, Thursday, 18 March 2004 10:29 (twenty-two years ago)

I think British and American films are excluded from the 'films by country' section. I don't think it's supposed to be a scientific classification scheme.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 18 March 2004 10:52 (twenty-two years ago)

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