Calebs Video Store Issue #11
The eleventh issue
Introduction
Hey everyone and welcome back to another issue of Calebs Video Store. This is the series where I talk anything film related whether it’s recent film news, something I got to experience, or something I just want to talk about. July was a bit exciting as I got to watch more films this month as well as getting to experience some of the most hyped up films of the year. I would say July was a very fun month for the movies. This issue is going to be a little different as rather than talking about a few specific topics, I will be talking about multiple topics in the issue and will talk about my thoughts that I have on them. I’ve been trying to keep track of some of the things happening this month that I wanted to talk about so I hope you enjoy this format of things. We got a lot to get through so without further ado, let’s enter the video store!
PlayStation Being the Villain of Physical Media
So Playstation has become the villain of the physical media world as they announced they would be stopping disk support for their consoles in 2028. Not only that but they are also removing 500 movies from their store due to the license expiring for them. Even if you bought the movie on their service, you can no longer watch it. It’s a scary thing to see and I remembered this video they posted more than a decade ago and it’s crazy how much has changed in that time. Not only for movies, but for video games as well and when you own something digital, they could just take it at any time. It’s important to have this content of disks because at least you get to say that you own that content and they can’t take it away from you. A lot of playstation’s social media has been flooded with backlash with this decision and it makes me happy that so many people are against them doing this. However I don’t know if this will change their mind and it’s a strange time to live in.
A Sign to Give People Their Favorite Movies on Physical Media
While on the topic of physical media, I think it’s a great idea to give people that you care about in life their favorite movies on disk which is something I’ve been doing. Back a couple Video Store Issues, I mentioned that I asked my friends their Letterboxd top 4 and it gave me an idea and perspective of seeing peoples different movie taste. Using that, I’ve been giving my friends one of the movies from their list as a birthday gift. Without saying too much about them as I’m sure some friends are reading this right now, I’ve had a lot of fun giving people their favorite movies like this. I think they make great gifts as well just because a movie can mean a lot to someone and having a copy of it makes it feel more special. You can also throw in some little bonuses to add more to it. I’m excited to give more friends their favorite movies.
Alamo Drafthouse is Buying the Cinerama Dome
It was recently announced that the Alamo Drafthouse/Sony were buying the famous Cinerama theater in Hollywood. It has drawn a mixed reaction as while people are excited to see this theater open again, others are concerned with if they will implement the usual Alamo Drafthouse system with the ordering of food. Lately they’ve gotten a lot of flack due to them switching to a phone ordering system after being against the use of phones during the movie for years and it’s something that they definitely deserved to be criticized for. The opening happens in 2028 so it will be a good while before we see how everything turns out. I can only hope that they listen to the feedback and understand that people want to be able to watch movies in this iconic theater and to just enhance that experience for people instead of distractions. It’s a theater I’ve never been to, but if all goes well, I’m excited to visit the Cinerama when it reopens.
I Saw The Odyssey in IMAX 70mm and I Levitated Out of My Seat
So I got to experience seeing The Odyssey in IMAX 70mm. It was my first time ever seeing a film like this and it was glorious to watch. There’s something special about being able to watch something like this on the big screen and it was something I will not forget. The theater was on the smaller side, but you could still feel the impact of being in the room with that big of a screen. Also getting a preview of Dune Part 3 made it all the better. We actually had a delay for the movie because I think they were trying to get things right with the projector. The theater staff was nice about the situation and they even gave us free tickets for another movie of our choosing since we had to wait a good minute for the movie to start. However the people right next to me were being pretty rude about the situation and being impatient with it all. I will say please be nice to the theater staff if your screening runs into any problems because they’re doing a lot bringing this experience to us and technical problems are going to occur. Yes it might be an bit of an inconvenience, but just be patient and let them do their thing. The experience though was a very great time and I’m glad I got to see it this way. I’m hoping for more opportunities to see films like this in the near future.
My Top 5 Films of the Year So Far
As we have made it more than half way through the year (why is time passing by so fast lol), I figured this would be the right time to go over my top 5 favorite films of the year so far. Most of the films listed have reviews I’ve already made for them, so I’ll link them when they are mentioned. In total I’ve seen 36 new releases from the year and I expect that number to increase so much more. I would say it has been a pretty great year so far in the movies. It does feel like people are going to the movies more and supporting them and that makes me happy. But with that said, here are 5 of my favorite movies so far this year.
5. Obsession: Everyone knows how iconic this movie already is so there’s little that hasn’t been said. I think this is some of the best horror we’ve gotten in recent years and Inde Navarrette is a god damn star. You can read the review with my full thoughts here.
4. Blue Heron: Technically listed for releasing in 2025, but since it had its wide release this year, I’m counting it as a 2026 movie. This feels like a companion piece to Aftersun as it explores the themes of nostalgia and grief. It’s a very quiet film that manages to say so much because of the style that it decides to show off. A very sad, but beautiful film that makes it one of the best I’ve seen this year.
3. If I Go, Will They Miss Me?: This is a film I got to see at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. It gets US release in September so I won’t say too much, but its take on parenthood is something that stood out to me and moved me in its performances and inspirations that are present. You can read more thoughts from the Sundance recap here.
2. The Odyssey: I’ve been gushing about this film ever since seeing it and I probably won’t stop talking about it for the rest of the year. It’s a movie that’s going to be looked upon as one of the big epics of our time. Not to mention seeing it in IMAX 70mm is something I’ll never forget. You can read the full review for this film here.
1. The Invite: A movie I wouldn’t have never guessed would be my favorite of the year so far. But it takes something that could easily be presented in the most boring way possible and brings it alive in a profound way. The four leads are all doing things that help enhance the film and bring life to it. Everyone that made the film feels like they’re locked in and giving us the best version of this film possible. I absolutely loved this movie. You can read the full review for the film here.
Those are my favorites of the year so far. Let me know films that are in your favorites of the year in the comments. So many more films to come out this year and I can’t wait to watch a lot of them.
July Recommendations
![Lady Snowblood – [FILMGRAB]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HY5q!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffe4d6c89-8c43-4c3c-8a82-4686049be18b_1280x540.jpeg "Lady Snowblood – [FILMGRAB]")
As always this is a segment where I talk about films that I watched during the month that stuck out to me and haven’t been mentioned yet in the issue. It felt like the first month this year where I managed to watch a lot more films I haven’t seen yet rather than rewatches. I narrowed it down to four films that I really liked so here are those films.
Lady Snowblood (1973): This falls into the category of having a character that is just so cool to watch. It’s funny to see also that Quentin Tarantino took so much influence from this film for Kill Bill. This movie has so much style that made me a fan of it. I will have to check out the sequel some time soon.
Belly (1998): This is a film that is much more of a style over substance film, but that’s not a bad thing here. It has a look to it that screams late 90s that I found really fascinating to watch. It has a music video vibe to it and with Hype Williams directing it, it makes sense that this is the case. I just really loved the look of the film. I hope one day I can find a copy on VHS because it feels like this is what the film was meant to be seen on.
The Prestige (2006): As I was working though watching all of Christopher Nolan’s films that I hadn’t seen yet, this is the one film of his that really stuck out to me. It feels like this is the film where Nolan is really figuring out his style as we see the out of order way of telling the story and more. It had me hooked from start to finish and became one of my favorites from Nolan
Nirvana the Band the Show The Movie (2025): This has been on my list for a minute and I finally got to watch it this month. It’s a comedy that I really loved and it has some of the funniest bits I’ve seen from a movie in a minute. It also does things that made me question how the hell they got away with a bunch that happens in this. Matt Johnson created something special with this and I need to watch the series soon.
Minions & Monsters (2026): I wrote a whole review of this film here, but I wanted to give it mention because I love it being a love letter to Hollywood and James is my favorite minion of all time. That’s my homie.
Conclusion
That’s all for this issue of the Video Store. I hope you guys like the slightly different style of things in this issue. If you liked reading it, make sure to give it a like, comment, share and if you haven’t yet, you should subscribe to the newsletter where you’ll get these at the end of every month and also reviews and essays throughout the month. Thank you again for stopping by the store and I’ll see you next time for another issue.