Actor Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things) and filmmaker Samuel Van Grinsven (Sequin in a Blue Room) might just be the two most passionate film lovers to enter the Last Video Store. They’ve just collaborated on the exquisite new film WENT UP THE HILL, a ghost story quite unlike any you may have seen before. Also starring Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread), the film explores death and grief in inventively dreamlike way. It’s a fantastic episode with some of the best film talk we’ve had in the Last Video Store.WENT UP THE HILL arrives in Australian cinemas next week on September 11th.

Alexei’s screening at the Sydney Opera House - Saturday Film Club: Children of Men, 6 September 2025

Follow ALEXEI TOLIOPOULOS on Letterboxd for all the rental combo lists.

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From Superman’s origins in Smallville, to modern day Adams Family in Wednesday and a list of the most tonally diverse sequels (including Herbie: Fully Loaded and Spiderman 2), Al Gough and Miles Millar are Hollywood’s experts on adaptation and sequels. Alexei Toliopoulos sits down with the creators of Wednesday to talk video store memories, working with Tim Burton and hopefully sling a staff pick recommendation at them.

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Alexei’s screening at the Sydney Opera House - Saturday Film Club: Children of Men, 6 September 2025

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Recommending a film to Col Needham is no easy task… His personal film diary literally evolved into THE comprehensive catalogue of all films, the Internet Movie Database. The founder of IMDb and quite possibly the most supreme movie loving guest we’ll ever have on The Last Video Store to pick up his favourite films. Alexei joins Col on one of the great adventures of movie watching to find out how a mobile travelling video store van helped shape his love of film.Follow ALEXEI TOLIOPOULOS on Letterboxd for all the rental combo lists.

Alexei’s screening at the Sydney Opera House - Saturday Film Club: Children of Men, 6 September 2025

Our huge thank you to the Melbourne International Film Festival for getting Col to visit the Last Video Store

GUEST PICKS: Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (action), Vertigo (thriller), Touch of Evil (crime)
STAFF PICKS: Limbo (2023) (crime)

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She wrote the book on Tom Cruise (for Cahiers Du Cinema) and has examined cinema greatness with Paul Scheer on the great film podcast UNSPOOLED, now while in Australia for the Melbourne International Film Festival, Amy Nicholson enters the Last Video Store to talk big screen movie musicals with Alexei Toliopoulos.

Follow ALEXEI TOLIOPOULOS on Letterboxd for all the rental combo lists and follow Amy here.

Alexei’s screening at the Sydney Opera House - Saturday Film Club: Children of Men, 6 September 2025

GUEST PICKS: BETTER MAN (music), FOOTLIGHT PARADE (music), HAIRSPRAY (cult)
STAFF PICKS: WOMEN HE’S UNDRESSED (Documentary)

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Jaxon and Lachlan Fairbairn are comedians, creatives, brothers and huge film lovers, who you might recognise from their huge following on YouTube or Instagram. And we lied in the title; only one of them loves horror films. The other would prefer to cosy up with a classic action film (we'll leave you to find out which one).They join Alexei this week to chat about some of their favourite films, from the creepy ODDITY to the classic THE KARATE KID, and how the ball torture scene in CASINO ROYALE ties into it all.

Listen to The Fairbairn Podcast

Follow ALEXEI TOLIOPOULOS on Letterboxd for all the rental combo lists.

GUEST PICKS: SPIDERMAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (adventure), THE KARATE KID (adventure), ODDITY (horror)
STAFF PICK: THE LAST DRAGON (action)

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All-round icon and legendary frontman of THE CRUEL SEA, Tex Perkins steps into The Last Video Store to pick out some gritty classics, unexpected gems and the stunning new remake of a century old classic. We dig into the cinematic moments that shaped him, swap tales about VHS treasures, and explore how The Cruel Sea’s “The Honeymoon Is Over” found its way onto the soundtrack of EMPIRE RECORDS. It’s a rollicking conversation about movies, music, and the moods that connect them. Alexei has not stopped listening to the new album from Tex and The Cruel Sea, STRAIGHT INTO THE SUN, all year… it comes highly recommended.

Follow ALEXEI TOLIOPOULOS on Letterboxd for all the rental combo lists.

GUEST PICKS: NOSFERATU (horror), MCCABE & MRS. MILLER (western), HELL IN THE PACIFIC (war)
STAFF PICKS: FIRST COW (western)

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This week, we’re joined by Aussie hip hop royalty, Hilltop Hoods, for a cinematic hangout with Alexei in the Last Video Store. Pressure cracks open some true video store nostalgia in the Adventure section, DJ Debris gets geeky over Guy Ritchie and Suffa takes us to one of the greats of independent French cinema with a point that will redefine how you think about La Haine.
Pick up the new album and tour tickets from hilltophoods.com

Follow ALEXEI TOLIOPOULOS on Letterboxd for all the rental combo lists.

GUEST PICKS: Raiders of the Lost Ark (Adventure), La Haine (Cult), The Gentlemen (Crime)
STAFF PICKS: The Secret Agent (Thriller) and Bacurau (Western)

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Hitting cinemas next week, TOGETHER marks the brilliant feature debut of filmmaker Michael Shanks. Before teaming up with Alison Brie and Dave Franco for this inventive blend of horror and relationship comedy-drama, Shanks built a cult following online through his YouTube comedy channel timtimfed and the hilarious series The Wizards of Aus. Now, he steps into The Last Video Store to chat with Alexei about some of his all-time favourite films and his new film TOGETHER.

BOOK TICKETS for Alexei’s comedy fest show REFUSED CLASSIFICATION with Zach Ruane in CANBERRA, SYDNEY ENCORE and MELBOURNE ENCORE in JULY

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GUEST PICKS: TOGETHER, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, SIGNS
STAFF PICKS: SEEDING OF A GHOST

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Aotearoa’s own Marlon Williams steps into the Last Video Store alongside filmmaker Ursula Grace Williams to talk about Marlon Williams: Two Worlds – Ngā Ao E Rua, a stunning portrait documentary about the making of Marlon’s most ambitious musical project yet, an album sung entirely in te reo Māori. Host Alexei Toliopoulos calls it not only one of his favourite films of the year, but one of the greatest music documentaries he's ever seen (and this a guy that has seen a lot of fricking movies).

The film is screening at MIFF this August - tickets here

BOOK TICKETS for Alexei’s comedy fest show REFUSED CLASSIFICATION with Zach Ruane in CANBERRA, SYDNEY ENCORE and MELBOURNE ENCORE in JULY

Follow ALEXEI TOLIOPOULOS on Letterboxd for all the rental combo lists.

GUEST PICKS: Marlon Williams: Two Worlds - Ngā Ao E Rua (Documentary), Kill List (horror), The Eternal Memory (Documentary)
STAFF PICKS: Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (Documentary)

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Australia is known for it's horror movies, but for every Wolf Creek and The Babadook there are dozens of freaky films that you might not be on your radar yet. This week, Alexei is joined by horror direction Kane Senes (Sissy, For Now) to trawl through the horror section and uncover some lesser known Aussie gems, from the 1970s to the 2000s…right up to the New Wave of Australian horror cinema

BOOK TICKETS for Alexei’s comedy fest show REFUSED CLASSIFICATION with Zach Ruane in CANBERRA, SYDNEY ENCORE and MELBOURNE ENCORE in JULY

Follow ALEXEI TOLIOPOULOS on Letterboxd for all the rental combo lists. Here are Kane and Alexei's picks from this episode.

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