Kristo, Sammy and Tom are three besties who you might know better as Mates Rates, who not only create hilarious sketches online and a podcast, but also created their own short(ish) film! It's called Mates Rates' Corporate Retreat, and it's a documentary about a road trip across NSW where they travelled in a crappy car, eating canned food, getting up to shenanigans.

Our first trio on the pod brings an eclectic mix of films, including an (dis)honourable mention in the form of Drillbit Taylor.

BOOK TICKETS for Alexei’s comedy fest show REFUSED CLASSIFICATION with Zach Ruane in SYDNEY, PERTH and BRISBANEFollow ALEXEI TOLIOPOULOS on Letterboxd for all the rental combo lists.

GUEST PICKS: Sideways (Comedy), In Bruges (Crime), Minions: Rise Of Gru (Children)
STAFF PICKS: Klown (Comedy)

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Writer, Director, Stuntman. Nobody’s doing it like Nash Edgerton. He kicked of his feature directing career with the dark Aussie noir THE SQUARE (a film Alexei actually jigged school to go see in cinemas) and he also directed all 3 seasons of what might very well be the very best Australian television series MR INBETWEEN. A pleasure to get Nash in to peruse the shelves of the Last Video Store with Alexei.

BOOK TICKETS for Alexei’s comedy fest show REFUSED CLASSIFICATION with Zach Ruane in SYDNEY, PERTH and BRISBANE

Follow ALEXEI TOLIOPOULOS on Letterboxd for all the rental combo lists. Here is Nash's list, and here is Producer Em's Letterboxd!

GUEST PICKS: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (Comedy), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Adventure), Straight Time (Crime)
STAFF PICKS: Bellman and True (Crime)

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Director and producer Kriv Stenders is a true Australian film legend, and has directed films like Red Dog and his new one, political thriller The Correspondent. He's also a The Last Video Store fan, so it's only natural he finally graced the halls of our fine establishment!

Kriv lives and breathes film, especially Australian cinema, and has picked out some absolute classics to mull over with Alexei. His film The Correspondent is in cinemas now!

BOOK TICKETS for Alexei’s comedy fest show REFUSED CLASSIFICATION with Zach Ruane in MELBOURNE, SYDNEY, PERTH and BRISBANE

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

GUEST PICKS: The Correspondent (Drama), Dogs In Space (Cult), Love Serenade (Cult)
STAFF PICKS: Out Of The Blue (Cult)

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Comedian and self-professed horror-head Will Gibb joins Alexei in The Last Video Store to chat about three of his favourite spooky films. Will is well-known for his hilarious skits on TikTok and Instagram, but he's also a bonafide cinephile, and his picks include Aussie cult classics and underground creepy Korean films. He's also touring his stand up show 'Why Am I Like This?' now so click the link below to check it out!

WILL’s comedy festival show link

BOOK TICKETS for Alexei’s comedy fest show REFUSED CLASSIFICATION with Zach Ruane in MELBOURNE, SYDNEY, PERTH and BRISBANE

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

GUEST PICKS: Red Rooms (Horror), The Wailing (Horror), Lake Mungo (Horror)
STAFF PICKS: Noroi The Curse (Horror)

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Weaving between narrative and documentary features OTTO BY OTTO, SERIOUSLY RED and extensive work directing some of the best television (including DEADLOCH and HEARTBREAK HIGH), Gracie Otto is one of the most skilled and in-demand filmmakers in Australia. With great stories around Wong Kar-wai and David Lynch, Gracie’s visit to the Last Video Store is one of the greats.

BOOK TICKETS for Alexei’s comedy fest show REFUSED CLASSIFICATION with Zach Ruane in MELBOURNE, SYDNEY, PERTH and BRISBANE

Follow ALEXEI TOLIOPOULOS on Letterboxd for all the rental combo lists. Here’s Gracie’s list.

GUEST PICKS: OTTO BY OTTO (documentary), MULHOLLAND DRIVE (cult), CHUNGKING EXPRESS (cult)
STAFF PICKS: HIPPO (cult)

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Just before he lands at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Julio Torres joins Alexei Toliopoulos to explore the Last Video Store. Julio Torres is one of the great modern masters of surrealist comedy. Julio made his bones writing now classic sketches at Saturday Night Live (including PAPYRUS starring Ryan Gosling), he’s also the creative force on tv series LOS ESPOOKYS & FANTASMAS. Now Julio has directed his feature film debut, the brilliant comedy PROBLEMISTA, starring Tilda Swinton.

JULIO’s comedy festival show link

PROBLEMISTA screening with Julio & Alexei

BOOK TICKETS for Alexei’s comedy fest show REFUSED CLASSIFICATION with Zach Ruane in MELBOURNE, SYDNEY, PERTH and BRISBANEFollow ALEXEI TOLIOPOULOS on Letterboxd for all the rental combo lists. Here’s Julio’s list.

GUEST PICKS: PROBLEMISTA (Comedy), WHERE IS THE FRIEND’S HOUSE (Art House), BIRTH (Cult)
STAFF PICKS: T BLOCKERS (Horror), LOVE SERENADE (Cult)

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When comedian and podcast host Michael 'Hingers' Hing was 19 and in his 2nd year of uni, he wrote a list of what are, in his opinion, the best 50 movies of all time. And for the first time ever, he's sharing that list exclusively on The Last Video Store podcast.

From Pulp Fiction to Finding Nemo, Michael and Alexei go through every movie on that list in this very special episode which will have you saying "Are you talkin' to me?" or something equally annoying.

See Michael at your local comedy festival in Australia

BOOK TICKETS for Alexei’s comedy fest show REFUSED CLASSIFICATION with Zach Ruane in MELBOURNE, SYDNEY, ADELAIDE, PERTH and BRISBANE

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

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A short and sharp visit to the Last Video Store from one of the greats of Australian cinema, David Wenham. His new film SPIT sees Wenham return to perhaps his most iconic role of ex-junkie Johnny Spitieri from GETTIN SQUARE. SPIT is out now in cinemas. 

BOOK TICKETS for Alexei’s comedy fest show REFUSED CLASSIFICATION with Zach Ruane in MELBOURNE, SYDNEY, PERTH and BRISBANE

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

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Celebrating a year into the pod with our original first customer and best mate… it’s the return of Cameron James! Cam has just released his new half hour special on Grouse House (the home of Finding Yeezus). 

See Cam at your local comedy festival in Australia 

BOOK TICKETS for Alexei’s comedy fest show REFUSED CLASSIFICATION with Zach Ruane in MELBOURNE, SYDNEY, ADELAIDE, PERTH and BRISBANE

Follow ALEXEI TOLIOPOULOS on Letterboxd for all the rental combo lists. Here’s Cam’s list. 

GUEST PICKS: ONE FLASE MOVE (crime), SUNSET BOULEVARD (crime)

STAFF PICKS: TWILIGHT (crime), CUTTER’S WAY (crime), ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS (crime)

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Their film THE LAST JOURNEY just became the highest grossing Swedish documentary ever and was selected as the Swedish entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards. The duo Filip och Fredrik are responsible for some of Sweden’s best-loved comedic journalistic innovations, THE LAST JOURNEY is no exception. A touching and hilarious comedy documentary road movie as they take Hammar’s retired father on a nostalgic trip to France to help him get back his joie de vivre!

BOOK TICKETS for Alexei’s comedy fest show REFUSED CLASSIFICATION with Zach Ruane in MELBOURNE, SYDNEY, ADELAIDE, PERTH and BRISBANE

Follow ALEXEI TOLIOPOULOS on Letterboxd for all the rental combo lists. Here’s Filip & Fredrik’s list.

GUEST PICKS: THE LAST JOURNEY (Documentary), THE ACT OF KILLING (Documentary), SIDEWAYS (Comedy)
ALEXEI’S STAFF PICK: HANDS ON A HARD BODY (Documentary), OTTO BY OTTO (Documentary)

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