Photoplay Video and Dvd

Great video store — friendly and informative staff. It would have been a 5 star if it were not for the ONE night rental. really boys?!

This is a place that I will eternally support. The selection is great: organized by director, genre, decade. The staff are tops (especially the owner), incredibly knowledgable and happy to help you find whatever you’re looking for, even if you don’t exactly know what that is. Christmas slasher movie? They’ve got three options, and one of them is probably French. Love you, Photoplay. Love you for all time.
** UPDATE **
They closed. In the dead of night. My heart is broken, and we are all assholes.

God damn it Photoplay. This was one of the best reasons to live in North Greenpoint. The sad thing is it closed so abruptly, there wasn’t a chance to kickstart it or do some sort of fund raiser to keep it in business.

My wife went in last night to get a few Antonioni films and found Mike and his assistant packing up. Photoplay is CLOSING this week!
Those of you who live in North Brooklyn know what a gem this store was. It was a touchstone, a meeting place, salve to the lonesome, first stop for a cozy date, a forum, a theater and a place of discovery. For over a decade Photoplay has been the cultural heart of Greenpoint. And now it’s closing.
Blame Netflix, blame Hulu, blame gentrification — the rent kept going up – but mostly blame yourselves. When a film repository of this quality can’t survive in Brooklyn, what does that say about us?

Probably one of the best rental stores in all of Brooklyn. Michael knows his flicks, and has been giving me and my girlfriend numerous recommendations that we all loved.
This place has an excellent selection of films that you can’t get via Netflix, Amazon, or Hulu.

I have been coming here since they opened. They have everything perfectly categorized. If they don’t have it they are willing to order it. Such nice people who know their movies and TV shows. I can spend hours browsing the selections. Who needs cable?

I really like it here, and am happy to patronize it and keep a great rental store open! You can get just about anything, either your film snob needs (many are organized by director) or your TV shows, new releases, documentaries or foreign films. They also have some DVDs for sale at cheap prices, or collections that are more expensive.
I’ve found the staff to be super friendly and willing to give recommendations. It costs $ 3+ to rent a movie, so way cheaper than getting one on demand, plus it’s fun to flip through a zillion actual DVDs to see if something catches your eye.

We’ve been swallowed up
By the world of cinema
Thank you, oh thank you

Very well curated selection of movies, and well organized. The best in Brooklyn.

Gotta love this place. Excellent selection of current and hard to find titles. Like any good rental store, some of this stuff you’ll only find here.

This store has gotten me hooked on video stores once more. Their curated selection is very good and their organization of movies by director is a nice touch too.
Little known secret: Most of the indy/​foreign movies that they put out as new releases are ones that Netflix makes available as «Watch Instantly»…
In any event, long live Photoplay!

I never wanted to go into Photoplay because all I ever noticed were noir film posters and artsy stuff in the window. As an «average» movie lover I didn’t see the place as an option for me. But one day I decided to pop in and I was very pleasantly surprised! They have mainstream flicks, great selection of TV shows and still room for all that film buff geek stuff. The dropoff box is so conveinient, rent a flick after work, drop it off in the morning on your way to the G.
PS I also think they put new releases on the shelves before the official release date, which is pretty awesome. I rented something recently that wasn’t due out until 5 days later!

Love it. In addition to having a great selection and an easy-​going staff, the store is quite well organized. I still bitterly mourn the loss of TLA on 8^th Street, but as long as a great neighborhood shop like Photoplay can thrive then there’s hope.

Always friendly and knowledgeable, with a vast selection ranging from embarrassing to pretentious-​type films.
Many a time I have gone in there and explained what mood I was in, and their suggestions have always been spot-​on.
They’re winners in my heart!

Let me first state that I «that guy» in which netflix was invented for. I love my movies and i love watching them constantly. My personal collection is over 100 DVD’s… Sad, I know but living in Ohio for most your life will do that to a person… That being said…
I love the fact that in between movies on my netflix i still have a place to find rare films. Their selection is large and most of the employee’s are friendly. Key word «most». They usually get new releases a little later then other places but i can deal, Like I said i really only go there when my netflix is late or i have nothing to watch on a Sunday. Overall a great mom and pop store that deserves your support…

My boyfriend found this place and I am eternally grateful to him! Located conveniently on Manhattan Ave in Greenpoint just a few blocks from the Greenpoint G train stop there’s my new favorite video store in Brooklyn! This place has actually made me reconsider having a Netflix account. I probably won’t cancel my Netflix, but I totally would if Photoplay was just a little closer to me… Still, it’s well worth the hike!
Photoplay has the most badass and well-​organized collection of DVDs that are right up my alley. They have a larger-​than-​average collection of movies from the 30’s-60’s, foreign releases (a decent Scandinavian selection which is awesome because I love Scandinavian cinema), silent films, new releases including a lot of the more independent and not so mainstream stuff, etc. They have the place organized into many different categories: by decade, by director, by genre, a children’s section, an animation section (not just for the kiddies folks!), etc. They have plenty of DVDs and VHS’s available for purchase too. For those of you who love that dirty/​worn down/​scratchy quality of VHS tapes, don’t worry — Photoplay has a good amount of those guys still kicking around for rent too!
They have a drop box unlike most video places in Brooklyn and actually close somewhat late (11pm) which is kind of unheard of for a video rental place around here. My only complaint is that the prices are kind of steep for 1-​night rentals, but it forces me to actually watch the movies I rent instead of having them lay around my apartment for a week, which is a good thing!

Photoplay has a large selection.
Photoplay is gosh darned expensive.
A plague upon Photoplay.
Hello, Netflix!

I love this place! It makes being thousands of miles away from Lost Weekend Video in San Francisco at least bearable.
For a tiny store, they have an extensive – massive – collection of DVDs, including (brace yourself!) Breakin’ and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo!
The staff is both friendly and knowledgeable, and each time I have been in, the employees have been totally willing to share their opinion but also entertain other ideas as well.
What keeps me from giving it a five star rating? For one, all of their rentals are just one night. Also, there is no return slot in the door, so you have to return your video during their opening hours (noon-​11pm?), which is kind of a pain if you’re the type who would rather just drop the video off on your way to work, as I am.
Other than that, I’m psyched that Photoplay is my neighborhood video store.

Man, if I lived closer to this place, I’d be a regular. As it is, I have enough trouble frequenting Film Noir Video –
– which has a similar vibe.
It’s a small shop, with the DVD’s in flat plastic display envelopes. The organization is awesome. They have a section organized by genre — and it seems to run the range of more obscure genres such as film noir, exploitation, and so forth. They have a section organized by director — if that’s how you take in movies. And they have a section organized by country. That’s particularly impressive.
They also have a lot of used movies for sale. VHS tapes seemed to range between $ 4 and $ 7, and DVD’s are more expensive. I didn’t have a chance to ask the rationale behind the DVD’s for sale, as they seemed to be movies that might still have rental legs.
Awesome. We’ll see if it pulls me out of my way!

Tiny Store. Massive Selection.
Bizarre cult classics, new wave French films, ‘Not-​for-​children’ animation, and volumes of MST3K. Those are just some of the many obscure categories of films you can find in Greenpoint’s «Photoplay.» If you’re willing to wade through the virtually infinite library of titles this movie rental place has, then you will not come up empty handed. (Even if you don’t have the time to sift through all of it, just look up at the shelves at the recommendations.) Ranging from the «hard-​to-​find» gems to the blockbuster hits, this place has it all.
The membership is completely free, and the service is fast and friendly. I find myself going to this place at least 2 – 3 times a week because I always find something to keep me happy.
Just keep in mind, rentals only last a day.