The Last Big Thing

1996
R
1h 38m

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

435

YOUR RATING

Mark Ruffalo and Dan Zukovic in The Last Big Thing (1996)

A sardonic look at life in the 1990s in this trailer

Play trailer1:54

1 Video

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Comedy Drama

From a bland tract house on the outskirts of Los Angeles, Simon Geist (with occasional help from his platonic girlfriend Darla) wages war against all of modern American popular culture. Geis... Read allFrom a bland tract house on the outskirts of Los Angeles, Simon Geist (with occasional help from his platonic girlfriend Darla) wages war against all of modern American popular culture. Geist starts up a magazine called "The Next Big Thing", which he uses to confront and insult u... Read allFrom a bland tract house on the outskirts of Los Angeles, Simon Geist (with occasional help from his platonic girlfriend Darla) wages war against all of modern American popular culture. Geist starts up a magazine called "The Next Big Thing", which he uses to confront and insult upcoming actors, comics, models and rock bands. As Geist's mysterious Underground Agenda es... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

435

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 wins & 6 nominations total

Videos1

Trailer 1:54

Last Big Thing

Photos1

User reviews18

6.5435

Featured reviews

trra

Bizarre and funny!

I liked this film a lot. I keep looking for it to appear on dvd. If you're a fan of strange indie productions like Niagara Niagara, Bottle Rocket, Interstate 60, Cherish and the like, this should work for you. Sure it's extremely low-budget, but the acting is fine. The egotistical main character reminds me of many people I met in LA over the years. I laughed hard and long. I turned around after viewing and recommended it to my teenage kids. They were equally impressed and have watched over and over again with friends. If you can catch this on Sundance or Independent Film Channel, don't miss out.

mit-rr

The Punk Rock Apocalypse!

I caught this film in the mid 90's at a screening in New York and later on Showtime. Angry and hilarious, it's an unrelenting--and prescient--blast at where this culture was headed...straight into the celeb/fame/money vortex. A fringe anarcho-intellectual named Simon Geist creates an underground magazine called "The Next Big Thing" (which may or may not exist), which lures a bunch of LA fame wannabes into his weird, punishing "Agenda". This film had an intelligent confrontational energy that reminded me of 70's punk--translated into film. As the New York Press described it in a review/interview at the time: The Punk Rock Apocalypse!

Ikky

Ultra no budget commentary on the dumbing of America

Zukovic's first (maybe "last") feature. Reportedly shot in the VERY low six figures. This rant against 90's postmodernism and America's self referential popculture tailspin contains some sardonicly hilarious moments wedged between selfconscious "Byronic Poses".

If you like all the Big Budget Lost In Space sitcom rehashes that pass for "A" movies this is not for you. If you are disgusted with the turn Hollywood has taken since the 70's it is worth a buck rental for sure.

Short on the human side and reaching for that epic gesture (a difficult thing to do even when you have a budget) Big Thing is flawed, but laying prostrate in the right direction.

jerkystick

Tripe but not trite

I came across this movie on cable on night. It's interesting but not completely.

Working with little money, the director takes what would be nothing more than home movie sets and creates a Faulkner like stream of consciousness that swirls around a shallow, uncreative world.

The dryness of Simon Geist is comical. He is the 'know it all' jerk that criticizes modern art but offers no alternative. And at the end you find that he is what he hates.

The response to this movie has been pretty brutal. If Ingmar Bergman had made this, I would have expected better. But I say kudos to Dan Zukovic. It's far from being a great movie, but I have considered watching it again.

10bcool57

The Greatest Film Ever Made....

This film is as good as it is difficult to find. The film's hero (and writer and director) is Simon Geist- a man "with an agenda." He creates a fake magazine just to have the authority to interview the swine of Los Angeles- the actors, the models, the musicians- who believe that their own defecation doesn't smell. With clever dialog, Zucovic succeeds in doing this. Sure, the budget for this film was probably what he paid for a used car, but this film is so solid and so well written that it works very well. Any person who can reenact Edward Munk's 'The Scream' in the reflection of a silver trashbin at a local coffee house should be nominated for some type of award. Give this film a chance and listen to what it says... because they HAVE been making the same car since 1986... it's called 'the car.' Bravo, Zucovic, bravo!

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Trivia
The tongue piercing of the reporters was a prop made from half-dome pierced earrings from the local Walmart. The backs were cut off and denture glue was used to stick them to the tongue.

Quotes
Simon Geist: They've been making the same car since 1986. It's called The Car.

Soundtracks
Endless Rerun
Written by Cole Coonce & Dan Zukovic
Published by Braindead Muzick, BMI
Lead Vocals: Blaine Capatch
Bass Guitar: Brian Bradley
Guitar, Background Vocals, Drums: Cole Coonce
Courtesy of Nitronic Research