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The Last Big Thing

  • 1996
  • R
  • 1h 38m
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
436
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
2 Photos
ComedyDrama

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

  • Director
    • Dan Zukovic
  • Writer
    • Dan Zukovic
  • Stars
    • Dan Zukovic
    • Susan Heimbeinder
    • Mark Ruffalo
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.5/10
    436
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Dan Zukovic
    • Writer
      • Dan Zukovic
    • Stars
      • Dan Zukovic
      • Susan Heimbeinder
      • Mark Ruffalo
    • 18User reviews
    • 110Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 2 wins & 6 nominations total

    Videos1

    Last Big Thing
    Trailer 1:54
    Last Big Thing

    Photos1

    View Poster

    Top cast21

    Edit
    Dan Zukovic
    Dan Zukovic
    • Simon Geist
    Susan Heimbeinder
    • Darla Hames
    • (as Susan Heimbinder)
    Mark Ruffalo
    Mark Ruffalo
    • Brent Benedict
    Pamela Dickerson
    • Tedra
    Andrew Falk
    • Chris
    Sibel Ergener
    • Magda
    James Lorinz
    James Lorinz
    • Comic
    Yul Vazquez
    Yul Vazquez
    • 1st Interviewer
    Thomas Prisco
    • 2nd Interviewer
    Louis Mustillo
    Louis Mustillo
    • Video Producer
    Steven Kay
    • Video D.P.
    Blaine Capatch
    • Band Leader
    Mitch Mayer
    • Band Member
    Will Huston
    • Band Member
    Yevo
    • Band Member
    Carl Lamb
    • Bennett Hames
    Maria von Hartz
    • Woman in Video Store
    Ron Zwang
    • Man in Video Store
    • Director
      • Dan Zukovic
    • Writer
      • Dan Zukovic
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews18

    6.5436
    1
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    10

    Featured reviews

    stevemal1

    This was a weird, but totally interesting movie

    I liked this movie a lot. It made a lot of interesting statements about society in general that really appealed to me. I also liked its reflection of two Non-Conforists living in an extremely conformist environment. This movie was good, and different in a new, interesting way.
    8santhurnroger

    A Weird Acidic Cult Film

    A weird acidic cult film outta the mid-90's, Dan Zukovic's "THE LAST BIG THING" is definitely the kind of indie film they aren't making anymore. Genuinely subversive and anti-mainstream, the film is a thorough bludgeoning of LA Pop Culture, a few years before the reality TV deluge hit in the 2000's (also coming several years before "Fight Club", and some of the other defining 90's indies). There is a nice turn by a youngish looking Mark Ruffalo, and some nice slightly surreal LA and outskirts cinematography by M. David Mullen, who went on to do "Northfork".

    Saw this originally on the Movie Channel, and again recently on Amazon Instant Video Streaming. "THE LAST BIG THING" bears a repeat viewing well - a memorable low budget find with a punk rock edge to it.
    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.
    9creed-5

    Sardonic, acrimonious, witty and silly.

    This movie is an amusing and utterly sarcastic view of pop culture and the producers thereof. I was impressed with the photography that consisted of vivid colors and spin doctored settings, especially when you think that this is Zukovic's first large scale attempt.

    One warning, do not take the movie's message that seriously. It is not for mass consumption ( and that is not a compliment). The message is a somewhat stylized post-college, neophyte view of society.

    I did enjoy the basic plot line of a fictitious 'zine editor verbally whipping the mobocracy of the 90's.
    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!

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    Related interests

    Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
    Comedy
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • 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

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 23, 1998 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Последняя важная вещь
    • Filming locations
      • Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Byronic Pose Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $22,731
    • Gross worldwide
      • $22,731
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 38m(98 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby SR
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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