MovieChat Forums > The Last Big Thing (1998) Discussion > Finally coming to DVD!!!

Finally coming to DVD!!!

posted 15 years ago by rgstern
11 replies | jump to latest

Dan Zukovic mentions it in this recent interview.

DZ: At long last, my first feature "The Last Big Thing" should be available on DVD (and digital platforms) soon, with "Dark Arc" shortly to follow. Currently I'm gearing up for a new indie feature film as writer/director (and actor)--a 21st Century global scammer noir (with dark comic elements), which should definitely be of interest to "Millenium" fans. It features a key role written specifically for Kirk Douglas (we are currently trying to get to him). So that may be the new undiscovered country--another genre-annihilating exploration of these strange times, with a killer turn for the great 92-year-old Kirk Douglas!

http://bringbackfrankblack.blogspot.com/2009/08/btfb-exclusive-intervi ew-dan-zukovic.html

[–] Autlan 15 years ago

Good news. I've been wanting to see this for years.

[–] grecuma 15 years ago

PLEASE let this happen!!

The webz are barren and I NEED to watch this movie again.

One of a kind, masterpiece, genius.....

I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!! More people need to see this!!

[–] Laskey88 14 years ago

Yeah.. so, uh, when is this going to happen?

Cause my foot's worn out from tapping it in anticipation for about.. 9 years.

I Like Movies! They Are Cool! Yes, This Is My Message Signature -- No *beep*

[–] rgstern 14 years ago

Yeah.. so, uh, when is this going to happen?

Cause my foot's worn out from tapping it in anticipation for about.. 9 years.

Yeah, I know what you mean. Let's go ahead and call it June 29, 2010 then.

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Big-Thing-Ws-Dol/dp/B003ABPUAG/
http://videoeta.com/movie/122314
http://www.comingondvd.com/shop.php?c=001&n=404276&i=B003ABPUA G&x=Last_Big_Thing_Ws_Dol

[–] Laskey88 14 years ago

And they're taking pre-orders? This must be real, finally! Thank you so much for the heads up, I am actually overjoyed right now.

I Like Movies! They Are Cool! Yes, This Is My Message Signature -- No *beep*

[–] rgstern 14 years ago

You're welcome. Even better news... a couple of days after I last posted, I finally got a response to an email I sent ages ago. Here it is:

Hi all,

At some point in the past you had inquired about the DVD release of Dan Zukovic’s films DARK ARC and THE LAST BIG THING. We have recently found out both films will be released on DVD through Vanguard Cinema. THE LAST BIG THING will be released on June 1st and DARK ARC will be released in September.

You can check the site below closer to June for further details and I anticipate the DVDs will also be available for purchase through Amazon.

http://vanguardcinema.com/index_home.htm

Soundtrack albums including songs written and performed by Dan Zukovic will be available via itunes later this year.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers,
Brendan Keown
Third Tribe Productions Inc.

So maybe we'll have it a little sooner than expected. Hope one of these DVDs has Dan's early shorts "Now Renting" and "Conjurer of Monikers" on it. Incidentally, the latter is actually on Youtube right now. If any TLBT fans haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yORbX3l-UcY

[–] Laskey88 14 years ago

Conjurer of Monikers is great. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. And as it would seem, it is on the DVD.

So... what is the original aspect ratio of this film? On the DVD it looks stretched horizontally from 4:3 to 16:9... looks really bad!

I Like Movies! They Are Cool! Yes, This Is My Message Signature -- No *beep*

[–] tylerrabbit 14 years ago

Just got the DVD. It's 4:3 even though the box says "1.85:1 Widescreen." If it looks stretched, maybe set your TV to 4:3 rather than 16:9.. I too wonder what the original aspect ratio was, but am 99% sure it was 1.85:1, since it was shot on 35mm..

Am very happy it's out on DVD, although I'd be extra happy if it had director commentary.. Would love to know what Zukovic thinks now that the culture's gone down on itself for over a decade.

[–] Laskey88 14 years ago

My television IS 4:3. It's standard def from 2001 (yes, I watch movies on a semi-antiquated pos.)

I've also watched it on my computer, which has a 16:9 screen. In both scenarios, it plays in an aspect ratio wider than 4:3. The actors heads looked stretched. On my standard def television, the movie looks letterboxed with slightly stretched actor heads.

I'm starting to think either the DVDs weren't created properly, or I have a bunk one. I also find it weird that you can't skip past the trailer for Dark Arc, but rather have to use fast-forward.

I am highly bummed about my Last Big Thing DVD. If you'll pardon the expression, "this sucks."

I Like Movies! They Are Cool! Yes, This Is My Message Signature -- No *beep*

[–] rgstern 13 years ago

I finally got my DVD and have to agree. Vanguard botched this release bigtime. If it was a mistake, it's still incompetent at best. If they did it on purpose, I can't fathom why, other than they thought it'd convince more people to buy it. But yes, this is just a 4:3 image that's squished and stretched to 16:9.

But, look on the bright side. This is something we can fix fairly easily. Simplest way would be to set your DVD player to output 16:9 if it has that option, but you'll have to do that every time you want to watch it. A more permanent solution would be this: rip the disc to your hard drive and use IfoEdit to change all of the 16:9 headers in each IFO file to 4:3, then burn a new disc. Just follow the instructions here (actually, just do the opposite since this one's for 4:3 to 16:9):

http://www.dvdr-digest.com/articles/42_1.html

You'll wind up with a new DVD that plays at the proper AR (well, for this print at least) and the trailers are now magically skippable too! The latter may be because I ripped with DVD Shrink. Strangely though, pressing the title button seems to go to the extras page, but the original did that too. Another example of bad authoring.

Maybe one day we'll have a proper widescreen release of the film. Until then, this is still the best available, surpassing previous TV recordings and bootlegs. I did a comparison of my own recording from cable and the Vanguard release and the difference is clear. There's even a bit more of the image shown (well, in some scenes, but others just seem like the frame shifted a bit). In either case it's probably lost in the overscan area of most CRT TVs. I tried them both on two different TVs with two different DVD players and the result was about the same as far as what portion of the image was viewable.

TV - http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/4272/97856762.jpg
DVD - http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/194/41212972.jpg

TV - http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/2228/33115921.jpg
DVD - http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/8433/54160334.jpg

TV - http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/5329/10748328.jpg
DVD - http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/2603/60284588.jpg

[–] at7000 10 years ago

Reruns, reruns, I want to meet the new Marcia Brady. Laurie Partridge reading Chairman Mao. Hey Hey Hey. Horshak's smoking crack. Worth the viewing just for the soundtrack.