u/007MaxZorin

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-13/asx-markets-business-live-news/107030738

In light of the new Spider Man movie, I revisited the OG and this tune just hit me! The nostalgia. It truly is a banger. From the harmony and melody to the instruments to the lyrics to the music video utilising the set/back-drop and scenes inter-twined throughout and the film tie-in a great feel during the end credits.

Also interesting as Kroeger technically went solo and didn't involve his "Nickelback" band (at their peak) and also choosing to feature Saliva's Scott of all people! But it worked.

A shame we don't hear it come over the air more or see these type of songs or collabs on movies like superhero blockbusters. This flick really was huge at the time too, just about nothing came close for a while and prime Tobey Maguire.

Based on the unbelievable true story. Executive produced by Tom Cruise. And for what it's worth, this is also easily Hayden Christensen's career performance. Highly recommended journalism exploration story and the consequences of publishing fiction.

The movie gets better as it goes on, the climax is powerful and the scene with Sarsgaard and Chloe Sevigny in the lobby near the end was an acting masterclass, spine tingling. But probably the most impactful is the opening and ending scene in the school classroom with Caroline Goodall.

(Image: courtesy Lions Gate)

Crikey!

Never realised how unbelievably chaotic the making of this movie was... Sounds like "Apocalypse Now" (which Brando also starred in) but only nowhere remotely as good.

They even made a 90min doco in 2014 about it!

From Marlon Brando refusing to learn his lines and getting fed through an ear piece. To Val Kilmer not wanting to come out of his trailer. To the director getting sacked. To the new director and cast clashing. To Rob Morrow breaking down in tears and begging his agent to get him out of there. To Fairuza Balk catching a limo with an assistant to Sydney to escape and being ordered back threatened by New Line with legal action. To David Thewlis calling it the most horrible experience of his entire career. To millions being spent on Stan Winston's prosthetics and the supporting cast just sitting around having nothing to do. To a hurricane blowing through the set in tropical far north Queensland in Australia in real life. And it just goes on and on and on.

New Line Cinema CEO Robert Shaye said that in retrospect it was a big mistake to throw USD$40m in 1995 at a story like this, which in turn demanded A-list salary actors like Brando and Kilmer and then it just snow balled ​from there. He also said that when he had to instruct Pressman to fire original director Richard Stanley and replaced with John Frankenheimer it was the right decision at the time because of what had been invested vs what work had been achieved (or lack thereof).

With the film's producer Edward R Pressman essentially saying the stars were just unreliable and unprofessional and basically it was a mistake to cast Brando and Kilmer and that all the other issues simply stemmed and cascaded from there.

It was also reported that Ted Turner (Turner Entertainment owned New Line at the time) had given the ultimate green light and funds towards the project and that the studio and crew were under immense pressure from the get go. Of note, two months after its domestic release, Turner was sold to Time Warner (owner of rival studio Warner Bros).

WILD 😵‍💫

[Stills: ©️ Copyright 1996 New Line Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.]

Christopher Nolan told The Hollywood Reporter earlier today that he and his company are about to start work overseeing an optical blow-up of The Prestige to a 70mm print for a re-release next year, in collaboration with IP rights holders Disney and Warner Bros.

It was originally shot with anamorphic scope lenses on 35mm stock.

However, it won't be in IMAX, at least not the 1.43:1 aspect ratio like The Odyssey due to the way it was originally filmed and the transfer. It is being sourced from a 35mm interpositive master.

It will likely be in 2.20:1 aspect and at select theatres capable of screening 70mm film. Most cinemas (16:9) taking the re-release will probably just use the 35mm or DCP transfer in its original 2.35:1 scope aspect.

Exciting for fans and new generations though!

One of my childhood favourites.

Recently re-watched for the first time in decades and it brought back so many fond memories, would watch it just about every week as a kid.

Golden age Hollywood legends Helen Hayes and Keenan Wynn stole the show with just about every scene they were in. The skyscraper window wash scene where Herbie goes crazy in the office with all the soap suds is hilarious 😂 And love the San Fran shots.

Herbie was such a fun, family-friendly franchise. Feel-good. Made a remake in the mid-2000s with Lindsay Lohan.

The prints on Disney Plus are great transfers too, crystal clear sharp HD, look restored with no artefacts but also nice grain and no unnecessary smoothing/AI/digital encoding or streaming issues and in their original formats (16:9 and pillarboxed 1.66:1 aspects - as was standard with Disney for that era and like European film and Stanley Kubrick).

Beep, beep!

‘She got on the first plane’: Telstra defends response as CEO returns from leave

I had always wanted to see this, missed it at the time and have just never got around to it. Despite the then A-list stars, I thought the premise sounded weird and didn't see these two in a fantasy/sci-fi... But how wrong I was!

I ended up thoroughly enjoying it, what a fascinating film. Well acted, arguably one of each of their best performances in a very underrated movie, craftfully written and directed. It was an intriguing look into life beyond the horizon, seeing perspectives, taking a step back to reevaluate oneself and looking behind a person's facade for real meaning. I thought the narrative only improved as it began to explain itsself more and leading to the climactic moments.

While it might be a bit left-field/off-beat, slow and analytical/academic at times, I recommend this, purely if not just for Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges.

What a throwback! 80s teen/high school cult nostalgia.

Young charismatic Billy Jayne [top left] just about stole the show as the young brother, while Joyce Hyser [top right and bottom] delivered a great performance as the chick turned boy. Look out for William Zabka who'd just co-starred the year prior and for the same studio Columbia in classic "The Karate Kid", a film also referenced in this movie and couldn't help but draw comparisons with the lead's look to Ralph Macchio.

Love these sorts of flicks, plus how it pushed some limits with nudity and dialogue/innuendo especially for then and with some cast who were still minors (like Jayne's character). And here in Australia it went out of print for decades, never received a BluRay or even DVD, only a VHS some 30 years back, but is currently back available officially to rent/buy on digital and in its remastered widescreen and HD, looked so good.

Reminded me of "She's The Man" with Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum 20 years later. Also was good to see Jayne go onto a popular sitcom in the early 90s and for Zabka (and Macchio and Martin Kove) to come back many years later recently with "Kobra Kai".

In 2005, was actually released Feb '06, Warner Home Video in Australia finally released a DVD of all-time festive classic "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (1989).

But it was a 4:3 transfer!

Not only that, it was full scale, like 1.33:1!?

[Specs: NTSC - which was also weird as it's usually PAL here, Region 4, Australia, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Colour, 97min, 4:3 Transfer / Regular / 1.85:1 - which is an error or maybe they mean its original aspect / "This film has been modified from its original version, it has been formatted to fit your screen", Special Features: Audio commentary with Randy Quaid and Beverly D'Angelo].

The peak of DVDs had already just passed, yet they still couldn't even find a way to give us a matted or 16:9 widescreen print of this not even mega blockbuster? After hundreds or thousands of movie releases over the 8 years prior!

So was this actually open matte, as shot? Or did they still pan & scan it? Apparently, as per VHS tapes, this movie you could indeed see extra vertical footage with the odd boom mic or dead space and edges of stuff not meant to be seen, as per trivia/goof webpages.

But yeah so bizarre. And just months or 1 year later they did release a 1.85:1 and 16.9 print, as part of a double peak with "Vegas Vacation". Like WTF. And a BluRay shortly after. Perhaps the source was different, obviously by mid-late 2000s a digital re-master and HD would've been required for TV broadcasters, HD DVD, BluRay, etc. So this DVD must've been from an older VHS or Laserdisc master? Wonder if they'll do a 4K restoration.

1. "16:9 Transfer" (as was written on the back covers, at least here in Australia) also had two different descriptors in a long box above this phrase for those widescreen aspects:

A) This film is presented in a "matted" format, preserving the aspect ratio of its original theatrical exhibition. Enhanced for widescreen TVs.

Was usually seen next to the "1.85:1" symbol.

Seen on titles such as "The Fugitive" and "The Name Of The Rose".

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B) This film is presented in a "letterbox" format, preserving the 'scope' aspect ratio of its original theatrical exhibition. Black bars appear at the top and bottom are normal for this format.

Was usually seen next to the "2.35:1" symbol.

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So can someone explain the difference between A and B and why?

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2. "Two-Sided Format".

"Please flip disc to Side B".

AKA 'DVD-10'.

Often seen on some of their earliest releases around 1998 - 2000. Such as "Lethal Weapon 4" and "US Marshals".

Be it due to a long run time, addition of special features, both or two different titles/films.

Also, sometimes the transfer and aspects would be different on each side.

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3. "Side A: 4x3 Transfer | Side B: 16x9 Transfer".

Side A "Regular" symbol and Side B "Widescreen" symbol". But both usually had the same aspect, eg. "1.85:1".

"Side A: Suitable for all TV Screens".

"Side B: {as per 1B above}."

So you could see a pillarboxed 1.33:1-esque version on one side, ideal for older CRT TVs (still dominant at that time) or a widescreen enhanced/anamorphic version on the other side (better for flatscreen TVs which were expensive and rare at the time like Plasmas). But am guessing neither was encoded properly, so I'd imagine Side B wouldn't auto 'Pan & Scan' if a 4:3 screen is detected by the DVD Player and would look distorted?

Such as "Hard to Kill" and "A Perfect Murder".

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Warner Home Video (at least in Australia) were the only home entertainment arm to use those exact terms on the back of DVDs from 1998 - 2007: "Transfer", "Matted" and an "Australia" territory logo - which I always found odd but somewhat cool - which was in addition to the Region 4 logo also being used. As well as the only ones to use dual-sided discs, both for different content or differing transfers/aspects, as far as I can remember. Perhaps showing how scary the new advent of "DVD Video" was to many at the time, especially late 90s and around 2000.

Have an eBay Google seach of some WB Aussie DVD back covers from this era to get an idea.

God I miss the original peak physical media days, so glad it's made a slow comeback!

Anyway, who had one of these back in the day? 💿 🎞