REWIND REVIEW: Back To The Future (1985)

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on November 13, 2025.

(PG) ★★★★★

Director: Robert Zemeckis.

Cast: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, Thomas F. Wilson.

"Seatbelts? Where we're going we don't need seatbelts."

Unlike other monumental films of my childhood, I don't remember the first time I watched Back To The Future. It was one of a handful of movies we had pirated on VHS, so it was in high rotation in my house in the late '80s. I don't remember a time before Back To The Future. It was just always there. 

But I distinctly remember buying a book at Target on the making of the trilogy when I was 11. This was my first foray into learning about how a movie was made. It was the moment where the curtain was pulled back, and what I saw behind the silver screen proved just as compelling as what was on it.

And I've still got it.

Even today, the behind-the-scenes story of Back To The Future is a compelling study in persistence and adaptation. I'm still fascinated by the huge changes made to the story and the production. It's a great "kill your darlings" example in cinema - few ideas were sacrosanct during the writing of the script, with each alteration becoming an improvement.

The time machine went from being a fridge to a Delorean, Marty McFly went from being a video pirate to a student who dreams of being a rock star, and the climax involving a nuclear explosion turned into an iconic combination of lightning and clock tower. Even during filming, changes were made in search of perfection - Eric Stoltz was replaced by Fox a month and a half into production.

The results are incredible, and so much of it has become iconic. The DeLorean, 88 miles per hour, "1.21 gigawatts!", Marty McFly playing Johnny B. Goode, the title, the lightning striking the clock, two streaks of flaming tyre marks, the flux capacitor, and a common understanding of how time travel works - all these things are cultural touchstones now. They're references understood by millions. Many films wish they could be even half this iconic.

And at its heart - the unchanging thing among all the changes and zeitgeisty moments - is a comedy with a slightly cartoonish sense of humour delivering a now-classic high concept: "what if you went back in time and met your parents?". 

Joanna Berry, writing in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, pins the film's success down to "an extremely clever premise... further enlivened by quick-fire direction from Robert Zemeckis and a superb, witty script" from Zemeckis and Bob Gale. Zemeckis and Gale were also clever enough to aim the movie at anyone and everyone, whether they be nine or 90.

In declaring it the best film of the '80s, Consequence's Michael Roffman pushed that wide appeal notion further. "Back To The Future is so many things to so many different people. It’s a brilliant comedy, it’s a sentimental love story, it’s a tale of remarkable triumph, it’s a stylish sci-fi adventure, it’s a perverted commentary on the American nuclear family, it’s a haunting parable on the spoils of Reaganomics," he wrote, only half-joking about the last one.

However you come at it, it's the quintessential time travel film. Back To The Future is about how our choices shape us, how we can be the masters of our own destinies, and how the way we live our lives ripples out to those around us. Marty McFly's haphazard butterfly effects are played for laughs (Twin Pines Mall becomes Lone Pine Mall after he crashes into a tree in the DeLorean) as well as being the heart, soul and plot of the film. He transforms his mother and father from alcoholic and dweeb respectively to white-picket-fence capitalist/Reaganomic success story, and turns his dad's bully into a helpful servant. It's ultimate wish fulfilment - we wish our lives worked out how we wanted, so what if we had a second chance to make that happen? It's the core of almost every time travel movie, and few do it better than Back To The Future.

Perhaps the most fascinating character in all this is Marty's mum Lorraine (Thompson). She is revealed as a far more complex person than her son (or we the audience) suspected. As a teen, she lusts, she breaks rules, she falls in love with the wrong person (her son!). Lorraine figuring out her destiny becomes a key tenet of the film - it's basically the driving narrative that everything else fits around. Marty's arc is even defined by Lorraine - by film's end he understands his parents and everything they went through a lot better, which is essentially his biggest personal growth in the film.

And then there's Rick and Morty, sorry, Doc and Marty. Fox and Lloyd's pairing is inspired, as is Zemeckis' direction of their performances. There are moments of subtlety, but the cartoonish air Fox and Lloyd bring at Zemeckis' urging really sells the comedy, without feeling off. As Fox explained in that aforementioned "making of" book I bought aged 11, "(Zemeckis) has, at times, asked me to do enormously exaggerated moves and facial contortions that go against every instinct I have as an actor".

But the results speak for themselves. Lloyd and Fox deliver fantastic comedic performances that have defined their careers. 

And despite Zemeckis having Forrest Gump, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Death Becomes Her and Romancing The Stone next to his name, this is greatest film.

While it's hard to pinpoint films influenced by Back To The Future, its legacy and importance is evident. In 2007, the United States Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry, and it appears regularly on greatest-of-all-time film lists, especially those voted for by the public. And at the time of writing, it was still in the 75 top grossing films of all time when adjusted for inflation, and #101 in my totally scientific and completely infallible mega-list of the greatest films of all time.

While it sucks to think we live 10 years beyond the future Doc and Marty visited in the under-appreciated Back To The Future II, at least it's good to know that 40 years of from their first outing, Back To The Future remains a timeless classic. 

AFI #66: Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)

This is part of a series of articles reviewing the American Film Institute's Top 100 Films, as unveiled in 2007. Why am I doing this? Because when I started, the damned cinemas are closed and I had to review something, and now I can't stop.

(PG) ★★★★★

Director: Steven Spielberg.

Cast: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott.

The eyes of the idol really followed you around the room.

Every Saturday, back when I was about 10 years old, my brother and I walked up the dusty dirt road we lived on to our neighbours' house, parked ourselves in front of the TV with the other kids, and watched a VHS tape of Raiders Of The Lost Ark. We did this for so many Saturdays I lost count.

This weekend ritual would be followed by all the adventures I could muster in my imagine - the hay shed became an ancient temple, a copse of trees became a perilous journey over molten lava, four-wheel motorbikes became the location for rolling battles with imaginary Nazis.

Before I understood what "cinema" was as an artform, before I understood movies, before I understood film as something to study and devour and drown in, I understood that Raiders Of The Lost Ark was the greatest movie of all time.

It's certainly my favourite movie of all time, so reviewing it is absurdly difficult. To me, it's the perfect film, and its clearly visible flaws only add to its perfection. 

But watching it for the umpteenth time, this time with my underwhelmed nine-year-old, I was struck by how beautiful it looked. 

Just look at this shot:

Or the composition and use of shadow here:

And here:

Or even this shot, in the midst of a fight scene:

This is Spielberg and his cinematographer Douglas Slocombe taking what could've been a mere pastiche of '50s adventures films and treating it like the pure cinema it deserved to be treated as. 

And then there are the scenes, each one iconic, one after the other. Screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan has said his job was basically to link the set pieces together - from the booby-trapped resting place of the fallen idol to the Nepalese bar-room brawl, from the discovery of the Ark to the escape from the snake-filled Well of Souls, from the fist fight with added propellers to going under the truck, all leading to the face-melting conclusion. It's the very definition of "rollicking adventure".

Kasdan is selling himself short though. We definitely remember the action, but the bits in between are glorious. Perhaps the best is the scene where the MacGuffin gets introduced via a careful conversation between Indy, Marcus and two military men. It's wonderfully measured at first, before it hints at something unnerving - we learn about the Staff of Ra and the Ark of the Covenant in a clinical fashion, but we get a strong sense of foreboding as they discuss Hitler and "the power of God". We also get to see another side to Indy. He's a learned scholar, with a healthy yet respectful dose of skepticism, rendered beautifully by Ford. 

Which brings us to the not-so-secret weapon of Raiders. Harrison Ford was already a star, his face on a million lunchboxes as Han Solo, but Indy made him an icon, a legend, and the goddamn GOAT. The way he effortlessly flips from lopsided smile and "I don't know - I'm making this up as I go" nonchalance to teeth-gritted glare is under-rated. Ford sells the moments of "are you seeing this shit?" dumb luck just as much as he sells complexity of his relationship with Marion (Allen). It's this ability to flick from comedy to drama at the drop of a fedora that helped make him such a star.

Allen's no slouch in this either, keeping up with Ford every step of the way. The script subverts the damsel in distress trope just as often as it leans into it, and Allen hits every moment in that complicated journey. Her star would never shine as bright again as it did in Raiders, but her imprint on this film is indelible and vital.

I could go on and on about all the things that make Raiders so incredible, but again, I realise the futility in trying to separate my critique from my own nostalgia. Watching it spirits me back to my childhood every time. It returns me to a tree-climbing innocence, when there was nothing more incredible than a stuntman sliding under a moving vehicle, and punching Nazis in the face was the right thing to do, and  Raiders was the greatest movie of all time.

And some things never change. Punching Nazis in the face is still the right thing to do, and Raiders is still the greatest movie of all time.

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on October 30, 2025.

(M) ★★★

Director: Scott Cooper.

Cast: Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Odessa Young, Paul Walter Hauser, Stephen Graham, Gaby Hoffmann, David Krumholtz.

"I will now perform Down With The Sickness, in the key of F."

It's weird to be bored by a film that you suspect you should really love.

But that's the feeling I had for large parts of Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, a film about the making of the Springsteen album I know best, and the only one I've ever purchased - his dark 1982 opus Nebraska, an album that saw him take a deliberate step back from the spotlight and that was ultimately recorded at home on a four-track.

Given the subject matter we see in the film, I will absolutely hunt down a copy of the book it's based on, and would gladly watch the same stuff presented as a documentary. But as a film, Deliver Me From Nowhere drags and wanders through nearly two hours of Springsteen battling with his inner demons in the quest for pure creativity in a way that is surpisingly unengaging.

This exploration of The Boss fighting his Black Dog is sporadically interesting but far from enthralling on the whole, partly because it's often hard to differentiate his depression from him being a diva. 

And maybe that's the point. Certainly, by film's end my perspective on the story and the character of Springsteen had changed, and I felt a strong desire to watch the film again through that lens, now better understanding what Springsteen was actually grappling with.

So maybe I'm just an idiot that didn't get it. Or maybe the film doesn't deliver it well enough, leaving me bored, despite being fascinated by the making of this album. 

Either way, White's performance as Springsteen is excellent. He doesn't necessarily look like the New Jersey icon (and he's obviously not playing guitar all the time in the film), but he captures the intensity and power required for the role. 

Strong is also good as Springsteen's trusted manager Jon Landau, who is a fascinating character on his own. Landau serves as something of an audience surrogate - his confusion mirrors the audience's own, as we try to grapple with what the hell is going on with Springsteen. This does mean Strong's given some painfully clunky lines at times, especially in some hamfisted scenes where Landau talks at his wife about Springsteen. This need to have Landau explain things seems proof that the material isn't selling itself well enough.

The film is at its best when Springsteen is grappling with his past, as manifested by his parents (played by Graham and Hoffmann). The complexities of this relationship prove more engaging than Springsteen's creative wranglings, or an unfulfilling subplot about his relationship with a young single mum (played by Young).

Deliver Me From Nowhere is solid proof of the notion some subject matter is better suited to certain media. In book or doco form, this material would likely sing. But as a biopic it's an underwhelming cry in the dark that only hits the right notes on occasion. 

The Naked Gun (2025)

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on September 4, 2025.

(PG) ★★★★

Director: Akiva Schaffer.

Cast: Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston, CCH Pounder, Kevin Durand.

"No, I will not fluff your pillow."

Rebooting a beloved classic comedy from a long-lost genre? Bold move.

It's a move that pays off handsomely in this uncalled-for rehash, which is surprisingly faithful and thankfully hilarious.

Spoof movies have been dead since before Leslie Nielsen was, yet this Naked Gun follows the rules set out by Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, and manages to mimic the original movie's send-up of film noir and police procedurals to great success. 

Neeson is the new Nielson, playing Frank Drebin Jr, an equally inept cop, but with a harder edge than his old man. Recently widowed and constantly pushing the limits, Drebin Jr is pulled off a major bank robbery investigation and set loose on what seems to be a simple road accident. Naturally, it leads to a plot that puts the whole world at stake, and it's up to Drebin Jr to stop it.

In his role as the inexplicably Irish son of Drebin Sr, Neeson plays the lead role straighter than Nielsen ever did. There's minimal mugging for the camera and few funny faces. Neeson bends the comedy to his will as he rolls from scowl to confusion and back again, and it's great. Similar to Nielsen's breakout as a comedic star in Airplane! (AKA Flying High!), this has the potential to give Neeson yet another late-career reinvention, much like how Taken turned him into the current king of gritty B-grade actioners.

Equally effective is Anderson as love interest Beth Davenport. She gets some great moments - scat singing at a jazz club, for one - and nails it. Another actor experiencing a career reignition, The Naked Gun taps previously ignored strengths in Anderson.

The film is continuously hilarious and inventive - a mid-film diversion involving a snowman is a prime example of the bold silliness on offer. Perhaps the biggest update is some of the more meta moments, the best of which involves Drebin Jr paying his respects to his late father, and acknowledging he wants "to be just like (him), but at the same time be completely different and original". A follow-up fourth-wall gag involving OJ Simpson is also great.

The only downside is the film pushes the insanity further than the original - arguably too far by film's end. There's an oddly grounded quality to the 1988 Naked Gun that vanishes right from the get-go in this version.

But for every joke that falls flat, there are half a dozen ready to go to pick up the slack. Don't expect The Naked Gun to revive the spoof, but it does the legacy of ZAZ and Leslie Nielsen proud.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on August 7, 2025.

(PG) ★★★★

Director: Matt Shakman.

Cast: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Julia Garner, Sarah Niles, Mark Gatiss, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser, Ralph Ineson.

"We can't float here all day playing Frogger, you know?"

So they finally made a good Fantastic Four movie.

The reasons the previous films failed are varied but they're particularly obvious when you look at this slick MCU entry. The characters are compelling and share chemistry, the retro-space age production design sparkles, the zippy story wastes no time doing what it does, and the large-scale stakes feature a fascinating moral conundrum at their heart.

You can probably shave a star off this review if you're not a hardcore comic-book nerd or you're suffering from a severe case of "superhero fatigue". But even with that star gone (devoured by Galactus perhaps), this is still a fun romp that leans into its old-school vibe in a very contemporary blockbuster way.

A very short set-up condenses the origin story into an easily digestible clip show, before the film launches us into the FF's reality - there's a baby on the way, but so is the world-eating Galactus. It's up to the Fantastic Four to save the day, but it won't be so easy this time.

As with the best of the MCU, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is simultaneously true to the source material while also playing fast and loose with those same sources. So we get a version of the original Coming Of Galactus arc, but with plenty of enjoyable twists, including a baby, a variation on the traditional Silver Surfer, and a neat ethical dilemma. It keeps things fresh and interesting for the hardcore Marvelites, while bringing in plenty of good fodder for newcomers.

In fact, First Steps is purpose-built for newcomers. Unlike other recent MCU entries (especially Thunderbolts* and to a lesser degree Captain America: Brave New World), no prior watching is required. The film stands alone, making it a perfect re-entry point for people who lost track of/interest in the MCU anywhere between Iron Man 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine. 

Compared to the other FF films, Sue Storm and Reed Richards have actual chemistry for the first time,  courtesy of Kirby and Pascal, who make for a believable couple. The added bonus is that Sue is finally the truly powerful badass and Reed is the flawed genius the comics books have turned them into.

Meanwhile, Johnny Storm (Quinn) and Ben Grimm (Moss-Bachrach) are surprisingly low-key, almost to the point of being underwritten. Grimm gets a love interest sub-plot that goes nowhere, and his quiet moments also feel kinda pointless. Arguably the most complex of the Four, the explorations of his character are too subtle, bordering on non-existent. Michael Chiklis' version from the 2005/2007 films proves much more interesting. Lesser versions of Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm aren't deal-breakers, but it's an intriguing choice to downplay two such characters, who are more like bickering brothers in the comics and the '05/'07 movies.

The biggest criticism overall is that the film could do with taking a breath every now and then. It's a fast-paced, compact two hours of cinema, which is a relief in these days of bloated blockbusters, but First Steps feels relentless at times. 

Still, there's a lot to love about this '60s throwback. It sparkles where other FF adaptions haven't, most notably in its power couple of Reed and Sue, but its script is sharp and makes the Four feel like they're really part of a bigger world. Maybe there are a couple of mis-steps along the way, but this is one of the more fun and inviting MCU entries in a long time.

Unpacking triple j's Hottest 100 of Australian Songs

The race has been run, with 2.65 million votes tallied, and INXS' romantic waltz-turned-unofficial footy anthem Never Tear Us Apart has topped the table in triple j's countdown of the Hottest 100 Australian Songs.

The prevalence of tracks that wouldn't have been out of place on a BBQ/beer-drinking compilation album has led some to remark that the poll results are indistinguishable from a Triple M Ozzfest countdown.

But realistically, this is just further evidence that the boundaries around music are disappearing thanks to the internet and the insane amount of music now at our fingertips.

Whereas triple j once stood as a guardian of "the alternative" amid the glossy noise of "the mainstream", its key demographic of 15-27 year olds no longer sees the musical landscape in such binary fashion (18-29yos were the biggest voting demographic in the Aussie Hottest 100 by the way). 

There is just good music and bad music, just as Jimi Hendrix pointed out in 1969.

This is because the reach and strength of the gatekeepers has diminished. The power of the big record labels has all but vanished, MTV no longer deals with the M in its name, and commercial radio is a dying medium. As a result, it's harder to spoonfeed the masses their music anymore. The rise of streaming means people are more likely to seek out what they want to listen to of their own volition, rather than being split into the once-important camps of "alternative" and "mainstream".

Hence triple j leaning into pop more, leading Beyonce/Chappell Roan/Olivia Rodrigo/Gracie Abrams to become playlist regulars. But this is what its audience wants, as reflected by the voting in annual Hottest 100s. These types of acts are no longer considered "mainstream" to the youth, because that term is meaningless to young people now, and triple j gets that. Except in the case of Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran, for some reason.

So where triple j listeners would have once bristled at the likes of Farnsy, Barnesy and The Veronicas vaulting the wall that kept them in Mainstream Land and landing in the Alt Domain of triple j, they are now acknowledging that good music is good music, and that the wall doesn't really exist anymore. Old, new, commercial, alternative, pop, country, whatever, it doesn't matter. Explains why Fleetwood Mac's Dreams is still in the ARIA charts, right?

And it explains why triple j's playlist is the way it is these days, and why the Hottest 100 Aussie Songs list is the way it is.

But that's just my perspective.

Anyway, whatever. Feelings aren't facts, so let's crunch some numbers. Here's the hard data from the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs.

1. Never Tear Us Apart - INXS (1987)

Despite the OG Double J being big supporters of INXS back in the day, by the time the triple j Hottest 100 era rolled around with the All Time lists in 1989-1991, Michael Hutchence and his merry men were the epitome of mainstream, having sold millions of records in the US alone. Hence the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs being the first time any of their songs made it into a Hottest 100 (Need You Tonight was #59).

But INXS' Hottest 100 debut actually came about in the Hottest 100 of Australian Albums in 2011, where Kick landed at #5. Interestingly, 43 out of the 100 songs from the weekend came from albums that scored a slot in that Aussie Albums poll. In fact the highest ranking album on the Aussie Album list that didn't yield a song in the Aussie Song list was #12 - Grinspoon's Guide To Better Living.

One other pleasant oddity - the winner of the 1989 and 1990 All Time countdowns? Love Will Tear Us Apart. But now it seems love will Never Tear Us Apart. How times have changed.

2. The Nosebleed Section - Hilltop Hoods (2003)

With three appearances in the Aussie Song countdown, Hilltop Hoods now has 37 entries across all Hottest 100s (so that's including all the all-time/best of the decade/20 years/best albums polls they've done). That's the most of any Aussie acts, which goes nicely with their crazy 25 entries in annual Hottest 100s (also an Aussie record). 

In terms of All Hottest 100s, here's the Aussie leaderboard now:

37 - Hilltop Hoods

32 - Powderfinger

31 - Silverchair, Flume

26 - Tame Impala

23 - Grinspoon

22 - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

20 - The Living End, You Am I

3. Untouched - The Veronicas (2007)

While Untouched and 4ever were the first Veronicas' songs to make the Hottest 100, they were not the first appearances of The Veronicas in a Hottest 100. That honour goes to their collaboration with Allday for the Like A Version of Big Yellow Taxi, which made it in at #42 in 2023's LAV Hottest 100. 

The Origliasso twins, Missy Higgins, Kimbra, and Julia Stone were the only women to make it into the top 20.

4. Scar - Missy Higgins (2004)

Despite coming second in her annual Hottest 100 countdown in 2004, Missy Higgins' Scar outperformed all the annual #1s when it came time to vote for our favourite Aussie songs. Twelve of the 16 Aussie songs that have won an annual Hottest 100 countdown and were eligible for this poll (sorry Wiggles) made the grade, four did not - more on that shortly. 

But what about the runners up? There were nine #2s in the Aussie Songs countdown out of a possible 18, with Scar topping the pile. Among the nine unsuccessful #2s: Something For Kate's Monsters, Ben Lee's Catch My Disease, Amy Shark's Adore, and Little Red's Rock It.

5. Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House (1986)

When the Hottest 100 began in 1989 it was an All Time poll - ditto in 1990 and 1991. Crowded House featured on none of those three lists, perhaps because they were too new and "mainstream" at the time. But Don't Dream It's Over's rise through the subsequent Hottest 100s it was eligible for accurately reflects its ascent to classicdom. 

In the All Time Hottest 100 of 1998, it was #76. In the All Time count of 2009, it was #50. Its parent album Crowded House was #13 in 2011. And it chimed in at #5 on the All Time Aussie Song list. Quite the rise.

6. My Happiness - Powderfinger (2000)

Of the 12 annual countdown winners that made the list, this topped the pile. But spare a thought for the four #1s that didn't get a look in - Buy Me A Pony by Spiderbait, Amazing by Alex Lloyd, Hoops by The Rubens, and Say Nothing by Flume feat. May-A. Maybe they'll get a run in 200-101 (airing on Double J on Saturday, August 2).

Powderfinger were part of an elite group of bands that scored three entries in the Aussie Song countdown - how's this for a who's who of great Aussie acts: Powderfinger, Crowded House, Hilltop Hoods, Jimmy Barnes, AC/DC, Silverchair, Midnight Oil, and Gang of Youths.

And who was the only person to get four entries? Powderfinger's Bernard Fanning of course.

7. Flame Trees - Cold Chisel (1984)
8. Khe Sanh - Cold Chisel (1978)

Sarah Blasko's sublime cover of Flame Trees, which reached #15 in the 2005 annual countdown, 100 per cent helped keep the higher ranking of the Chisel songs in the consciousness. But this Aussie Song poll was the first time Cold Chisel's rendition of Flame Trees has appeared in a Hottest 100. Different story for Khe Sanh, which appeared in the 1989 All Time poll (95) and the 1998 All Time poll (94).

Cold Chisel were also the only band that went back-to-back in the Aussie Song countdown. No mean feat, particularly when both songs make it into the top 10.

9. How To Make Gravy - Paul Kelly (1996)

Untouched was the highest placed song in this Aussie countdown that was released post-1993 but didn't make it into the annual countdown of its year. How To Make Gravy is also on that list, along with Sweet Disposition, Innerbloom, Can't Get You Out Of My Head, Torn, 4ever, I Want You, and Red Right Hand. 

How To Make Gravy is also one of 28 songs that had never appeared in any Hottest 100 song list previously. 

10. Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye feat. Kimbra (2011)

This previous annual Hottest 100 winner is in rare company because it's one of only three songs to make the Aussie Song list, the best of the 2010s Hottest 100, and the 20 Years poll of 2013. The other two songs on that list are Big Jet Plane by Angus & Julia Stone, and Brother by Matt Corby. 

Gotye's #1 also has another claim to fame after cracking the top 10 here - it's one of only two songs to appear in the top 10 of four separate Hottest 100s. The only other song to do that is Hunters & Collectors' Throw Your Arms Around, which managed the feat in the All Time countdowns of 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1998. 

Some other random notes:

Appearing on the most lists possible

Speaking of Throw Your Arms Around Me, it has now appeared in seven out of a possible seven Hottest 100s. It remains the only song to have appeared in every All Time countdown (1989, 1990, 1991, 1998 and 2009), plus its parent album Human Frailty is on the Aussie Albums Hottest 100 of 2011 at #76. 

A close equal second is Silverchair's Tomorrow with six out of six possible appearances - the 1994 annual countdown, the 20 Years poll of 2013, the All Time lists of 2009 and 1998, and the Aussie Albums list via Frogstomp at #2, and Prisoner of Society by The Living End, which has the same results, except swap 1994 for 1997.

The old timers return

The only song aside from Throw Your Arms Around Me to appear in the Aussie Song Hottest 100 and the three OG All Time countdowns (1989, 1990, and 1991) is The Church's stone cold classic The Unguarded Moment.

And they are part of a cohort of five songs that appeared in both the original 1989 Hottest 100 of All Time and the latest Aussie Songs Hottest 100, with the other three being Khe Sanh, Power & The Passion, and Eagle Rock.

It was a very good year

Daddy Cool's Eagle Rock (1971) was also the oldest track on the list, while Amyl & The Sniffers' Hertz (2021) was the youngest. Amazing to see 50 years between the ends of the scale - serendipitous given this Hottest 100 marked 50 years of triple j.

The most represented years were 1997 (six entries) and 1987 (five entries).

The decade representation goes thusly: the '00s (27 entries), the '90s (23), the '10s (22) and the '80s (21). There were also five songs from the '70s and just two from the '20s.

And...

... there were three covers in the countdown (Black Betty, The Horses and Torn), and two Kiwis in the top 10 (Neil Finn and Kimbra) because we love to claim them.

Superman (2025)

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on July 24, 2025.

(M) ★★★★

Director: James Gunn.

Cast: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, Skyler Gisondo, Sara Sampaio, Wendell Pierce, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Neva Howell.

"You know you're going to have to fix the sidewalk, right Mr Superman?"

I have no idea if this is a controversial opinion, but this is the best live-action Superman film of the past 50 years.

Yes, the 1978 one is iconic and integral, with great performances and some effects that still hold up to this day, but it's silly by modern standards and features one of the worst retconning plot devices of all time. It's 1980 sequel is also strong, but suffers from a goofy tone. And the less said of Superman III and IV the better.

Superman Returns was solid but ultimately forgettable except for Kevin Spacey's Lex Luthor (which isn't something to crow about these days), while Man Of Steel was a dour boring mess unworthy of Henry Cavill.

Which brings us to this rollicking ride of superhero movie. While it doesn't feel as groundbreaking or all-time classic as The Dark Knight, Iron Man, or Gunn's own Guardians Of The Galaxy, Superman is a solidly plotted story that overcomes the key problem with Kal-El - that he's an unbeatable bore - and uncovers new depths to the character.

Wisely deciding against yet another origin tale (let's face it - we all know how that goes), Superman takes flight mid-story, with the Man of Steel (Corenswet) suffering a physical defeat in the wake of interfering in an international conflict without US government authorisation, handing Superman a diplomatic defeat to go with his literal wounds.

As Superman grapples with his place in the geo-political landscape, as well as his relationship with Lois Lane (Brosnahan), Lex Luthor (Hoult) is hard at work, plotting to destroy Superman from all angles.

Corenswet is a natural in the super-suit. We don't see him in Clark Kent mode a huge amount, but his Superman is a wonderfully well-rounded character, full of frustrations and fears, with a health dash of ego and humility, yet also fundamentally good in that special Superman kind of way. Gunn has written his Man of Steel to perfection, and Corenswet brings him to life in self-assured style.

Similarly, Lois Lane feels like a real person, unlike previous renditions, and ditto for Jimmy Olsen, which is again tribute to Gunn's script, but also the performances of Brosnahan and Gisondo. Lex Luthor is also great, and full points to Hoult and Gunn for making the character genuinely smart and genuinely dangerous. Luthor feels like a threat to Superman in more ways than one, and best of all, he thinks he's in the right, which is always the best way to write a villain.

The movie leans into its comic-book nerdiness, making good use of characters and situations that might not be so well known to the non-nerds, including Mr Terrific, Metamorpho, and the Guy Gardner version of the Green Lantern. Hawkgirl is sadly underwritten, but the rest are given enough depth to make them interesting beyond their powers.

Superman moves quickly - not quite like a speeding bullet - but its pace keeps it fun, never getting bogged down. Even the film's biggest character moment, in which Clark allows Lois to interview Superman, is full of tension and drama, making it a highlight scene amid the bombast and CG destruction.

The film could do with being funnier, as a few too many laughs fall flat, but it's an interesting and intelligent take on a character we've seen plenty of times in the past half a century. The DC Universe is in good hands with Gunn at the helm. To deliver the best Superman film to date is a superheroic feat.