But also because it addresses the era of environmental causes and coffee and 90s dating which was totally different that 80s dating (St. Elmo's Fire? ugh) and the whole music scene that exploded in flannel and ripped denim.
I liked Reality Bites too, but it felt forced and the Stiller character was caught up in the Gordon Gecko mindset.
Natural born Killers is kinda like what happened to the St Elmo's fire crowd when they switched from coke to meth.
My little corner of Americana was all about the antihero and justifications of just about anything. I'd say Fight Club, but at least in my circle, that was most a male experience.
After reviewing a few lists of other people's opinions, my top choice is Scream. Not only does it include the slasher genre, re-upped in this generation, but it has Kevin Williamson's dialogue and Skeet Ulrich's hair to symbolize 90s.
Runners-up would be Trainspotting and The Usual Suspects, as well as agreeing with Reality Bites and Fight Club as being very high up on my list too.
OTOH, I'm often surprised at just how many of my 90s contemporaries haven't actually seen it. So, maybe that's why it gets discounted.
... although, if you're looking to explain the filmic landscape of the 90s through film, then sure, NBK all the way.
ETA: My wife points out that the flipside to the Reality Bites/Singles coin is Clueless (and maybe 10 Things I Hate About You), which I'm forced to agree with.
She also mentioned Go, which often gets overlooked, but should be right up there.
I know plenty of people in their 30's now who love Forrest Gump (I'm not one of them), and they quote it to an insufferable extent. Besides, Dragnet was clearly Tom Hanks's best movie.
Following the logic that Generation X is the quintessential 90s book, I'll go with Reality Bites, Singles, Clerks, Pulp Fiction, Three Kings, and Barton Fink. The nineties, after all, were when the Gen X cohort finally got old enough to look around and see the mess that the Boomers had created. The movie/s should reflect the overwhelming sense of "blah" felt back then.
NBK? Crap movie. Hated it. Tarantino hated it so much he disavowed ever writing it. Oliver Stone is too much of an ancient Boomer hack to capture the sense of futility, doom and resentment that, after all, his age cohort largely created.
Detention - not because it was made in the 90s (it wasn't) but that it's entirely composed of fragments from most of the popular 90s movies at the time.
I would say that The Crow is more the quintessential Goth movie - although in a very 90s way.
But if someone ever asked you "Why are there Goths?" you could just put on The Crow, and they would be enlightened.
... and now I've got semantic satiation for "goth". Goth goth goth goth goth. What an odd word. Sounds like a stifled cough. Or if you say it with an American accent, Goofy with a lisp. "Gawrth!"
I disagreeeeeeeee. The Money Pit, Joe vs. the Volcano, and Turner and Hooch were better than Dragnet. And I like Forrest Gump, but I am not convinced that it is a quintessential 90s movie.
And PCU is a favorite.
What about High Fidelity? Yes, it's from 2000, but it feels 90s-ish to me.
It depends on how you define it. There's a disconnect between dates on the calendar and cultural trends that get attached to a certain decade. Disco music from '82 sounds like the 70's. Early 90's cock rock sounds like 80's music. I consider a lot of the endless-ripoffs-of-pearl-jam that made up a lot of Modern Rock to be 90's music, even stuff recorded in 2002.
So yeah, Fight Club seems very 90's to me. Reasons: The soundtrack looked backward more what came before it than forward-- Tom Waits and Pixies, no emo. The heavy use of 'grungy' green-tinted lighting is one of the hallmarks of 90's flicks. Active voiceover fast-talking narrator. A lot of the stuff that Trainspotting made popular.
Hmm. Trainspotting deserves a nomination for quintessential 90's flick.
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theweaselking
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 12:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 12:33 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 12:44 am (UTC)Natural Born Killers is an early 90s movie, whereas Fight Club is late 90s/early 00s movie. But what represents the middle? I am stumped, truthfully.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 12:45 am (UTC)Because of ... well, all of it.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 12:58 am (UTC)Empire Records might also be in there.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 01:09 am (UTC)Can I count Kevin Smith's entire run as one film?
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 01:30 am (UTC)Because, grunge.
But also because it addresses the era of environmental causes and coffee and 90s dating which was totally different that 80s dating (St. Elmo's Fire? ugh) and the whole music scene that exploded in flannel and ripped denim.
I liked Reality Bites too, but it felt forced and the Stiller character was caught up in the Gordon Gecko mindset.
Natural born Killers is kinda like what happened to the St Elmo's fire crowd when they switched from coke to meth.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 01:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 01:41 am (UTC)My little corner of Americana was all about the antihero and justifications of just about anything. I'd say Fight Club, but at least in my circle, that was most a male experience.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 02:24 am (UTC)Runners-up would be Trainspotting and The Usual Suspects, as well as agreeing with Reality Bites and Fight Club as being very high up on my list too.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 05:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 05:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 08:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 09:11 am (UTC)If you love the movie, you know what it's like to be a baby boomer in the last era when everyone kissed your ass.
If you hate the movie then you know what it was like to be someone under the age of 30 in the 90s.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 12:55 pm (UTC)OTOH, I'm often surprised at just how many of my 90s contemporaries haven't actually seen it. So, maybe that's why it gets discounted.
... although, if you're looking to explain the filmic landscape of the 90s through film, then sure, NBK all the way.
ETA: My wife points out that the flipside to the Reality Bites/Singles coin is Clueless (and maybe 10 Things I Hate About You), which I'm forced to agree with.
She also mentioned Go, which often gets overlooked, but should be right up there.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 02:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 07:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 07:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 08:12 pm (UTC)NBK? Crap movie. Hated it. Tarantino hated it so much he disavowed ever writing it. Oliver Stone is too much of an ancient Boomer hack to capture the sense of futility, doom and resentment that, after all, his age cohort largely created.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 08:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-25 08:59 pm (UTC)Stone isn't capturing it, he's exemplifying it.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-26 12:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-26 03:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-26 04:33 am (UTC)Incidentally, World's End is what I consider to be the first movie that successfully did 90's retro.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-26 08:01 am (UTC)But if someone ever asked you "Why are there Goths?" you could just put on The Crow, and they would be enlightened.
... and now I've got semantic satiation for "goth". Goth goth goth goth goth. What an odd word. Sounds like a stifled cough. Or if you say it with an American accent, Goofy with a lisp. "Gawrth!"
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-26 04:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-26 04:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-26 09:37 pm (UTC)And PCU is a favorite.
What about High Fidelity? Yes, it's from 2000, but it feels 90s-ish to me.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-26 10:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-26 11:03 pm (UTC)So yeah, Fight Club seems very 90's to me. Reasons: The soundtrack looked backward more what came before it than forward-- Tom Waits and Pixies, no emo. The heavy use of 'grungy' green-tinted lighting is one of the hallmarks of 90's flicks. Active voiceover fast-talking narrator. A lot of the stuff that Trainspotting made popular.
Hmm. Trainspotting deserves a nomination for quintessential 90's flick.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-27 11:05 am (UTC)