10 Things About 90s Movies Everyone Misses Today
It was a great decade, but where did these classic cliches go?
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00:00 The 90s gave us plenty of great movies that still hold up to this day,
00:03 but these 10 tropes that helped define the decade have practically vanished.
00:07 So allow yourself to be transported back to a world of new metal and snake on your cell phone,
00:12 because we're going back to the 90s.
00:15 With that in mind, come and jump in the DeLorean with me, Adam from WhatCulture,
00:19 as we look back on 10 Things About 90s Movies Everyone Misses Today.
00:23 Number 10 - Fewer Franchises
00:27 Not to sound too much like an old man yelling at a cloud, but why is everything a universe
00:32 these days? Marvel is certainly the biggest offender, but they're not the only culprits.
00:36 DC, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, that stupid dark universe idea that Universal
00:42 dropped after about 30 seconds? What the hell was that all about?
00:46 In an effort to save the almighty dollar and drown fans in content, film studios and producers
00:51 immediately think "franchise" as soon as anything new gets put in front of them.
00:55 Whilst the 90s certainly had its fair share of big film series, they weren't so in your face
01:00 about it. Some of the most popular films of the decade were stand-alones. Titanic,
01:04 Forrest Gump, Armageddon and Ghost all rank amongst the highest grossing releases from the time,
01:10 and none of them were part of a wider plan.
01:12 What's even worse is that subsequent decades give us sequels to 90s movies that nobody wanted.
01:18 Are Men in Black 2 anyone? How about a follow up to Independence Day 20 years later that only
01:23 half the original cast are involved in? It's sickening. It truly is.
01:27 Number 9 - Old School Hip Hop Soundtracks
01:30 Though it got going in the 80s, hip hop and rap exploded into pop culture in the early 90s. Biggie,
01:37 Tupac, Missy Elliott, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and countless other artists all became mega stars in
01:43 the decade as their brand of angsty, anti-authoritarian hip hop spoke to the disenfranchised
01:48 90s youth. This was reflected in the world of film, as the 90s was stacked with great movies
01:53 about the genre and the lifestyle that accompanied it. Speaking of music specifically, these movies
01:58 all had banging soundtracks as well. 1992's Juice had songs by Uruk-Be and Rakim and Salt
02:04 and Pepper. House Party had contributions from Flava Flav and LL Cool J. Coolio performed
02:09 Gangster's Paradise for the Dangerous Minds soundtrack. Yes, we still have hip hop in
02:13 films today, but it really lacks that classic 90s feel. It was a different time, and one will never
02:19 get back. Number 8 - Small Shades and Black Trench Coats
02:24 As everything is cyclical, small sunglasses have come back into fashion since the 90s. You've got
02:30 the likes of Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner to thank for that. Wait, were they even alive in
02:35 the 90s? But nothing quite tops the ultra cool, ultra muggy combination of tiny black shades and
02:40 a long black trench coat. Before they were seen as a sign to stay away from a dodgy man in the
02:45 street, trench coats were all the rage amongst 90s action heroes. Neo in The Matrix had one,
02:50 so did Eric Draven in The Crow. And don't even get us started on Blade's slinky number,
02:55 he could bite our necks any day. As for the shades, well they actually had a sociopolitical
03:00 subtext to them. The 80s was a time of excess and flaunting one's wealth, whilst the 90s were
03:05 much more subdued, hence why the big glasses of the previous decade were significantly shrunk.
03:10 That, and they looked cool. This entry is more about 90s fashion in general, which is gradually
03:16 making a comeback. The day you see a kid pretending to dodge bullets whilst tripping
03:19 over his giant black coat, well that's when you know we've come full circle.
03:23 Number 7 - Empty House Parties The teen movie really hit its stride in the 90s,
03:29 as youth culture started to take over the mainstream. Films like Clueless and Welcome
03:34 to the Dollhouse showed what it was like to be a young woman at different stages of life,
03:38 whilst American Pie and Never Been Kissed tracked teenagers trying to get lucky in love,
03:42 albeit from radically different perspectives. Almost all 90s movies had one thing in common
03:47 though, a giant house party sequence. 10 Things I Hate About You's house party is pivotal to its
03:53 plot. Can't Hardly Wait takes place almost entirely at a house party. There's literally
03:58 a movie called House Party, what further proof could you possibly need? Yes, modern films have
04:03 house parties too, but they just don't feel the same. The wildness and craziness is missing from
04:08 this bygone era where health and safety hadn't been invented yet, and the drink driving limit
04:13 was more of a recommendation than a law. The 90s perfected the house party scene in films,
04:18 and for that, we owe it quite a lot. But please, don't drink and drive, we'll get in trouble.
04:23 Number 6 - A Set Piece Opening Scene A film's opening is extremely important.
04:29 Not only does it set the scene for what you're about to see, but it can also establish character,
04:33 setting and tone in one fluid motion. The 90s had this trait down to a tee, and one of the
04:39 clearest examples is the opening to the Jim Carrey vehicle Ace Ventura Pet Detective from 1994. In it,
04:45 we meet the titular character when he's working as a delivery driver. He's carrying a box clearly
04:50 marked fragile, but takes little to no care with what's inside of it. He throws it around,
04:55 drops it, gets it stuck in an elevator door, and just starts smashing it into a post at one point.
05:00 It's all very silly and some of Carrey's trademark physical comedy, but it's more than just amusing.
05:05 It establishes that the audience of this film is in for a stupid time in the best possible way.
05:10 This type of scene, usually set to upbeat music, has appeared in recent cinema outings,
05:15 check 2017's Baby Driver, but if you're after a vintage example, then the 90s are your best bet.
05:22 Number 5 - Big, Passionate Speeches
05:24 Who doesn't love a big speech? History has been shaped by them. Martin Luther King,
05:30 Winston Churchill, JFK. You can go back as far as the Sermon on the Mount to find examples of
05:36 people coming together to listen to someone talk very loudly about something very important. The
05:41 90s are no exception, with more impassioned speeches in the decade's film output than you
05:46 can shake a megaphone at. The classic example is Independence Day, when the President rallies the
05:51 Earth's troops for one last battle against the aliens. Bill Pullman does a terrific job with
05:56 the monologue, getting a reaction most actual presidents could only ever dream of. But it's
06:00 not just the leader of the free world who got to make these kinds of grand proclamations. A football
06:06 coach did it in Any Given Sunday, a blind war veteran did it in Scent of a Woman, and other
06:10 characters not played by Al Pacino got to have a go too. It might be cliched now, but that's because
06:16 the 90s made it so. In a world full of doubt and dishonesty, maybe a good old fashioned rousing
06:22 speech is precisely what the world needs. Number 4, Random Serenades.
06:27 The scene in 10 Things I Hate About You where Patrick sings to Cat is a stone cold classic,
06:33 and ensured that Frankie Valli will be rolling in royalties until the day he dies. He's led to
06:39 Belting Out Can't Take My Eyes Off You, a song that is not called I Love You Baby and People
06:43 Need to Learn That, whilst a marching band plays in the background is the stuff of cinema legend.
06:48 But it's not the only time something like this happened in 90s movies. The Wedding Singer,
06:53 Scream 2, My Best Friend's Wedding, the iconic John Cusack boombox scene comes from Say Anything,
06:59 which came out in 1989. That's basically the 90s. Anytime a character, usually male,
07:05 wanted to express their love for another character, usually female, then there's at least a 60%
07:10 chance that a classic ballad was about to unfold. Whilst these serenades were sometimes the focus of
07:15 ridicule, they were often sincerely received by their targets. They're really sweet scenes,
07:20 if a little overused, and an odd standout in what was generally quite a cynical decade.
07:25 Number 3, Underdog Sports Team's Movies.
07:29 There's a reason why there are so many beloved movies about sports. The formula is simple,
07:35 underdog person or team is about to give up on their dreams, their life is turned around by either
07:40 a special person or a tragic event, they overcome the odds and win the big one. Or at the very least,
07:46 they lose in the final and learn something. Whilst there have been many great sports pictures since
07:51 the 90s, Invictus, The Blind Side, Million Dollar Baby, etc, no decade has produced better quirky
07:57 films about underdog sports teams. Just look at any of the Mighty Ducks movies, which confusingly,
08:03 all have the suffix "The Mighty Ducks". Emilio Estevez heads up a rag tag group of
08:07 peewee hockey players on their quest to win the championships. Is it revolutionary? No. Does it
08:13 have to be? No. Because it's honest and endearing and full of great characters you can really get
08:19 behind. This blueprint helped movies like Angels in the Outfield and Cool Runnings claim success
08:24 in the 90s. They're all beautiful human stories set within the very simple confines of a sport,
08:30 and that's just fine.
08:32 Number 2, Bruce Willis. Oh Bruce. The recent news of his retirement sent shockwaves around
08:38 the film industry, as it was revealed that he's been dealing with a severe brain condition for
08:43 some time now. As fans come to terms with the fact that Bruce may never act again,
08:47 there is some comfort to be taken in the amazing cinematic legacy the man has already crafted.
08:53 Twelve Monkeys, Pulp Fiction, The Fifth Element, The Sixth Sense. Wanna know what they've all got
08:58 in common? They all star Bruce Willis. Oh, and they're all from the 90s. Whilst Bruce Ascending
09:03 to the Top of the Mountain started in 1988 with one particular film, hint, it rhymes with "Hi Dad",
09:10 the 90s was his most successful period. His films grossed hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide
09:15 and he became a mega star. We'll always love this great run.
09:20 Number 1, Trailer Voice Overs. In a world. Those three words are enough to stir up a thousand
09:27 different emotions at once in the hearts of film fans. And thanks to the incredible voiceovers that
09:32 dominated movie trailers in the 1990s, usually provided by the deep throaty tones of men like
09:38 Hal Douglas or Don LaFontaine, these voiceovers would sometimes appear right at the start of the
09:43 trailer, or if you were really lucky, you got them the whole way through. And then for some reason,
09:49 these voiceovers just disappeared. You never hear anything other than in movie dialogue on
09:54 trailers these days. And you know what? That's a real shame. They may have been a bit silly,
09:58 over the top and campy, but sometimes that's what a movie needs to be. The 90s was all about having
10:04 fun and these voiceovers on movie trailers were just that. These days, trailers take themselves
10:09 far too seriously, with every animated comedy sounding like it's trying to win a Best Picture
10:14 Oscar. Do we want to see these voiceovers come back for every movie trailer? No. Do we think
10:19 there should be more of them? Absolutely. But what did you think of our listings there?
10:24 Please do let us know in the comments section and also tell us which is your favourite movie
10:29 from the 90s. If I'm honest, I can't pick one and I'd have to go with The Matrix, Terminator 2,
10:34 and Good Will Hunting. Always a place in my heart for that movie. If you want to follow me on
10:39 socials, I am @Strawn87 on Instagram and on Twitter. Thank you for watching everybody,
10:44 I hope you enjoy the rest of your day and until next time, take care.