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, but these 10 tropes
00:04 that helped define the decade have practically vanished.
00:08 So allow yourself to be transported back to a world of new metal and snake on your cell
00:12 phone 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, as we look
00:19 back on 10 Things About 90s Movies Everyone Misses Today.
00:25 Number 10 - Fewer Franchises
00:28 Not to sound too much like an old man yelling at a cloud, but why is everything a universe
00:32 these days?
00:33 Marvel is certainly the biggest offender, but they're not the only culprits.
00:37 DC, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, that stupid dark universe idea that Universal
00:43 dropped after about 30 seconds?
00:45 What the hell was that all about?
00:47 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.
00:56 Whilst the 90s certainly had its fair share of big film series, they weren't so in your
01:00 face about it.
01:01 Some of the most popular films of the decade were stand-alones.
01:04 Titanic, Forrest Gump, Armageddon, and Ghost all rank amongst the highest grossing releases
01:10 from the time and none of them were part of a wider plan.
01:13 What's even worse is that subsequent decades give us sequels to 90s movies that nobody
01:17 wanted.
01:18 Are Men in Black 2 anyone?
01:20 How about a follow up to Independence Day 20 years later that only half the original
01:24 cast are involved in?
01:25 It's sickening.
01:26 It truly is.
01:29 Old School Hip Hop Soundtracks
01:31 Though it got going in the 80s, hip hop and rap exploded into pop culture in the early
01:36 90s.
01:37 Biggie, Tupac, Missy Elliott, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and countless other artists all became
01:42 mega stars in the decade as their brand of angsty, anti-authoritarian hip hop spoke to
01:47 the disenfranchised 90s youth.
01:49 This was reflected in the world of film, as the 90s was stacked with great movies about
01:53 the genre and the lifestyle that accompanied it.
01:56 Speaking of music specifically, these movies all had banging soundtracks as well.
02:01 1992's Juice had songs by Uruk-Bee and Rakim and Salt-N-Pepa, House Party had contributions
02:06 from Flava Flav and LL Cool J, Coolio performed Gangster's Paradise for the Dangerous Mind
02:12 soundtrack.
02:13 Yes, we still have hip hop in films today, but it really lacks that classic 90s feel.
02:17 It was a different time and one we'll never get back.
02:22 Small Shades and Black Trenchcoats
02:25 As everything is cyclical, small sunglasses have come back into fashion since the 90s.
02:29 You've got the likes of Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner to thank for that.
02:33 Wait, were they even alive in the 90s?
02:36 But nothing quite tops the ultra cool, ultra muggy combination of tiny black shades and
02:41 a long black trenchcoat.
02:43 Before they were seen as a sign to stay away from a dodgy man in the street, trenchcoats
02:46 were all the rage amongst 90s action heroes.
02:49 Neo in The Matrix had one, so did Eric Draven in The Crow.
02:53 And don't even get us started on Blade's slinky number, he could bite our necks any
02:57 day.
02:58 As for the shades, well they actually had a socio-political subtext to them.
03:02 The 80s was a time of excess and flaunting one's wealth, whilst the 90s were much more
03:06 subdued, hence why the big glasses of the previous decade were significantly shrunk.
03:11 That, and they looked cool.
03:13 This entry is more about 90s fashion in general, which is gradually making a comeback.
03:17 The day you see a kid pretending to dodge bullets whilst tripping over his giant black
03:21 coat, well that's when you know we've come full circle.
03:24 Number 7.
03:25 Empty House Parties.
03:27 The teen movie really hit its stride in the 90s, as youth culture started to take over
03:31 the mainstream.
03:33 Films like Clueless and Welcome to the Dollhouse showed what it was like to be a young woman
03:36 at different stages of life, whilst American Pie and Never Been Kissed tracked teenagers
03:41 trying to get lucky in love, albeit from radically different perspectives.
03:45 Most all 90s movies had one thing in common though, a giant house party sequence.
03:50 10 Things I Hate About You's house party is pivotal to its plot.
03:53 Can't Hardly Wait takes place almost entirely at a house party.
03:57 There's literally a movie called House Party.
04:00 What further proof could you possibly need?
04:02 Yes, modern films have house parties too, but they just don't feel the same.
04:06 The wildness and craziness is missing from this bygone era where health and safety hadn't
04:11 been invented yet, and the drink driving limit was more of a recommendation than a law.
04:15 The 90s perfected the house party scene in films, and for that, we owe it quite a lot.
04:20 But please, don't drink and drive, we'll get in trouble.
04:24 Number 6, A Set Piece Opening Scene A film's opening is extremely important.
04:30 Not only does it set the scene for what you're about to see, but it can also establish character,
04:34 setting and tone in one fluid motion.
04:37 The 90s had this trait down to a T, and one of the clearest examples is the opening to
04:41 the Jim Carrey vehicle Ace Ventura Pet Detective from 1994.
04:45 In it, we meet the titular character when he's working as a delivery driver.
04:49 He's carrying a box clearly marked fragile, but takes little to no care with what's
04:53 inside of it.
04:54 He throws it around, drops it, gets it stuck in an elevator door, and just starts smashing
04:58 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
05:05 than just amusing.
05:06 It establishes that the audience of this film is in for a stupid time in the best possible
05:10 way.
05:11 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
05:20 your best bet.
05:22 Number 5, Big Passionate Speeches Who doesn't love a big speech?
05:28 History has been shaped by them.
05:30 Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, JFK, you can go back as far as the Sermon on the
05:35 Mount to find examples of people coming together to listen to someone talk very loudly about
05:39 something very important.
05:41 The 90s are no exception, with more impassioned speeches in the decade's film output than
05:46 you can shake a megaphone at.
05:47 The classic example is Independence Day, when the President rallies the Earth's troops
05:52 for one last battle against the aliens.
05:54 Bill Pullman does a terrific job with the monologue, getting a reaction most actual
05:58 presidents could only ever dream of.
06:00 But it's not just the leader of the free world who got to make these kinds of grand
06:04 proclamations.
06:05 A football coach did it in Any Given Sunday, a blind war veteran did it in Scent of a Woman,
06:10 and other characters not played by Al Pacino got to have a go too.
06:15 It might be cliched now, but that's because the 90s made it so.
06:18 In a world full of doubt and dishonesty, maybe a good old fashioned rousing speech is precisely
06:23 what the world needs.
06:25 Number 4, Random Serenades The scene in 10 Things I Hate About You where
06:31 Patrick sings to Kat is a stone cold classic, and ensured that Frankie Valli will be rolling
06:36 in royalties until the day he dies.
06:38 He's led to Belting Out Can't Take My Eyes Off You, a song that is not called I Love
06:43 You Baby and People Need To Learn That, whilst a marching band plays in the background is
06:47 the stuff of cinema legend.
06:49 But it's not the only time something like this happened in 90s movies.
06:52 The Wedding Singer, Scream 2, My Best Friend's Wedding, the iconic John Cusack boombox scene
06:58 comes from Say Anything, which came out in 1989, that's basically the 90s.
07:03 Any time a character, usually male, wanted to express their love for another character,
07:07 usually female, then there's at least a 60% chance that a classic ballad was about
07:12 to unfold.
07:13 Whilst these serenades were sometimes the focus of ridicule, they were often sincerely
07:17 received by their targets.
07:19 They're really sweet scenes, if a little overused, and an odd standout in what was
07:23 generally quite a cynical decade.
07:26 Number 3 - Underdog Sports Teams Movies
07:29 There's a reason why there are so many beloved movies about sports.
07:34 The formula is simple, underdog person or team is about to give up on their dreams,
07:39 their life is turned around by either a special person or a tragic event, they overcome the
07:43 odds and win the big one, or at the very least, they lose in the final and learn something.
07:49 Whilst there have been many great sports pictures since the 90s, Invictus, The Blind Side, Million
07:54 Dollar Baby, etc, no decade has produced better quirky films about underdog sports teams.
08:00 Just look at any of the Mighty Ducks movies, which confusingly, all have the suffix 'The
08:04 Mighty Ducks'.
08:05 Emilio Estevez heads up a rag tag group of peewee hockey players on their quest to win
08:10 the championships.
08:11 Is it revolutionary?
08:12 No.
08:13 Does it have to be?
08:14 No.
08:15 Because it's honest and endearing and full of great characters you can really get behind.
08:20 This blueprint helped movies like Angels in the Outfield and Cool Runnings claim success
08:24 in the 90s.
08:25 They're all beautiful human stories set within the very simple confines of a sport.
08:30 And that's just fine.
08:32 2.
08:33 Bruce Willis Oh Bruce.
08:36 The recent news of his retirement sent shockwaves around the film industry, as it was revealed
08:41 that he's been dealing with a severe brain condition for some time now.
08:44 As fans come to terms with the fact that Bruce may never act again, there is some comfort
08:48 to be taken in the amazing cinematic legacy the man has already crafted.
08:53 12 Monkeys, Pulp Fiction, The Fifth Element, The Sixth Sense.
08:57 Wanna know what they've all got in common?
08:59 They all star Bruce Willis.
09:00 Oh, and they're all from the 90s.
09:03 Whilst Bruce Ascending to the Top of the Mountain started in 1988 with one particular film,
09:08 hint, it rhymes with 'Hi Dad', the 90s was his most successful period.
09:13 His films grossed hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide and he became a megastar.
09:18 You'll always love this great run.
09:21 1.
09:22 Trailer Voice Overs, In A World.
09:25 Those three words are enough to stir up a thousand different emotions at once in the
09:29 hearts of film fans.
09:30 And thanks to the incredible voice overs that dominated movie trailers in the 1990s, usually
09:35 provided by the deep throaty tones of men like Hal Douglas or Don LaFontaine, these
09:40 voice overs would sometimes appear right at the start of the trailer, or if you were really
09:45 lucky you got them the whole way through.
09:48 And then for some reason, these voice overs just disappeared.
09:51 You never hear anything other than in movie dialogue on trailers these days and you know
09:56 what, that's a real shame.
09:57 They may have been a bit silly, over the top and campy, but sometimes that's what a movie
10:02 needs to be.
10:03 The 90s was all about having fun and these voice overs on movie trailers were just that.
10:08 These days, trailers take themselves far too seriously, with every animated comedy sounding
10:13 like it's trying to win a Best Picture Oscar.
10:15 Do we want to see these voice overs come back for every movie trailer?
10:19 No.
10:20 Do we think there should be more of them?
10:22 Absolutely.
10:23 But what did you think of our listings there?
10:25 Please do let us know in the comments section and also tell us which is your favourite movie
10:29 from the 90s.
10:30 If I'm honest, I can't pick one and I'd have to go with The Matrix, Terminator 2 and
10:35 Good Will Hunting.
10:36 Ugh, always a place in my heart for that movie.
10:38 If you want to follow me on socials, I am @Strawn87 on Instagram and on Twitter.
10:43 Thank you for watching everybody.
10:44 I hope you enjoy the rest of your day and until next time, take care.
10:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]