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General Category => Off the Record => Topic started by: Savonarola on June 29, 2015, 01:42:25 PM

Poll
Question: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Option 1: Slacker (1991) votes: 0
Option 2: Wayne's World (1992) votes: 5
Option 3: Jurassic Park (1993) votes: 2
Option 4: Clerks (1994) votes: 7
Option 5: Pulp Fiction (1994) votes: 11
Option 6: Reality Bites (1994) votes: 5
Option 7: Clueless (1995) votes: 3
Option 8: Suicide Kings (1997) votes: 0
Option 9: Fight Club (1999) votes: 5
Option 10: The Matrix (1999) votes: 1
Option 11: The Phantom Menace (1999) votes: 0
Option 12: Other votes: 2
Title: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Savonarola on June 29, 2015, 01:42:25 PM
Nirvana is on the radio, coffee houses are popping up everywhere, you're wearing flannel and everyone is making an Indie film.  What movie most exemplifies this decade to you? 
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: garbon on June 29, 2015, 01:46:28 PM
I'd have to say Reality Bites or Clueless. For the toss, I'll give it to Clueless.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 01:47:44 PM
Voted Clerks.

I think it's telling that none of these movies has a memorable sound track.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: crazy canuck on June 29, 2015, 01:49:11 PM
Voted Pulp Fiction. 
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Eddie Teach on June 29, 2015, 01:49:51 PM
Sticking with Reality Bites. The 90s was about finding reasons to be unhappy in a world where everything seemed to be improving.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Savonarola on June 29, 2015, 01:50:22 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 01:47:44 PM
Voted Clerks.

I think it's telling that none of these movies has a memorable sound track.

Pulp Fiction did:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4cLmXml8O0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4cLmXml8O0)
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Ideologue on June 29, 2015, 01:50:39 PM
Almost voted Fight Club, but the lazy bitching and endless tedium inherent to the lives of the characters in Clerks won out. Fight Club is the better document of Gen X insecurities, but Clerks is the truer reflection of them as they are, and the world they inherited and signally failed to improve.

Bearing in mind that I found Reality Bites so grating I turned it off 30 minutes in.

I also considered arguing for Speed. It's no generational document, but it does capture the "Die Hard on a blank" filmmaking that absolutely dominated action cinema for much of the decade.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Ideologue on June 29, 2015, 01:52:07 PM
(For the same reason, one could reasonably vote for Howard's End. UGH.)
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 01:55:34 PM
Quote from: Savonarola on June 29, 2015, 01:50:22 PM
Pulp Fiction did:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4cLmXml8O0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4cLmXml8O0)

Meh.  It's a purposefully retro soundtrack.  That doesn't count for generation defining purposes.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: frunk on June 29, 2015, 01:55:44 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 01:47:44 PM
I think it's telling that none of these movies has a memorable sound track.

I'd say Clerks, Pulp Fiction, Fight Club and The Matrix do.  Of those only Clerks has what I would call a "90s" soundtrack.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 01:58:33 PM
Quote from: frunk on June 29, 2015, 01:55:44 PM
I'd say Clerks, Pulp Fiction, Fight Club and The Matrix do.  Of those only Clerks has what I would call a "90s" soundtrack.

I guess now it would be appropriate to admit I've never seen any of these movies.  :D

Seriously, I can't remember a single tune from any of those except Pulp Fiction.  I though Clerks was music-free.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: crazy canuck on June 29, 2015, 02:00:33 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 01:55:34 PM
Quote from: Savonarola on June 29, 2015, 01:50:22 PM
Pulp Fiction did:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4cLmXml8O0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4cLmXml8O0)

Meh.  It's a purposefully retro soundtrack.  That doesn't count for generation defining purposes.

The question isn't what movie defined generation in the 90s.  You would first have to figure out what generation you were talking about.  90s music was largely derivative of past decades.  That is, in part, what makes Pulp Fiction the perfect choice.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Savonarola on June 29, 2015, 02:01:43 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 01:55:34 PM
Meh.  It's a purposefully retro soundtrack.  That doesn't count for generation defining purposes.

Ah, then "Reality Bites," a spectacularly mediocre soundtrack for a spectacularly mediocre generation.   :cool:
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Eddie Teach on June 29, 2015, 02:02:56 PM
Crazy Canuck is clearly too old to be voting on this.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: garbon on June 29, 2015, 02:10:42 PM
Quote from: Savonarola on June 29, 2015, 02:01:43 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 01:55:34 PM
Meh.  It's a purposefully retro soundtrack.  That doesn't count for generation defining purposes.

Ah, then "Reality Bites," a spectacularly mediocre soundtrack for a spectacularly mediocre generation.   :cool:

Lisa Loeb. :angry:
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Norgy on June 29, 2015, 02:10:52 PM
Reality Bites was quintessentially 90s.

Pulp Fiction was, well, pulp fiction and not very representative of the 90s. Decent soundtrack though. But no songs from the actual 90s. That's a rather clear indication it was a throwback to a different era, yes?
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Valmy on June 29, 2015, 02:10:53 PM
I thought it was American Beauty. A story about people without any problems creating problems so they can feel alive. Rather like how OJ Simpson and Presidential blow jobs were points of passionate outrage back in those days.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Valmy on June 29, 2015, 02:11:28 PM
Quote from: Norgy on June 29, 2015, 02:10:52 PM
Pulp Fiction was, well, pulp fiction and not very representative of the 90s. Decent soundtrack though. But no songs from the actual 90s. That's a rather clear indication it was a throwback to a different era, yes?

Well the story took place in the 70s.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: frunk on June 29, 2015, 02:12:20 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 01:58:33 PM
I though Clerks was music-free.

Girls Against Boys, Soul Asylum, Bad Religion, Corrosion of Conformity, Jesus Lizard, Bash & Pop.  Pretty damn 90sish.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 02:13:50 PM
Quote from: Valmy on June 29, 2015, 02:10:53 PM
I thought it was American Beauty. A story about people without any problems creating problems so they can feel alive. Rather like how OJ Simpson and Presidential blow jobs were points of passionate outrage back in those days.

American Beauty is a 90s movie???
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: derspiess on June 29, 2015, 02:14:22 PM
I voted Pulp Fiction since IMO it was the most influential on 90s pop culture.  But I guess I should have voted Reality Bites to answer the actual poll question :Embarrass:
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Valmy on June 29, 2015, 02:16:52 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 02:13:50 PM
American Beauty is a 90s movie???

In my mind quintessentially so. But I have never had this discussion with anybody, just my experience of watching the films.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Valmy on June 29, 2015, 02:17:15 PM
Quote from: derspiess on June 29, 2015, 02:14:22 PM
I voted Pulp Fiction since IMO it was the most influential on 90s pop culture.  But I guess I should have voted Reality Bites to answer the actual poll question :Embarrass:

Yeah out of the group I voted Reality Bites.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 02:17:56 PM
Quote from: Valmy on June 29, 2015, 02:16:52 PM
In my mind quintessentially so. But I have never had this discussion with anybody, just my experience of watching the films.

I just thought it was much more recent than that.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Savonarola on June 29, 2015, 02:18:29 PM
Quote from: Norgy on June 29, 2015, 02:10:52 PM
Reality Bites was quintessentially 90s.

Pulp Fiction was, well, pulp fiction and not very representative of the 90s.

There were a lot of Indie crime films in the 90s which drew inspiration from Pulp Fiction.  Some were very good, like "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" or "Go"; others were like "The Boondock Saints."  Plus there were the two films that preceded it, "True Romance" and "Reservoir Dogs."
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: MadImmortalMan on June 29, 2015, 02:19:13 PM
Speaking just for myself, my 90s is The Crow.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Savonarola on June 29, 2015, 02:20:09 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 02:17:56 PM
Quote from: Valmy on June 29, 2015, 02:16:52 PM
In my mind quintessentially so. But I have never had this discussion with anybody, just my experience of watching the films.

I just thought it was much more recent than that.

It's from 1999.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 02:21:05 PM
I want to change my vote to a write-in:  Swingers.  :smoke:

Shame on you Sav for leaving it off.  :pope:
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: derspiess on June 29, 2015, 02:23:13 PM
Swingers is probably my favorite 90s movie.  Not sure I'd call it the "most 90s" movie, though.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Zanza on June 29, 2015, 02:24:04 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 01:47:44 PM
Voted Clerks.

I think it's telling that none of these movies has a memorable sound track.
Pulp Fiction was already named, but The Matrix also had a really good sound track.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Valmy on June 29, 2015, 02:25:00 PM
Quote from: Savonarola on June 29, 2015, 02:20:09 PM
It's from 1999.

I believe in the 'Long 90s' historical theory :P

From November 9, 1989 until September 11, 2001.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 02:27:12 PM
Quote from: derspiess on June 29, 2015, 02:23:13 PM
Swingers is probably my favorite 90s movie.  Not sure I'd call it the "most 90s" movie, though.

That's because you're not money.  If you were money, you would think so.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Savonarola on June 29, 2015, 02:27:16 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 02:21:05 PM
I want to change my vote to a write-in:  Swingers.  :smoke:

Shame on you Sav for leaving it off.  :pope:

Mea Maxima Culpa, "Swingers" and "The Crow" would have been good choices.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: The Brain on June 29, 2015, 02:32:01 PM
Quote from: MadImmortalMan on June 29, 2015, 02:19:13 PM
Speaking just for myself, my 90s is The Crow.

Good choice.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: celedhring on June 29, 2015, 02:34:51 PM
Pulp Fiction is one of the most influential movies of the past 25 years. For that reason I wouldn't call it "most 90s of the 90s", since its influence has expanded past that decade.

I went with Reality Bites. Quintessential "X generation" film (and I don't mean that as a good thing).
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Valmy on June 29, 2015, 02:36:12 PM
Quote from: celedhring on June 29, 2015, 02:34:51 PM
I went with Reality Bites. Quintessential "X generation" film (and I don't mean that as a good thing).

'Poor us! Our lives are so easy yet we feel so empty!!!111 :cry:'
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Eddie Teach on June 29, 2015, 02:36:43 PM
Swingers is too upbeat.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 02:38:54 PM
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on June 29, 2015, 02:36:43 PM
Swingers is too upbeat.

Not money.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Savonarola on June 29, 2015, 02:41:22 PM
Quote from: celedhring on June 29, 2015, 02:34:51 PM
Pulp Fiction is one of the most influential movies of the past 25 years. For that reason I wouldn't call it "most 90s of the 90s", since its influence has expanded past that decade.

I went with Reality Bites. Quintessential "X generation" film (and I don't mean that as a good thing).

Yeah, it was "The Graduate" for Generation X; look at me I'm smug and unemployed.   :cool:
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Ideologue on June 29, 2015, 02:47:22 PM
Quote from: Valmy on June 29, 2015, 02:10:53 PM
I thought it was American Beauty. A story about people without any problems creating problems so they can feel alive. Rather like how OJ Simpson and Presidential blow jobs were points of passionate outrage back in those days.

This is the current consensus on,AB, which I don't agree with for various reasons.  It's more that the pain of male lust and human unsuitability for monogamy are cliched topics, and couching it in white middle-class male ennui is the most cliched way to go about it. But it's still one of the best executions of those themes.  If nothing else, grappling with the fact that men of all ages still want to fuck teenagers head-on and with some sympathy deserves credit, even if our society wants to pretend that's not true.

The biggest problems are the lameness of the teenaged characters and the incredibly slanted treatment of Annette Benning's character, essentially adopting Lester's contempt for her as its own.

I think AB would be a very, very good choice for Most 90s movie, however.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 02:50:31 PM
Another movie that at least deserves to be shortlisted IMO is Trainspotting.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Norgy on June 29, 2015, 02:50:47 PM
Quote from: derspiess on June 29, 2015, 02:14:22 PM
I voted Pulp Fiction since IMO it was the most influential on 90s pop culture.  But I guess I should have voted Reality Bites to answer the actual poll question :Embarrass:

Among those listed, it definitely was the best one. Re-invented that crazy scientologist Travolta too.
One of the first widescreen movies shown in the little town I come from. I pulled a muscle when Tim Roth drew his gun.

Without Pulp Fiction, I doubt there'd be much Tarantino later.
And I'll have a pack of them Green Apples, please.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: derspiess on June 29, 2015, 02:50:58 PM
I really didn't like any aspect of American Beauty.  It was just over the top pretentiousness from start to finish.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Ideologue on June 29, 2015, 02:51:03 PM
Quote from: Valmy on June 29, 2015, 02:25:00 PM
Quote from: Savonarola on June 29, 2015, 02:20:09 PM
It's from 1999.

I believe in the 'Long 90s' historical theory :P

From November 9, 1989 until September 11, 2001.

Oh, in that case it's Jurassic Park III.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: garbon on June 29, 2015, 02:51:26 PM
:x to the idea of fucking a teenager.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: garbon on June 29, 2015, 02:52:11 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 02:50:31 PM
Another movie that at least deserves to be shortlisted IMO is Trainspotting.
:thumbsup:
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Valmy on June 29, 2015, 02:52:15 PM
Quote from: Ideologue on June 29, 2015, 02:51:03 PM
Oh, in that case it's Jurassic Park III.

:lol:
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Valmy on June 29, 2015, 02:52:48 PM
Quote from: garbon on June 29, 2015, 02:51:26 PM
:x to the idea of fucking a teenager.

Mrs. Robinson was alright with it.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Norgy on June 29, 2015, 02:52:59 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 02:50:31 PM
Another movie that at least deserves to be shortlisted IMO is Trainspotting.

You could also add Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels from the UK.
Trainspotting was also set in the 1980s.
But it did have Archie Gemmill.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: garbon on June 29, 2015, 02:55:13 PM
Quote from: Valmy on June 29, 2015, 02:52:48 PM
Quote from: garbon on June 29, 2015, 02:51:26 PM
:x to the idea of fucking a teenager.

Mrs. Robinson was alright with it.

She also thought Dustin Hoffman was attractive so...
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Valmy on June 29, 2015, 02:56:24 PM
Well you got me there.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: garbon on June 29, 2015, 02:56:54 PM
Quote from: Norgy on June 29, 2015, 02:52:59 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 02:50:31 PM
Another movie that at least deserves to be shortlisted IMO is Trainspotting.

You could also add Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels from the UK.
Trainspotting was also set in the 1980s.
But it did have Archie Gemmill.


Here's what IMDB says:

QuoteThe film doesn't intend to explicitly detail around what time it is set, and instead it hints its timeline through the music, as director Danny Boyle has stated in the making-of interview. Boyle also claims that it is set more precisely around the late 1980s. There are, throughout the feature, some suggestions that it may actually be set in the early 1990s, such as the techno music and a scene on which the characters talk about "Russian" sailors (which means that the Soviet Union may have already ended). Anyway, Trainspotting can be set anywhere between 1987 and 1993 (the year the novel was released).
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 03:00:30 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 02:38:54 PM
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on June 29, 2015, 02:36:43 PM
Swingers is too upbeat.

Not money.

It's not money because the message of Swingers is that there are three possible fates in life: suicidal despair, superficial self-indulgence, or microscopically improbable connection with the one person in the universe you are compatible with.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: garbon on June 29, 2015, 03:04:37 PM
Friday is pretty 90s.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: frunk on June 29, 2015, 03:05:27 PM
I just realized, Office Space.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Ideologue on June 29, 2015, 03:06:25 PM
Now that's a good one.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: garbon on June 29, 2015, 03:11:11 PM
I just assumed it must have been a 21st century film. :blush:
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: frunk on June 29, 2015, 03:13:11 PM
I think Jennifer Aniston and Diedrich Bader add extra weight to its 90s nature.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: MadImmortalMan on June 29, 2015, 03:14:31 PM
Office Space is timeless.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 03:16:54 PM
Barcelona came out in 1994.  :hmm:
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Savonarola on June 29, 2015, 03:17:34 PM
Quote from: frunk on June 29, 2015, 03:13:11 PM
I think Jennifer Aniston and Diedrich Bader add extra weight to its 90s nature.

Also the setting; an software company in the midst of the tech boom, is very 90s.  It's another one I missed.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Eddie Teach on June 29, 2015, 03:18:39 PM
Quote from: Valmy on June 29, 2015, 02:52:48 PM
Quote from: garbon on June 29, 2015, 02:51:26 PM
:x to the idea of fucking a teenager.

Mrs. Robinson was alright with it.

Wasn't he a college grad?
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: garbon on June 29, 2015, 03:20:37 PM
Ah yes. :D
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Valmy on June 29, 2015, 03:21:44 PM
Yeah he turns 21 as part of the plot of the film. Close enough I say!
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: frunk on June 29, 2015, 03:22:54 PM
Quote from: Savonarola on June 29, 2015, 03:17:34 PM
Also the setting; an software company in the midst of the tech boom, is very 90s.  It's another one I missed.

It's tough to get a quickly come up with a complete list of prospects for a whole decade.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Eddie Teach on June 29, 2015, 03:23:33 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 03:00:30 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 02:38:54 PM
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on June 29, 2015, 02:36:43 PM
Swingers is too upbeat.

Not money.

It's not money because the message of Swingers is that there are three possible fates in life: suicidal despair, superficial self-indulgence, or microscopically improbable connection with the one person in the universe you are compatible with.

:hmm:

I chiefly remember the superficial self-indulgence.  :sleep:
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Norgy on June 29, 2015, 03:37:05 PM
Quote from: garbon on June 29, 2015, 02:56:54 PM
Quote from: Norgy on June 29, 2015, 02:52:59 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 02:50:31 PM
Another movie that at least deserves to be shortlisted IMO is Trainspotting.

You could also add Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels from the UK.
Trainspotting was also set in the 1980s.
But it did have Archie Gemmill.


Here's what IMDB says:

QuoteThe film doesn't intend to explicitly detail around what time it is set, and instead it hints its timeline through the music, as director Danny Boyle has stated in the making-of interview. Boyle also claims that it is set more precisely around the late 1980s. There are, throughout the feature, some suggestions that it may actually be set in the early 1990s, such as the techno music and a scene on which the characters talk about "Russian" sailors (which means that the Soviet Union may have already ended). Anyway, Trainspotting can be set anywhere between 1987 and 1993 (the year the novel was released).

Probably more reliable than my idea that Hibernian had a small upturn in the mid-80s.
After that, Edinburgh football (or fitba) has been in the words of Mark Renton "shite".

As a side note, anyone read any of the newer novels by Irvine Welsh? Last one I finished was "Porno", which wasn't all that great.
But it had the same cast of characters as "Trainspotting".
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: viper37 on June 29, 2015, 03:50:01 PM
Quote from: Savonarola on June 29, 2015, 01:42:25 PM
Nirvana is on the radio, coffee houses are popping up everywhere, you're wearing flannel and everyone is making an Indie film.  What movie most exemplifies this decade to you? 
Wayne's World and Pulp Fiction, equal.

Pulp Fiction represents everything real & overblown by fears of the time.  Gays everywhere that live to rape the first ass they see.  Blacks with guns going on a rampage.  Drug use going on wild with all its bad consequences.  Criminal walk freely without ever fear of the cops.  There's a bit of reality everywhere, but it's overblown.

Wayne's World, now, that's different.  That's because it represents the late teenage years in the 80s/90s, the adult that never wants to grow up, what it's about for many.  Like PF, it's a tad overblown - but what good movie isn't? Would be talk of Jurassic Park with velociraptors that looks like big chickens?  Had the T-Rex been so fearsome that he could see non moving objects and use its flair to find a prey (like you'd expect of most predators) would it have been a classice as it was? Pro'lly not.

JP and Phantom Menace can't really count as "90s movies" because of the sci-fi element, imho.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Grey Fox on June 29, 2015, 04:04:04 PM
All those movies are very good choices & represent a different face of the 90s.

I voted Clerks because to me, the 90s is represented by something in a mall barely out of the 80s.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Savonarola on June 29, 2015, 04:06:49 PM
Quote from: viper37 on June 29, 2015, 03:50:01 PM
JP and Phantom Menace can't really count as "90s movies" because of the sci-fi element, imho.

I just put "The Phantom Menace" on there as a joke.  I don't think Jar Jar taught us any fundamental truths about the 90s (well maybe that Bill Clinton's dialogue about race had failed.)

Jurassic Park, on the other hand was totally 90s.  It dealt with the fears of genetic engineering and corporate science-for-profit (then still relatively new).  It was also womynist film with lines like "We can discuss sexism in survival situations when I get back."
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Ideologue on June 29, 2015, 04:26:33 PM
Yet was about 30 years more progressive than JW.

Jorge, I've not read the novel, but The James McAvoy movie Filth, based on an Irvine Welsh book, is pretty good. I gave it a 6/10, but it's a hard 6/10.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: The Larch on June 29, 2015, 06:03:34 PM
Voted Clerks. Mallrats would have been a great choice as well.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Ed Anger on June 29, 2015, 06:05:44 PM
Wild Things
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: The Larch on June 29, 2015, 06:11:11 PM
Quote from: Ed Anger on June 29, 2015, 06:05:44 PM
Wild Things

What about Showgirls?
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Ideologue on June 29, 2015, 06:32:24 PM
Showgirls is fun. :lol:

I think Viper makes a good case, and the wacky dumb criminal indie subgenre exploded thanks to it, but with its timeless neverwhen (and deliberate throwback mentality), I'm not sold on Pulp Fiction at all.  I wonder if I'm the only one who thinks it's actually at the bottom of the first tier of his efforts? I think I remember when I ran the best Tarantino poll about a year ago, it won.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 06:34:20 PM
Wonder no more you wacko.  It's a chief doover.  One of the best movies ever made.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: 11B4V on June 29, 2015, 07:00:06 PM
Singles
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Tonitrus on June 29, 2015, 07:39:56 PM
Quote from: 11B4V on June 29, 2015, 07:00:06 PM
Singles

A very Seattle-area answer.  :P

But for me, I'll be brave enough to say it.... :P

Independence Day.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Eddie Teach on June 29, 2015, 08:23:37 PM
Pulp Fiction is one of the best movies ever and far and away Tarantino's peak. Ffs Ide.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Caliga on June 29, 2015, 08:35:07 PM
Quote from: Ideologue on June 29, 2015, 06:32:24 PM
I wonder if I'm the only one who thinks it's actually at the bottom of the first tier of his efforts?
Yes, yes you are.  I agree with others that it's one of the best movies of all time.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Tonitrus on June 29, 2015, 08:43:07 PM
I have never seen Pulp Fiction, nor does it interest me in the slightest.  :sleep:
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Ideologue on June 29, 2015, 08:48:49 PM
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on June 29, 2015, 08:23:37 PM
Pulp Fiction is one of the best movies ever and far and away Tarantino's peak. Ffs Ide.

Far and away?  You've gotta be kidding me.  It's not like we're talking some joker who made one hit movie, or even someone who ever descended into mediocrity.  The whole body of work is pretty golden, the range only going between "the really fucking good" and "the essentially perfect."

Pulp Fiction's in the essentially perfect column, but at the bottom.  Under Death Proof, the Kill Bills, and Django.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Eddie Teach on June 29, 2015, 08:51:56 PM
As grumbler would say, stop digging.  :wacko:
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Admiral Yi on June 29, 2015, 08:52:41 PM
Quote from: Tonitrus on June 29, 2015, 08:43:07 PM
I have never seen Pulp Fiction, nor does it interest me in the slightest.  :sleep:

Hipsters.  :rolleyes:
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: jimmy olsen on June 30, 2015, 01:38:44 AM
Quote from: Ideologue on June 29, 2015, 06:32:24 PM
I'm not sold on Pulp Fiction at all.  I wonder if I'm the only one who thinks it's actually at the bottom of the first tier of his efforts? I think I remember when I ran the best Tarantino poll about a year ago, it won.
You're mad, it's one of the best movies ever made.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Syt on June 30, 2015, 01:59:38 AM
Quote from: Ideologue on June 29, 2015, 08:48:49 PM
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on June 29, 2015, 08:23:37 PM
Pulp Fiction is one of the best movies ever and far and away Tarantino's peak. Ffs Ide.

Far and away?  You've gotta be kidding me.  It's not like we're talking some joker who made one hit movie, or even someone who ever descended into mediocrity.  The whole body of work is pretty golden, the range only going between "the really fucking good" and "the essentially perfect."

Pulp Fiction's in the essentially perfect column, but at the bottom.  Under Death Proof, the Kill Bills, and Django.

Well, you are entitled to your opinion, of course. I didn't buy into the Pulp Fiction hype when the movie came out. However, I taped it when it was on TV in the late 90s. And it's the only movie that, after watching it the first time, I immediately re-watched. I like his other movies, but I find it hard to rank them as I like each movie for different reasons.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Gups on June 30, 2015, 02:02:47 AM
Trainspotting for me but might be a Brit thing.

Possible shortlistees:

Big Lebowski
Toy Story
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Syt on June 30, 2015, 02:18:43 AM
As for the most 90est of the 90s movies, it's kind of hard. There's some that are popular or well known in North America, that weren't very relevant over here.

If I had to make a shortlist it would probably be
- Pulp Fiction
- Trainspotting
- Wayne's World
- Seven
- Forrest Gump
- American Beauty

I guess American Beauty will be a controversial choice, but I think it encapsulates the middle class ennui of the time and aimlessness of the young generation.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Ideologue on June 30, 2015, 02:56:44 AM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on June 30, 2015, 01:38:44 AM
Quote from: Ideologue on June 29, 2015, 06:32:24 PM
I'm not sold on Pulp Fiction at all.  I wonder if I'm the only one who thinks it's actually at the bottom of the first tier of his efforts? I think I remember when I ran the best Tarantino poll about a year ago, it won.
You're mad, it's one of the best movies ever made.

Relax.  I'd give it a 9/10 or 10/10; certainly an A+.  But every movie is technically one of the best ever made.  I dunno if Pulp Fiction would place on a top 100 of my lifetime.  A top 100 of the 90s, sure; but almost surely not of the past century.  I could think of 100 movies off the top of my head that are better, and four of them are Tarantino pictures.  But Phantom of the Opera is better.  The General is better.  Design for Living is better.  Double Indemnity is better.  The Incredible Shrinking Man is better, as is Forbidden Planet.  Dr. Strangelove is better, as is 2001.  Star Wars and Raiders are better.  Gravity is better.  Obviously this is just an opinion, but it's not like those are not picks from the canon--I didn't even mention Flash Gordon or Rope.

Now, I know why it evokes such harsh emotion: Pulp Fiction's the moment when a lot of people around our age saw a movie and managed to be impressed by the obvious craftsmanship that went into its narrative, editing, and dialogue.  It had a freshness to it.  Then it became a zeitgeist hit--something for people to talk about and bond over.  A big part of the reason people can get upset over the mildest dismissal of Pulp Fiction is called "nostalgia."

In its defense, it holds up much better to scrutiny than so many other zeitgeisty films, e.g., The Graduate, or Bullitt, or Gone With the Wind, or even The Matrix or--to come full circle--American Beauty.

Doesn't mean it's as big a deal as it was in 1994.  And I suspect its stature will fade, a touch, as Gen X and us Millennials fade too.  It probably won't ever be "that movie where Grease gets killed while he's taking a shit" to those with a sense of history, but I imagine that, to the general public, that could easily be its legacy.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Martinus on June 30, 2015, 03:02:07 AM
Quote from: Valmy on June 29, 2015, 02:10:53 PM
I thought it was American Beauty. A story about people without any problems creating problems so they can feel alive. Rather like how OJ Simpson and Presidential blow jobs were points of passionate outrage back in those days.

I think Fight Club could get a vote for the very same reason. The 90s were defined by the "end of history" - the West won over the Soviet Union and noone really knew what to do about there being no visible enemy or threat. So people coped by inventing problems.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Martinus on June 30, 2015, 03:04:18 AM
Quote from: derspiess on June 29, 2015, 02:23:13 PM
Swingers is probably my favorite 90s movie.  Not sure I'd call it the "most 90s" movie, though.

Yeah. I think people are voting for their favourite movie, not the most quintessentially 90s movie.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Ideologue on June 30, 2015, 03:04:52 AM
Quote from: Syt on June 30, 2015, 02:18:43 AM
I guess American Beauty will be a controversial choice, but I think it encapsulates the middle class ennui of the time and aimlessness of the young generation.

Indeed--another reason to boost for American Beauty (albeit not moreso than Clerks) as "The Film of the 1990s" is how viciously people turned against it once the 21st century was underway.  Of course, you could say that about Fight Club.

I question Seven.  My third favorite Fincher film, and a big hit, and all that, but it practically takes place in an alternate dimension and while it has a lot to say it doesn't appear to me to be speaking for a decade or a generation.  Rather just for Andrew Kevin Walker's unpleasant time in New York, and David Fincher's skill at producing gross nihilistic shockers. :P
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: celedhring on June 30, 2015, 03:15:01 AM
Pulp Fiction is the epitome of film postmodernism in the West, really. I agree with Ide that his effect on my generation was insane - I started film school two years after it was released and every-fucking-body was shooting and writing Pulp Fiction ripoffs - but it stands on its own. It's the perfect encapsulation and regurgitation of how films were made in America up to that point. One of my teachers used to quip that all of American film history existed so Tarantino could go and make Pulp Fiction.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Ideologue on June 30, 2015, 03:17:34 AM
See, that's the kind of overpraise that 20 years later sounds insane.

Douglas Sirk didn't make movies so Tarantino could put his name on a fucking steak.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: celedhring on June 30, 2015, 03:24:49 AM
Quote from: Ideologue on June 30, 2015, 03:17:34 AM
See, that's the kind of overpraise that 20 years later sounds insane.

Douglas Sirk didn't make movies so Tarantino could put his name on a fucking steak.

He said that in 2010 :p

He used to get very emotional when talking about films though. I loved him.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: The Brain on June 30, 2015, 03:29:56 AM
Quote from: celedhring on June 30, 2015, 03:24:49 AM

He used to get very emotional when talking about films though.

Like me when I talk about Valhalla Rising. :ultra:
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Malthus on June 30, 2015, 08:17:53 AM
Quote from: The Brain on June 30, 2015, 03:29:56 AM
Quote from: celedhring on June 30, 2015, 03:24:49 AM

He used to get very emotional when talking about films though.

Like me when I talk about Valhalla Rising. :ultra:

A movie that perfectly summarizes Sweden for foreigners.  :)
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Ed Anger on June 30, 2015, 08:19:03 AM
Quote from: The Larch on June 29, 2015, 06:11:11 PM
Quote from: Ed Anger on June 29, 2015, 06:05:44 PM
Wild Things

What about Showgirls?

Barf.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: garbon on June 30, 2015, 08:19:17 AM
Quote from: Ed Anger on June 30, 2015, 08:19:03 AM
Quote from: The Larch on June 29, 2015, 06:11:11 PM
Quote from: Ed Anger on June 29, 2015, 06:05:44 PM
Wild Things

What about Showgirls?

Barf.

:o
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Malthus on June 30, 2015, 08:20:32 AM
For me it was Pulp Fiction - because it was a movie made up of borrowings from other eras, thrown together with ironic style -- an attitude that perfectly summarizes the '90s.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Valmy on June 30, 2015, 08:20:51 AM
Showgirls gives everybody AIDS and shit.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Ed Anger on June 30, 2015, 08:23:44 AM
Joe Eszterhas is an abomination.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Admiral Yi on June 30, 2015, 08:25:16 AM
Showgirls might have worked if whatshername had better tits.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Warspite on June 30, 2015, 08:43:40 AM
If I had to pick a basket of films that I consider very 90s, and between them capture many of its aspects (at least in the rich world), then it would be:

- Trainspotting
- Clueless
- The Big Lebowski
- Office Space
- Pulp Fiction
- The Matrix

Of these, I reckon Pulp Fiction is the most 1990s of them all, even if it doesn't have flannel shirts or normcore.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: The Larch on June 30, 2015, 08:59:58 AM
Quote from: Warspite on June 30, 2015, 08:43:40 AMflannel shirts or normcore.

That's what Clerks is for.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: dps on June 30, 2015, 08:39:58 PM
Quote from: celedhring on June 29, 2015, 02:34:51 PM
Pulp Fiction is one of the most influential movies of the past 25 years. For that reason I wouldn't call it "most 90s of the 90s", since its influence has expanded past that decade.

I went with Reality Bites. Quintessential "X generation" film (and I don't mean that as a good thing).


Yeah, I think that's pretty much spot-on.  There are a lot of better films that were made in the 90s--in fact, I don't even think that I'd consider it a good film--but I don't think there are any that are more "90s" than Reality Bites.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Ideologue on July 01, 2015, 01:38:23 AM
Surely Reality Bites' influence has lasted longer than the 1990s however.  For example, they still let Ben Stiller direct terrible movies, for example.
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Savonarola on July 01, 2015, 07:37:24 AM
Quote from: Ideologue on July 01, 2015, 01:38:23 AM
Surely Reality Bites' influence has lasted longer than the 1990s however.  For example, they still let Ben Stiller direct terrible movies, for example.

:lol:
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: The Minsky Moment on July 01, 2015, 04:16:33 PM
Quote from: Ideologue on June 30, 2015, 02:56:44 AM
But every movie is technically one of the best ever made. 

QuoteBut Phantom of the Opera is better. 

Do you just seed these lines to check and see if anyone is actually reading?
Title: Re: What was the most 90s movie in the 90s?
Post by: Ideologue on July 01, 2015, 06:22:26 PM
Better than Pulp Fiction.

You know who people love, Joan? People who make snarky comments about minor verbal follies, made in extemporaneous conversation, that are instantly reconciled by any reader with fluency in the language and no cognitive disability. It's especially charming when the person obviously derived the intended meaning and is just being a style Nazi. And people ask why I don't want to be a lawyer. This is what the lawyer's mind is like.

I mean, if you're going to do that, hit me where it actually hurts and point out my embarrassing use of "for example" twice in the same sentence. Now that's inartful drafting.