ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 มิ.ย. 2024
- The 90s are one of the best decades in film history, and 90s movies have a certain look and feel to them. But why? Why do movies from that decade feel so distinctly 90s? Why do 90s movies look different? Why do 90s movies FEEL different? Is it just nostalgia or is there something tangible behind it?
In this video we dive into the topic of why 90s movies feel like 90s movies.
If there are reasons you think I missed, make sure to leave a comment. I'll be sure to join in on the conversation.
If you like this video, don't forget to like and subscribe!
If you have any other ideas for videos, leave a comment and I might make a video with your idea.
Chapters
00:00 - Intro
00:46 - The Visuals
02:52 - CGI
04:09 - 3D Animation
05:43 - Big Names
07:07 - Disney Renaissance
08:05 - The Rise of Indie Films
09:08 - Nostalgia
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90s movies look so beautiful, the image looked 'soft' and had such a bittersweet, nostalgic and comfy feel. Actors looking good and natural also really helped.
Yup…. Watch any of the Marvel movies of today, and not only are many of the actors using substances to increase their muscle tone and size, there’s also a layer of digital effects to increase it to unrealistic proportions… lol or the cgi spray painted abs like in 300 hahaha
@@andysixxlett2632
Even tv today will use digital tools to try and make older women look younger and to try and make muscles look more toned.
@@andysixxlett2632 Just wait until you discover there's also movies out there that aren't made by Marvel!
The 90s were actually flooded with cheap tape that even big movies used to produce an indie effect. There are many movies from the 90s that actually look worse than many films shot in the 80s, but much of it was either intentional or cost cutting.
Don't eat the memberberries
As a kid of the 80’s and 90’s, I couldn’t get past how flat and cheap movies looked once digital took over
Thought I was the only one!
‘80s and ‘90s
@@malvavisco10 💩
Best example if the fight between the Trex and the Spinosaurus in Jurassic Parc 3, they both looks like cats playing compared to the perfect blend between CGI and animatronic of the Trex in the original
are you kidding? watch some blockbusters from the 60's or even the 50's you homework is to watch "the good the bad and the ugly"" one of the greatest film achievements of the time. you wont see movies made today with hundreds of extras, today you see 6 that are digitally copied to make a crowd
I love that subtle grain compared to the movies of today 😅
Film.. film... film!! Has a certain feel to it.
Always thought the cinamescope lens used in the 90s looks more better and gave films more mystery. Movies these days look like they were shot from a phone which takes away the movie glitter away.
@@VV15555 what ?
I love his subtle Racial bias and even had the nerve to show Denzel, the only black artist he shows, but not say his name
@@nephiilimAlways the race card. This type of thinking is why most movies suck in comparison. Everyone is so soft and always crying about something. The woke vírus homogenizes art.
Movies were big events in the 90's. There are so many forms of media fighting for every second of our attention these days, that movies just seem to come and go.
yeah we hardly have time to watch a feature film anymore
within the last Month, I opened Netflix and Amazon prime movies almost everyday and haven;t managed to finish one movie to the end.
Hit the nail on the head. Movies these days will drop on Netflix and forgotten about. There’s very little nostalgia for anything made in the last 10 years.
The 90's felt like the peak of innovation and exploration in entertainment as a whole. Even 90's anime has a look and feel all its own until digital animation methods came in and homogenized most of the art styles. Leaving only some exception franchises the 'luxury' of receiving extra budgeting to look more like their manga counterparts.
Mankind peaked
Completely disagree. With the internet as widely available as it is now, literally anyone can make whatever they want. If it needs a budget, it can be crowdfunded, if it needs a team, you can easily reach out to and work with people from the entire world who like your vision.
@@plebisMaximus I apologize, I must clarify that I was strictly speaking of mainstream Hollywood and animation studio productions. I don't disagree with your use of Internet / crowfunded projects, but that is not what I was referencing when making the comment.
@@laurens.8475 Yea, fair point then. I'm a foreigner, so to me, Hollywood is far from the dominant power in film you guys see it as. Great movies are still regularly released here in Denmark.
An art style is completely independent of whatever production methods were used. All of Disney's 90s Movies were digitally coloured and no one considers them homogenized.
For me, a good charm of the 90's is how many "smaller" films were still able to be released theatrically. Family movies, coming of age dramas, movies that were neither franchise plays nor Oscar bait. Movies that were just a fun time with characters you cared about. I just don't see films like this anymore.
Damn that’s so true. Now everything has to be a huge franchise wether superhero or action movies
It's called the mid-budget film and I think he should have mentioned this in the video, they were an important source of income for Hollywood in the 90s but has since diminished in popularity. They weren't really low-budget indie films but they didn't have the same huge budget as a big-budget film so they had to focus on plot and characters instead instead of crazy cgi or effects.
exactly it was just a lot of great story telling and imagination with some hidden wisdom to contemplate at times. Nowadays its the opposite. Mostly all about Special effects and characters that act dumb.
Blame the death of home video. Mid-budget movies made their money back on VHS/DVD sales. Steaming doesn’t make as much and thus Hollywood demands high box-office performance or they won’t fund a project.
There are always many smaller moives. But the media don't do the job of relaying film festival awards. Then to invite the directors and actors to talk about the film. When did you see on a Kelly Reichardt or Sian Heder in talk show? Sian Heder after all the Oscars she won should have been invited on every talk show....
And I'm not even talking about the specialty movie shows that don't exist today.
You should have added Humor as a defining factor, another one is Irony. I remember the 90's as the decade when it was okay to be a little bit of a freak without explaining yourself for it and it was cool to go against the mob and be truly non-conformist. Also it was a decade where Subcultures bloomed - Goth, Skater, Punk, Hard Rock, Hipster, Geek, Techno/synth/alternative, the Vampire and Witch craze, all lived side by side and created long lasting trends that felt really liberating at the time.
Great point! I didn't think of that. Thanks for the super insightful comment, I really appreciate it.
Wonderfully put and insightful. 💙
I remember some journalist called the 90s the "irony decade". I think this was the time when "so bad it's good" sort of became a thing. For instance, the old Plan Nine From Outer Space became popular.
The 90s was the decade where neoliberalism really, truly won out, strangling authentic culture and ushering in the era of the commodified, purchaseable identity. What you remember isn't people going against the mob or being real, nonconformist individuals. What you remember is people buying the neccessary signifiers to carry the illusion of such, and in so doing, being even more blindly conformist than ever before. 90s nostalgia is paper thin and easily seen through, when you realise your entire childhood (well, my childhood, not sure how old you are) was just people trying to sell you shit you either didn't need, or that was actively harmful to you.
@@coyoteblue4027 I agree
For some reason 90's movies stick with me the most. They are like a warm hug.
What I also like about that era is that you (as part of the audience) had more air to breathe in the artistic expression as opposed to 30 years later when everything is immediately analysed on youtube by several youtubers or so many articles are online picking up on superficial things. To me it's important that I am given some space and time to digest that film or series or music on my own, through my own filters before jumping into discussions... I mean this is beautiful to have time to breathe in that artistic act.
@@eliasyildiz yes, that's why I am trying to avoid it at maximum... 😌 to keep my impressions pristine
There were blogs then too just most people didn't look them up.
@@gabrielserrano5054 I admit that sometimes I do look for some explanations or analysis of the director's style, but I let time in between to process and enjoy the artistic act...
The best thing about 90's movies is although technology and practical visual effects were reaching their peak most of the filmmakers from that era grew up on the classics and respected the art, often paying homage to their idols. They drew so much on the past 60yrs in terms of style, mood, and characterization which now is largely lost to pure conceptualization and focus groups.
well said... i was just gonna say most everything that comes out today in is dry, and most of characters i don't tend to care about bc there is a strong sense of apathy in most modern movies.
yeah, hollywood thinks its found a formula that works, so they use it for ALL movies. or almost all of them. and that causes its formula to not work at all because we are all sick of it. the lack of creativity, freedom of speech. the fact it all has to 'reflect the world we live in today' and has to worry about not offending anyone. which in turn means there is no humour, and they are always pushing a 'message' or agenda. plus, the overuse of cgi is hard to bear.
i have barely watched any new movies in the last year, mostly just watching old movies. there are so many, but sometimes they are hard to find/ remember.
bonus thing: i miss going to the video store, lol.
Nope, it’s mainly the film camera and color science were different.
@@socks2441 Don't forget that "the world we live in today" really means "what southern california looks like today".
And attacking the fans and calling them istaphobazis is their new main marketing strategy. That too.
That was because if you were young back then, you had syndicated television so it wasn't weird to kick back and watch reruns of sitcoms and movies from the fifties and onward. It was just what you had so alot of our tastes were informed by older media. Anyone born after 1997, when the internet took form and prestige cable tv became the standard and video games started to behave like movies, became a generation of the "now". This is why twenty-and-thirtysomethings are hyper-fixated on media from the past "holding up" and being "dated". Older audiences (gen x and before), through consumption of older media, developed the ability to properly contextualize the past. This is why references in current media seem so shallow.
I sometimes feel like much of my life is an attempt to relive some magical feeling I had growing up in 80s/90s. Sometimes, when I'm lucky, I get a glimpse.
i loved the colors and cameras of the older movies it gave them so much personality but most modern movies just look so similar
Yeah! Very true!
All 90s movies look similar as well. Just as all 60s, or 2010s movies look similar
modern movies have too much over editing, no style or ambition
@@tickledonions9483 and no scripts
@@tickledonions9483and the colors are a little off. They don’t off as natural like.
As someone who grew up in the 90s, I give my stamp of approval on this video. It was a time when things were still sane and fun. Kids played outside without as much fear, we roamed the neighborhood and we had to be home before the street lights came on. Things were more simple. I would love through the 90s on a loop if I could.
Plot and creativity comes to my mind. When I think of movies from the 90s, I just think of all the really wild ideas. To me, they look and feel different because they are different. Another thing is I feel like later movies have become more rushed and lack that artistic eye to produce memorable scenes and settings. 90s movies also seemed more focused and interpersonal with the characters. When I watch modern movies, I usually feel more distant and disconnected from the characters compared to older movies. You still have people like Steven Spielberg and Bruce Willis around who know how to grab your attention, but they're becoming outnumbered in what Hollywood has become.
thank you
a lot of this has to do with 90s directors being people who idolized the New Hollywood films of the 60s and 70s which were similar in regards to what you're describing
I've heard it said that Pulp Fiction is one of the most influential films ever made. Not because people copied the style but rather because it made a lot of money and studios realized that mainstream audiences were ready for weird stories. We wouldn't have gotten Magnolia, Being John Malkovich or Fight Club if not for Pulp Fiction messing things up in a good way.
Whoever said that, doesn't know too much movie history, or they are a Tarantino fanboi.
Pulp Fiction is a good movie, but it wouldn't rank in even the top 50 most influential movies., probably not even top 100. There were all sorts of 'weird stories' being told prior to Pulp Fiction, for decades. A major difference between now and the 90s (and earlier) is that a LOT more movies were being made, and more of the movies that were made were story driven. Insofar as 'weird stories', the Coen Brothers were making successful movies before Tarantino, and they're known for being weirder.
I think it's more likely that a Clockwork Orange laid the ground work for fight club
No.
@@DRourkPulp Fiction is 100% one of the top 50 most influential movies. Not only is it on the top 10 highest rated movies of all time but it also changed the way stories are told forever. Not the best movie ever but 100% a top 50 movie. What would be in your top 10?
@@DRourk Lmao. Hard. It is in the top 100 influential movies of all time. You just know absolutely phukk all about film history.
The 70s-90s represents the height of creativity, storytelling, and acting without reliance on CGI.
Those 3 decades are literally the era when CGI got big and became popular lol
@@krypticunlimited6925the 90s only
Late 80s and 90s I would say (1989-1996)
As a finnish dude growing up in the 90s I must say that the pop culture from the US made my 90s awesome. Music, animation, movies, tv-shows! Oh man, 90s was super cool decade to be a kid and a teenager!
It was also the last decade where you could grow up as a kid with relatively little indoctrination. The use of psychology in entertainment & media to indoctrinate & manipulate people with has grown far too widespread since.
And you can't imagine how it was like for kids from former eastern block, you had all those gameboys, playstations, satellite TVs with hundreds of channels, first computers, I was just a little kid (I am born in 1991) but even I remember that feeling of late 90s when people were buying Windows 98 and waited for PS2 to be released, it was so interesting time, everything new was better and more instersting. Today it's exactly vice versa, you are scared of updates and you stay with your good old things as long as possible because you know newer product will be probably worse, it's terrible. All those corporations are leaded not by inovators and programmers like in the past, but by some fasists who want to push their crazy visions of world into their products and force people to accept that even when they don't want it. I really miss those days when you really WANTED to install new Windows version or something, it's such a sad evolution to these days. I hope one day it will change, this crazy situation must end one day.
@@Pidalin It's ridiculous how basic features are disappearing 1 by 1 as well. They force you with a fat windows taskbar with W11 and you need an external 3rd party app to even change it. It's the same across the board with other platforms/devices. Stuff that used to be so basic is now very hard or almost impossible to do.
@@thenonexistinghero Exactly, I totaly hate that fat taskbar with grouped bars without text. I bought 32" 4K screen to have more space, not to have even less space than in 15 years ago. 😀 And you can't imagine how new CNC machines look like, I work as CNC programmer and it's the same evolution - instead of just typing text, which is very effective when you know what you doing, you have to draw it in some cad like software first and then you have to click to geometry and add milling and possibilities what to do with that are very limited compared to older machines, it's trying to do some things instead of you, which sounds good, but in reality, it's mostly better to program it manualy in old school Gcode, but you can't on new machines. And not only it's stupid, that new software is even very bugged, some buttons and features don't work and nobody cares, it's machine for 200 000 eur and half of things don't work and you have to somehow fix it by yourself which you even can't because it's protected by some online password which is changed every 2 weeks on new machines so you can't even go to advanced machine settings when you need to adjust some axis or something, you have to call official service for every bullshit which is pretty annoying and wasting of time when it's something totaly simple, like adjust some drill bit axis when it's not making precisly, you can ofcourse compensate it in programs, but I don't like it, it's pretty messy then, I prefer to fix that axis directly to make it working precisly.
On old machines I can do almost everything, when we have some accident and axises are messed up, I can fix it by myself and mostly even better than official service will do it. This evolution will be a massive problem in the future, entire companies or even countries can be turned off just because of some official service from Italy doesn't have time now or part which you need is not produced anymore.
Same bro
As a ex sovietice country 90s kid my entire childhood was filled with American movies and music .
Still get teary eyed when watching Die Hard, the Matrix, Independance day
I was asking myself what makes 90's movies feel the way they do and behold I find this great video. This really helped me pinpoint what I was looking for, thanks.
Awesome!!!! We're super happy that you found this video useful. Whenever we make these videos we learn a lot as well. These videos also make us feel nostalgic and want to watch more 90s films, hopefully it did the same for you.
@@FilmStack I actually just watched The Rock for the first time in ages and it was definitely nostalgic. I do watch a lot of older films and my next 90's rewatch will be The Arrival. Definitely recommend it if you haven't seen it yet. Take care.
The Matrix is actually interesting, bc while the original had a slight teal hue, the clips we usually see of it are from subsequent rereleases that added the heavy green tint.
I always remembered The Matrix as being very green and was very surprised how natural and not green the colors actually are, when i rewatched it recently
@@rgerber That is what always turned me away from that Movie.
It gave an air of suspense in the beginning. You initially began watching the movie thinking, it's just one more roll-off-the-mill action movies, but when characters start dodging bullets, and doing detailed 3D spinning kicks... you slowly begin to realise that the matrix world isn't what you thought. Subsequent releases didn't have more to reveal as you already knew the basic plot, a computer simulation.
@@JohnFekoloid It was even crazier when you saw the trailers back then but knew nothing about the movie, you had NO idea what it was going to be about, and you had to go watch it just to make the trailers make sense.
@@neoasura what is the Matrix? That’s all we had to go on before it came out lol. That movie saved 1999 for me and my buds after the disappointment of waiting almost 20 years for the new Star Wars
As a 90s and 2000s kid who grew up watching many 90s movies,what I liked back then was that there was a wide variety of different movies,all of which were pretty big hits. You had SF action movies like Terminator 2, Independence Day, The Matrix and Jurassic Park, dramas like Jerry Maguire and A Few Good Men, war movies like Saving Private Ryan, comedies like Dumb And Dumber, Mrs Doubtfire, Rush Hour and Austin Powers, superhero movies like Blade and The Crow, horror movies like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, crime movies like Goodfellas and Pulp Fiction, disaster movies like Armageddon, Volcano and Titanic, kids movies like Homeward Bound, Babe, Free Willy and Beethoven, cartoons like The Lion King and Aladdin, etc. While I am a fan of superhero movies,it feels like they made up over half of all the popular hit movies of the past decade.
you nailed it
I was born in the 80's, so I was a kid and teenager throughout the 90's, and I'm really thankful for that. I really miss those times, and I'm glad we have so many great movies, and music from that era, so we can, in a sense, revisit it.
You know one thing about 90s movies? MUSIC! Always has a tense fast paced orchestral track. That's 90s af.
Music, the movies and general pop culture of the 90’s is an era that Will never be repeated
They began to use autotunes and all music started to sound the same because there are only a handful of producers now.
Rumors are songs are now written by AI.
Same can be said for every decade/era.
@@Mark_Knight now there is chatgdpt I'm sure that will replace these office workers.
I don't know maybe our 90's is one 1⃣ else's 20 years from now. It's like fashion is recycled every 100 years or so. They wore baggy pants in the 1930s and in the midevil days. I'm sure transitions will happen and before that time it's the 90's.
@@gabrielserrano5054 Fashion changes every 10 years, except we have worn the same fashion since the late 90;s. It;s a a sign of a culture that has stopped advancing.
As someone who grew up in the 2000’s and 2010’s I watched a lot of films from the 90’s
90's is my favorite era of movies, so I very much enjoyed this! In regard to 90's movies feeling so 90's, I would mention the movie scores. The scores had a very distinctive feeling, with so many memorable and emotive melodies. Think of The Lion King, The Rock, Titanic, Mulan, Mask of Zorro, Braveheart, Forest Gump, Gattaca etc. All had so bravely emotive sound to them. I especially miss the action scores (like the kick-ass scores from Speed and Deep Blue Sea) as nowadays action movies tend to sound so lame. I would say that same as watching a movie from the 80's, from a 90's movie you could almost always tell the decade from the score alone.
Don't forget Jurassic Park, one of the greatest film scores of all time, by the unparalleled John Williams.
Yeah, much better than all the synthesizer copycats of the 80s movies.
@@PowerControlthose synthesiser copycats are not even remembered all the 80s iconic prolly better than 90s
I love how the girl in Jurassic Park was referred to as a computer hacker because she could operate a computer program with an interface so simple that an audience can understand what's going on in split seconds.
Love 90's movie's colors and ambiance. It just took you elsewhere like while you felt like it was a fantasy, you still could feel integrated in the 🎥
That thing about colour grading and lighting really makes sense to me. Creative lighting needs a revival, it looks so much better than post-production colour.
I love the 90’s movie aesthetic
Great video! For me, a big part of '90s movies was the surreal quality a lot of them had. Much of it had to do with personal style and tastes of the directors, but I think surreal imagery was just more popular back then, or it had a more distinct look and feel. Practical sets, Dutch angles, painted backgrounds, make up, extreme close ups, distorted lenses and bright colors all contributed to a strange, almost fairy tale quality. You saw it in a lot of commercials at the time, too. Toys (1992), Mystery Men, Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, Dick Tracy, North, and even movies like The Flintstones and Coneheads had that feel to me because of the props and sets. A lot of sci-fi at the time had a strange surreal quality to it too, usually dystopian and dark. Every director just had a very distinct style they were going for, and it made the movies so visually interesting! A lot of directors still do that, obviously, but the '90s movies just had a strangeness to them can't seem to be replicated.
I always say that I had the Hat Trick: being a kid in the 70's, a teenage in the 80's and a College student in the 90's. IMHO, you can't beat that.
Why is that called the hat trick?
@@Cinnamun52 it means something like "three consecutive successes", of the same kind. It's often used in sports, when a player scores three times in the same night.
Same here.
two words for you 90s kids, sports movies
i like how the 90s basically encouraged kids to get out,sweat and have fun
also learn the values of team work and friendship
little giants,the mighty ducks,cool runnings,angels in the outfield and the pinnacle of it all Space jam
How did you not mention "The Sandlot"????
Dude your channel deserves so many more views. It's frustrating to see such well done vids not get pushed by the algorithm. Keep it up bro
Thank you! I really appreciate it. We just need to focus on making good videos and thumbnails and hopefully one day the algorithm does it's thing 😄
Totally agree
it has content and the sentences are longer than 7 seconds...
Same here bro, every time I think about the 90s it’s the movies and music. Iconic
The musical scores were different. Nowadays movie scores feel like stock content and takes the backseat to songs that get plugged in the movies to generate income for musical artists.
I know, a lot of songs were plugged in the 90's too, but think about My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion: it had a theme that was reproduced in the score throughout the film.
John Hughes' films like Home Alone, The Mighty Ducks, Planes, Trains and Automobiles - the music had a very special feel. Same goes for Steven Spielberg's movies in the 80's and 90's.
They actually put real effort in things like that back then...
Every single film seemed to have orchestral scoring back then, which made even a simple drama feel epic and a big deal.
I'm glad I grew up well before social media
in the 90s we felt the same way about the 70s movies. Good one my man
Born in 83, the 90s was a big decade for me.
I was born in 84, but I still prefer 80s movies to 90s movies overall
@@84paratizeno ,90s are the best
@@SRBOMBONICA86no
Thank you for this -- I have always felt movies and TV shows from the 90s looked best (like they were visually close to real life, but still an escape and a slightly romanticized, yet realistic vision of the world). Especially when compared to films and shows from the mid-00s to onward.
Who else can relate to that picture of the narrator captioned "this is me in the 90's". I hear you on that nostalgia. Actually owning Disney video tapes you'd repeat day after day without a care and how that was so universal that was my childhood in Uganda 🇺🇬 as well. It truly was a simpler time 😊
Story style and camera shots/angles also developed. It seems like things are a lot more choppy now. Now films have Shorter, closer, more dynamic clips compared to the longer, wider shots of the 90s
you have no idea what beautiful emotions and memories this part brought out for me 7:46
The 90s felt different in many ways not only movies. Childhood in the 90s was also way different than childhoods in the 00’s and .
The 90s had something special. Can’t explain it, Everyone that grew up in the 90s will understand
I grew up in the 90's and believe me i understand you very well, but we can't explain that to the new generation they still don't get it.
@@andrius11 exactly. They will think the only difference is that there where no smartphones. Or social media. And netflix. But that isn’t the reason why it was different,
@@jdnrotterdam2150 You are right. True real in person friendships in the 90's what a time was to be alive.🇱🇹
I grew up in the 90s, I understand it, and unfortunately I can explain it. 9/11 shattered our innocence and the internet made the world a smaller place. The 90s were this weird time when we had a lot of what we'd recognize as modern technology, but most of the world was still over a digital horizon and we had every reason to believe that, with the exception of the occasional small regional skirmish, wars were something that would only ever be mentioned in history books. I'm not sure what impact having the internet removing almost all barriers to communication would have had in a world where 9/11 didn't happen and we still had our optimism about the future and instead of optimism combined with a world larger than we could imagine, we had optimism combined with a world that we could access at our fingertips. That's actually an interesting thought experiment.
@@smileyeagle1021 exactly. In the 90s we thought we had futuristic technology. But it was still very innocent. And we civilians were innocent. War was far from our bed. Terrorist was there but not so heavy. And after 9/11 the war in Afghanistan… iraq. Later syria . And the terrorist attacks .. the hate.. the immigration because of the wars. And we saw more because social media. Family gatherings became different because social media… because there wasn’t much to tell anymore. We knew everything. People couldn’t tell something new anymore… because everyone already knew. Online hate…. Global climate discussions. The financial crisis. People lost their homes. Their jobs. All those crap. We didn’t had that in the 90s. Family gatherings where special. Because we had things to tell. We didn’t seen each other for a while. We didn’t knew everything. We had our fantasy. Because movies and tv shows. People had their jobs their houses cars no economic crisis. Christmas was something something special more than nowadays. More magic ! And events were something special because people truly experienced it! Without their smartphones filming. Just to show other people the cool things they are doing and how cool and not boring they are
Yup. Films used to be shot on film. People make fun of those of us who say that things looked and sounded better in the past, like we're imagining things or looking at things with rose-colored glasses. But movies/music used to be produced in vastly different ways than they are today. Film gave the images this sense of being "alive," and they all had a "weight" to them. You could just have a shot of a city-street without any overt movement going on, but it would be mesmerizing, because it would look like another world. Digital, too often feels dead, flat and plasticky.
And in terms of the sound, I'm convinced that it's the modern way of recording things digitally as the reason why people keep complaining that they can't understand dialogue in movies anymore. Sound/music used to have "texture" to them, whereas now, things have to be be devoid of all "imperfection."
Sometimes tech shows us too much. The sets of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation seen on Blueray look obviously like fake sets, but you didn't see that in the theater or on VHS.
I always feel that the cutting was very different. I associate 90's movies with settled down silent moments that take their time. It can give depth to certain scenes if carefully done. It makes us feel the rest and peace the modern world forgot. But at the same time it can make a movie appear dry, distant, long-winded and slowly moving forward if done poorly. The right feeling for the right cut is a high art.
I just love how clean and sharp 90 movies look.
And I hate so much the current overuse of post processing filters and CGI.
Someone noticed that jump in image quality in the early 1990s. It's a little known innovation called t-grain or tabular grain by Kodak. They invented new color negative films circa 1990 using a method where the light sensitivity silver was deposited as flat plates rather than random shaped crystals. This pretty much doubled the light sensitivity going from 100 speed to up to 500 speed film stock, or for the same ISO, you got 150% more resolution.
Wasn't there some new retro B&W filmstock released back then too?
@@gunfighterzero likey the same tech. It would be just as impactful in B&W as it was in color
The mystery factor is a huge component of the 90’s magic. As you mentioned earlier, if we wanted to know how a super star was doing we had to read it through the magazines, watch a certain tv program etc.. it wasn’t as easy as searching on our phones. It took some time to get certain informations thus giving us a sense of reward when we finally found things out.
I think it also has to do with the standard aspect ratio and how it has changed with digital. We used to be more cropped in and so we would use more close ups of faces and got to really feel the emotion of the actors through these close ups. Something that is not done much these days, but now we get a lot of panoramic views and grand spectacles. The art of "camera angle" to really express the scenes emotion and tension was at its peak. And since digital took off the ability to move the "camera" anywhere in space has made modern movies more wild and chaotic and less interested in an actors solo performance. 90's had a grounded look, all the cameras were still stuck on the floor, everything was still practical. The lighting as you mentioned was also very influential. There was just so much more care for the "art" of cinematography to compliment the actors performance and emotion. Now movies cinematography focus on "wow" factor, who can make the most beautiful wide shot or spectacular grand scale event.
Ok I knew I wasn't crazy when every time I see a movie straight out of the 90s it looks older with the grain...its because it was shot in FILM, not digitally. Thank you for that explanation, totally makes everything make sense now
I also think of Jerry Bruckheimer action movies and as someone from the UK, our film industry also had a resurgence with Richard Curtis comedies and the like of Danny Boyle. Some examples would be. Trainspotting, Lock Stock, Full Monty, Four Weddings.
I still remember the moral panic around Tarrantino and Tarrantino adjacent films with lots of gun violence too!
Those successful UK films were all indie films, funded by channel 4 (4film) and the national lottery, something that did not exist before the 90s. These films were too controversial and younger audience targeted to get funding by traditional studios.
I 100% agree with you on the 90s films. But on an even bigger note I think the 90s are so different and special because not only was it the last decade before the Internet but it was also the last decade of the last century of the first millennium.
I think one of the big themes about 90s movies is their optimism, and that gives them a certain feel.
yeah, in the 90s we felt like we were the culmination of the Civil Rights movement and everything from the 60s. We felt like we were the least racist, sexist or homophobic version of America there had ever been. And we were. We were quite proud of that and looking forward to the peaceful enjoyment of that progress over the next several decades.
What we didn't anticipate is people born after us would refuse to register how much steady progress had been made, and would burn everything down out of anger anyways, instead of sticking to the model of steady improvement that we had mastered.
@@William-the-GuyI’d argue that what we didn’t anticipate was everyone and their brother getting a megaphone to spread their bad ideas and then making it easier to find like minded people to form groups of individuals who normally would’ve been seen as crazy, crackpot, extremists that everyone would’ve avoided before social media came on the scene. That goes for every extreme end of any ideology. People have gotten too hyped up and opinionated about everything. Obviously I’m no different by typing long comments on YT 😅
@@linmonPIE that is an excellent point. I agree. I have nothing to add to that, except to say you nailed it.
American Beauty!
An innocence back then . I miss it
Man, I was born in January 1986, and omg!! I MISS THE 90s AND 2000s!!!!! Thanks for the flashbacks, lol, and you're so right, all those Disney movies were the BEST!!! I let my 3yo daughter watch them all the time!!!
I do really still enjoy watching 90's movies. The sense of humor, acting, scripts all of these aspects of that period movies left an unforgettable impression on me.
Such a good overview of the 90s!
What I love about the 90's was that Hip-hop music was at its height of fantastic beats and great rappers especially in the Indie rap radio DJ s like WKCR Stretch and Bobbito and what I remember also from the 90's was that they were nostalgic about the 70's.
Absolutely. Hip-hop hit its zenith in the 90s as far as I'm concerned. And rock music was in a great place too, with the rise of the grunge era and the bands that followed.
I always imagine 90s movies are holiday movies because the happiness and constant good ending
The Pulp Fiction screen brought me here, but stayed for the content!
Well done!
I wonder if kung fu and police comedy action films play a role in the identity of block busters of that era. Action films weren't as big as superhero scale yet, so they came up with interesting choreographies and dynamics to the story. I think that films like Rush Hour are a product of their time, that hasn't really been replicated.
Wow! That is an amazing insight that we completely overlooked when making out video. Rush Hour is a gem and I agree, there hasn't been many movies like it since. I think that when creators/artists have more limited resources (less CGI/special effects) they tend to get more creative with what they have and Rush Hour is definitely a product of that. Thank you for the comment!
@@FilmStack Thank you for the video, it has many insights and was very entertaining.
Thank you!
@@FilmStack I recently re-watched Rush Hour and that movie is so much fun. The world was legitimately better at that time - and no, it's not just nostalgia...it really was.
90s possibly is my favorite decade for Film The Crow, Scream, Jacobs Ladder, and Candyman are 4 of my Top 5 favorite movies of all time. But even other favorites are from the 90s like Saving Private Ryan, Shawshank Redemption, TMNT, Fight Club, Pulp Fiction, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Jurassic Park, Tremors, Misery, Silence of the Lambs, Wes Cravens New Nightmare, Sixth Sense, Disturbing Behavior, Cube, etc. (Yes Horror is my favorite genre 😆) I could keep on going such an amazing time for movies.
Jacob's ladder remains under appreciated by too many
I’ve been looking for commentary on 90s movies. This is great
What's really interesting is how you can't go back. I've seen movies try to ape the style of previous decades and film technology, but you can always tell. There's just something different about the look of the people, the writing style, the acting style, and the aesthetics.
Check out the DVD of Se7en. They have a video on color grading for DVD which they had to grade for the lower color capabilities of home televisions.
Oh interesting, I'll try to find that. Thanks for sharing.
There are a number of things to consider:
1. Movies and TV shows drew a fine line between themselves.
Not everything had to be a sitcom to be on tv, but the overall quality and aesthetic was very different from cinema.
2. Superstardom has died out.
While I don't think the concept of being a Diva is great, a superstar isn't one tbh.
There used to be a need for people with REAL talent and charisma onscreen to really sell a movie.
Nowadays they just allow anyone to join, while only thinking about the money.
3. Anybody can be an artist now.
In conjuction with the first two points, it's not impossible to make movies on a consumer level.
Everything from the tools to the programs used are available to virtually any middle class individual.
4. As the scope for box office draws continued, executives started to only care about the money and not about the overall quality.
While the technology has certainly advanced beautifully, the heart and soul behind those high res shots has faded away into nothing.
5. Digital is making movies look realistic, but also more unrealistic than those before the 2010's.
Movies shot on film, or atleast ones that were projected on reels regardless of their method of shooting always looked and felt like movies.
Their quality and unreal aesthetic added to the wonder of what you were seeing.
It was unreal but felt real, in that you knew this wasn't happening in the real world, but the cinematography, scene breakdown and overall feel made you think it was.
And 6. In continuation of the first point, going to the movie theatre was a special thing.
Nowadays Marvel has made them nothing more than snackfood, which you can keep buying and buying.
We used to dress nicely, get some lovely popcorn and drinks, and sit in excitement.
Its still kinda the same, but the soul isn't there anymore.
Stupid cineplex with its expensive salty ass popcorn lmao
The soul not there because of the popcorn?
@@jefftakesdscakes30that’s what you decided to comment on? None of his other good points, but the popcorn?
@@adewilson132 ye
Great video.... I am glad i am not the only one who always thought there was a "different look and feel" for 90s movies compared to current movies. Especially most of the current movies being superhero movies. They have this generic look and feel to it compared to 90's movies.
I would add into the CGI section that today as you said there is an over-reliance on CGI where in the 90's many movies were shot in actual sets built by hand, not green rooms/halls. Also i really miss being able to hear a movie....audio engineers are not what they used to be.
I wish I could say the nostalgia of it all makes me happy. While the memories are fond and sometimes it does.... it usually just makes me sad in the end. I feel like it's been some dark times since then. The world is heading in a scary direction of corporate and government control. The heart and talent has left the media for the most part. The art of it all is almost gone. And a lot of the time in between then and now seems robbed
My thoughts exactly. I honestly think humanity in general peaked in the 90's.
It's hard to be creative and innovative when we live in a sterilized society full of people who have very little life experience.
@@SageDog Very true. And on top of that it's also busy, depressed, distracted people lacking the life energy to be creative. Altogether means bleh
@@SageDog very well put. I grew up in the 70s 80s and the 90s. Culture was more creative and tangible. You experienced life through what was in front of you! I resisted the technology a little at first when mobile phones were changing so fast. The last two decades are hardly distinguishable from each other. No personality.
@@Cinnamun52 I resonate with that.
"You experienced life through what was in front of you."
These days everyone experiences life through their cell phone. They will go to a concert and record the whole thing, instead of actually living it.
The 90's were the peak of American film culture.
Yeah the movie theaters felt special back then Not so much now because of all the options
Nobody gonna talk about how crazy underrated this channel is?
Good stuff! Another 90s indie thing is the dialogue heavy scripts from Kevin Smith, Richard Linklater, and Tarantino. But also Robert Rodriguez bursting on the scene with the $8k El Mariachi flick. Late 90s made classics. 1999 is the year that deserves its own video if time permits. Thanks for sharing!
Great video, the 90s was chock full of great innovations, and an interesting turning point between the classic 20th century, and what was to come in the 21st century.
You covered most of what I loved about the 90s, big dinosaurs, Disney/Pixar, and big name actors, haha.
One thing I remember as well was how movies in 1999 had a specific feel to them, more than likely building up to Y2K "the end of the world" lol.
The Matrix being a big one, End of Days as well, but also movies like Office Space and Fight Club that had a very sort of "anti-corporation" feel that I can't quite explain properly, but the feeling is there.
This channel is really good, and too small... Thx for another cool video :)
Thank you! I really appreciate the kind words.
You actually had to talk and visit people back then. There was something blissful about being present with your friends and family, the anticipation of having to wait for your favorite song to come on, playing outside till the streetlights came on, going to the music store and picking up the latest CD or cassette tape, rewinding your cassette with a pencil; intensely pixelated video game graphics, the intensified synthetic sound of those said video games; getting the paper and circling the movies you wanted to go see in the theatre that weekend, calling Moviefone and going through each and every movie and their show times; telling your mom you're spending the night at Stacy's house when you're really going to Chad's; a giant bowl of Captain Crunch complemented by the latest episode of Pee-Wee's Playhouse....
all of the things.... all of the things...
I leaned to appreciate all of those things, and I appreciate all of these instant gratifying notions of today even more. ❤
I was a teen in the 90’s, the good old days. Where hanging out with your friends IRL every day was normal. Used to love going to the movies. I wish my kids grew up without social media, impossible beauty standards, filters & pics of peoples asses popping up every time we open an app. I enjoyed this content, thx for sharing it with us.
Possibly the best decade in history for music and movies and just pop culture in general.
The 90's are my very favourite decade of movies, ahead of the 70's and 00's.
And it was also the decade of the great thrillers. Half of the best thrillers of all times are from the 90's, a few of them courtesy of my favourite director, David Fincher, who started in the 90's, like many other great directors.
Your videos end so abruptly...I love it.
Take me back. Great video!
I love 80s-90s movies.
One factor that's often unmentioned is the migration of 80s eastern talents to western cinema. Just like how there was a Latin invasion in English-language music during the late 90s, as well as a Japanese invasion in children's entertainment on American TV, there was also a Hong Kong invasion in Hollywood movies. Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, John Woo, Yuen Woo-ping, etc... updated the hand-to-hand combat & shootout choreography in the likes of The Matrix, Face/Off, Lethal Weapon 4, Rush Hour, and others.
true
This is one of the most insightful and interesting videos I've seen on cultural analysis, and I just noticed it has less than 100k views. Wild.
Lovely video! Thanks! I'm your new subscriber from 🇮🇳
I'm was a 90's kid...and man tripping so hard on the movies from the Era right now, even though we didn't have cable for most of my school life. But when I did in final 2 years of schooling, I fed myself so much of Hollywood! Before that, it was only through video cassettes..right now, I've been enjoying watching the colors, the leather jackets, street fashion, everything was so promising and hopeful of future...I watched this movie called The Year Of The Gun. I loved it for its grittyness and simplicity! I'm loving this trip
Maybe it's just my perspective getting more out of touch as I get older, but it seems to me like things are changing slower than they used to as far as the feel of one decade compared to others. For instance, things in 1995, were WAY different than they were in 1985. Where if you compare 2005 and 2015, the difference doesn't seem to be nearly as stark.
I don't agree with, actually I think it's the total opposite! :O
@@simonabattaglia7522 it's not literally same tech, music and movies and blurred together. The last century all of the decades were very distinct from one another. So far in this century it's all blurred together.
The technology is always getting faster and more powerful, but it was good enough to meet most peoples' daily needs decades ago. I'm still using an operating system from 2009, a drawing tablet from 2008, and a pickup truck from 2003. If I woke up tomorrow and found that I'd gone ten or even fifteen years back in time, I don't think I'd need to adjust my daily routine at all, and I wouldn't be out of place visually either.
Mass communication / information homogenized culture. Cultural nuances don't get traction to take shape. We're all literally on the same page.
I’m 28 and also agree. Not just with films but stuff like design. A vehicle design from the 80’s looks very different to one in the 90s whereas one from the 00’s doesn’t always look dated compared to a vehicle from the 10’s except if you look at the lights and technological stuff.
I don’t think it’s that change is slower but more that the change is in things that are less visual and the things that are changing is how things are done, what is seen as right and wrong in society. Maybe things will noticeably change a lot in 10-20 years when it feels like we have learnt more on how to properly integrate the internet with society. I actually feel like we are still working this out even if we don’t think we are.
I miss the 90s so much, this video made me wanna cry.
You soft bro
Every decade in film feels different from each other.
Maybe it's just me being Gen X but pretty much every film post 2000 is boring and unwatchable. They've been making superhero/Marvel movies now for 20 years or more and I guess they're all the same...I managed to sit through 15 minutes of a Transformers film back in 2008 and haven't even bothered trying to watch that type of crap since.
love it
thank you so much for making this. and the 80s one. genuinely.
Most of the feeling comes from incandescent lighting, try a classic incandescent or halogen high wattage lighting in your own home. You will immediately feel back in 90s. Red light, near infrared spectrum which we lost after 2000s, has its own nostalgia feeling as well as healing.
I miss the lightning and colour style of 90s and 80s movies like 1995 mortal kombat hard target guyver 2 dark hero timecop universal soilder superman the movie outland I'm honestly really sick of the lack of foggy lighting and the dull colourless look of movies since roughly 2003ish
It's surprising that movies have gotten less diverse with color considering that we have more technology that helps color grade. But there are a lot of movies out there that are very unique still these days. All Wes Anderson films and a recent one that comes to mind is Bullet Train.
@@FilmStack I agree you'd think because technology has gotten better movies would look even better but for some reason it's going the opposite way around
90s was era of absolute freedom of speech and many crazy ideas and you can see it in those movies, creators in 90s were very brave, they were starting new movie universes, not just recycling old ones like today, they were experimenting a lot...sometimes I wish I was 10-15 years older to be old enough in 90s to going to cinema for all those movies. So many good movies every year. I saw Matrix in like 2001 when my father bought first DVD player, I just wish I saw these legendary movies in cinema. Or Jurassic Park 1...I would pay 1000 eur to see it in cinema. 🙂
im here and im excited!
Here are my choices for the best movies of the 1990s:
1 Titanic
2 Terminator 2
3 Forrest Gump
4 The Shawshank Redemption
5 Pulp Fiction
6 Schindlers List
7 Braveheart
8 Dances With Wolves
9 The Silence of the Lambs
10 Goodfellas
11 True Lies
12 Eyes Wide Shut
13 Unforgiven
14 Saving Private Ryan
15 The Matrix
16 Jurassic Park
17 Jerry Maguire
18 Good Will Hunting
19 LA Confidential
20 Fargo
21 As Good As It Gets
22 Beauty and the Beast
23 Fight Club
24 American Beauty
25 Tombstone
26 The Matrix
27 Notting Hill
28 The Lion King
29 The Cider House Rules
30 The Green Mile
31 Speed
32 Die Hard With A Vengeance
33 Little Women
34 A Few Good Men
35 Heat
36 The Sixth Sense
37 Pretty Woman
38 The Fifth Element
39 Sense & Sensibility
40 The English Patient
41 Kindergarten Cop
42 Mission Impossible
43 Liar Liar
44 Sleepless in Seattle
45 The Fugitive
46 Total Recall
47 Theres Something About Mary
48 Seven
49 Dark City
50 Edward Scissorhands
51 Shakespeare in Love
52 You've Got Mail
53 Star Trek: First Contact
54 The Usual Suspects
55 Scream
56 Toy Story 2
57 Mrs. Doubtfire
58 GoldenEye
59 Contact
60 Ed Wood
61 Four Weddings and A Funeral
62 The Truman Show
63 Independence Day
64 Men in Black
65 Jackie Brown
66 Thelma & Louise
67 Reservoir Dogs
68 Gross Point Blank
69 Leaving Las Vegas
70 While You Were Sleeping
71 Dazed and Confused
72 Casino
73 Rainmaker
74 Falling Down
75 Fried Green Tomatoes
76 Crimson Tide
77 Clueless
78 True Romance
79 Leon: The Professional
80 Con Air
81 Election
82 The Firm
83 Who Framed Roger Rabbit
84 12 Monkeys
85 Misery
86 Galaxy Quest
87 Pleasantville
88 The Insider
89 Legends of The Fall
90 Far and Away
91 Ever After
92 Blast from The Past
93 The Rock
94 Conspiracy Theory
95 Cop Land
96 Days of Thunder
97 The Thin Red Line
98 Stargate
99 Awakenings
100 Forever Young
Truly one of the greatest decades in film history.
My all time favorites 🖤
Awesome list! 12 Monkeys with one of my favorites
@@JozeeWalz Thanks
@@LukeLovesRose You could probably add 100 more honorable mentions. We got movies like "Scream" that kind of brought back the horror genre and memorable kids movies like "The Sandlot" which 90's kids still quote today. It was a great decade for movies for sure.
@@Mr.White10-65 First of all, Scream is on the list. But you're right. Movies like Sandlot, Ransom, Pelican Brief, etc are all honorable mentions
Excellent video!
The '90s were a very collaborative decade where it feels different because people were more truly connected.
People were producing so many things and enjoying them that they did not spend as much time looking for the flaws in everything.
Great overview of technology. I really noticed this as well, but never got the technical aspect of why. Yeah the 90s...what a decade of change in so many areas. It's right up there with the 60's in my book.
well put together content, long format would be cool. subbed :)
It’s not accurate to say there was no grading before 2007-2010. You need to learn about one light transfers and 3 light transfers. Davinci is an example of a grading system which adjusted the amount of different coloured light passing through the film when transferring to tape or when making film prints. I think you’re talking about the introduction of DI (digital intermediate) colour grading, which was all done in a computer.
Because they're real movies with real stories written by real writers.
Excellent video! Really liked the film stock analysis because I completely agree that the films just 'looked' different back then. I guess it makes sense that everything was less digital (and not riddled with CGI) so everything seemed more "real" if you will... and yes, I'm a 90's kid as well so there is the nostalgia factor - I think most of my favorite movies are from the 90's and I doubt that's by coincidence:
The Matrix
Terminator 2
Shawshank Redemption
Dark City
Sixth Sense
Goldeneye
Jurassic Park
Toy Story
(and pretty much all Jim Carrey movies)
Props for mentioning Goldeneye, as most of it seemed so solid, as if the objects and people were heavier and more pronounced than anything shot digitally.
90's movies were awesome because CG was only used sparingly and mixed with practical effects to get the story across.
I realize these aren't from the 90s, but that's precisely why the LOTR trilogy still looks so incredible today. The use of practical effects and miniatures, and CGI when necessary.