Why Did the Golden Age of Original Cinema End?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 พ.ค. 2024
- Is the golden age of cinema over? We live in a time where more movies and TV shows are being made than ever before. However, fewer and fewer original movies are making a cultural impact nowadays. But why? This video, which is obviously an opinion piece, breaks down how the movie industry has shifted in the past 30 years. It seems as if, creatively, we are still living off the fumes of the 1990s, with more reboots, remakes and sequels being made from this golden era of original cinema. The nineties was filled with classics from every genre, like Home Alone, Jurassic Park, Toy Story, The Matrix, Fight Club, The Usual Suspects, The Silence of the Lambs, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, The Big Lebowski, Fargo etc. Auteur directors like Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brothers emerged, while other directors like Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese thrived. It's the era that made Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Macaulay Culkin and many more legitimate movie stars that have stood the test of time. So why did the 1990's golden age of original cinema have to come to an end? This video explains all.
PATREON: / justanobservation
FAIR USE NOTICE:
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made "fair use" for the purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
2:02 Original Movies Statistics
3:35 Changing Market
6:08 Medium Budget Movies
7:30 No Movie Stars Anymore
9:58 Famous 90s Movies
13:48 Closing Statement
Music Used:
'Poppy Seeds' by Tracktribe
'Jazz Apricot' by Joey Pecoraro
'Panda Clan' by DJ Williams
'Skewls Out' by Noir Et Blanc Vie
'Mama' by Emmitt Fenn
'69 Bronco' by DJ Williams
'Backpacking' by Silent Partner
References:
Article about growing international market:
theconversation.com/a-booming...
Anthony Mackie Interview with Red Carpet News:
• Anthony Mackie Intervi...
Quentin Tarantino on video stores disappearing for digital media:
• Quentin Tarantino talk...
Matt Damon on why medium budget independent movies are disappearing:
metro.co.uk/2016/07/25/jason-...
Statistics for Top 25 Grossing Movies:
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...
Statistics for Medium Budget Movies from 1997 onwards:
stephenfollows.com/disappeari...
#1990s #cinema #hollywood - บันเทิง
Golden age of cinema might be over, but we're in a television series Renaissance. Which is excellent.
No doubt!
I enjoyed Breaking Bad a lot more than most modern films. Streaming services have really revitalised tv shows
Now if only some of the talents from TV would try to transfer over to film.
Season 1 of True Detective. Peaky Blinders.
Mr. Robot is like peak cinema but its actually tv! Remarkeable!!
I can absolutely relate to this. I’ve been saying for years that celebrities in the last maintained a mysterious separation from the general public. That was part of the allure. Now, because of social media, we know all their thoughts, feelings, and daily movements. The mystery is gone and we don’t value their entertainment value as much.
We probably found them more entertaining when we didn't associate their work with their docuhey selves.
The Golden Age was and still is golden for a reason, these films knew how to entertain while keeping the stories consistent and engaging.
This was actually kinda sad. I lived through all of these and loved every minute. Huge part of my life and I can honestly feel my love for movies fading. I was definitely a cinema buff back in the day. I’m fed up with superhero movies
It was a beautiful time. Now I don't know what's going on. No originality. I miss our name-brand actors in the 90’s.
The 90s seriously were some of the best times for cinema. I want to go back. I miss my childhood often.
The best, literally. Not only cinema bro, but everything else as well except TV shows (i'll give that to 2000s), completely objective, nostalgia is nothing but a buzzword these days to justify this laughable generation. Disney renaissance, check, WWE attitude era, check, Sitcoms, check, Anime shows, check, diverse qualitative music, check, Video games with many founded original and well established franchises and genres, check etc.
I was a 20something in the 90s...It was amazing to see Pulp Fiction on the big screen and Jurassic park
@@outlawfly664 Like Home Improvement with Tim Allen..
I turned 40 this year and my dad used to take my sister and I to the mall and the movies every Saturday in the 90s. It was paradise. I feel bad for kids today who are completely robbed of social interaction and real life and stuck in this zombie smartphone world.
Im happy not to be in school anymore lol that was horrible .
Scorsesse, Spielberg, Tarantino, James Cameron and Shyamalan at their peak. What a lineup.
Oh and bloody Tim Burton. What a time to go to the cinema.
Exactly!
@@JustanObservation thanks for the video, it was very well made.
Spielberg peaked in the 80s but had great decade in the 90s too
I'm with Ya!!!
I miss the collective experience of cinema a lot! Still great movies now and then but it’s not the same
Indeed. Have you read Susan Sontag on the death of cinema vs. death of cinephilia? Like Sontag, you appear to be lamenting the latter.
Seriously.. I’ve been to the movies a handful of times over the past few years and no one is there. Sad
Man, going to the movies with friends on a Friday night for a premiere you've been anticipating for months was AMAZING!!!!
Nowadays people goes to cinema to chat or to see their phones, that's why I stopped going to theaters even before the pandemic hit
I don't like big crowds and cinemas alaways stink. And eating noises are disgusting. And there is always a screaming child.
AND I always get told diversity is a strength, so it's a good thing that everybody watches something else at the safety of their homes.
Toy story 5!? Seriously No just No! Let it did in peace
It's literally not in production. No idea where that's came from
Theoretically it’s worth being more excited for than most other franchises, I mean what has a better track record than Toy Story?
@@lordtrigon1733 mission impossible
I agree studios are getting greedy with the sequels.
I loved toy story 4
If the 1990s was a golden decade, then the 1970s was platinum in terms of groundbreaking originality. Midnight Cowboy, Cabaret, The Godfather, Deliverance, Star Wars, Close Encounters, Clockwork Orange, Cuckoo Nest, Apocalypse Now, Exorcist, Cruising, Pink Flamingos, Midnight Express, Chinatown, Shaft, Rocky, Raging Bull, Mean Steets, Parallax View, French Connection, Rocky Horror, Young Frankenstein..the list goes on and on.
yeah the 70s did have some freaky good movies
Well, in fact many of those are adaptations of books. If you want an original one, than Alien. Actually, this makes me think... do people really care for original stories? Imagine you are a director or a producer. You have to decide what movie to make. You mention Cukoo's Nest, which is an iconic movie by Milos Forman, however, same as his other movies such as Hair, Amadeus and Valmont, all based on existing book/play. Those were iconic movies. So what original stuff did he do? There were two biopics, The people vs. Larry Flint and Man on the Moon. Both financial losses. And pretty much just one original movie in recent decades, which was also a huge financial loss, Goya's ghosts. I think the decision which movie is gonna put butts into seats is clear.
Although to me personally, Goya's ghosts is one of the best movies ever made, better than Schindler's list and the Black Book. It is an awesome depiction of what political changes,war and revolutions and shifts in power does to people, how it reveals their true nature, a story told by a person who lived through such times of war, military occupation and political revolutions. Sadly, people are not interested in this any more. They want a simplistic story with flashy effects, something like a simple puppet play with CGI, for example Marvel Movies.
@@petrmaly9087 agreed ...they have gone from adapting books to comics. The majority of Hollywood content is now aimed at kids and teens when once it was aimed predominantly at adults with juvenile interest relegated to B movies.
More serious adult themed content now seems to be more on Netflix and streaming services.
@@easyreader6179 Sort of follows a trend... superhero movies became popular when the generation that grew up reading comic books about superheroes started taking kids to the cinema. Westerns became popular - both in the USA and central Europe - around the time the generation that grew on stories from the wild west grew up and started taking kids to the cinema.
The 90s had a longer list of originality, but the 70s where great to, it kickstarted the golden age of exploitation films where directors had complete creative freedom. Even pornographic content was allowed in the theaters.
All of the major Hollywood directors hit their peak in the 1990s. Eastwood, De Palma, Tarentino, Stone, Mann, Scorsese, Spielberg and Cameron. All made classics that we still enjoy in the 2020s.
Not colerone
And Tim Burton.
What about Nolan??
@@Adevine369 Nolan's directing career really kicked in after 2000.
So many great movies from the 90's he didn't even mention: Tombstone, Last of the Mohicans, Sling Blade, Unforgiven, Dances with wolves, Heat, L.A. Confidential, Terminator 2, Rob Roy.
Braveheart, Fight Club, Dracula
I'm assuming the westerns weren't original enough, but some great comedies in the 90s were left off, American Pie, My Cousin Vinny, Friday
Leon, Boogie Nights, True Romance, Dumb and Dumber... the list goes on.
It's kind of like the 70s, there were so many good movies, that some lower tier ones would still be considered the best of the decade it they came out today.
and those where just "good" movies. Todays mega blockbusters can't even reach the "good" movies of the 90s
1 year is passed since this video got uploaded, and you probably don't see this at all. But I just want to say that I genuinely love your takes on cinema, there's a sweet mixture of professionalism, comedy and the felling that seemes like a friend is talking to you after drinking in a bar.
Thank you my friend, I love your Channel.
I see you… thanks!
@@JustanObservation Pretty Woman sucked IMO, it got watered down big time if you read the original script. We've got plenty of way better movies nowadays.
@@jacksonteller3973 Pretty Woman is awesome. :D That one didn't have to be hardcore. It's a simple, sweet romcom that relies on Gere and Roberts' charisma and chemistry.
Here’s the big difference between 1990’s and modern day movies. You had good movies released 12 months a year back then. Now the blockbuster has taken hold of the calendar year round. Back in 1993, I could see The Fugitive, The Firm and In the Line of Fire in the summer as they were all movies that relied on story over action. You would never see that today as those movies wouldn’t get released in the summer in fear of getting lost in the shuffle to some comic book, sequel or reboot movie. So what has happened is Hollywood lost people like me as I never goto the movies anymore because they are not making movies I want to see year round.
I think you could see that today if the studios would just make it. Their problem is that they created their own mess and are boxed in.
They have made such trashy political activist movies and smash fest cgi movies that they ended up with a market of expectations.
So even now if they try and make the movies no body will know about them. Movies like Ford v Ferrari, Once upon a time in Hollywood, Joker, The Mule, Us, Downton Abby, Little Women, Creed, Hereditary and recently Blackphone all show that story driven is still successful.
@@bighands69 the political activism is only a small piece of the puzzle here. The many reasons explored in this video are far more the slow burn. No matter how non political a released movie is you would still have these same issues...
Filmmaking is a business and they had to shift their strategy to accommodate for the new market. The simpler the story and the bigger the budget/spectacle a movie has then the more reliably it's going to make a massive profit Internationally. Couple that with people choosing to stay at home to stream instead of heading to the theaters every chance they can get, then of course the smaller films are going to fail. Studios have no interest in investing in medium budget films because the data proves that people won't show up reliably enough.
People complain about the lack of originality but'll line up for a new Spiderman in droves. Release something like Good Will Hunting, Silence of the Lambs, There's Something About Mary, or A Few Good Men in theaters today and I can almost guarantee you each one would struggle to break $30M. International audiences either wouldn't connect with it nor be drawn to any "spectacle" and American audiences would rather catch it when it finally makes it to Hulu than to waste $12 on a maybe. Great movies, but people would barely give them a chance..thereby giving Hollywood further evidence that their risks are best spent on Batman and Avatar. The remakes and reboots are more of the same but guess what, the profits prove that people would rather show up for the familiarity of a new Ant Man than
As a collective, we put ourselves in this position. Yes, they could pump out more originals if they truly wanted to, but theyre a business first..and how many people you know are willing to throw away hundreds of millions of dollars on countless attempts?, against data that already proves is too huge of a bet? A24 is a studio that's made a name for themselves over the past 15yrs or so releasing only original smaller films, but theyre not exactly rolling in the dough despite being successful amongst cinephiles. Meanwhile, the new Ant Man is widely considered a bad movie yet it's on its way to making $275M on a $200M...Morbius rated even worse made $167M on a $75M budget. That math is about as apolitical as it gets.
@@chrisjfox8715
All major entertainment has activist agendas built in. Marvel has taken it to a whole new level and has even damaged their cash cow.
Take the Oscars nearly every movie there is making some overt political point.
@@bighands69 "all major entertainment"
To whatever degree that's true, it does not at all negate the reality of the numbers game hollywood is playing. Political activism is not what's driving their strategy of big budget reboots over small-to-mid budget originals..an international strategy that was the entire point of my post. If they cared about originals, there's opportunity for countless original stories exploring some of the political themes of today using a small budget without housing it in a huge remake that had nothing to do with such things.
Big budget remakes make money far more reliably than anything else. That's the bottom line. Even a bad MCU or DCU failure still manages to, at worst, just about break even. Even if they were convinced to take "political activism" out completely then these are still the kinds of financial bets they would continue to take these days.
The MCU destroyed "consumer credibility" as far as films are concerned.
Thought it was just me. Your breakdown of the decade and it's movies validates my opinion. Now I understand why 90's movies have that different feel, took this video for me to realise.
That's a big impact from a 15 minute TH-cam video. Great work!
I know it's only a short list of examples, but I deeply miss the era of Cage, with The Rock, Con Air and Face/Off
Also gone in 60 seconds
Don't forget Leaving Las Vegas.
Cage is still making good, original, offbeat movies. Mandy and Pig come to mind
also Snake Eyes
@@trusport83 8mm was a very underrated Thriller by Cage in 99
This era ended with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Not an original storywise, but an enormous gamble by studio's and filmmakers who dared, and groundbreaking in the way movies were made and marketed. Creatively it succeeded beyond expectations and it did everything a good 90s movie did too. The problem was that the movie industry took from it the wrong lessons: franchises, series, adaptations, bigger is better etc. The peak proof of these 'lessons' was the Hobbit itself, and it only went worse from there on out.
The daring then went to TV, starting with AMC and HBO.
Edit: and what I find ironic, in hindsight, is that Hollywood accepted 'Rings' only grudgingly. Look at the Oscars! We remember it as a huge winner. But the truth is that the Oscars held out for two rounds awarding 'Rings'. It basically reserved all the awards for the last movie when it had no choice but reward them for basically the whole trilogy. It was an outsider and not much liked by the establishment.
Nobody cares about the Oscars anymore because people know what a pile of shit is always was.
Oscars are a joke. They were a joke even back then. Saving Private Ryan lost best picture against Shakespeare in love.
No, the last one was "Gladiator", after that is the same thing that we see today, that trilogy that you mentioned is the same thing as the "Spiderman" movies and other trilogies, all those belong to this era.
@@xmini-ul7je that is... an opinion, to be sure.
I think it ended with the Dark Knight Trilogy.
There are always gonna be good and bad films, but I’d rather watch something new bad than something “meh” and forgettable with a new generic reboot on each corner. I think the only exception to the reboot rule would be to fix the bad original ideas and make something great from it.
Totally agree!
Agreed. Some of the (to me) best films I have ever seen have been either "bad" or obscure, but they still have captured my imagination by putting forth their unique visions of daily life (whether real or imaginary). These include films that are either foreign or "ethnic," and some of them never truly hit it big in America (or anywhere else, for that matter). Both BELIZAIRE THE CAJUN (a low-budget film from the '80s starring Armand Assante) and THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY are two very fresh ethnographic adventure films shot on location (Louisiana and Botswana, respectively). LIQUID SKY is a very bizarre look at the (then-current) early '80s "glam punk" rock movement in New York City, with some "gender-bending" performances that are impressive even today. Even films with "trashy" subject matter can be very good if they are done right. SHAKES THE CLOWN is very funny, but it's also a groundbreaking examination of the "dark side" of clowns and other children's entertainers, and it manages to tell its story while remaining more or less grounded in reality and keeping its characters sympathetic.
Siskel or ebert said same thing over 25 years ago. Movies used to be really good, or bad. Movies became more meh and meh as time had gone on. Unless you're a diehard who seeks out movies and find GOOD MOVIES. Imo
I'd absolutely Love to hear them talk a out the state of film today.
That would be a great idea for someone to come along and have the balls to remake bad, unsuccessful movies that only suffered from poor execution. You'd get a lot of "nobody asked for this" complaints but as long as the filmmaker can see the diamond in the rough of it, they'll be successful
I grew up in the 70s and 80s but have to agree. The 90s had some of my favorite movies.
You left out my favorites: Unforgiven, Dances with wolves, L.A. Confidential, Braveheart, Rob Roy. The 90's were awesome.
T2??
Braveheart sucks
I love how thoughtful these videos are, and for anyone who grew up around that era, I think we all feel this way. I was born in 80, so I was smack dab in the middle of '90's cinema.
I started developing serious nostalgia for the '90s roughly around the year 2010, but when they were actually happening I was unimpressed. Having seen the classic Disney films from the 1930s onward, and then the '80s blockbusters, for me the '90s came off as almost a letdown. One of the worst cultural aspects of the decade was its fictional depictions of Generation X/early Millennial teens as jaded, judgmental, annoying jackasses, more interested in self-righteously moping than doing anything else. I remember watching CLUELESS on home video in 1996 with my sister (who considers it one of her favorite films) and being bored out of my mind. All it seemed to be was a horde of ignorant, lazy, sloppily-dressed (except for the main characters) bohemians and hoodlums gossiping about each other. Where were the "wacky adventures" teenagers had always found themselves in during the '80s and earlier? But then again, since the '90s, young people - at least in the movies - have gotten even more boring and physically unattractive, so I'm forced to reminisce about my youth as a time when life hadn't gotten COMPLETELY dreary yet.
I seen 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s cinema and clearly there has been a change. The only people that would deny that are political activists than are trying to change culture and are scared that people may notice that change.
I was born in 80 too, but I think it's sad that most people assume that Hollywood has run out of ideas. They aren't, the market just shifted so massively that they're essentially doing what's best for business.
We as a collective pretty much did this to ourselves when we chose streaming's ultra convenient illusion of choice. Relatively speaking, people complain about only unoriginal big budget movies in theaters yet that's the only thing they reliably show up for.
@@bighands69 the shift to fewer and fewer original films has nothing at all to do with politics
But 80 people now have breedet and have to pay mortgage for a house in suburbia.
Posted this somewhere else but Rocky, Star Wars, Halloween, Alien, Blade Runner, Terminator, Indiana Jones, Nightmare on Elm Street, Predator and Die Hard, 10 movies that went on to spawn franchises or sequels after extended periods and they all came out within an 12 year window. Can you imagine a period of creativity today that would launch 10 brand new IP's, that would still be going after 40 years, in the space of a decade? Seems unlikely but it's worth reminding ourselves that it is possible to make something from a clean sheet of paper sometimes.
I lived this era and it was great. One thing in this awesome video that wasn't cited directly was video-game industry was booming with Nintendo and Sega consoles, who surfed the power of great movie franchises AND sports at same time. This might helped to eat up the attention/money/influence from movies. 007, Alien, Back to Future, Batman, many Disney stuff, TMNT turtle, ET, Home Alone, Space Jam the list goes on and on
Yes. Unfortunately the same missing middle dynamic occurred in games as well, but not for about another decade, and greater industry growth perhaps did a better job at covering over it. However, it's undoubtedly true that games brain-drained out a lot of creatives who would have tried to become film directors in previous decades.
I think the 2000-2011 era was just as good if not better than the 90s
When I look for movies to watch now, I look for only ones made 1999 - 2011
Sure, some of the 90s movies were good, but they needed a decent budget to do so. After 2000, more was able to be done, even with a lesser budget and still be immersive. They were still putting time into filming and writing actual scripts.
And then sometime between 2012 and 2015, movies turned into total crap. Scripts werent written. Time wasnt taken. Locations didnt vary. Money wasnt put into them. Actors didnt care as much. All of these things led to the downfall.
Ive watched nothing but 80/90's movies for the last month its been amazing
As Owen Wilson said first in the 1996 movie Bottle Rocket... wow!
I miss Owen Wilson
@@JustanObservation is he dead?
I loved the movie Bottle Rocket!
Father of the Bride 1991 wasn't an original movie. It was a remake of a 1950 film starring Spencer Tracy as the dad and Elizabeth Taylor as the bride. It was also titled Father of the Bride.
Mission Impossible was based on a TV show, Casper was based on a comic strip, homeboy did not do his research.
Also - Father of the Bride isn't a particularly good movie
You forgot to mention Dances with Wolves in 1990. Also, it’s not just the 90s that delivered a ton of great original classics. The same was the case in the 1980s on back to the 1920s. I feel like it’s almost come to the point where everything has been done that filmmakers and studios are willing to gable on creating. There’s still plenty more subjects out there that could be covered whether it be historical or based on novels but nobody is willing to do it.
From 2000-2002: The franchises X-men, LotR, Harry Potter, F&F all debuted. Spiderman launched the superhero trend. Christopher Nolan also hit the scene with Memento.
Even though these debuted after the 1990s, much of their production took place in the 1990s so they still support your point. They are products of the 90s. And they are the backbone for the current industry.
But those movies were released in a different market period from today. People watched those on film projectors in a theater which had a superior picture quality to the digital theatres of today.
X Men has become boring, LotR has become another boring franchise
And Memento is boring from first to last second.
@@CordeliaWagner
Nonsense.
@@CordeliaWagner you're boring
@@bighands69 she's right
Did you all notice there are almost no movies anymore dealing with human relationships, be it romance/drama/social issues etc.?
Remember *_Scent of a woman_* where Pacino plays a blind army veteran standing up for a lower-class young adult?
Or *_As good as it gets_* where Nichelson is a misanthropic neighbour who eventually overcomes some of his compulsive behavior?
When was the last time you have seen a movie confront you with such a deep story about two people bonding? No superheroes, no superpowers, only human qualities but yet these movies are more powerful than what any repetetive Marvel flick has to offer.
Nightcrawler, Irishman, Social Network, and a few others made after 2000
seems like youve watched like 4 from the last 20 years
First Man
This essay nailed it. Hollywood has become obsolete and for good reason, why should culture in today’s connected digital age stay beholden to some cabal of executives and well marketed performers?!
The 90s in general were the last Best decade overall. 00s were ok and I appreciate it now but the 90s were peak for a lot of things. 1999 was the grand finale. That movie era was amazing. I feel sorry sorry anyone that didn't grow up during that time that choose to crap on or dismiss those that hold those times in regard
If you are into sci-fi like me, then 80s were the peak. But 90's had lots to offer too.
These days everything is bland :(
Dude? The late 00’s and early 10’s were literally a mini golden age for Hollywood. No Country for Old Men, Nightcrawler, There Will Be Blood, Whiplash, The Dark Knight, etc.
@@BarrySlisk 80s was great but not as great as the 90s when i look at it from objective lens across all entertainment mediums (gaming included). Speaking of Sci-fi, sure the 80s had sci-fi action like Aliens, first Terminator or the Predator, but they didn't push the envelope as much as T2 or The Matrix.
@@faint8256
Dark Knight sucks!
@@outlawfly664
Aliens is way better than T2. While T2 and Matrix are very good movies, there just aren't enough of them in the 90s.
1999 is amazing. John Malkovich, The Matrix. American Beauty. The Fight Club. Those 4… 😍😍😍
The 90's hit the sweet spot in music also: Musical artists started acting in and creating songs for their own movies like never before. Sampling became the norm. Crossover music became more popular than ever. Popular soundtracks went #1 in the billboards every week. Most of all, rock, country, rap, hard rock, grunge, indie, etc, etc were ALL popular at the same time. Now, each genre is on "meh" mode.
Sampling was the norm In the 80's , once the sampling lawsuit happened against Biz Markie In 1991 It changed things ,
afterwards everyone had to ask or pay for sample clearance , the golden age of freely doing that was essentially over.
Popular soundtracks were also strongest In the 1980's for sure , many were just as memorable as the films themselves
this was back when soundtracks truly mattered on average , but I do agree the 90's still had these good movie scores
just not as frequently great as 80's scores. By the 2000's nobody cared much about movie soundtracks , only a rare few
worth remembering once In a while and that was It , and 2010's was downright depressing , Its a dead/lost art now.
There was music artists before involved in film. Consider the likes of Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin.
Sinatra won grammys and Oscars.
The late 60s to the late 70s (let's say from 67 to 77) is just by far the best era for both film and music, no other comes close really, the 90s being second for both too.
Elvis. He pumped out movies as fast as albums.
@@brunoactis1104 Not really the 90s where way better across all entertainment mediums.
Fast and Furious 58. 😂🤣
Thank you for this. I was wondering why there are now so many “fast car, explosive, zombie, and comic book” movies vs good, quality story-based ones being released to theaters. I finally found Sundance channel on Netflix has a few good offerings.
I also recognize 90s as the best cinema decade. Actually in the streaming platforms that I own, I watch hits of today + 90s movies which I know are going to be good and with interesting plots. All my to watch lists are full of 90s movies.
Though not technically the 90s, 00-01 years should be included as a continuation of great film making (Crouching Tiger, Gladiator, Bourne Identity, Fellowship of the Ring etc.)
i went through your highlight list of 90's movies and realized i'd only seen half of them. i've got homework to do haha
You must not have grown up in the 90s? All of those were must sees. Although to be honest, I deliberately avoided Titanic and to this day, still haven't seen it.
8:00 From a French point of view I am more inclined to go see the film of a director. A Tarantino, a David Fincher, a George Lucas...And I must say that French cinema is doing rather well. Korean cinema is very strong too. There is a problem in American cinema that has been abandoning auteur films since the 2010s, I think.
Most definitely
I agree about auteur films being abandoned. You mentioned George Lucas, and I think he's a prime example of an auteur.
It's why I'd rather watch both the original AND prequel SW films over the new ones, as the story just doesn't have his unique autuer touch anymore
:/
Btw, I've heard that all of Lucas's Star Wars films (including the prequels) were well received outside of the English speaking world. Is this the same case where you're from? Just curious
:?
@@Onezy05 No. The prequels (excepting Ep 3) were and still are bad movies. Lucas actually seemed to have forgotten everything he learned at film school there.
@@madouc5754 Sorry, I wasn't asking you
Great video. The 90s was the Goldilocks period for mainstream cinema where opportunity for original film making existed and was backed by the studios. My friends and I would finish work early to see the latest Charlie Kaufman film for example. It may be a golden age for tv now but even that’s not the same. There in less of a communal spirit around tv as there is far too much content that viewers don’t watch the same thing at the same time so the water cooler effect has gone so less likely to make an impact culturally. Weird now that in the UK if a show gets more that 2 million viewers it’s a hit whereas top billing shows used to pull in close to 20 million
I love the 90s. Great movies, great sitcoms, great music, and great video games. Then somehow media got on a long road to creative bankruptcy.
This perfectly encapsulated my thoughts better than I could. I'll get over the 90s when Hollywood gets over them.
you've perfectly put into words how i feel about this whole topic. it's sad, but we can still hope for a silver age. meanwhile, you're right about tv being the place for original stuff, and i knew when you mentioned it you were gonna cut to walter white. love your channel
Outstanding work. You've got a new fan here
Really well done! The 90s were special for many reasons. As far as film goes, MANY of my favorites came from this wonderful decade. And what is likely my favorite movie of all time, Point Break, came out in 91. The original Fast and Furious is essentially a remake, to add more to your argument. The 90s also gave us the best The Simpsons had to offer (my favorite TV show). I am a rather large MCU fan if I’m being honest (a reasonable fan, though), but I’m not a huge fan of the way cinema has been trending on the whole. A lack of a monoculture is in part to blame. Like you mentioned, there is too much competition within media and entertainment. It’s insane. Every streaming service seems to have several “popular” shows being pumped out one after the other. Often times shows with cinema-grade quality. Several years back, I wrote a college essay on my theory which revolved around the idea that TV and movies would one day merge all together, but we may be moving towards something much more complicated...sorry for the long comment, have a great day!
I have seen POINT BREAK - as well as, unfortunately, its ho-hum 2010s remake - and I agree that it's a truly unique species of animal on almost every count. I'm not sure what you mean by THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS being a remake, though. Its title was swiped from a relatively obscure 1950s Roger Corman film that bore no resemblance to our "modern" blockbuster except for cars figuring prominently in the plot. And THAT film was more properly remade in the '70s as Ron Howard's GRAND THEFT AUTO - which itself (very loosely) inspired the popular video game series - and then again in the '90s as the Charlie Sheen-starring action-comedy THE CHASE.
That said, too many of the film's on this video's list WERE remakes, or at least attempts to cash in on existing mythologies (such as with Scorsese, for example). FATHER OF THE BRIDE was a remake, although the original has been largely forgotten. And many people have pointed out that RESERVOIR DOGS is really just a retelling of THE ASPHALT JUNGLE. As for AMERICAN BEAUTY and EYES WIDE SHUT, I watched them both and concluded they were pretentious bores (and AMERICAN BEAUTY was really just a Clinton-era spin on the time-tested "bored suburbanites getting into trouble" subgenre).
Many of the films I both enjoy and find the most groundbreaking are NOT from the '90s, and some of them have been largely forgotten or were never that famous in the first place. I found Scorsese's GANGS OF NEW YORK, Mel Gibson's APOCALYPTO, and certain of Zack Snyder's films (300 and WATCHMEN, specifically) to be more compelling than the '90s "classics" in the above list that I have seen. Even the 2016 SUICIDE SQUAD, for all the hate it gets, is to me an enticing blend of supervillain cartoon, war story, political thriller, human-interest drama, and mythological fantasy. And its two Margot Robbie sequels were not bad either.
There were good movies in the 90s, but if youre looking for good movie vs bad movie percentage, I think the 2000-2011 era was even better. So many good movies during that era. The 90s takes 2nd place for me, although 95 to 99 was pretty damn good. Little dated now, but good.
then sometimes between 2012 and 2015, movies fell off a cliff.
I'm 40 this year and I study history and culture and I believe 1990-2001 was the best time of humanity.
@@flightofthebumblebee9529 I was born in 2001 one, and find it cool that I can say we are in the "20's". 90's to 2010's media shaped my interests, and I wonder what the culture of the next 40 years will be. You should check out the alternate history video on if the internet didn't exist like it does today.
Tarantino is... still doing his thing. Sounds about right lol.
I really dig this video, it made me realized why I love nineties movies so much
Thank you!!
Tarantino’s movies are still creative
The content today is more factory produced type content, but another youtube video highlighted something else I would like to mention. Back in the 90s, they actually used film to film movies. Today, everything is filmed digitally and many modern cameras have a darker, more dreary look to the image than the 90s cameras, or at least a different feel to analog.
But 90s is to grainy I think the only movies that look good is seven, fightclub,matrix and American history x
I have been saying this for years about movies. Thank you for articulating it so well in this great video
Great video. I totally agree. I turned 18 in 1992 and I still love the 90's.
"Making cinemas more like a cathedral, in which we worship our advancement in CGI technology, not an oportunity to showcase our progression in story telling." This.
I second the lacking originality of films.
Yes, I grew up in the 90s, I still watch movies from that time. Less and less films I really like and enjoy are beyond 2000.
The Lord Of The Rings, Harry Potter and Casino Royal with Daniel Craig come to mind. After that I have to look at release lists. Movies from the 1990s I have a long list. And your list in the video gave me chills.
The closest thing to this feeling of watching something together are created by weekly tv shows.
Thank you for this video. I needed this.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. I just do not get excited by movies any more. And that’s really sad 😞.
Interesting metaphor of the Medium budget movie is the dying Middle Class :) as someone who grew up in the 90s as a dreamer child i really appreciate this video. It's BRILLIANT! The "less language" matters is pretty much the outsourcing of reactions... the end of the movie star is like the death of the individual in this society. Scary comparisons.
The middle class in American has grown in size.
This is one of the BEST video essays I've seen in a while, dude. You gave me chills at certain points!
This is fantastic. Just discovered your channel and going thru your many analysis videos... Just awesome. Thank you for taking the time to share these ... It's greatly appreciated.
Thank you, I appreciate it! More to come
Medium budget films are seriously underrated. They have the money to attract top talent and do cool things but because they don't demand the same final return on investment as big budget films and have to think creatively on how to use their budget they are able to navigate an important space in film and story telling that has been lacking over the last 5 years.
So glad I stumbled onto your channel. These vids deserve a much larger audience.
Excellent commentary! The 90s was amazing for many reasons. Enough modernity, but not too much to make us go crazy and lose reality.
I have yet to find anything on your channel that doesn't make me hit "like" within the first two minutes. So glad to have found it. Continued appreciation for your efforts!!
Much appreciated!
It first ended in 2001, when Warner was spoiled by getting three already-written LOTR movies and eight already-written Harry Potter movies in their lap, and discovered the luxury of knowing EXACTLY what movies they were could announce were coming when, two years from now.
And then, in 2008, we had the most recent Writers' Strike (over Blu and digital), which finally made spec scripts too expensive/troublesome to risk, and studios started writing their own, now that they had "Five-year franchise universe strategies", just like that neato Marvel did...
Amazing video, we have always had at least 3 "Dolittle" to the 1 "Get Out" in terms of original to reboot films, but it seems to be getting more and more now... TV show's are coming a long way though.
the 90s were an incredibly creative period. Not just for films but for other entertainment like video games. Alot of original ideas from 25 years ago are still being recycled and used today.
Thanks for breaking this all down! I have thought about this very thing for quite a few years now.
Thanks for the vid I’ve been thinking this for years and I wasn’t sure if I was just being nostalgic but your video makes a lot of sense
Be Kind Rewind and this channel are THE best things on YT right now
My wife and I are 25. We sat and watched this whole video. She says during the video "Yeah wow those are all great movies". At the conclusion I say "well that is my pain"
She says "Eh I don't mind it" and gets on her phone.
Movies really are dead.
At least we live in a time when better movies or classics from around the world can be easily accessed through streaming services etc.,
@@EJK2099 very true. A limitless selection and there is some brilliant content on TH-cam.
Your section, "The Famous Movies of the 90's," in this video was glorious. I have been arguing all the points you made about 90's cinema for a full decade but you made the arguments much more succinctly and politely then I can usually pull off. Thank you for the video and I'm going to try to take your lead in describing why I care so much about the 90's flicks.
That was a brilliantly well-put video. Very good work, greatly appreciated. Congrats and thank you from France
There's a shit ton of tremendously great movies from the '90s, but I far prefer the '80s, which is alongside the '50s as my favorite decade in cinema history. I find that the '90s is a bit more of desert with relatively few masterpieces to hook on to. Its still a lot better than the 2000s all the way up to now.
I actually feel the same. I thought i was the only film buff that loved the 50s the most
When this channel hits a couple mil subs or so, I can say I was among the 10k ones. Great Job Man Really
Thank you
Me and my sister discuss all of this all the time. Well put!
This the best films video I ever seen, great birthday gift! I was born 83, so this hit home hard.
I gotta say that I think the 2000s was a golden era of horror flicks tho along with the 80s.
Very possibly, what horror flicks are you thinking of in the 2000s?
@@JustanObservation The Devil's Rejects, Silent Hill, 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, Land of the Dead, The Uninvited, Trick r Treat, The Orphan, Blair Witch 2, Saw, Wrong Turn, Pathology, Coraline, Corpse Bride, Hard Candy, The Mist, The Number 23, Splice, 28 Weeks Later, Secret Window, The Human Centipede, Hostel, House of 1000 Corpses, and Resident Evil just to name a few
In my opinion the 70s through the 80s was the golden era for horror...It was revived with Scream and started to fade again towards the end of the 2000s early 2010s
70s for me. Not just in horror movies, but everywhere people were taking chances.
@@ferox965 tough times indeed
This video wanna make me cry.. 😢 So well made!!
Not saying today is a golden age but I started going to the cinema in mid-2022 and I'm seeing great stuff today. Banshees of Inisherin, Infinity Pool, The Menu, Smile, Black Phone....I havn't seen 'Everything, Everywhere All at Once' yet but people are talking like it's one of the greatest films ever made this early. Who knows what people of the future will think of post Corona-mania cinema. I know I'll look back on it fondly!
Incredibly done video! Well done!
Excellent detailed explanation man. I grew up with 80s and 90s movies, it was awesome, especially the 90s
Not just for movies but for a lot of other things and culture as a whole.
I don't think it's just getting older with a good old days sentimentality,
Life in general was better.
You should look into the concept of Hauntolgy and how it relates to the recycling of culture.
Thank u for making this video!!!
Awesome video, thanks!
Man i wish i could tell u how u made me fee through out this .. u made my soul cry so heavily dee inside .. Rest In Peace grandpa and whoever we all lost .. is there any and i mean any darn way i can go back in time to relive me childhood and grow up once again ??? .. being a rough and tough 31 year old man is great but trust me id trade anything to just start over again!! 💔😭
The 90s was fire.
I love your videos. Thanks for making them.
So happy I came across this channel
As you’ve said here in plain words we’ve seen it all before. If something is too much like something else it’s either cringeworthy or dull..or both!
When you look at the continual cultural and artistic innovation of the 60's - 80's, the 90's is where everything grinds to a halt. Music, film, and art had few places left to go.
90s had various electronic music, Trip hop, hip hop and Shoegaze to name a few innovative genres. Most of them were short lived and didn’t really going anywhere. I definitely agree with you on movies and art, although I would argue it was the early to mid 80s with Reagans conservatism that films stopped being innovative and started playing it safe.
I found your channel yesterday and watched about a half dozen of your videos so far. (Mostly your breaking bad content) but this one is the best I've seen so far.
Superb video, subscribed!
Excellent essay.
Aw man...I was a kid in the 90's, but I didn't know just how good everything was until now. Now I'm sad...
Who'd have thought that Old Media holding all the power could have had its up sides, eh?
This video hit me deeply. Thank you for this.
Wow, what a video! Thank you!
I am glad you included Mrs. Doubtfire as an original title. I can't believe Roger Ebert called it a Tootsie rip-off when about only the same thing is the very basic man dress as a woman premise.
"MRs DOubtifre with one of the most original ideas ever".
You could argue Mrs Doubtfire was inspired by or a continuation of Tootsie, with Dustin Hoffman. Also, Goodfellas is based on a book, so not an original movie. Love the video though!
Great Video! I miss those medium budget movies I grew up watching.
This was an very illuminating video. Such great points all around
How can you not mention The Mummy (1999)? That was one of the best movies from the 90s!
Agree mate 🤠
Totally agree. It was a great remake of a 1930s film. Nowadays I feel like the film industry is in a slump. We need to make films based on new ideas not just rehash classic films.
@@mirandagoldstine8548 Try to tell Hollywood that. Personally, I wouldn't mind a balance as long as the films were well written, acted, directed, and produced. That's a tall order these days, though.
@@mirandagoldstine8548 you mean back then
Absolutely on point 👏🏽👏🏽 come to think of it most of my favorite movies were made in the 90’s with maybe The Godfather and a few others either side but no decade is that dense with quality movies. Like Scorsese says about the explosion of superhero movies ‘it’s a theme park it’s not cinema’
The 90s was absolutely not the pinnacle of cinematic achievement. It was the era of The Flinstones movie. It was, if anything, the beginning of the end.
The way you say "the dude just wanted his rug back" makes ma laugh hysterically, thank you
Original movies ended because audiences decided they only want to stay in their childhoods. It's really the death of cinema for adults.
That's not what happened sadly, unless you have been living under a rock for 2 decades
Fantasy and Superheroes aren't exclusively for children.
I rather watch LotR than a boring gilm about a divorcing couple that is 99% lame cpnversation.
@@CordeliaWagner Great, so stay in your childhood.
@@angelthman1659 ok twilight fan
Brilliant video. Loved it. Bravo.
Not only actors, but the filmmakers themselves are no longer household names. People would look forward to movies from the big names like Spielberg, Lucas, Kubrick, Tarantino, Burton, Scorsese, and dozens of others. They were the artists. We knew their names, their style, and their works even though we didn’t see them on the screen. Movies no longer feel like an artist’s vision. They feel like factory-made generic products with a studio name attached to them. I know there are outliers that go against what I’m saying, but they are few these days. I can’t think of many well-known and good/creative filmmakers who got started started after the 90s.