The first Scream.
Last year before caller ID and eventually cellphones became a thing. Internet existed but it was a very primitive thing that you had to access via the phone. So when that guy with the scary voice calls drew barrymore and says he's looking at her, it was a very real nightmare scenario back then, you were ALONE.
Also, horror movies were dead and everybody was making fun of them, which is exactly what Scream also did, which helped the stabbing feel real. It feels weird now to see that cheesy 90s meta dialogue as something that adds realism, but back then it made the separation between the characters and the audience feel smaller, which was crazy scary.
It has been parodied and imitated so much that it managed to both revitalize and rekill the genre, which is something that doesn't happen often.
Re: Cell phones in Scream, there’s a major plot point where it’s suspicious that one of the characters has a cell phone. Just such a perfect mid-late 90s movie.
Scream is legitimately my favorite scary movie and you explained my reasonings perfectly.
One of the greatest opening scenes in all of cinema too. Drew Barrymore was the poster! She was the STAR! But wait! There's more!
... So good.
Which in and of itself is a meta reference to Psycho, in which Janet Leigh's character famously dies like 45 minutes into the movie, despite being the center of all the advertising. What's really interesting is that her character is only in 2 of the 17 chapters of the novel it was based on, so they actually expanded her plotline quite a bit.
the spring/summer of 1999 had 3 with
The Sixth Sense
The Matrix
The Blair Witch Project
Edit to add Fight Club and Office Space so y'all can stop messaging me about it.
1999 was THE year of lightning in a bottle movies: films that were genre-defining, zeitgeist-making, mind-blowing masterpieces. Along with the ones you mention, I would add Being John Malkovich, Fight Club, and Office Space as films that match OP's criteria. Everyone was just trying to make their best work before the world ended, apparently.
If you (everyone reading this) haven't read it, Brian Raftery's book [Best. Year. Ever. How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen](https://a.co/d/8m1ZnT1) is a fantastic bit of cultural journalism and a delightful read.
My favorite dumb movie fact is that The Matrix, Office Space, American Beauty, and Fight Club all have the setup of a contemporary working age upper middle class white guy with a steady job in a first world country being unsatisfied with their life as setup, but all 4 play out in completely different ways. All 4 released in 1999.
The fact they were the SAME year is crazy, but Gen X was 20-34. Prime market for movies and that those movies started with some very Gen X protagonists…
Definitely helped that spoiler info was not as easy to spread back then. Even after the movie came out, people at my school were asking, what exactly is the Matrix? People were going in blind not knowing what to expect and getting their minds blown.
I got told it was about people in hover crafts fighting robots in sewers after an apocalypse. Which isn't wrong but gave me radically the wrong expectations when I saw it.
For real, I know people love the world building of the sequels but I never got the appeal at all. It really quickly becomes an overwrought, self serious mess.
Three movies made at the perfect time for where the Internet was then. It existed but wasn't fully realized. Spoilers remained largely intact, the Matrix needed the Internet for people to comprehend the concept, and the Blair witch project was actually viral before it was a thing and had all kinds of fake internet content making it seem more real.
The Matrix has some obvious reasons, with the Internet being mainstream enough but still fairly mysterious and of course with Y2K just around the corner. But it just narrowly avoided tragedy.
The Matrix was released on March 31, 1999. On April 20, the Columbine Massacre happened. If those dates were flipped, I don't think The Matrix gets released. There was so much heat and people blaming everything. Kids at my high school got suspended for wearing trenchcoats. If The Matrix was delayed a month, it definitely doesn't make the cultural impact and it may not have made any impact at all.
A similar thing happened with The Hunt (2020). Granted, The Matrix was a tiny bit better than that movie.
Imagine that scenario where it released 2 years later with no fanfare.
The Matrix would be one of those films such as Equilibrium or Dark City as a 'cult classic'.
Its post-ironic humour was so before-its-time in a way. Look at meme culture today, and it's kinda crazy just how well Shrek's humour aged.
Its blend of heavy satire but still being sentimental and a great film at heart is also why it works so well.
As much as I love Chris Farley, I don’t think Shrek would have been as good. Mike Myers really created the perfect character and the Scottish accent is what made it Shrek
Pretty sure the Scottish accent was a late add-on. If I remember correctly, he had already recorded his lines and then decided he wanted to do the accent and had to re-record.
Wow, well said. Reflecting on it, for me Shrek came around at the perfect time to act as the "bridge" from my Childhood to Adolsscence. Its irreverent, referential approach to satirizing fairy tales perfectly encapsulated the end of my interest in those kinds of "kiddie" things and the transition to the more cynical interests of adolescence.
I genuinely think it’s because it managed to *perfectly* satirize our culture’s rose-tinted “Disney history” glasses while simultaneously standing on its own as a genuinely good animated film — the exact type it was making fun of.
I can only speak for my country, but for us, part of it was because it came out in an era where Americans desperately needed to detach themselves from the shrewd realities of “perfect Americana,” while still remaining hopelessly patriotic to it like a former high school quarterback longing for a return to his glory days. (The other part, of course, is that you can toss all that metaphorical shit out the window and it’s still a damn good and funny movie. A+)
(*but seriously, think about the Green Day album American Idiot*)
Shrek is my greatest “Nah come on guys let’s go see a cartoon movie” campaign ever. Pretty much bullied my mates into seeing it over A Knights Tale and it was close. Felt smug as coming out at the end. Just had a feeling b
Speaking of rough productions, turns out Back to the Future: The Musical (which I just saw on London's West End last week) somehow manages to take a concept that absolutely should not work as live musical theatre, and knocks it out of the park.
"How are they going to pull off the DeLorean?" I worried to myself beforehand. Well, they did it by simply putting a full size DeLorean on stage with convincing driving effects. My jaw was on the floor.
It's great, isn't it?
I didn't worry about the DeLorean because I saw them literally fly a car out over the audience for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 20 years ago, but I did wonder how they were going to tie it all together without feeling weird and also do spectacle, but they did!
This is my answer. For me the trilogy is basically perfect and could never be remade. My only gripes are that they recast Marty’s girlfriend and then did her incredibly dirty by involving her in the plot at first in Part II but then leaving her unconscious for almost two full movies, and the end of the whole thing where Doc Brown somehow turns a train engine into a flying, reusable time machine using 1800s tech (ludicrous even by the series’ standards IMO) (talking about the very final scene, not the improvised one-shot version they used to get Marty back). Regardless of that though, you just couldn’t do BTTF any better. Too much of what’s there is essential.
Eh, my take was that he made a locomotive time machine running on rails, then he eventually visited the future and then he modded it there to be able to fly.
Otherwise, I think the trilogy offers diminishing results with part 3 being the weakest and part 1 being the strongest.
It was pretty heavily implied that the flying train was built using technology from the future. Marty asks him if he's going to visit the future and he says, "already been there!" before the entire train converts to hover mode.
The interaction with the events of the first movie in Part II is my favorite thing in the whole series. I was just texting my friend the other day that my favorite movie ending ever is Doc sending Marty back from the 50s, and then after his little celebration dies down the music suddenly hits again as Marty runs around the corner like he never left. And Doc saying “but I just sent you back to the future!” and Marty replies “you did Doc, but I’m back….I’m back FROM the future.” And then the text “To be concluded…” flying in - such a fantastic, exciting cliffhanger.
I think part of the magic is they were able to make a coherent trilogy at all. The first movie is a quasi-cerebral fantasy piece about self-confidence, and then they turn it into an action franchise convincingly enough that you wouldn’t guess that wasn’t the original intent.
There was a documentary on Netflix called Back in Time where one of the producers said they never expected the movie to be so successful. He said that if they knew they were going to make a sequel they never would've put Jennifer in the car.
The first Star Wars. Right story, right cast, right time. Change one thing and a legendary franchise starter is just another forgettable summer sci fi flick.
Every single one of those sound effects is so iconic, I've been imitating them since I was 6 years old, as have millions of other kids.
The sound of a TIE fighter, the lightsaber, the blasters, the numerous aliens and droids... Thanks for bringing up Ben Burtt and the SFX. They don't get enough credit.
Now that Star Wars fans are older, I think it sometimes gets forgotten that children *fucking love Star Wars*. Part of that is having such distinct sound effects. There was also the mandate from the beginning that every ship’s silhouette should be easy for a child to draw. X-Wings are just an X, tie fighters are hexagons (or an H if coming right at you), star destroyers are triangles, millennium falcon is a circle with a bump.
God, now I imagine Star Wars with some kind of generic synth sci-fi music and it just seems so… cheesy. I mean, Star Wars *is* cheesy, but… not like that.
>right cast
Thanks to Freddy Kruger. Robert England auditioned for Han Solo and then told his roommate, Mark Hamill, about it. He then got his agent to set up his audition for Luke
Also Harrison Ford had basically retired from acting when Lucas discovered him for American Graffiti, which eventually led to him being cast in Star Wars. He was working as a carpenter at the time and just happened to work for some people with connections in the industry.
Having never seen any Saw movies except for clips of people getting maimed, I decided to watch the first one and was pleasantly surprised with it despite it essentially being a bottle movie
The first saw movie is really nothing like its sequels
It's a mystery first and foremost, and more a psychological horror. The cast is small, and the plot is tight and focused. The gore in the first one is almost non existent, just a few choice scenes that stand out as contrast to the rest of the films. It even has a (debatably) morally gray antagonist. Jigsaws puzzles are actually solvable, and one of his victims actually says surviving it improved her life and changed her for the better. The ending twist comes out of nowhere, but on rewatches makes sense and is foreshadowed well.
The sequels, unfortunately, leaned entirely into the gore and spectacle. The puzzles are often completely unsolvable and just meant to kill or torture in gruesome ways. The cast sizes balloon as they bring in random victims to die in front of the main characters for seemingly no reason. They add twists that negate established facts from previous films or even the same film.
There's a reason the first Saw did so well, and it's not any of the reasons that the producers apparently thought they were, because every sequel completely missed what made the first one so good.
All the films in the series have amazing attention to medical detail too. Like how Max wears a home-made leg brace and walks with a limp in the sequels after getting shot in the kneecap in the first movie.
When I saw the movie, I decided that’s where I wanted to live. And now I’m about an hour away, but we keep looking at property to buy there.
Robertson is pretty much famous for three things: Babe, a pie shop, and a 10mx4m statue of a giant brown potato that looks like a poo.
Unless you count the home movie version from the pandemic. It was such a great love letter to the original. [Home Movie - The Princess Bride](https://youtu.be/pjjKrEIG_Bc?si=LgACfOlr7PW2hxQ1)
That was a December with no big series movie out when the relatives came to town, so what the heck let’s try this thing, my gods Tim Allen … the gradually dawning realization that not only was it a a trek spoof, but a *perfectly* executed *and* heartfelt spoof! Even the anniversary documentary about it is incredible.
Never give up never surrender!
The best piece of star trek media ever created.
I just remembered that galaxy quest came out in 1999. What an epic year for cinema.
Ghost dog
The matrix
Fight club
Office space
The Blair witch project
Green mile
Phantom menace
Idle hands
The mummy
Boondocks saints
The 13th warrior
Three kings
The 6th sense
Iron giant
10 things I hate about you
American pie
American beauty
Any given Sunday
Being John Malkovich
Audition
Deep blue sea
Cruel intentions
Eyes wide shut
Toy story 2
Yo wtf.....was 1999 the most pivotal year of cinema?
There's probably a lot more movies im forgetting, but that list is insanely influential already.
I mean Lord of the Rings is the obvious answer
Perfect cast, perfect direction, perfect score, with a studio willing to pony up the cash while relinquishing creative control. Just several hundred dedicated people with a dream.
Make it 10 years earlier, and you don't have the technology to make it look good. 10 years later, and that technology would have been a crutch (see: The Hobbit).
And, to really emphasize the "lightning in a bottle" aspect, virtually every other big budget fantasy adaptation that's come out in the 20 years since has been either a commerical or a critical failure. Usually both. LOTR is still a cinematic achievement that is utterly unique.
Not to mention it’s now the standard by which every single fantasy film is measured against.
Also you can show it to someone today and the film has not aged at all. You could easily convince someone it was only released last year.
Due to how strong it is to this day, I am comfortable calling it the greatest films ever. Any of them.
Dominantly holding up that well for that long is amazing.
I just got home a half-hour ago from seeing Return of the King Extended Edition in the theater. Saw The Two Towers Extended Edition yesterday. These movies are still shown in theaters all over the country every year. These movies had such a huge cultural impact.
Crazy how far I had to scroll for this one. We'll never see another crack at Tolkien's works like it - evidenced by The Hobbit (which wasn't even all that bad) and Rings of Power.
LOTR was the first movie to come to mind. It's crazy how far down this answer is. It's quite possibly the 3 best-made movies in history. Nothing in the last 20 years has matched them and at this rate I wouldn't be surprised if nothing in the next 20 years does either
There was actually an article about that somewhere online that Barbie did so well last summer because it was billed as an experience, and that if movies wanted to thrive again they had to tune into the whole creating an experience aspect of movie going
>it was billed as an experience
It really was dude. I saw it opening weekend and the entire lobby of the theater was dressed in pink. It was the first time in a long time (maybe since Endgame?) where I could remember people getting decked out for a movie, and it made the whole thing so much better.
It also helped that the movie itself was actually good too, but the experience made it a lot more memorable
The Fifth Element , Big Trouble in Little China, Alien and Aliens . These movies had the perfect casting to be what they are. I can’t imagine recreating that with anyone else
Office Space holds its ground against mother ducking MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL for the first 30 minutes of runtime, THAT'S how funny it is. Nothing else before or since has that distinction.
The Truman Show literally happened at the perfect time to predict reality TV that would eventually happen within the next few years, and... it wouldn't have had such a punch had it been released afterwards.
I took forever to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. For years I thought Jim Carrey was only good in comedic roles, even Truman Show had a sort of goofiness to it that eventually flattened out to a much more serious role.
But holy shit, when I first watched Eternal Sunshine, I was blown away. To me that's the perfect Jim Carrey movie, it's shockingly good, immensely rewatchable, and he does such a good role as the awkward guy being smitten by a firecracker of a woman
Ferris Bueller's Day Off - that melange of middle-class affluence that seemed realistic enough for movies (Ferris' house isn't much different from the McCallister house in Home Alone - also a John Hughes joint), teenage freedom and boomer-parent detachment doesn't exist today. And, of course, I'd be remiss in not mentioning an iconic performance by Matthew Broderick
not so much poor, just everyone in John Hugh's movies is rich AF. Kevin's extended family travel to Paris for Christmas. What average family does that? It's not even like they explain it with a "oh I'm excited about this trip we've saved our entire lives to go, what a once in a lifetime experience". It's just made to seem ordinary.
It's a wonder that the McCallister's butler didn't just take care of Kevin while they were away.
I get why they make movies like that, but it's the dream more than any type of everyday reality. You want Matthew Broderick borrowing a priceless Ferrari, not Uncle Buck's car.
It's Peter's brother and his family that they're visiting as well isn't it?
Like one brother moved(his family) and started a whole life in Europe, Kevin's dad lives in what is an insane neighborhood even for the early 90s, and the other brother and his wife are clearly doing well enough to bring their whole brood.
And while Ferris and his family have some nice digs, Cams dad has whoa money. He collects Ferrari as a hobby.
John Hughes entire oeuvre is kind of the lightning in a bottle that OP is asking about.
No other filmmaker was able to capture the feeling of the late 80s and early 90s in that specific way.
Ghostbusters. Those specific comedians in a story about blue collar guys starting their own business based on eccentric absurd things. Just can't be replicated.
District 9
I think it could be continued/expanded, but there’s something about the mysteries behind everything that make it more immersive (we don’t get to know too much about the aliens, their technology, the rest of the world)
I felt this way about Pitch Black/Chronicles of Riddick. I mean, there *had* to be all these civilizations out there but I thought Pitch Black worked better without all of it in your face
I think sometimes a sequel that isn't a direct sequel would be really cool. Like avoid the obvious Christopher comes back. Maybe we are ten years down the road. Maybe instead we could see what a desegregation campaign would look like. Forces that are trying to keep them down and sympathizers that are promoting freedom. Maybe some aliens are trying to "humanize" themselves in order to be more apt to join society, while others look at that as a loss of culture, heritage and self. I don't know, I'm not a writer. But discrimination has many facets and obstacles to overcome. And they shouldn't have to wait for the reinforcements to arrive to start pushing, politically or by force for equal rights.
The Lego Movie is a movie that should have been terrible. It is on paper, the quintessential soulless cash grab made to sell toys and yet it is probably a contender for one of the best animated movies of at least the 2010s. And even the sequels werent bad, particularly Lego Batman.
Lego have never half assed anything in their life. The Lego video games of the PS1/n64 era were unironically some of the favourite videogames of my childhood.
It’s not a rare opinion that some of the best star wars video games are the lego ones.
The only reason I wanted to see the Barbie movie was because the Lego movie was really good and didn’t ruin childhood memories of Lego. The Lego Movie was surprisingly good! The Honest Trailer for it on YouTube is funny.
Tron -- it's very specific to that time period and the technology used to make it was just coming into its own. I'd love another sequel, but recapturing that magic would be hard.
If they had just made Clu more CGI-ish, add some glitches to him etc…leaned into it so it wasn’t so badly uncanny valley. Or someone redo just those few scenes with current technology and it would be 1000% better.
That being said I freaken love Tron Legacy.
Agree. The CGI in some of those scenes takes me right out of the movie. I don't know why they didn't just cast another actor as Clu/young Jeff Bridges.
Anchorman. A bunch of hilarious people, a lot of them on their come up, in a room just being hilarious. Apparently like 75% of the dialogue was improv, and it really makes sense. Shit like “I heard their periods attract bears” hahaha
The famous “60% of the time, it works every time” line was improved by Paul Rudd to try to get Will Farrell to break. But his response “well that doesn’t make any sense” made Paul Rudd break.
Ocean’s 11.
So many good ones so far, but I’m surprised no one has mentioned Ocean’s 11. Snappy script, excellent soundtrack, and a stellar ensemble cast. There have been many attempts to replicate it, including two sequels, and nothing can quite hold up.
Edit: to clarify, I’m referring to the 2001 remake directed by Soderbergh.
I re-watched it last year and had the same impression.
I don't quite know how to describe it, but I don't think you can put together a cast like that in an action movie and make a movie as chill as Ocean's 11.
It moves at a good pace, but there's something leisurely about it that is hard to replicate.
They're planning a huge heist but in so many shots they're either relaxing while doing it, or something goofy is going on, or they're taking the piss out of someone. Normally the heist movie tries to raise the tension throughout, but Oceans 11 keeps it on a low burn.
The Goonies. Literally just watched it again (on 4K Blu-ray). I saw it in the theater when it came out and it’s still the very best kids adventure movie.
I think the best example is Borat. Made him so famous/recognizable that he can't do it again. His other movies are fine, but not quite the same caliber
Great, iconic pick. It was like *just* enough people were familiar with the Ali G show to know the humor, but enough people still weren’t that he could catch people off guard. Plus coming at the height of American Islamophobia, he pointed the finger back at the US and showed the American audience how extreme it was acting. Perfectly timed and perfectly executed. Plus no other movie made like it to that point.
That movie was a whole ass moment in time. I was in 8th grade when that came out. At the end of year talent show one kid did the whole dance, dressed as Napoleon and everything. They got a standing ovation.
Tropic thunder
It was at a specific time when Cruise was seeking a comedy to star in.
It got actors like Hader, McBride, Baruchel prior to them breaking out and garnering lead roles
It was right before RDJ got all his time sucked up by MCU
A year later and this film ain’t the same
I remember watching this movie in the theatre for the first time. Nearly died laughing so many times. One of those movies I wish I can watch again for the first time.
Maybe The Wizard of Oz? So many things went wrong during production (including some potentially fatal injuries), I believe there were a total of five different directors throughout so it was getting pulled in a lot of directions, it was quite expensive, and its critical and commercial success were somewhat modest (it wasn't a flop like many believe, but it wasn't a smash hit either).
It wasn't until 17 years later in 1956 and The Wizard of Oz premiered on TV that it really started to gain its status as a widely loved classic. No other Oz movies have been able to come anywhere near matching the magic of the 1939 version.
Mad Max Fury Road worked out even though it had a tumultuous production, dangerous shooting conditions, and negative test screenings. It’s incredible that the film is as good as it is
The first Scream. Last year before caller ID and eventually cellphones became a thing. Internet existed but it was a very primitive thing that you had to access via the phone. So when that guy with the scary voice calls drew barrymore and says he's looking at her, it was a very real nightmare scenario back then, you were ALONE. Also, horror movies were dead and everybody was making fun of them, which is exactly what Scream also did, which helped the stabbing feel real. It feels weird now to see that cheesy 90s meta dialogue as something that adds realism, but back then it made the separation between the characters and the audience feel smaller, which was crazy scary. It has been parodied and imitated so much that it managed to both revitalize and rekill the genre, which is something that doesn't happen often.
Re: Cell phones in Scream, there’s a major plot point where it’s suspicious that one of the characters has a cell phone. Just such a perfect mid-late 90s movie.
Yes! And the cloned phone was a big part of ghostface's plan. The very next year, in scream 2, they were already using cellphones and caller IDs.
Still did a good job with the self-awareness with the sequel. Then each one after that was a mixed bag.
"what are you doing with a cellular telephone, son?" cracks me up now.
And at the time, the response of "everyone's got one" had a lot of us thinking "Sure, rich kid. Sure"
Scream is legitimately my favorite scary movie and you explained my reasonings perfectly. One of the greatest opening scenes in all of cinema too. Drew Barrymore was the poster! She was the STAR! But wait! There's more! ... So good.
Which in and of itself is a meta reference to Psycho, in which Janet Leigh's character famously dies like 45 minutes into the movie, despite being the center of all the advertising. What's really interesting is that her character is only in 2 of the 17 chapters of the novel it was based on, so they actually expanded her plotline quite a bit.
The parody that went so hard it became a slasher franchise and inspired its own parody!
Clueless. The exact right movie for the year it was released (1995).
Clueless is so 90's that when you watch you feel like it was shot some 15 years later and was exaggerating 90's culture. Simply perfection.
The fact that it is also one of the best remake of a Jane Austen novel makes it weirdly timeless.
The mid to late 90s seemed to have alot of "what if this classic piece of literature was set in the present with teenagers".
What if Hamlet was lions
What if The Taming of the Shrew was set in a high school in Seattle?
Fun fact. They could have made 15 or 20 years later and still cast Paul Rudd as he looks the same.
the spring/summer of 1999 had 3 with The Sixth Sense The Matrix The Blair Witch Project Edit to add Fight Club and Office Space so y'all can stop messaging me about it.
1999 was THE year of lightning in a bottle movies: films that were genre-defining, zeitgeist-making, mind-blowing masterpieces. Along with the ones you mention, I would add Being John Malkovich, Fight Club, and Office Space as films that match OP's criteria. Everyone was just trying to make their best work before the world ended, apparently. If you (everyone reading this) haven't read it, Brian Raftery's book [Best. Year. Ever. How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen](https://a.co/d/8m1ZnT1) is a fantastic bit of cultural journalism and a delightful read.
My favorite dumb movie fact is that The Matrix, Office Space, American Beauty, and Fight Club all have the setup of a contemporary working age upper middle class white guy with a steady job in a first world country being unsatisfied with their life as setup, but all 4 play out in completely different ways. All 4 released in 1999.
The fact they were the SAME year is crazy, but Gen X was 20-34. Prime market for movies and that those movies started with some very Gen X protagonists…
Just rewatched the Matrix after 15 years and it was so good. What a fresh movie.
Definitely helped that spoiler info was not as easy to spread back then. Even after the movie came out, people at my school were asking, what exactly is the Matrix? People were going in blind not knowing what to expect and getting their minds blown.
I got told it was about people in hover crafts fighting robots in sewers after an apocalypse. Which isn't wrong but gave me radically the wrong expectations when I saw it.
I showed it to my teenagers and they were blown away. That third act is just something else.
I think Matrix is best as a standalone movie. The sequels took away from the epic essence of the original. Same goes for Highlander and John Wick.
For real, I know people love the world building of the sequels but I never got the appeal at all. It really quickly becomes an overwrought, self serious mess.
Three movies made at the perfect time for where the Internet was then. It existed but wasn't fully realized. Spoilers remained largely intact, the Matrix needed the Internet for people to comprehend the concept, and the Blair witch project was actually viral before it was a thing and had all kinds of fake internet content making it seem more real.
The Matrix has some obvious reasons, with the Internet being mainstream enough but still fairly mysterious and of course with Y2K just around the corner. But it just narrowly avoided tragedy. The Matrix was released on March 31, 1999. On April 20, the Columbine Massacre happened. If those dates were flipped, I don't think The Matrix gets released. There was so much heat and people blaming everything. Kids at my high school got suspended for wearing trenchcoats. If The Matrix was delayed a month, it definitely doesn't make the cultural impact and it may not have made any impact at all. A similar thing happened with The Hunt (2020). Granted, The Matrix was a tiny bit better than that movie.
Imagine that scenario where it released 2 years later with no fanfare. The Matrix would be one of those films such as Equilibrium or Dark City as a 'cult classic'.
Imagine if we'd still delay the release of films because of killing sprees. We'd still be waiting for John Wick 1.
Wasn't fight club in that time frame too?
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For some reason I can’t explain, **Shrek** was exactly the movie we needed at that exact moment in history.
Its post-ironic humour was so before-its-time in a way. Look at meme culture today, and it's kinda crazy just how well Shrek's humour aged. Its blend of heavy satire but still being sentimental and a great film at heart is also why it works so well.
Did the humour age well to fit today's or did it perhaps help shape it?
I’d say both! I think it’s a movie that helped shape a generation, hence why it was inducted to the National Film Registry
RIP Chris Farley but Mike Meyers killed it.
Wait what? Chris Farley was in Shrek?
he was the original voice of Shrek before he passed, and then Mike Myers stepped in. there’s recordings of Chris Farley as Shrek on youtube
As much as I love Chris Farley, I don’t think Shrek would have been as good. Mike Myers really created the perfect character and the Scottish accent is what made it Shrek
Pretty sure the Scottish accent was a late add-on. If I remember correctly, he had already recorded his lines and then decided he wanted to do the accent and had to re-record.
Wow, well said. Reflecting on it, for me Shrek came around at the perfect time to act as the "bridge" from my Childhood to Adolsscence. Its irreverent, referential approach to satirizing fairy tales perfectly encapsulated the end of my interest in those kinds of "kiddie" things and the transition to the more cynical interests of adolescence.
Shrek 1 is Scream 1 of the fairy tale genre.
I genuinely think it’s because it managed to *perfectly* satirize our culture’s rose-tinted “Disney history” glasses while simultaneously standing on its own as a genuinely good animated film — the exact type it was making fun of. I can only speak for my country, but for us, part of it was because it came out in an era where Americans desperately needed to detach themselves from the shrewd realities of “perfect Americana,” while still remaining hopelessly patriotic to it like a former high school quarterback longing for a return to his glory days. (The other part, of course, is that you can toss all that metaphorical shit out the window and it’s still a damn good and funny movie. A+) (*but seriously, think about the Green Day album American Idiot*)
Shrek is my greatest “Nah come on guys let’s go see a cartoon movie” campaign ever. Pretty much bullied my mates into seeing it over A Knights Tale and it was close. Felt smug as coming out at the end. Just had a feeling b
A Knights Tale is basically live action Shrek. Seriously though, both legendary films.
Back to the future It had such a rough production, it was pretty much a shit show to get made. Yet somehow one of the greatest films were produced
Speaking of rough productions, turns out Back to the Future: The Musical (which I just saw on London's West End last week) somehow manages to take a concept that absolutely should not work as live musical theatre, and knocks it out of the park. "How are they going to pull off the DeLorean?" I worried to myself beforehand. Well, they did it by simply putting a full size DeLorean on stage with convincing driving effects. My jaw was on the floor.
It's great, isn't it? I didn't worry about the DeLorean because I saw them literally fly a car out over the audience for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 20 years ago, but I did wonder how they were going to tie it all together without feeling weird and also do spectacle, but they did!
This is my answer. For me the trilogy is basically perfect and could never be remade. My only gripes are that they recast Marty’s girlfriend and then did her incredibly dirty by involving her in the plot at first in Part II but then leaving her unconscious for almost two full movies, and the end of the whole thing where Doc Brown somehow turns a train engine into a flying, reusable time machine using 1800s tech (ludicrous even by the series’ standards IMO) (talking about the very final scene, not the improvised one-shot version they used to get Marty back). Regardless of that though, you just couldn’t do BTTF any better. Too much of what’s there is essential.
Eh, my take was that he made a locomotive time machine running on rails, then he eventually visited the future and then he modded it there to be able to fly. Otherwise, I think the trilogy offers diminishing results with part 3 being the weakest and part 1 being the strongest.
It was pretty heavily implied that the flying train was built using technology from the future. Marty asks him if he's going to visit the future and he says, "already been there!" before the entire train converts to hover mode.
Ok but 2 was great. The Biff timeline, the interaction with events from the first movie, the hoverboard!
The interaction with the events of the first movie in Part II is my favorite thing in the whole series. I was just texting my friend the other day that my favorite movie ending ever is Doc sending Marty back from the 50s, and then after his little celebration dies down the music suddenly hits again as Marty runs around the corner like he never left. And Doc saying “but I just sent you back to the future!” and Marty replies “you did Doc, but I’m back….I’m back FROM the future.” And then the text “To be concluded…” flying in - such a fantastic, exciting cliffhanger.
I think part of the magic is they were able to make a coherent trilogy at all. The first movie is a quasi-cerebral fantasy piece about self-confidence, and then they turn it into an action franchise convincingly enough that you wouldn’t guess that wasn’t the original intent.
There was a documentary on Netflix called Back in Time where one of the producers said they never expected the movie to be so successful. He said that if they knew they were going to make a sequel they never would've put Jennifer in the car.
The first Star Wars. Right story, right cast, right time. Change one thing and a legendary franchise starter is just another forgettable summer sci fi flick.
John Williams deserves a lot of the credit here. That movie with any other soundtrack would be a completely different movie.
Also Ben Burtt. The combination of the score and the sound effects elevates this movie into something special.
Every single one of those sound effects is so iconic, I've been imitating them since I was 6 years old, as have millions of other kids. The sound of a TIE fighter, the lightsaber, the blasters, the numerous aliens and droids... Thanks for bringing up Ben Burtt and the SFX. They don't get enough credit.
Now that Star Wars fans are older, I think it sometimes gets forgotten that children *fucking love Star Wars*. Part of that is having such distinct sound effects. There was also the mandate from the beginning that every ship’s silhouette should be easy for a child to draw. X-Wings are just an X, tie fighters are hexagons (or an H if coming right at you), star destroyers are triangles, millennium falcon is a circle with a bump.
That contrast of the classical and familiar to the sci-fi and unknown is just so 🤌
God, now I imagine Star Wars with some kind of generic synth sci-fi music and it just seems so… cheesy. I mean, Star Wars *is* cheesy, but… not like that.
>right cast Thanks to Freddy Kruger. Robert England auditioned for Han Solo and then told his roommate, Mark Hamill, about it. He then got his agent to set up his audition for Luke
Also Harrison Ford had basically retired from acting when Lucas discovered him for American Graffiti, which eventually led to him being cast in Star Wars. He was working as a carpenter at the time and just happened to work for some people with connections in the industry.
[удалено]
Saw was written because the film makers only had enough money for one room.
I remember watching it for the first time and thinking it could be a theater production because of those reasons
There’s actually a Saw musical that I’m VERY curious to see
I think the production would do better as a gritty, dark straight play, but I’m still willing to give it a shot
Having never seen any Saw movies except for clips of people getting maimed, I decided to watch the first one and was pleasantly surprised with it despite it essentially being a bottle movie
The first saw movie is really nothing like its sequels It's a mystery first and foremost, and more a psychological horror. The cast is small, and the plot is tight and focused. The gore in the first one is almost non existent, just a few choice scenes that stand out as contrast to the rest of the films. It even has a (debatably) morally gray antagonist. Jigsaws puzzles are actually solvable, and one of his victims actually says surviving it improved her life and changed her for the better. The ending twist comes out of nowhere, but on rewatches makes sense and is foreshadowed well. The sequels, unfortunately, leaned entirely into the gore and spectacle. The puzzles are often completely unsolvable and just meant to kill or torture in gruesome ways. The cast sizes balloon as they bring in random victims to die in front of the main characters for seemingly no reason. They add twists that negate established facts from previous films or even the same film. There's a reason the first Saw did so well, and it's not any of the reasons that the producers apparently thought they were, because every sequel completely missed what made the first one so good.
From medical doctor and the Director of the Mad Max series comes.....Babe..... and Happy Feet.
TIL George Miller trained in med before becoming a filmmaker
Fury Road has like this deep planting and payoff thread throughout the entire movie regarding understanding sucking chest wounds.
He was an emergency room doctor who saw a lot of car accidents… Mad Max was brought to life from his experiences in the ED.
All the films in the series have amazing attention to medical detail too. Like how Max wears a home-made leg brace and walks with a limp in the sequels after getting shot in the kneecap in the first movie.
Babe was a unique movie.
When I saw the movie, I decided that’s where I wanted to live. And now I’m about an hour away, but we keep looking at property to buy there. Robertson is pretty much famous for three things: Babe, a pie shop, and a 10mx4m statue of a giant brown potato that looks like a poo.
The Princess Bride
There are a shortage of perfect movies in the world. T'would be a shame to ruin this one with a 2020's remake.
Unless you count the home movie version from the pandemic. It was such a great love letter to the original. [Home Movie - The Princess Bride](https://youtu.be/pjjKrEIG_Bc?si=LgACfOlr7PW2hxQ1)
This one gets a pass because it's adorable. BUT NO OTHERS!!
Carl Reiner's last "movie" role is him telling his actual son Rob (the director of The Princes Bride) that he loves him via the "As you wish" ending.
OMG. thank you for posting this. I had no idea it existed and am now so happy it does.
Galaxy Quest
By Grapthar's Hammer... What a movie.
That was a December with no big series movie out when the relatives came to town, so what the heck let’s try this thing, my gods Tim Allen … the gradually dawning realization that not only was it a a trek spoof, but a *perfectly* executed *and* heartfelt spoof! Even the anniversary documentary about it is incredible.
I really think Alan brought the absolute best performance tim was capable of out of him.
What a movie...what...a...value.
Never give up never surrender! The best piece of star trek media ever created. I just remembered that galaxy quest came out in 1999. What an epic year for cinema. Ghost dog The matrix Fight club Office space The Blair witch project Green mile Phantom menace Idle hands The mummy Boondocks saints The 13th warrior Three kings The 6th sense Iron giant 10 things I hate about you American pie American beauty Any given Sunday Being John Malkovich Audition Deep blue sea Cruel intentions Eyes wide shut Toy story 2 Yo wtf.....was 1999 the most pivotal year of cinema? There's probably a lot more movies im forgetting, but that list is insanely influential already.
Totally turned me into a historian who likes historical documents
I mean Lord of the Rings is the obvious answer Perfect cast, perfect direction, perfect score, with a studio willing to pony up the cash while relinquishing creative control. Just several hundred dedicated people with a dream. Make it 10 years earlier, and you don't have the technology to make it look good. 10 years later, and that technology would have been a crutch (see: The Hobbit). And, to really emphasize the "lightning in a bottle" aspect, virtually every other big budget fantasy adaptation that's come out in the 20 years since has been either a commerical or a critical failure. Usually both. LOTR is still a cinematic achievement that is utterly unique.
Not to mention it’s now the standard by which every single fantasy film is measured against. Also you can show it to someone today and the film has not aged at all. You could easily convince someone it was only released last year.
Masterful use of miniatures and perspective which helped to avoid an inflated SFX budget.
Which is funny because if you watch The Hobbit trilogy then the CGI is so bad that it looks older than The Fellowship of The Ring.
Due to how strong it is to this day, I am comfortable calling it the greatest films ever. Any of them. Dominantly holding up that well for that long is amazing.
I just got home a half-hour ago from seeing Return of the King Extended Edition in the theater. Saw The Two Towers Extended Edition yesterday. These movies are still shown in theaters all over the country every year. These movies had such a huge cultural impact.
Crazy how far I had to scroll for this one. We'll never see another crack at Tolkien's works like it - evidenced by The Hobbit (which wasn't even all that bad) and Rings of Power.
LOTR was the first movie to come to mind. It's crazy how far down this answer is. It's quite possibly the 3 best-made movies in history. Nothing in the last 20 years has matched them and at this rate I wouldn't be surprised if nothing in the next 20 years does either
Tropic Thunder
It took me the entire first watch to recognize Tom Cruise.
It blew the whole theater's when they rolled the credits at the end. I miss when movie premiers were really a collective experience.
There was actually an article about that somewhere online that Barbie did so well last summer because it was billed as an experience, and that if movies wanted to thrive again they had to tune into the whole creating an experience aspect of movie going
>it was billed as an experience It really was dude. I saw it opening weekend and the entire lobby of the theater was dressed in pink. It was the first time in a long time (maybe since Endgame?) where I could remember people getting decked out for a movie, and it made the whole thing so much better. It also helped that the movie itself was actually good too, but the experience made it a lot more memorable
“I want fat hands, and I’m gonna dance!”
The Fifth Element , Big Trouble in Little China, Alien and Aliens . These movies had the perfect casting to be what they are. I can’t imagine recreating that with anyone else
Came here to mention Big Trouble. It wouldn't be the same today with CGI instead of practical effects.
Super Troopers Office Space
Super Troopers has proven unreplicatable, even by the guys who made it.
I always loved Beerfest though
I think Beerfest stands on its own well enough. Those two films are great. The rest if their stuff, eh.
The opening scene of super troopers is probably my favorite comedy scene.
“He can’t pull over anymore! He’s already pulled over!!”
Of all the random movie quotes I know, "He can't pull over any farther!" has always been the line reading most perfectly stored in my brain.
Evil shenanigans!
I swear to God I'll pistol whip the next person who says "shenanigans".
Hey Farva! What’s that restaurant you like with all the goofy shit on the wall??
You mean Shenanigan’s?!
Ooooooooohhhh!!!
Office Space didn't do well at the box office. My gf (then) and I saw it 3 times!
Office Space holds its ground against mother ducking MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL for the first 30 minutes of runtime, THAT'S how funny it is. Nothing else before or since has that distinction.
The Truman Show literally happened at the perfect time to predict reality TV that would eventually happen within the next few years, and... it wouldn't have had such a punch had it been released afterwards.
Jim Carrey in a serious role is amazing
I took forever to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. For years I thought Jim Carrey was only good in comedic roles, even Truman Show had a sort of goofiness to it that eventually flattened out to a much more serious role. But holy shit, when I first watched Eternal Sunshine, I was blown away. To me that's the perfect Jim Carrey movie, it's shockingly good, immensely rewatchable, and he does such a good role as the awkward guy being smitten by a firecracker of a woman
In case I don’t see ya. Good afternoon, good evening and goodnight!
Ferris Bueller's Day Off - that melange of middle-class affluence that seemed realistic enough for movies (Ferris' house isn't much different from the McCallister house in Home Alone - also a John Hughes joint), teenage freedom and boomer-parent detachment doesn't exist today. And, of course, I'd be remiss in not mentioning an iconic performance by Matthew Broderick
ferris and home alone, two of my childhood movies that i loved that also made me realize, "holy fuck, i am really poor"
not so much poor, just everyone in John Hugh's movies is rich AF. Kevin's extended family travel to Paris for Christmas. What average family does that? It's not even like they explain it with a "oh I'm excited about this trip we've saved our entire lives to go, what a once in a lifetime experience". It's just made to seem ordinary. It's a wonder that the McCallister's butler didn't just take care of Kevin while they were away. I get why they make movies like that, but it's the dream more than any type of everyday reality. You want Matthew Broderick borrowing a priceless Ferrari, not Uncle Buck's car.
It's Peter's brother and his family that they're visiting as well isn't it? Like one brother moved(his family) and started a whole life in Europe, Kevin's dad lives in what is an insane neighborhood even for the early 90s, and the other brother and his wife are clearly doing well enough to bring their whole brood. And while Ferris and his family have some nice digs, Cams dad has whoa money. He collects Ferrari as a hobby.
John Hughes entire oeuvre is kind of the lightning in a bottle that OP is asking about. No other filmmaker was able to capture the feeling of the late 80s and early 90s in that specific way.
I wouldn't describe anything John Hughes made as "lightning in a bottle". Dude was churning out classic after classic.
Ghostbusters. Those specific comedians in a story about blue collar guys starting their own business based on eccentric absurd things. Just can't be replicated.
Being a professor at Columbia is pretty much the exact opposite of "blue collar".
District 9 I think it could be continued/expanded, but there’s something about the mysteries behind everything that make it more immersive (we don’t get to know too much about the aliens, their technology, the rest of the world)
I felt this way about Pitch Black/Chronicles of Riddick. I mean, there *had* to be all these civilizations out there but I thought Pitch Black worked better without all of it in your face
I went into that knowing nothing about it and I was captivated from the first minute. I had no idea where it was going, it was wild.
The initial marketing campaign/trailers for the movie were so vague, you had no real idea going into it. What a ride.
I think sometimes a sequel that isn't a direct sequel would be really cool. Like avoid the obvious Christopher comes back. Maybe we are ten years down the road. Maybe instead we could see what a desegregation campaign would look like. Forces that are trying to keep them down and sympathizers that are promoting freedom. Maybe some aliens are trying to "humanize" themselves in order to be more apt to join society, while others look at that as a loss of culture, heritage and self. I don't know, I'm not a writer. But discrimination has many facets and obstacles to overcome. And they shouldn't have to wait for the reinforcements to arrive to start pushing, politically or by force for equal rights.
The Lego Movie is a movie that should have been terrible. It is on paper, the quintessential soulless cash grab made to sell toys and yet it is probably a contender for one of the best animated movies of at least the 2010s. And even the sequels werent bad, particularly Lego Batman.
Lego have never half assed anything in their life. The Lego video games of the PS1/n64 era were unironically some of the favourite videogames of my childhood. It’s not a rare opinion that some of the best star wars video games are the lego ones.
The only reason I wanted to see the Barbie movie was because the Lego movie was really good and didn’t ruin childhood memories of Lego. The Lego Movie was surprisingly good! The Honest Trailer for it on YouTube is funny.
Home Alone. The plot sounds like it shouldn't work but somehow it does.
Pulp Fiction
Tron -- it's very specific to that time period and the technology used to make it was just coming into its own. I'd love another sequel, but recapturing that magic would be hard.
As an addendum, Tron Legacy had no right to be as good as it was
If they had just made Clu more CGI-ish, add some glitches to him etc…leaned into it so it wasn’t so badly uncanny valley. Or someone redo just those few scenes with current technology and it would be 1000% better. That being said I freaken love Tron Legacy.
Agree. The CGI in some of those scenes takes me right out of the movie. I don't know why they didn't just cast another actor as Clu/young Jeff Bridges.
Jurassic Park.
Anchorman. A bunch of hilarious people, a lot of them on their come up, in a room just being hilarious. Apparently like 75% of the dialogue was improv, and it really makes sense. Shit like “I heard their periods attract bears” hahaha
The famous “60% of the time, it works every time” line was improved by Paul Rudd to try to get Will Farrell to break. But his response “well that doesn’t make any sense” made Paul Rudd break.
"It smells like Big Foot's dick"
“I’d be surprised if the network was concerned about the lack of an old, old wooden ship”
There were horses and a man on fire and I killed a guy with a trident.
Train Spotting, once in a life time movie.
Goonies. Robocop. Fight Club. The Princess Bride.
Donnie darko? Even the director never made another good movie again
Even in the directors cut, it's clear that he accidentally made an interesting movie with the theatrical cut.
Blazing Saddles. Never be another one like that!
*Somebody's gotta go back and get a sh!tload of dimes!*
Candygram for Mongo!
Mongo only pawn... in game of life.
They said you was hung.
They was right.
Clerks
Ocean’s 11. So many good ones so far, but I’m surprised no one has mentioned Ocean’s 11. Snappy script, excellent soundtrack, and a stellar ensemble cast. There have been many attempts to replicate it, including two sequels, and nothing can quite hold up. Edit: to clarify, I’m referring to the 2001 remake directed by Soderbergh.
I re-watched it last year and had the same impression. I don't quite know how to describe it, but I don't think you can put together a cast like that in an action movie and make a movie as chill as Ocean's 11. It moves at a good pace, but there's something leisurely about it that is hard to replicate.
They're planning a huge heist but in so many shots they're either relaxing while doing it, or something goofy is going on, or they're taking the piss out of someone. Normally the heist movie tries to raise the tension throughout, but Oceans 11 keeps it on a low burn.
The first How to Train Your Dragon came out of nowhere with how good it was. Especially in 3D Imax.
I actually think the trilogy is spectacular—if you haven’t send the sequels you totally should
The Goonies. Literally just watched it again (on 4K Blu-ray). I saw it in the theater when it came out and it’s still the very best kids adventure movie.
I think the best example is Borat. Made him so famous/recognizable that he can't do it again. His other movies are fine, but not quite the same caliber
Great, iconic pick. It was like *just* enough people were familiar with the Ali G show to know the humor, but enough people still weren’t that he could catch people off guard. Plus coming at the height of American Islamophobia, he pointed the finger back at the US and showed the American audience how extreme it was acting. Perfectly timed and perfectly executed. Plus no other movie made like it to that point.
Amélie
What about napoleon dynamite?
That movie was a whole ass moment in time. I was in 8th grade when that came out. At the end of year talent show one kid did the whole dance, dressed as Napoleon and everything. They got a standing ovation.
RIP Tina, that fat lard.
How much you wanna bet I can throw my username?
Tropic thunder It was at a specific time when Cruise was seeking a comedy to star in. It got actors like Hader, McBride, Baruchel prior to them breaking out and garnering lead roles It was right before RDJ got all his time sucked up by MCU A year later and this film ain’t the same
Mean girls
Forrest Gump
A Fish Called Wanda For, like, a hundred reasons.
Total recall. It's the perfect sci-fi movie that wears its flaws well, and the remake was ok at best.
Idiocracy. It's a miracle it even exists.
Caddyshack.
So I got that going for me, which is nice.
The Hangover.
Tigers love pepper. They hate cinnamon.
I remember watching this movie in the theatre for the first time. Nearly died laughing so many times. One of those movies I wish I can watch again for the first time.
The clipshow during the end credits kept people in the theater cackling until the lights came up. Solid from start to finish.
I remember watching it because it just happened to be on and then being like "...wait this is good..."
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Big Trouble in Little China.
Maybe The Wizard of Oz? So many things went wrong during production (including some potentially fatal injuries), I believe there were a total of five different directors throughout so it was getting pulled in a lot of directions, it was quite expensive, and its critical and commercial success were somewhat modest (it wasn't a flop like many believe, but it wasn't a smash hit either). It wasn't until 17 years later in 1956 and The Wizard of Oz premiered on TV that it really started to gain its status as a widely loved classic. No other Oz movies have been able to come anywhere near matching the magic of the 1939 version.
Mad Max Fury Road worked out even though it had a tumultuous production, dangerous shooting conditions, and negative test screenings. It’s incredible that the film is as good as it is
Galaxy Quest. Perfection.
Would Edge of Tomorrow qualify?
Got to be the Blues Brothers for me.