Because in the 90’s we didn’t have streaming services and we bought all our movies on VHS and then DVD and rewatched them many times, up until 2010 most movies were purchased and rewatched continuously. From 2010 onwards the market was flooded and there’s always something new to view causing most to be viewed once and more likely to be forgotten
I suspect they’re iconic because that’s when you grew up / became aware of film. The 80’s were iconic. The 70’s were iconic. God-willing movies survive to be iconic for each generation.
David Fincher and Darren Aronofsky were just music video directors. The Wachowskis were nobodys. Christopher Nolan was a nobody.
Studios would take risks on vision back then. It was the peak of the indie film era. There were still auteur directors.
Studios still wanted to make money; films did fall into certain genres and studios still retained final cut, but they also valued unique vision.
Today, unique vision means risk. Studios want to micromanage and want directors who are easy to work with. Just copy a proven comic book… it is a script and storyboard rolled into one. No need to take risks.
Office Space, Fight Club, American Beauty and The Matrix all coming the same year with the same *dude working in an office sucks i want to ________ out of pure nihilism* plot is crazy, but a perfect representation of late 90’s comfort and boredom
Some of you are saying that it was a bunch of factors such as the end of the millennium, the rise of independent cinema, and a shift towards a more diverse and socially conscious approach to filmmaking. Or that it was simply a coincidence or the result of the convergence of talented directors, writers, and actors.
In my opinion, one of the main reasons why 1999 produced so many iconic films was the growing influence of independent cinema, which allowed for more innovative and daring approaches to storytelling. The advancements in technology, especially in CGI, enabled filmmakers to create more visually stunning and immersive worlds.
But probably the biggest factor was the changing socio-political landscape of the late 90s, with the rise of globalization and the internet, it provided such a rich and diverse cultural context for filmmakers to draw inspiration from. These factors combined to produce a cinematic renaissance that we are still feeling the effects of today.
Late 90’s was insane for films. Walk into a cinema in the summer of these years and look at the poster boards and you’d probably recognise many classics that are still talked about today. Not all action either, I find even a romcom or thriller from those years are memorable.
I feel like now you might get a Marvel movie, a Transformers one, an animated movie about a slug and a poorly reviewed indie film.
I was 11 in 1999 and my older brother took me with him to see a lot of these great movies in the theatre. I remember seeing Magnolia, The Green Mile, Being John Malcovich, Man On The Moon, and American Beauty. I have been a movie buff ever since.
What’s the tl;dr on the reason? My money is on DVD sales and the cultural zeitgeist that is word of mouth coupled with easily available inexpensive physical media.
1999 movies foreshadow a world that never got to exist because of 9/11, that’s why they’re so interesting: they’re simultaneously so familiar yet so foreign.
It’s not just 99. Each year in the 90s was stacked with some amazing movies.
1998 had The Big Lebowski, Saving Private Ryan, Generation X, Meet Joe Black, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, There’s Something About Mary, Rush Hour, Thin Red Line, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Blade, Lethal Weapon4, Wild Things, Armageddon, Zorro, Ronin, Small Soldiers, A Bug’s Life…
1997 – Good Will Hunting, Titanic, Boogie Nights, Fifth Element, Jackie Brown, Contact, ConAir, FaceOff, Devil’s Advocate, LA Confidential, The Game, MIB, Starship Troopers, Cube, Donnie Brasco, Cop Land, Seven Years in Tibet…
1996 – The Rock, Scream, Independence Day, From Dusk Till Dawn, Sling Blade, Fargo, Mission Impossible, Primal Fear, Jerry Maguire, Sleepers, English Patient, Mars Attacks, Bird Cage, Long Kiss Goodnight, Space Jam, Frighteners, Cable Guy…
I always think about this. The world in the late 90s felt like it was headed in such a different direction than the 2000s ended up being. I feel like 9/11 set movies and really all American culture back significantly. A lot of what came out in the aftermath was really awful and trite.
Not quite sure why The Insider isn’t here – and why anyone rates/rated American Beauty. Its just a more palatable version of Todd Solondz middle-class suburban loser/pedo epic Happiness.
Everyone I know hated it – I always thought it was a ‘shakespeare in love’ type gig where Hollywood foisted their chosen film on the populace.
Even Cruel Intentions had more meaningful things to say about spoilt American society than American beauty.
There may be a tendency to like movies from about the year you were born if that applies here.
That being said, ’90s movies were largely strong in general. Could be that GenX directors started being a thing which opened up new visions. Once streaming happened, that had the hotter hand.
Similar with movies that explore “What is the nature of your reality?” When confronted with the millennium and the oncoming internet Web 2.0 and what everyone’s thought it’d be:
1. Existenz
2. The Matrix
3. The Thirteenth Floor
4. Dark City
5. The Majestic
6. The Truman Show
7. Fight Club
7. and more I’m sure
I really enjoyed this for the Movie Theater history lesson at the beginning.
Worst movies of 1999:
The Other Sister
Baby Geniuses
Idle Hands
Teaching Mrs. Tingle
Jakob The Liar
The Story of Us
Superstar
Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo
Wing Commander
The Rage: Carrie 2
Fight Club *and* The Matrix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ctZAysb8Ms
Because in the 90’s we didn’t have streaming services and we bought all our movies on VHS and then DVD and rewatched them many times, up until 2010 most movies were purchased and rewatched continuously. From 2010 onwards the market was flooded and there’s always something new to view causing most to be viewed once and more likely to be forgotten
I suspect they’re iconic because that’s when you grew up / became aware of film. The 80’s were iconic. The 70’s were iconic. God-willing movies survive to be iconic for each generation.
David Fincher and Darren Aronofsky were just music video directors. The Wachowskis were nobodys. Christopher Nolan was a nobody.
Studios would take risks on vision back then. It was the peak of the indie film era. There were still auteur directors.
Studios still wanted to make money; films did fall into certain genres and studios still retained final cut, but they also valued unique vision.
Today, unique vision means risk. Studios want to micromanage and want directors who are easy to work with. Just copy a proven comic book… it is a script and storyboard rolled into one. No need to take risks.
WTf does “so iconic” mean?
There’s a book about this. It’s called best year ever how 1999 blew up the big screen by Brian Raferty
Pretty heavy on the vocal fry by the narrator.
Office Space, Fight Club, American Beauty and The Matrix all coming the same year with the same *dude working in an office sucks i want to ________ out of pure nihilism* plot is crazy, but a perfect representation of late 90’s comfort and boredom
Some of you are saying that it was a bunch of factors such as the end of the millennium, the rise of independent cinema, and a shift towards a more diverse and socially conscious approach to filmmaking. Or that it was simply a coincidence or the result of the convergence of talented directors, writers, and actors.
In my opinion, one of the main reasons why 1999 produced so many iconic films was the growing influence of independent cinema, which allowed for more innovative and daring approaches to storytelling. The advancements in technology, especially in CGI, enabled filmmakers to create more visually stunning and immersive worlds.
But probably the biggest factor was the changing socio-political landscape of the late 90s, with the rise of globalization and the internet, it provided such a rich and diverse cultural context for filmmakers to draw inspiration from. These factors combined to produce a cinematic renaissance that we are still feeling the effects of today.
Shoutout to 1998. It was also a great movie year.
90s period!
Late 90’s was insane for films. Walk into a cinema in the summer of these years and look at the poster boards and you’d probably recognise many classics that are still talked about today. Not all action either, I find even a romcom or thriller from those years are memorable.
I feel like now you might get a Marvel movie, a Transformers one, an animated movie about a slug and a poorly reviewed indie film.
I was 11 in 1999 and my older brother took me with him to see a lot of these great movies in the theatre. I remember seeing Magnolia, The Green Mile, Being John Malcovich, Man On The Moon, and American Beauty. I have been a movie buff ever since.
What’s the tl;dr on the reason? My money is on DVD sales and the cultural zeitgeist that is word of mouth coupled with easily available inexpensive physical media.
1999-2003 so many classics, originals, adaptations… one of the finest times for films. every week you were gobsmacked by something new and exciting…
now… not so much. remake this… horror that… marvel again… sequel moar…
Rap Metal, that’s the reason. Nothing more iconic than Fred fucking Durst blasting over top of some marginal cgi.
They won’t even make them like the used too. Even the tv shows have gone downhill. The entertainment industry is just not what it once was.
Studies weren’t afraid of investing in mid sized films with interesting ideas that did not need hundreds of millions to be profitable.
Nowadays it seems that everything must have a massive ridiculous budget.
1999 movies foreshadow a world that never got to exist because of 9/11, that’s why they’re so interesting: they’re simultaneously so familiar yet so foreign.
It’s not just 99. Each year in the 90s was stacked with some amazing movies.
1998 had The Big Lebowski, Saving Private Ryan, Generation X, Meet Joe Black, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, There’s Something About Mary, Rush Hour, Thin Red Line, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Blade, Lethal Weapon4, Wild Things, Armageddon, Zorro, Ronin, Small Soldiers, A Bug’s Life…
1997 – Good Will Hunting, Titanic, Boogie Nights, Fifth Element, Jackie Brown, Contact, ConAir, FaceOff, Devil’s Advocate, LA Confidential, The Game, MIB, Starship Troopers, Cube, Donnie Brasco, Cop Land, Seven Years in Tibet…
1996 – The Rock, Scream, Independence Day, From Dusk Till Dawn, Sling Blade, Fargo, Mission Impossible, Primal Fear, Jerry Maguire, Sleepers, English Patient, Mars Attacks, Bird Cage, Long Kiss Goodnight, Space Jam, Frighteners, Cable Guy…
…
*’Iconic’* yet *American Beauty* hardly holds up (with others)
*Three Kings* is more ‘iconic indie spirit’ qualifier (by comparison) imo
I always think about this. The world in the late 90s felt like it was headed in such a different direction than the 2000s ended up being. I feel like 9/11 set movies and really all American culture back significantly. A lot of what came out in the aftermath was really awful and trite.
Not quite sure why The Insider isn’t here – and why anyone rates/rated American Beauty. Its just a more palatable version of Todd Solondz middle-class suburban loser/pedo epic Happiness.
Everyone I know hated it – I always thought it was a ‘shakespeare in love’ type gig where Hollywood foisted their chosen film on the populace.
Even Cruel Intentions had more meaningful things to say about spoilt American society than American beauty.
1999 offered the movies what people need over what they want
There may be a tendency to like movies from about the year you were born if that applies here.
That being said, ’90s movies were largely strong in general. Could be that GenX directors started being a thing which opened up new visions. Once streaming happened, that had the hotter hand.
Similar with movies that explore “What is the nature of your reality?” When confronted with the millennium and the oncoming internet Web 2.0 and what everyone’s thought it’d be:
1. Existenz
2. The Matrix
3. The Thirteenth Floor
4. Dark City
5. The Majestic
6. The Truman Show
7. Fight Club
7. and more I’m sure