The most influential film of the extremely late 90s

[Larry Young]

After posting up Chris Mills' postulate about the 70s, the thought occurred that your pre-Millennial angst of the extremely-late 90s gave us a bunch of "what-is-the-nature-of-identity" type films. I, myself, was exploring the trope with the KAMANDI revamp I pitched DC at the time:

Loose Cannon: Issue #36 - Comic Book Resources

...which I short-handed "So, there you have it. Long hair and cut-off jeans, talking animals, and an actual reason he's called Kamandi."

But you have THE MATRIX, THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR, DARK CITY, and MEMENTO all coming out at around the same time. Even INCEPTION was conceived of around then, according to Nolan.

But this trope seems to be recurring ten years later. Is this a constant in human nature, or a response to events? I'm trying to figure this one out for the things I want to address in my own entertainments I'm producing.

 

[LizardJedi]

But this trope seems to be recurring ten years later. Is this a constant in human nature, or a response to events? I'm trying to figure this one out for the things I want to address in my own entertainments I'm producing.

I think its a coming-of-age thing. So while it may not be a constant, it is cyclical with each passing generation (of both viewers and makers). Which, over the long term (lets say the past 15 years, and years forward) can be seen as a general theme.

 

[Art Andrews]

Fight Club

 

[Rupert_Angier]

The Phantom Menace lol

I am in no way a "basher," by the way.

 

[Larry Young]

Fight Club

Wow; that's another good one, Art.

 

[Jet Beetle]

Not the late nineties but without a doubt the film that had the most influence in the 90's, by which I mean changed everything in the way movies to this day are still crafted is INDEPENDENCE DAY. ID4 was the first BIG movie where effects was all you were paying for. This movie was the exampled followed by studios who no longer needed to worry about story, dialogue, acting or even tone when it came to making money, just sell big effects. It took us back to the B movies of the 60's and here we remain with things like Transformers, Alien vs Predator, the latest Superman and Indiana Jones films continue to fly the flag of bad cinema.

 

[themanwoaname]

pump up the volume.

 

[Solo4114]

Not the late nineties but without a doubt the film that had the most influence in the 90's, by which I mean changed everything in the way movies to this day are still crafted is INDEPENDENCE DAY. ID4 was the first BIG movie where effects was all you were paying for. This movie was the exampled followed by studios who no longer needed to worry about story, dialogue, acting or even tone when it came to making money, just sell big effects. It took us back to the B movies of the 60's and here we remain with things like Transformers, Alien vs Predator, the latest Superman and Indiana Jones films continue to fly the flag of bad cinema.

A good point, and something I hadn't considered. I suppose prior to that, you had films where you were paying primarily for a lot of action, rather than a lot of f/x, but the 90s really did seem to kick off the f/x boom. I don't think it helped that the early nineties saw "Big" films (with good stories) that were so heavily touted for their f/x rather than for how the f/x supported the already-good story. The Abyss, T2, Jurassic Park, etc., these all had at least DECENT stories, and the f/x added to them. But because critics and audiences focused on the whiz-bang rather than the story, execs started to figure out that was ALL you needed.


I guess if film is cyclical, we can just wait and hope for the next generation of "young turks" like Scorcese, Coppola, Lucas, and Spielberg were in their youth.

 

[Frank]

American pie

 

[Sean Hebein]

The Matrix

 

[Amish Trooper]

If you wanna say mid 90's I would say Toy Story. I really think it changed the way alot of people look at animated films.

 

[Vivek]

The Matrix and Fight Club from the late 90s.

Se7en from the mid 90s. After that many thriller movies especially ones dealing with serial killers/torture have been inspired by the visual look of Se7en, also pushed other movies to their limits of gruesome which was implied or shown on screen.

 

[Art Andrews]

But you have THE MATRIX, THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR, DARK CITY, and MEMENTO all coming out at around the same time. Even INCEPTION was conceived of around then, according to Nolan.
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I had never heard of the 13th floor so I just checked it out. It is really hard to believe that this movie came out the same year as the Matrix. Great story but wow, it is the definition of B grade. Still, a cool ride.

 

[Charles Kline]

 

[Vivek]

:thumbsup

 

[corranhornjje]

GATTACA is one of my all time favorites and in line with the Matrix, Dark City, 13th Floor, Memento theme.