The '90s was a great decade for filmmaking, with its invasion of indie auteurs. It almost felt like another movement akin to '70s American cinema. Just think of all the great filmmakers that emerged this decade: Tarantino, PTA, Soderbergh, Fincher, Anderson, Payne, Linklater, just to name a few.
Do you agree ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GlAQCS-Xcw&list=RD7GlAQCS-Xcw&index=1
I probably prefer the 70s, but 90s movies are probably my second favourite film decade. CGI use was done minimally and every year you could find about 10 really good films.
I think the 90s also had the best sitcoms.
The 70s are such a bad movie decade, probably my least favourite of the 20th century.
sharewhat about "Caligula 1979" movie?
https://youtu.be/4FHN7qMqOvE?si=IeAO54bELyhMaf_T
Did you happen to be in your teens / early twenties during the 1990s?
Because often when people say this, there's a degree of nostalgia involved. That's not to say the 1990s weren't a good decade for films -- certainly better than the 1980s, but then most things are -- but, no, I don't think it was the golden age. I just think the people who make this claim were usually at a golden age themselves.
Cinema has two major peak periods as far as I'm concerned: the 1920s, particularly towards the end when pure visual storytelling was perfected by the likes of FW Murnau. That period was cut short by the invention of sound which led to a subpar 1930s.
And then there was a longer peak from the late 1950s through to the middle of the 1970s (a period of some fifteen years, I suppose), with rolling 'new waves' of young filmmakers around the world, which eventually found its way to Hollywood in the 1970s as the studio system and production code finally broke down.
Then post-Star Wars, we got the blockbuster model and all that was ruined. We're still living with the results of that.
Then post-Star Wars, we got the blockbuster model and all that was ruined. We're still living with the results of that.
Exactly!!! Yeah, genuine masterpieces The 90s were released in the 90s, but The OP ignores some key facts... The work of folks like Van Sant, Tarantino, and Linklatter found their audiences on video. This was also a decade where appealingly trashy and forgettable flicks like Fear, Love Jones, and The Hand That Rocks The Cradle were raking in millions. While I personally prefer a market where this sort of fluff is more abundant than yarns which revolve around guys in capes and tights, it's not remotely honest to mistake what were essentially Lifetime TV movies on million dollar budgets for high art
And while there are admirable things about Titanic and The Matrix, are we still pretending that any of that shit is especially profound in terms of the thoughts they convey?
"Did you happen to be in your teens / early twenties during the 1990s?"
I'm not the OP, but I was 14 to 24 in the 1990s, and most of my favorite movies are from the 1980s.
"Because often when people say this, there's a degree of nostalgia involved. That's not to say the 1990s weren't a good decade for films -- certainly better than the 1980s, but then most things are"
"Certainly"? The 1980s had the Indiana Jones trilogy, the first 2 of the 3 movies from the Back to the Future trilogy, the last 2 of the 3 movies from the Star Wars trilogy, Rocky III & IV, The Terminator, Predator, Conan the Barbarian, the Rambo trilogy, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, The Shining, all 8 of the Paramount Friday the 13th movies, the first 5 A Nightmare on Elm Street movies, 4 of the first 5 Star Trek movies, 48 Hrs., 2 Beverly Hills Cop movies, 2 Lethal Weapon movies, Die Hard, RoboCop, This is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, Airplane!, The Naked Gun, National Lampoon's Vacation, 2 Ghostbusters movies, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, The Breakfast Club, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Spaceballs, Young Guns, and many more.
I think the '80s had more iconic movies than any decade since, maybe more than any previous decade as well.
Ah, see, when I think of the great films of the 1980s I might think Possession, Dekalog, Blue Velvet, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Fanny & Alexander, Damnation, El Sur, Where is the Friend's House?, Christiane F, &c.
I wouldn't think Indiana Jones and Back to the Future. (I do agree with some on your list: the Kubricks, the Verhoeven, This is Spinal Tap). But we're probably looking for very different things from our films -- which is fine, people are different, that's why they make so many movies -- but the 1980s was a bit of a low ebb for someone with my particular direction of interest.
"but the 1980s was a bit of a low ebb for someone with my particular direction of interest."
I listed those movies because they're iconic or are part of an iconic series/franchise. As for my own interests, I like most of them, but not all. I don't like E.T. or The Breakfast Club (I've never understood why people like those two movies so much), the first Ghostbusters was okay at best, and in some of the series I mentioned I only like one or two of them.
There's no truly objective metric for this, but the cultural status of a movie is closer than personal interests.
There's no truly objective metric for this, but the cultural status of a movie
Dunno about a "golden age", nonetheless it's tough for those of us who find Rhymer Rigby's sentiments here (https://johnbrownnotesandessays.blogspot.com/2016/03/no-self-respecting-adult-should-buy.html?m=1 )right on the mark to not miss the days where cape flicks and the latest Jurassic Park didn't exist side by side with movies that were made for people over the age of 14
shareHell no! The 90s produced crap films that aged horribly.
Like all decades it had it's highlights but I see it as mostly cheap garbage
I was 13 year old in 1990 but got into films much earlier. I love the 80s and I love films made in that decade but find 90s films to be better quality over all.
Imho by 2005 "the death to cinema" had started with DVDs, downloads, internet,
I don't think golden age is the best word but it was the last great decade for movies.
shareI'm not sure if it could be considered a "golden age" for movies in general, but it certainly was a golden age for action and sci-fi flicks, as well as tv shows of the same genre.
share