It was a great decade, but where did these classic cliches go?
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00:00The 90s gave us plenty of great movies that still hold up to this day, but these 10 tropes
00:04that helped define the decade have practically vanished.
00:08So allow yourself to be transported back to a world of new metal and snake on your cell
00:12phone, because we're going back to the 90s.
00:15With that in mind, come and jump in the DeLorean with me, Adam from WhatCulture, as we look
00:19back on 10 Things About 90s Movies Everyone Misses Today.
00:2510.
00:26Fewer Franchises
00:28Not to sound too much like an old man yelling at a cloud, but why is everything a universe
00:33these days?
00:34Marvel is certainly the biggest offender, but they're not the only culprits.
00:37DC, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, that stupid dark universe idea that Universal
00:43dropped after about 30 seconds?
00:45What the hell was that all about?
00:47In an effort to save the almighty dollar and drown fans in content, film studios and producers
00:51immediately think franchise as soon as anything new gets put in front of them.
00:56Whilst the 90s certainly had its fair share of big film series, they weren't so in your
01:00face about it.
01:01Some of the most popular films of the decade were stand-alones.
01:04Titanic, Forrest Gump, Armageddon, and Ghost all rank amongst the highest grossing releases
01:10from the time, and none of them were part of a wider plan.
01:13What's even worse is that subsequent decades give us sequels to 90s movies that nobody
01:17wanted.
01:18Are Men in Black 2 anyone?
01:20How about a follow-up to Independence Day 20 years later that only half the original
01:24cast are involved in?
01:25It's sickening.
01:26It truly is.
01:28Number 9.
01:29Old School Hip Hop Soundtracks
01:31Though it got going in the 80s, hip hop and rap exploded into pop culture in the early
01:3690s.
01:37Biggie, Tupac, Missy Elliott, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and countless other artists all became
01:42megastars in the decade as their brand of angsty, anti-authoritarian hip hop spoke to
01:47the disenfranchised 90s youth.
01:49This was reflected in the world of film, as the 90s was stacked with great movies about
01:53the genre and the lifestyle that accompanied it.
01:56Speaking of music specifically, these movies all had banging soundtracks as well.
02:011992's Juice had songs by Uruk-Bee and Rakim and Salt-N-Pepa, House Party had contributions
02:06from Flava Flav and LL Cool J, Coolio performed Gangsta's Paradise for the Dangerous Minds
02:12soundtrack.
02:13Yes, we still have hip hop in films today, but it really lacks that classic 90s feel.
02:17It was a different time, and one we'll never get back.
02:21Number 8.
02:22Small Shades and Black Trench Coats As everything is cyclical, small sunglasses
02:27have come back into fashion since the 90s.
02:29You've got the likes of Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner to thank for that.
02:33Wait, were they even alive in the 90s?
02:36But nothing quite tops the ultra-cool, ultra-muggy combination of tiny black shades and a long
02:41black trench coat.
02:43Before they were seen as a sign to stay away from a dodgy man in the street, trench coats
02:46were all the range amongst 90s action heroes.
02:49Neo in The Matrix had one, so did Eric Draven in The Crow.
02:53And don't even get us started on Blade's slinky number.
02:56He could bite our necks any day.
02:58As for the shades, well they actually had a socio-political subtext to them.
03:02The 80s was a time of excess and flaunting one's wealth, whilst the 90s were much more
03:06subdued, hence why the big glasses of the previous decade were significantly shrunk.
03:11That, and they looked cool.
03:13This entry is more about 90s fashion in general, which is gradually making a comeback.
03:17The day you see a kid pretending to dodge bullets whilst tripping over his giant black
03:21coat, well that's when you know we've come full circle.
03:24Number 7, Empty House Parties.
03:27The teen movie really hit its stride in the 90s, as youth culture started to take over
03:31the mainstream.
03:33Films like Clueless and Welcome to the Dollhouse showed what it was like to be a young woman
03:36at different stages of life, whilst American Pie and Never Been Kissed tracked teenagers
03:41trying to get lucky in love.
03:42Albeit from radically different perspectives.
03:46Almost all 90s movies had one thing in common though, a giant house party sequence.
03:5010 Things I Hate About You's house party is pivotal to its plot.
03:53Can't Hardly Wait takes place almost entirely at a house party.
03:57There's literally a movie called House Party.
04:00What further proof could you possibly need?
04:02Yes, modern films have house parties too, but they just don't feel the same.
04:06The wildness and craziness is missing from this bygone era where health and safety hadn't
04:11been invented yet, and the drink driving limit was more of a recommendation than a law.
04:15The 90s perfected the house party scene in films, and for that, we owe it quite a lot.
04:20But please, don't drink and drive, we'll get in trouble.
04:24Number 6, A Set Piece Opening Scene.
04:27A film's opening is extremely important.
04:30Not only does it set the scene for what you're about to see, but it can also establish character,
04:34setting and tone in one fluid motion.
04:37The 90s had this trait down to a tee, and one of the clearest examples is the opening
04:41to the Jim Carrey vehicle Ace Ventura Pet Detective from 1994.
04:45In it, we meet the titular character when he's working as a delivery driver.
04:49He's carrying a box clearly marked fragile, but takes little to no care with what's inside
04:54of it.
04:55He throws it around, drops it, gets it stuck in an elevator door, and just starts smashing
04:58it into a post at one point.
05:01It's all very silly and some of Carrey's trademark physical comedy, but it's more
05:05than just amusing.
05:06It establishes that the audience of this film is in for a stupid time in the best possible
05:11way.
05:12This type of scene, usually set to upbeat music, has appeared in recent cinema outings,
05:15check 2017's Baby Driver, but if you're after a vintage example, then the 90s are
05:20your best bet.
05:22Number 5, Big Passionate Speeches.
05:26Who doesn't love a big speech?
05:28History has been shaped by them.
05:30Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, JFK.
05:33You can go back as far as the Sermon on the Mount to find examples of people coming together
05:37to listen to someone talk very loudly about something very important.
05:41The 90s are no exception, with more impassioned speeches in the decade's film output than
05:46you can shake a megaphone at.
05:47The classic example is Independence Day, when the president rallies the Earth's troops
05:52for one last battle against the aliens.
05:54Bill Pullman does a terrific job with the monologue, getting a reaction most actual
05:58presidents could only ever dream of.
06:00But it's not just the leader of the free world who got to make these kinds of grand
06:04proclamations.
06:05A football coach did it in Any Given Sunday, a blind war veteran did it in Scent of a Woman,
06:10and other characters not played by Al Pacino got to have a go too.
06:15It might be cliched now, but that's because the 90s made it so.
06:18In a world full of doubt and dishonesty, maybe a good old fashioned rousing speech is precisely
06:23what the world needs.
06:25Number 4, Random Serenades.
06:28The scene in 10 Things I Hate About You where Patrick sings to Cat is a stone cold classic,
06:34and ensured that Frankie Valli will be rolling in royalties until the day he dies.
06:38He's led to Belting Out Can't Take My Eyes Off You, a song that is not called I Love
06:43You Baby and People Need To Learn That, whilst a marching band plays in the background is
06:47the stuff of cinema legend.
06:49But it's not the only time something like this happened in 90s movies.
06:52The Wedding Singer, Scream 2, My Best Friend's Wedding, the iconic John Cusack boombox scene
06:58comes from Say Anything, which came out in 1989.
07:01That's basically the 90s.
07:03Anytime a character, usually male, wanted to express their love for another character,
07:08usually female, then there's at least a 60% chance that a classic ballad was about
07:12to unfold.
07:13Whilst these serenades were sometimes the focus of ridicule, they were often sincerely
07:17received by their targets.
07:19They're really sweet scenes, if a little overused, and an odd standout in what was
07:23generally quite a cynical decade.
07:26Number 3, Underdog Sports Team's Movies.
07:30There's a reason why there are so many beloved movies about sports.
07:34The formula is simple, underdog person or team is about to give up on their dreams,
07:39their life is turned around by either a special person or a tragic event, they overcome the
07:43odds and win the big one, or at the very least, they lose in the final and learn something.
07:49Whilst there have been many great sports pictures since the 90s, Invictus, The Blind Side, Million
07:54Dollar Baby, etc, no decade has produced better quirky films about underdog sports
07:59teams.
08:00Just look at any of the Mighty Ducks movies, which confusingly, all have the suffix the
08:04Mighty Ducks.
08:05Emilio Estevez heads up a ragtag group of peewee hockey players on their quest to win
08:10the championships.
08:11Is it revolutionary?
08:12No.
08:13Does it have to be?
08:14No.
08:15Because it's honest and endearing and full of great characters you can really get behind.
08:20This blueprint helped movies like Angels in the Outfield and Cool Runnings claim success
08:24in the 90s.
08:25They're all beautiful human stories set within the very simple confines of a sport.
08:30And that's just fine.
08:322.
08:33Bruce Willis Oh Bruce.
08:36The recent news of his retirement sent shockwaves around the film industry, as it was revealed
08:41that he's been dealing with a severe brain condition for some time now.
08:44As fans come to term with the fact that Bruce may never act again, there is some comfort
08:48to be taken in the amazing cinematic legacy the man has already crafted.
08:5312 Monkeys, Pulp Fiction, The Fifth Element, The Sixth Sense.
08:57Wanna know what they've all got in common?
08:59They all star Bruce Willis.
09:00Oh, and they're all from the 90s.
09:03Whilst Bruce Ascending to the Top of the Mountain started in 1988 with one particular film,
09:08hint, it rhymes with Hi Dad, the 90s was his most successful period.
09:13His films grossed hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide and he became a megastar.
09:18You'll always love this great run.
09:211.
09:22Trailer Voice Overs.
09:24In a world.
09:25Those three words are enough to stir up a thousand different emotions at once in the
09:29hearts of film fans.
09:30And thanks to the incredible voice overs that dominated movie trailers in the 1990s, usually
09:35provided by the deep throaty tones of men like Hal Douglas or Don LaFontaine, these
09:40voice overs would sometimes appear right at the start of the trailer, or, if you were
09:45really lucky, you got them the whole way through.
09:48And then, for some reason, these voice overs just disappeared.
09:51You never hear anything other than in-movie dialogue on trailers these days, and you know
09:56what?
09:57That's a real shame.
09:58They may have been a bit silly, over the top, and campy, but sometimes that's what a movie
10:02needs to be.
10:03The 90s was all about having fun, and these voice overs on movie trailers were just that.
10:08These days, trailers take themselves far too seriously, with every animated comedy sounding
10:13like it's trying to win a Best Picture Oscar.
10:15Do we want to see these voice overs come back for every movie trailer?
10:19No.
10:20Do we think there should be more of them?
10:21Absolutely.
10:22But what did you think of our listings there?
10:25Please do let us know in the comments section, and also tell us which is your favourite movie
10:29from the 90s.
10:30If I'm honest, I can't pick one, and I'd have to go with The Matrix, Terminator 2, and Good
10:35Will Hunting.
10:36Ugh, always a place in my heart for that movie.
10:38If you want to follow me on socials, I am at Strawn87 on Instagram and on Twitter.
10:43Thank you for watching everybody.
10:44I hope you enjoy the rest of your day, and until next time, take care.