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 that helped define the decade have practically vanished.
00:07So allow yourself to be transported back to a world of new metal and snake on your cell phone, 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 back on 10 Things About 90s Movies Everyone Misses Today.
00:25Number 10, Fewer Franchises
00:27Not to sound too much like an old man yelling at a cloud, but why is everything a universe these days?
00:33Marvel 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 dropped 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 immediately think franchise as soon as anything new gets put in front of them.
00:55Whilst the 90s certainly had its fair share of big film series, they weren't so in your face about it.
01:01Some of the most popular films of the decade were standalones.
01:04Titanic, Forrest Gump, Armageddon, and Ghost all rank amongst the highest grossing releases from the time, and none of them were part of a wider plan.
01:13What's even worse is that subsequent decades gave us sequels to 90s movies that nobody wanted.
01:18A Men in Black 2, anyone?
01:19How about a follow-up to Independence Day 20 years later that only half the original cast are involved in?
01:25It's sickening.
01:26It truly is.
01:28Number 9, Old School Hip-Hop Soundtracks
01:30Though it got going in the 80s, hip-hop and rap exploded into pop culture in the early 90s.
01:36Biggie, Tupac, Missy Elliott, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and countless other artists all became megastars in the decade,
01:43as their brand of angsty, anti-authoritarian hip-hop spoke to the disenfranchised 90s youth.
01:49This was reflected in the world of film, as the 90s was stacked with great movies about the 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 B and Rakim and Salt and Pepper.
02:05House Party had contributions from Flavor Flav and LL Cool J.
02:09Coolio performed Gangster's Paradise for the Dangerous Mind soundtrack.
02:12Yes, we still have hip-hop in films today, but it really lacks that classic 90s feel.
02:17It was a different time, and one will never get back.
02:21Number 8, Small Shades and Black Trench Coats
02:24As everything is cyclical, small sunglasses have 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?
02:35But nothing quite tops the ultra-cool, ultra-muggy combination of tiny black shades and a long black trench coat.
02:42Before they were seen as a sign to stay away from a dodgy man in the street,
02:46trench coats were all arranged 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.
02:57As 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,
03:05whilst the 90s were much more subdued,
03:07hence 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 coat,
03:21well, that's when you know we've come full circle.
03:24Number 7, Empty House Parties
03:26The teen movie really hit its stride in the 90s,
03:30as youth culture started to take over the mainstream.
03:32Films like Clueless and Welcome to the Dollhouse
03:35showed what it was like to be a young woman at different stages of life,
03:38whilst American Pie and Never Been Kissed
03:40tracked teenagers trying to get lucky in love,
03:43albeit from radically different perspectives.
03:45Almost all 90s movies had one thing in common though,
03:48a 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
03:56at 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,
04:04but they just don't feel the same.
04:06The wildness and craziness is missing from this bygone era
04:10where health and safety hadn't been invented yet,
04:12and the drink driving limit was more of a recommendation than a law.
04:15The 90s perfected the house party scene in films,
04:18and for that, we owe it quite a lot.
04:20But please, don't drink and drive, we'll get in trouble.
04:23Number 6, A Set Piece Opening Scene
04:26A film's opening is extremely important.
04:29Not only does it set the scene for what you're about to see,
04:32but it can also establish character, setting, and tone in one fluid motion.
04:36The 90s had this trait down to a T,
04:39and one of the clearest examples is the opening to the Jim Carrey vehicle,
04:42Ace 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 of it.
04:54He throws it around, drops it, gets it stuck in an elevator door,
04:57and just starts smashing it into a post at one point.
05:00It's all very silly and some of Carrey's trademark physical comedy,
05:04but it's more than just amusing.
05:06It establishes that the audience of this film is in for a stupid time in the best possible way.
05:11This type of scene, usually set to upbeat music,
05:14has appeared in recent cinema outings, check 2017's Baby Driver,
05:17but if you're after a vintage example, then the 90s are your best bet.
05:225. Big Passionate Speeches
05:25Who 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.
05:43With more impassioned speeches in the decade's film output,
05:46then you can shake a megaphone at.
05:47The classic example is Independence Day,
05:50when the president rallies the Earth's troops for one last battle against the aliens.
05:54Bill Pullman does a terrific job with the monologue,
05:57getting a reaction most actual presidents 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 proclamations.
06:05A football coach did it in any given Sunday,
06:08a 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.
06:14It might be cliched now, but that's because the 90s made it so.
06:18In a world full of doubt and dishonesty,
06:20maybe a good old-fashioned rousing speech is precisely what the world needs.
06:24Number 4, Random Serenades
06:28The scene in 10 Things I Hate About You where Patrick sings to Kat is a stone-cold classic,
06:34and ensured that Frankie Valli will be rolling in royalties until the day he dies.
06:38He's ledger belting out Can't Take My Eyes Off You,
06:41a song that is not called I Love You Baby and People Need to Learn That,
06:45whilst a marching band plays in the background is the stuff of cinema legend.
06:48But it's not the only time something like this happened in 90s movies.
06:52The Wedding Singer, Scream 2, My Best Friend's Wedding,
06:56the iconic John Cusack boombox scene comes from Say Anything,
06:59which came out in 1989, that's basically the 90s.
07:03Anytime a character, usually male,
07:05wanted to express their love for another character, usually female,
07:08then there's at least a 60% chance that a classic ballad was about to unfold.
07:13Whilst these serenades were sometimes the focus of ridicule,
07:16they were often sincerely received by their targets.
07:19They're really sweet scenes, if a little overused,
07:22and an odd standout in what was generally quite a cynical decade.
07:263. Underdog Sports Team's Movies
07:29There's a reason why there are so many beloved movies about sports.
07:34The formula is simple.
07:35Underdog person or team is about to give up on their dreams,
07:38their life is turned around by either a special person or a tragic event,
07:42they overcome the odds and win the big one.
07:45Or at the very least, they lose in the final and learn something.
07:48Whilst there have been many great sports pictures since the 90s,
07:52Invictus, The Blind Side, Million Dollar Baby, etc.,
07:55no decade has produced better quirky films about underdog sports teams.
07:59Just look at any of the Mighty Ducks movies,
08:02which, confusingly, all have the suffix, the Mighty Ducks.
08:05Emilio Estevez heads up a ragtag group of peewee hockey players
08:09on their quest to win the championships.
08:11Is it revolutionary?
08:12No.
08:13Does it have to be?
08:14No, because 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 in 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. Bruce Willis
08:34Oh Bruce.
08:36The recent news of his retirement sent shockwaves around the film industry,
08:40as it was revealed that he's been dealing with a severe brain condition for some time now.
08:44As fans come to turn with the fact that Bruce may never act again,
08:48there is some comfort to be taken in the amazing cinematic legacy the man has already crafted.
08:5312 Monkeys, Pulp Fiction, The Fifth Element, The Sixth Sense.
08:57Want to know what they've all got in common?
08:59They all star Bruce Willis.
09:01Oh, 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 high-dard,
09:10the 90s was his most successful period.
09:12His films grossed hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide and he became a megastar.
09:18We'll always love this great run.
09:201. Trailer Voice Overs
09:23In a World
09:24Those three words are enough to stir up a thousand different emotions at once in the hearts of film fans,
09:30and thanks to the incredible voiceovers that dominated movie trailers in the 1990s,
09:35usually provided by the deep throaty tones of men like Hal Douglas or Don LaFontaine,
09:40these voiceovers would sometimes appear right at the start of the trailer,
09:44or, if you were really lucky, you got them the whole way through.
09:47And then, for some reason, these voiceovers just disappeared.
09:51You never hear anything other than in-movie dialogue on trailers these days,
09:55and you know what?
09:56That's a real shame.
09:57They may have been a bit silly, over-the-top, and campy,
10:00but sometimes that's what a movie needs to be.
10:03The 90s was all about having fun, and these voiceovers on movie trailers were just that.
10:08These days, trailers take themselves far too seriously,
10:11with every animated comedy sounding like it's trying to win a Best Picture Oscar.
10:15Do we want to see these voiceovers come back for every movie trailer?
10:19No.
10:19Do we think there should be more of them?
10:21Absolutely.
10:22But what did you think of our listings there?
10:24Please do let us know in the comments section,
10:26and also tell us which is your favourite movie from the 90s.
10:30If I'm honest, I can't pick one,
10:32and I'd have to go with The Matrix, Terminator 2, and Good Will Hunting.
10:36Ugh, always a place in my heart for that movie.
10:38If you want to follow me on socials, I am at strone87 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.