If this comeback is going to have any kind of theme or connective tissue, it's this: I want to go back. I want to go back to a time when life was simpler, the American dream felt real, and art was made for art's sake. I'm saying nothing new by complaining that the majority of film and television these days feels more like IP than art. But it would be nice to sit down and watch a movie without feeling like the narrative is being driven by marketing executives or some anonymous private equity ghoul. Of course, corporate influence was a very real thing in the 90s as well, but there's no comparing to the overly managed, algorithm driven hellscape we all doomscroll though today.
I suppose I can take some comfort in knowing that the art and culture of yesterday remain frozen in time. Not just as a memory, but also as a reminder of a time that was, a time that we all experienced. Unless you're somehow 24 and find yourself looking up blogs that haven't been active for 14(!) years.
Just as the 90s exist in the past, so does this blog. Once Hot Sauce with Everything and now back to how it all began, we circle back to our past with an eye on the future, hopefully without the whole doomed to repeat it part. What's that? We're speedrunning to another holocaust!? Well, shit.
Anyway, as inspired by Edmund, here's my Top 10 movies of the 90s: 2025 Edition!
10. Trainspotting9. Boogie Nights
8. The Matrix
7. Fargo
6. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
5. Jurassic Park
4. Dazed and Confused
3. Pulp Fiction
2. The Silence of the Lambs
I begrudgingly omitted Fight Club from this list. I acknowledge its structural flaws and somewhat oversimplified presentation, but I firmly stand behind my belief that the core message is just as potent today, just as much as it was and is misinterpreted. While Fight Club is clearly parodying the toxic masculinity that so many misguided men took as gospel, the way it synthesizes the increasingly valid frustrations many of us are experiencing with late stage capitalism makes it even more relevant than it was in 1999. Also, Brad Pitt is electric and so overwhelmingly attractive in this movie. I don't care how woke you are or claim to be. Every man ever has wanted to look, act, and yes, fuck like Tyler Durden at some point in his life.
How many glaring omissions can you spot on my list? Comment and let me know I suck. Just don't come at me talking about Boondock Saints or some other nonsense you loved to watch in college.