The anime Perfect Blue. It was ahead of it’s time. 1997 but the parasocial aspect of society it explores was in it’s infancy compared to current time.
Jurassic Park 1
Blade runner 1
2001: a Space Odyssey
The Matrix 1
They all hold up so well and in particular their vfx. In the Matrix it’s probably more the plot than the vfx, even though it had merit coining that frozen up bullet time shot aesthetic. But in general every time I watch these I can’t help but marvel at how well put together they are and then I remember when they were released and then I compare them to the mediocre releases decades after that and yeah. I’m in awe.
“No Country for Old Men” feels like a movie from a previous era.
Metropolis might be the ultimate “ahead of its time” movie. It’s nearly 100 years old and still looks mind-blowing.
Holy crap yes, I watched it a few years back and couldn’t belive not only how good it looked but how good it was in general.
I still can’t believe The Matrix is from '99. The themes and the effects hold up incredibly well, it feels far more modern.
It was from the era when choreography mattered. You could roll through an entire fight scene and see what every punch was supposed to be doing. You had some situational awareness where everyone was.
Now we keep getting that stupid crap where they’re changing the scene every punch, with so many scenes per second that you can’t follow through, actually just like the fight scenes and matrix 4.
I strongly disagree, Matrix was very much a product of its time, if it had released a decade before or a decade after it would not have had the same impact.
In the 80s as a general rule people didn’t know of the internet nor were they very computer savvy.
In the late 00s cellphones started to be ubiquitous and people were using broadband almost exclusively.
So there was only a small period of time when people were familiar with the idea of telephone lines carrying data, which is a core concept of the movie (exiting the Matrix through your cellphone or laptop is a lot less cool and less prone to plot hooks).
Not to mention that the 90s were extremely gothic and grimdark about the future. I don’t think a movie that the base premise is in the future humans are enslaved to machines and hooked to a large simulation to keep them from realizing they’re slaves would work in any time period besides the 90s.
It’s for sure a product of its time, but it really doesn’t feel like a 1999 movie. Around that time we had
- Sixth sense
- American beauty
- Eyes wide shut
- Being John Malkovich
- Fight Club
Matrix has such a stark level of visual and thematic modernity compared to those. Maybe Fight Club comes near, but the other movies look like they’re from a different decade.
There was also that short sliver of the late 90s through early 2000s where the slick black trenchcoat and sunglasses look was considered unironically cool.
The Matrix, Blade, Underworld, and Equilibrium all being in this era. Any movie where characters dress like this to be cool and it isn’t treated with at least a wink to the audience probably either came from this time or is a sequel to something from this time.
That look become uncool 2-seconds after the Columbine shooting.
I’d think so too, but Columbine shooting was 1999. Movies still used it unironically for another few years. In media I think it mostly went away because it got parodied to death.
Agreed with all that, but still, don’t forget how mind blowing it was in 1999. One of the only movies I ever saw twice in the theaters, two nights in a row even.
Even the trailers were wild. First time we saw one in the theater my gf and I looked at each other like, “What the fuck was that all about?!”
The Matrix was to science fiction in 1999 about what Star Wars was in 1977, so far ahead of the game it was like nothing before it.
You’re not gonna believe this but there were movies that are even older.
Surely not?
Napoleon Dynamite, but that’s intentional.
Brazil - Made in 1985, feels like post 9/11.
Howard the Duck. That movie is wonderful
The Man From Earth. It’s always felt out of place to me. I’m not sure if it’s too early or too late, but it doesn’t feel of it’s time to me.
Same vibe for The Discovery of Heaven.
And people should under no circumstance watch the sequel. Just don’t
Still haven’t seen it, but I’m gonna have to eventually
That’s what I thought as well. But if you like the first one, I really advise you not to
Is it really that bad? :/
quite. They basically took all the stuff that was good from the first part and threw it out. Turned it into a cheap weirdly religious drama
Damn, that sucks :(
Best long winded movie ever!
It’s honestly one of my absolute favorites
I think that the beauty of it is that it is very time-period agnostic
Yeah, that’s a very good way of looking at it
The first “War of the world’s” movie from 1953.
It’s based on a genius, but quite challenging science fiction novel.
I am sure the people in 1953 liked the movie.
When you watch it today, after you have already seen Spielberg’s version from 2005, then it feels like they were way ahead of their time in 1953 (and you would never believe anyway that the book was written even back in 1898).
You should hear what happened to the radio broadcast of the book.
What happened?
It was read like a news broadcast and many people were unaware it was a fictional reading. The story was re-written for this radio broadcast to sound like a news report and caused mass hysteria.
But the truth is, that’s the fictional story. It’s all hyperbole and a bunch of newspapers at the time ran with it, to have some fun and sell some papers. There was never any mass hysteria as reported. No one killed themselves thinking aliens were invading, the broadcast was only listened to by 2% of the US, and everyone was aware it was fake. It was a regular type of thing on this radio program.
TIL. I remember my history book one year in grade school mentioning that show and the hysteria it caused.
One of the many little details I love about that movie is Pacific Tech, the university where scientists studied the alien hardware. I noticed they used that as the name of the college in Real Genius. Apparently it’s has been in many movies and tv shows.
Turbo kid
A Mad Max-inspired romp through 80s genre film, where souped up cars have been replaced by BMX bikes and our hero fights baddies with the help of a Mega Man-esque arm cannon. A bizarre and hilarious little film that you should definitely see with an audience.
https://lamplightreview.com/movie-review-turbo-kid/
Came out on Netflix in 2016
I listened to the soundtrack for about 4 years before getting around to watching the movie. Very fun. For how slow the build-up is, Playtime is Over is one of my favorite workout songs, always gets the endorphins running.
Ohhh, this movie is magical. I love it so much!
This movie is exactly of its era. Blasting 80s nostalgia that’s been filtered through a neon color grade with a snappy pace is exactly something that would come out in 2016.
It Follows is pretty timeless. (intentionally so, by the director.)
John Wayne’s ‘The Green Berets’ is an oddity. While it’s not out of its time, since the 1960s was packed with war movies, the fact that it’s a Vietnam movie rather than a WW2 movie gives it a surreal quality. It is filmed with the same tone, style, and music as something like ‘The Longest Day’ but it’s about Vietnam making it a million miles away from the style of most Vietnam movies.
Standout scenes include a green beret ranting at a strawman reporter, and the scene where John Wayne smashes an obviously toy rifle to pieces.
Terminator 2?
Really? I’m not sure any movie feels more 90s than Terminator 2.
