It’s funny that Fight Club and the Matrix both came out in 1999, and both still seem highly prescient today, and that year’s “best movie” was a boomer mid life crisis movie that now feels completely of its own time.
It does feel like culture and fashion have not moved an inch in the last quarter of the century - the relentless globalisation and mass production of goods means uniformity is enforced through sheer disposability of everything produced. The great abundance we have is only possible if everything is the same. Where scarcity drove demand and new trends, now everyone has everything so, no one strives to make anything different for themselves.
It’s crazy how a movie from 1999 still feels so on-point.
And yeah, it's wild is how little has changed since then. It’s like our culture just froze in place after 9/11, and we’ve been in this weird holding pattern ever since.
1999 is the best year ever in film. I still think of the men who were born between about '78-85 as being "Generation Fight Club". The guys who got a once in a century crisis every 8 years of their adult lives. I wrote about it recently.
Loved this article, Rambo. There does seem to be a feeling of lifting from the bog into the light these days. I’m kind of leery of trusting it sometimes, but then i do trust something higher that all will be well. Like a saying I read on a ceiling in Mexico, “In the end all will be well. If all is not well, it’s not yet the end.”
Here's the thing Rambo, this feeling of being misguided, or misled, for years by Hollywood stories transcend borders. I'm just a schmuck from Quebec City, but I grew up with countless stories that conveyed hard work, overcoming challenges, and merit.
At my age and with my life experience now, I found this to be mostly BS.
That's one of the reason I wrote the Hollywood burning essay. I believe the foundation of a new cultural paradigm should be based more on real life.
Don't get me wrong though, as filmmakers we should be in the business of selling magic, but not illusion.
Fight Club was brilliant then and is still brilliant today. Over time I've come to realize that no other movie has resonated with me, the way Fight Club did. Slowly but surely after seeing it, I began to rethink everything...
I have always found the movie to be very entertaining as well as thought provoking. There are many great quotes, for me, “We are a generation of men, raised by women….. “ is the most poignant. It really brings to a point the feminization of the modern male. I will say, that if you haven’t read the novel, please do.
Too nihilistic for me. The part where he's threating to cut the guys balls off in the bathroom was too disturbing for me to take, but it also speaks to the acting quality of the film — acting and quality of stories that aren't being created anymore.
It’s funny that Fight Club and the Matrix both came out in 1999, and both still seem highly prescient today, and that year’s “best movie” was a boomer mid life crisis movie that now feels completely of its own time.
Wow. I totally forgot about American Beauty.
(For what it's worth, I don't think it's a bad film but it wasn't fight club...)
It does feel like culture and fashion have not moved an inch in the last quarter of the century - the relentless globalisation and mass production of goods means uniformity is enforced through sheer disposability of everything produced. The great abundance we have is only possible if everything is the same. Where scarcity drove demand and new trends, now everyone has everything so, no one strives to make anything different for themselves.
It’s crazy how a movie from 1999 still feels so on-point.
And yeah, it's wild is how little has changed since then. It’s like our culture just froze in place after 9/11, and we’ve been in this weird holding pattern ever since.
“And looking back, it’s like the last 25 years weren’t real—it's like a dream. It's hazy and fake and surreal.
Maybe those years weren’t real.”
This comment made me feel very seen.
It's nice to know I'm not the only one who feels like this...
1999 is the best year ever in film. I still think of the men who were born between about '78-85 as being "Generation Fight Club". The guys who got a once in a century crisis every 8 years of their adult lives. I wrote about it recently.
Loved this article, Rambo. There does seem to be a feeling of lifting from the bog into the light these days. I’m kind of leery of trusting it sometimes, but then i do trust something higher that all will be well. Like a saying I read on a ceiling in Mexico, “In the end all will be well. If all is not well, it’s not yet the end.”
Here's the thing Rambo, this feeling of being misguided, or misled, for years by Hollywood stories transcend borders. I'm just a schmuck from Quebec City, but I grew up with countless stories that conveyed hard work, overcoming challenges, and merit.
At my age and with my life experience now, I found this to be mostly BS.
That's one of the reason I wrote the Hollywood burning essay. I believe the foundation of a new cultural paradigm should be based more on real life.
Don't get me wrong though, as filmmakers we should be in the business of selling magic, but not illusion.
Fight Club was brilliant then and is still brilliant today. Over time I've come to realize that no other movie has resonated with me, the way Fight Club did. Slowly but surely after seeing it, I began to rethink everything...
I have always found the movie to be very entertaining as well as thought provoking. There are many great quotes, for me, “We are a generation of men, raised by women….. “ is the most poignant. It really brings to a point the feminization of the modern male. I will say, that if you haven’t read the novel, please do.
Beautiful
Can’t talk about ..something or other..cough.. nite, or is it morning? Time to wake up, I guess.
First rule of fight club !!
Too nihilistic for me. The part where he's threating to cut the guys balls off in the bathroom was too disturbing for me to take, but it also speaks to the acting quality of the film — acting and quality of stories that aren't being created anymore.