I’m in a weird place when it comes to generational divide. Born in 1983, I’m too young for Gen X, but too old for Gen Z. So, that makes me a Millennial, right? Well, yes. But, just barely.
In fact, I’ve actually heard my generation – which both remembers the world before the internet changed everything, but was also there when the internet changed everything – referred to as Xennials.
Yes, laugh all you will at our silly moniker, but we’re a very select group of ’90s kids who love ’90s movies like The Boondocks Saints, look back fondly upon our childhoods as the Disney Renaissance, and will debate endlessly about whether the original Super Mario Bros. Movie is trash or fine art. So, as an emissary of the Xennial generation, here are six great under-the-radar movies that I want to put on Gen Z’s, er, radar. Cowabunga!
The Boondock Saints
Just barely squeaking into the ‘90s (it released in 1999 in Denmark), The Boondock Saints feels like pure ‘90s nonsense, but I mean that in the best sort of way. Starring Sean Patrick Flanery, Willem DaFoe (in a bonkers performance) and Norman Reedus before he was Daryl and making The Walking Dead spin-offs, I feel like everybody and their mother watched The Boondock Saints back in the day.
The movie is essentially about two brothers who become vigilantes, and take on the mob. But, here’s the catch. They’re doing it for the Lord. There’s a lot of ‘90s holding-the-gun-sideways business, and also a lot of thick accents. But, the reason why I think Gen Zer’s should see it is because it’s the perfect Tarantino/John Woo mashup. Today’s young people may not understand the appeal of John Woo or a pre-Inglorious Basterds Tarantino, but this style of cool guys stylistically killing people was all the rage back in the ‘90s, and The Boondock Saints may be the purest example of that.
Encino Man
Back in the day, Encino Man was like a poor man’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. The movie stars a pre-The Lord of the Rings Sean Astin as a teenager who finds a caveman in his backyard. What follows are him and his friend, Stoney, played by The Weasel, a.k.a. Pauly Shore, trying to play the caveman off as a foreign exchange student, and guess what, the caveman is played by Oscar-winning actor Brendan Fraser.
Actually, this has not one, but TWO Academy Award winning actors in it, as Everything Everywhere All At Once star Ke Huy Quan is also in the film. Gen Z should check it out since a lot of them seem to be fascinated with the ‘90s, and Encino Man is as ‘90s as you can get. What I mean is, it’s the kind of fantasy comedy that we used to see all the time, and it’s just nice to see two megastar actors being all sorts of goofy before they won Oscar gold.
Powder
Do you want to see some real acting? Watch The Boondocks Saints, and then check out Powder, because the cool half of the MacManus twins, played by Sean Patrick Flanery, also plays the albino teenager with lightning powers in Powder. But, I might be overselling the flick, since Powder is definitely not a superhero movie. Instead, it’s a drama about a teenager who was once locked in a basement, but now goes to high school, and he’s the smartest person who’s ever lived. He’s also a social pariah because of his gifts.
Jeff Goldblum also stars in the film as a teacher, and the film has a lot of tender moments, as well as some distressing ones, such as a scene that I’ll never forget from my youth, where Powder transfers the death of a deer into a hunter so that the hunter can feel the deer’s pain. Gen Z should check it out since it’s a great example of a sci-fi movie that isn’t about the end of the world, but rather, about empathy. It’s a truly human story, and a great one.
Go
I think it’s super bizarre that I never, ever hear of people talking about the 1999 film Go anymore, since it’s a super creative and clever movie. The film is essentially told from multiple perspectives, but it all centers around drugs, namely from a supermarket attendant who becomes a drug dealer out of necessity. The film has an all-star cast including William Fichtner, Melissa McCarthy, Taye Diggs, Katie Holmes, and Timothy Olyphant, just to name a few.
Gen Z should check it out since it’s a Pulp Fiction clone in a sense, but a lot more frenetic and high octane. (And youthful!) It also features ‘90s staples like ecstasy and raves, so again, if the younger generation wants to see how the slightly older generation got down, then Go is a good movie to start with.
Dark City
Ask most people of a certain age what their favorite sci-fi movie was of the ‘90s, and they’ll likely either tell you The Matrix, since it had a huge impact on sci-fi, or Jurassic Park, since it became an ongoing series that’s still going on today. But, if you ask me what my favorite ‘90s sci-fi film is, I’ll tell you Dark City, since, I don’t know, I guess I was an emo kid growing up.
Dark City is about an amnesiac who may or may not have killed his wife. But, the interesting part about the movie is the villains, who are called the Strangers. They hover around and haunt the cityscape, which is in a perpetual state of night (hence the title). The film is haunting and thought-provoking, and the kind of film that I think the always-questioning-everything (Which I view as a positive!) Gen Z population will cling onto in a heartbeat once they watch it.
Run Lola Run
Believe it or not, but Run Lola Run is the first foreign film outside of Japan that I ever saw. In this German thriller, a woman named Lola (played by Franka Potente) needs to gather $100,000 Deutschmarks in 20 minutes (or less!) or her boyfriend is going to be killed. But, some might call this movie an “experimental” thriller film, and I’ll just let you check it out for yourself to see why.
Run Lola Run is a pulse pounding experience that beat the Jason Statham movie, Crank (which I really need to write about someday) to the punch when it came to a never-stop-for-a-second thrill ride. Gen Z, which many people bemoan for having short attention spans since they grew up with cell phones, will likely love the pacing of Run Lola Run, as it’s literally never boring. Like, not even for a second.
There are a ton of other gems I’d love to put on this list, but I feel like if I name one more, I’ll be labeled a boomer or something, so I’ll stop right there. Have you seen any of these movies? For more movie news from an old codger like myself, be sure to swing by here often!