Generation X movies, ranked
SteveI am a parent and like any self-respecting parent I spend a little bit of time each week reminding my son how much better everything was back in the day.
Today's topic where I had to re-educate my son was the movies, and since I have been in a movie frame of mind since Trish McFarlane and I recorded the HR Happy Hour Oscars Preview Show a couple of days ago, I thought that this would be a great topic for another wildly popular 'Ranked' post. And since I am a proud member of Gen X, and I spent a good half-hour today trying to convince my Gen Z kid how great these films are, I felt compelled to share.
So without further delay, here is your authoritative, comprehensive, unresearched, highly subjective, and 100% accurate list of ' Generation X movies.' Please note, the list was compiled with consultation and input from The 8 Man Rotation crew - Matt 'akaBruno' Stollak, Kris 'KD' Dunn, Lance 'I am too young to offer meaningful input to this list' Haun, and Tim 'Diet Mt. Dew' Sackett.
Here goes...
15. The Manhattan Project (1986) - I am not sure why I liked this movie, but I did. Gen X teens steal plutonium, build an atomic bomb, and chaos ensues. Somehow it made sense in 1986.
14. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) - I have to admit to not loving this movie, but it's place in the Gen X film pantheon can't be argued.
13. Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) - Makes the list due to a later, more polished John Cusack and the plot featuring a Class of '87 High School Reunion. What is more Gen X than that?
12. Say Anything (1989) - Peak John Cusack as an identifiably Gen X young adult with no idea what he wanted to do with his life, but was pretty sure what he didn't want to do with it.
11. Wayne's World (1992) - Gen X remembers life before the web, and email, and Netflix. Two slackers make a name for themselves on the 80s version of 'user generated content' - public access cable TV. A better movie than you remember it being.
10. Pump Up The Volume (1990) - Christian Slater revisits the 'New kid in town who is going to show the locals what's what' routine in this good, but not as good as 'Heathers' movie. But Slater is so Gen X he manages to make it work.
09. Trainspotting (1996) - released maybe a little late to make a 'Gen X' list, but a remarkable movie with fantastic performances from Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle
08. Clerks (1994) - One of Gen X's best-known writers and directors Kevinn Smith with his classic look at the lives of a couple of prototypical Gen X slackers.
07. War Games (1983) - Some inventive and (mostly) ignored kids somehow manage to hack into a US Department of Defense computer system and unwittingly put the world on the brink of WWIII. For Gen X kids that were left alone for ages of time by their working/divorced parents it somehow made sense.
06. Boyz n the Hood (1991) - Great cast, great performances and a gritty story set in the inner city that was mostly overlooked in the movies of this era.
05. Swingers (1996) - Another 'older' Gen X movie, but featuring Gen X icon Vince Vaughn at his most Vince Vaughnian. Super movie.
04. The Breakfast Club (1985) - One of the older movies on this list, but resonated with probably everyone who was in high school between 85 and 90. Every character in the film had a counterpart in every high school in America.
03. Heathers (1988) - As great a look into the Gen X high school experience, (perhaps less all the murder), that there was in the movies of that era. Gen X hero Christian Slater probably at his peak as well.
02. Reality Bites (1994) - Winona Ryder goes back-to-back on the list in what many folks think was the quintesstial Gen X wrestling with adulthood movie. Only a pretty whiny and annoying Ethan Hawke keeps this film for competing for the top slot.
01. Singles (1992) - Set in the grunge-era Seattle of the early 90s, and with Pearl Jam appearing as the musicians in Matt Dillon's band, this movie pretty much hits all of the right notes for what became Gen X's signature cultural contribution.
Of course you can disagree with these rankings, but of course you would be wrong.
Happy Sunday!
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