Much is made of a midlife crisis; Buying a fancy new sports car, learning French, or trading in your partner for a younger but less experienced model. Yet, the first real battle many have with existentialism is not in their late 40s, but in their mid-20s. Still relatively inexperienced in adulting, and receiving so much conflicting advice about whom, what, and where you’re supposed to be with your life is one seriously complex, centerless maze where there is no right or wrong answer.
Some are popping out children, running businesses, and getting married, others are unemployed, still living at home with their parents, and perhaps haven’t even developed a full comprehension of how a washing machine works. Welcome to the world of the post-college or university mind, unperturbed by bills but horrifically burdened by the societal expectation to settle down, find a job, get married, and have a kid all within the next six weeks. Those that, as of 2023, are most likely to be in that predicament are the ones born in 1998. Like all of those born in the year of the Tiger, these great movies are set to turn 25 this year, and are too timeless to ever suffer that midlife crisis…
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
25 years on from its release, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels remains Guy Ritchie’s flagship title. The 1998 dark comedy, that gave Ritchie a name in the film industry, is an ultra-violent gangland epic, with plenty of cockney charisma, and shotgun humor.
Aside from regular Ritchie collaborator Jason Statham, a relatively humble cast was assembled, and with just a $1.4 million budget, the film romped at the box office, making an impressive $30 million. Telling the tale of three friends who decide to enter into a poker game with a local mobster, the action-comedy chronicles their hilarious attempts at acquiring £500,000 in just seven days, after they lose to threatening mob boss, Harry.
The Truman Show
The feeling that one is merely a pawn in a reality television show was nicknamed “The Truman Delusion” after Peter Weir’s hit movie, The Truman Show. With comparable effects on popular culture to 1993’s Groundhog Day, The Truman Show was hauntingly prophetic in predicting the fast-food culture of the modern-day celebrity, with fly-on-the-wall television shows such a phenomenon in the present day.
Peter Weir’s movie follows the tale of Truman Burbank (played so effervescently by Jim Carrey), an insurance salesman, who lives unsuspectingly as a reality star on his own show. Raised from birth into reality stardom, he is watched by millions around the world, yet is oblivious to the fact he is trapped in an elaborately camera-ridden television set until things begin to unravel themselves.
Saving Private Ryan
Spielberg closed his affluent decade off on a high, with the mother of all World War II movies, the epic Saving Private Ryan. With truly mesmeric, awe-inspiring, and blood-infused set-pieces, the film revolutionized the way in which future war films were made.
This is a chronicle of an army corps’ steadfast, selfless determination as they embark upon a rescue mission of gargantuan proportions. Led by Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) they infiltrate enemy lines, as they attempt to search and rescue Private Ryan (Matt Damon), the last remaining son of a family devastated by World War II losses.
The Thin Red Line
Based on the 1962 novel of the same name, director Terrence Malick’s screen adaptation of The Thin Red Line depicts a US Army battalion at the battle of the Guadalcanal, as they battle against a relentless Japanese army during the Second World War.
Surrounded by classic war movies, including Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, and The Pianist, it’s understandable how The Thin Red Line may have been overshadowed. Yet, this underrated gem, with an immaculate A-list cast, commands profound respect.
The Big Lebowski
Being, arguably, the best and funniest Coen brothers’ movie is a prestigious accolade in itself, and the case for The Big Lebowski to claim that mantel is pretty irresistible. The film starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, and Steve Buscemi has amassed a staggering cult following over the years, so big, in fact, that it’s more of a consensus these days.
The Big Lebowski follows Jeff ‘The Dude’ Lebowski (Bridges), a weed-smoking bum, who along with his two friends Walter (Goodman) and Donny (Buscemi), becomes inadvertently embroiled in a case of mistaken identity, and a subsequent kidnapping saga.
Rushmore
In the aftermath of the critical success of 1996’s Bottle Rocket, Wes Anderson rightfully earned himself another crack at the directorial whip two years later with the even better, Rushmore. Jason Schwartzman plays school pupil, Max, a charming, confident, and endearing student who as well-rounded as he may be, is failing academically.
Max falls for a teacher at his school, yet must compete for her affections with his teacher and mentor. While not shot in typically perfect symmetrical glory, Rushmore’s script has a sharp-edged wit and peculiar sense of timing that is as unmistakably Wes Anderson as The Darjeeling Limited or The Life Aquatic.
American History X
A movie about reformation, redemption, and self-reflection, Tony Kaye’s American History X stars Edward Norton in the main role as Derek Vinyard, a former white supremacist, and Neo-Nazi, Derek leaves prison after a three-year jail term a changed man, with his life of fascism firmly in his rearview mirror. Determined not to allow his younger, impressionable brother Danny to make the same mistakes as he did, Derek tries his utmost to divert Danny’s hateful tendencies toward a more positive, and constructive existence.