Mid90s

This movie was the 90's skate scene to a T. The music, a mix of punk, indie and hip hop, the clothes, baggy pants and 2XL tees, drugs, underage drinking, and of course street skating. If you were there, you know, if not you can experience a time that will never come back. Skating is not the outlaw thing you do to escape your sh!tty life anymore, it's city built skateparks and X games. That's why this film hits hard. Everyone who was around then had their crew and every crew had the jokester, the pro, the poor kid and the hanger-on who wasn't really good but a nice dude so you kept him. That's what Stevie is in this film and that's why you feel for him. Jonah Hill has made an authentic time capsule into the mid 90's that feels real and not forced.

When I first saw the trailer for this movie months back it was hard to not see some similarities from Larry Clark's teenage slice of life movies from the late 90s and early 2000s. Once I saw the movie I was pleased to see while some parts may be influenced by Clark, the Mid 90s stands on its own as true winner.

Much like Clark did, Hill has brought in some kids who have no acting experience here to play Stevie's crew. They all really knock it out of the park and add to the sense of realism. The film is short and sweet setting up the main points quickly and then taking some great turns, some of which are a bit dark. I was a big fan of Lucas Hedge's character and how the dynamic of him and Stevie plays out. The soundtrack also is really quite amazing and adds a lot to the film in some scenes. Also Mid 90's may have the best jump scare of the year!

Some people may complain that while the film does have good characters, setting and so on, it lacks a standard plot. While this is true I'd argue that it sets out to tell the story of Stevie in a realistic fashion and gets the job done. While Mid 90s does have some shortcomings like some cliches and some heavy predictability, I didn't feel like they hindered the film much. A strong 8/10.

Just incredible mixed feelings after watching: sadness for time passing by, melancholia for those ages and of course, joy for being part of them...Well done Jonah!

Where "Jonah Hill" places his characters, the way they speak, his direction. All of this speaks to me, cus a lot of us lived through moments like this. The love on display, carrys through any contrivances that you expect from a film like this.

Aside from a couple minor issues I had with this film, I loved it. It just felt incredibly real. I didn't feel like I was watching actors. I felt like I was watching the lives of these kids unfold, and that those lives would just continue unfolding even when the camera wasn't rolling.