You know the ones. Those movies that were hyped up with teaser trailers for months, that you lined up for hours to see, and that you quoted to death everyday at school. It didn't matter who you were, just the fact that you had
seen that movie and appreciated it, gave you a whole other level of cred.
And then it happened. The quoting stopped, the DVD came out, and your parents began to understand references to it. Get rid of that
Vote for Pedro tee-shirt guy, because that movie is no longer cool. The tragedy is that while a formerly hip movie may still be a great, admitting your continued allegiance to it ususally means social suicide. Just beacuse it has cultural clout now, does not mean this will last (so think before you buy that
Super 8 doona cover
). Here are some movies that used to be cool and now, ah, they're not.
Napoleon Dynamite
Oh my God, the ridiculous quoting this movie inspired. There is no way that
Napoleon Dynamite was actually as popular as it seemed, there had to be some copy cat quoting there.
Avatar
Poor James Cameron. Dude INVENTS A CAMERA to take his 'complex' tale of unobtanium and aliens to the big screen, and the thing lost it's cool factor about three seconds after it came out. Sure it was successful as shit, but did anyone boast about seeing it multiple times? We don't think so. HYPE FAIL.
Amelie
It's painful to say, given
Amelie is actually a pretty good movie, but it's just not cool anymore.
Person 1: Hey! What's your favourite movie?
Person 2: *thinks hard for cool response* Ah, I like French stuff.
Amelie was really cool.
Person 1: Oh. Yeah. *realises that Person 2 has randomly picked the only foreign film they know to appear cultured*
Transformers
2006: "Wow, they're actually making a movie about Transformers? My favourite childhood toy? Who's that hot chick? Wow!"
2007: "Wow they actually made a movie about Transformers. They ruined my favourite childhood toy. Megan Fox has robbed me of my innocence."
Austin Powers
In 1997 Mike Myers created a little character called Austin Powers. Everyone thought he was heaps funny, and even if you were too young to understand his sex jokes, you still pretended you did. Now, if you were ever to be caught watching
Austin Powers you would lose all your friends, and probably have to leave the country.
Juno
Maybe if
Juno hadn't come out just as the industry popularity of
Little Miss Sunshine indie films seemed to be exploding, it would have retained its cool factor for a bit longer. The dialogue was snappy, Kimya Dawson warbled in the background, and Michael Cera was in it. About 70 other films released that year boasted the same things.
Billy Madison / The Wedding Singer / Big Daddy / any Adam Sandler movie
Just. Not. Funny. Anymore.
Grease
Grease probably wasn't hip with the in crowd when it first came out, but it definitely developed a cult status (even an ironic one). However all that 'Summer Lovin'' kind of fell by the wayside thanks to middle-aged women dancing to it in semi circles at wedding receptions.
Forrest Gump
This is a great movie. However if we hear the phrases "Run, Forrest, run!" or the even more cringe-worthy "Life is like a box of chocolates" EVER AGAIN it will be too soon.
The Matrix
There are so many layers! And layers on top of those layers! I think once a film starts being studied in the Year 12 curriculum, you can pretty much count on it not being cool anymore.
Special Mentions go to
300,
Pirates of the Carribean,
Titanic and
Saturday Night Fever. What movies do you think have faded in the cool stakes?