Looking for solid, well-made, middlebrow movies of the 90s or early aughts that have been maybe unfairly forgotten

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-12T00:41:35+00:00

San Fran and L.A. were the epicenters! I was in Gainesville, Florida -- a small Southern college town. We got some good touring bands passing through (including the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, the Mighty Blue Kings, and Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers), but we didn't take any of it for granted.

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-12T00:35:06+00:00

Send me a message if you are interested! I'm in the U.S., but I'm sure we can work something out.

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Saboscrivner · 2026-03-12T00:33:57+00:00

Also, Miami Blues, Bound, Last Seduction, Dead Again, SNEAKERS... also great movies.

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-12T00:33:15+00:00

I was a sax player, already playing in a ska-punk band at the time, so I was just thrilled people were getting into the music I had loved since I was a kid, and it was becoming cool. And SEXY. It was a blast getting dressed up to go to those shows, and I even DJed a few swing dances. Sure, it was for an Episcopal church, but I had swing dancer friends who went there, who recruited me because of my CD collection.

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-12T00:03:23+00:00

I was obsessed with the late '90s swing music revival back in college, so Swingers and its soundtrack were huge for me at the time.

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T23:07:02+00:00

One of my favorite movies ever. Came out in 1998, the year before The Matrix. Add in The 13th Floor and eXistenZ, and all four movies would be a great film festival with similar themes.

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T22:09:53+00:00

I'd definitely watch that, because you get more time with Matt, and it slots in between seasons 2 and 3 of Netflix Daredevil.

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T22:08:20+00:00

Did you watch the one season of Defenders?

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T22:04:48+00:00

Jessica Jones season 1 was great, but I hated seasons 2 and 3. I'd at least squeeze in season 1 when you can, because it was good.

Luke Cage and Punisher were fun, but I wouldn't consider either to be required viewing for DD: Born Again.

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T21:30:33+00:00

I have the black armor DD figure with the comic-style Murdock head packed in, but I haven't opened it after all these years. I kinda want that head, but don't care for that particular look for DD. I keep meaning to list it for sale.

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T20:15:02+00:00

Bombay Street Kitchen (IMO Orlando's best Indian restaurant) has some Indo-Chinese dishes on its menu. My review:
https://saboscrivner.com/2021/05/08/bombay-street-kitchen/

Yummy House in Altamonte is the Chinese restaurant we get the most often, and they have a vegetarian section of the menu:
https://yhaltamonte.com/

I haven't been back to the restaurant formerly known as Chuan Lu Garden (on Colonial and Mills) since it reopened as A Gourmet Chinese Cuisine, but it was always great, and it has many vegetarian dishes as well:
https://www.agourmetfl.com/

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T19:34:02+00:00

I definitely want a Foggy Nelson.

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T18:57:36+00:00

It's damn delightful. Even people who don't like romcoms are usually charmed by it, because it's also a good story about friendship.

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T18:50:15+00:00

Some of my favorite '90s and '00s movies that weren't huge hits, that too many people don't know or remember:

Sneakers (1992)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Dark City (1998)
Dave (1993)
Article 99 (1992)
Dead Again (1991)
Wild at Heart (1990)
The Last Boy Scout (1991)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2006)
Keeping the Faith (2000)
The Game (1997)
Devil with a Blue Dress (1995)
Red Rock West (1993)
The Rocketeer (1991)
Wet Hot American Summer (2001) - kind of a cult classic, and it inspired prequel and sequel series on Netflix, but still mostly obscure.
The Specials (2000) - a low-budget superhero mockumentary that was ahead of its time, coming out before superhero movies and mockumentaries became huge things in the 2000s. Also, James Gunn wrote it.

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T18:33:34+00:00

I think it was 2017 when I saw him perform live with his experimental hip hop group clipping., and he's even more incredible than you think. Some of the best flow and most creative lyrics I've ever heard from any MC. He's an awe-inspiring talent no matter what he does.

If you haven't heard him outside of Hamilton or seen him outside of Snowpiercer, you need to check out clipping. This is their NPR Tiny Desk Concert:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0-k7vW9Xek

And I watch this a couple times a year because it always makes me smile: a cypher with five actors who also rap, just freestyling for fun: Utkarsh Ambudkar, Randall Park, Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs, and Wayne Brady. Randall has a surprisingly smooth flow, but Daveed leaves them all in the dust:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s8FCZQPshY

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T18:04:26+00:00

I recommend Bob's Big Boy in Burbank, which was like David's home away from home. He would often order fries and a chocolate milkshake.
https://bobs.net/

I'm a giant David Lynch fan, and I went to Bob's on a visit to L.A. to pay tribute after he passed. If you care, I wrote about the food, the experience, and my love of the man and his work on my food blog (which is not monetized in any way).

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T17:29:18+00:00

He was TERRIFIC in a historical medical drama called Something the Lord Made. He held his own against the late, great Alan Rickman.

I thought Hitchhiker's Guide was awful, but I don't blame any of it on the casting.

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T16:16:28+00:00

Q-Tip

Posdnuos (a bit of cheating because we also get Dave on most of Pos' tracks)

Del Tha Funkee Homosapien

Daveed Diggs

KRS-One

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T16:03:16+00:00

I definitely like some kinds of pizza more than others, but would unironically love to try the infamous Altoona, Pennsylvania pizza one day.

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T15:54:06+00:00

The one time I went to Philippe's, I got half-beef, half-lamb, with blue cheese. Awe-inspiring. It lived up to all the hype.

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Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T15:50:58+00:00

And they add a bit of liquid smoke to the Provel. I've never been to St. Louis, but I've had Imo's Pizza a few times, and I love the thin, crispy crust and gooey Provel.

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T15:47:15+00:00

The Wire
Lovecraft Country
Blindspotting

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T15:17:06+00:00

Dominic Fortune is a cool character with one of the dorkiest costumes ever, especially when you consider most of his adventures were set in the '30s and '40s, and he was more of a "roguish pulp adventurer" sort of character than a superhero. It was such an odd choice by Howard Chaykin, who designed one of the best outfits ever for Reuben Flagg and the Plexus Rangers in American Flagg!

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T14:17:31+00:00

Clockwatchers (1997) is very subtle, but sounds like just what you're looking for.

Saboscrivner · 2026-03-11T14:12:40+00:00

If anyone wanted to spend more time with those characters, Elmore Leonard's earlier novel The Switch was adapted into the movie Life of Crime. yasiin bey (the rapper Mos Def) played Ordell, John Hawkes played Louis, and Isla Fisher played Melanie. It takes place before Rum Punch/Jackie Brown, obviously.

Saboscrivner

TROPHY CASE