Five 90s Favourites That'll Add Some Retro Vibes to Your Next Couch Session
Get a blast from the past with these classic movies and TV shows, which are all available to stream.
Five 90s Favourites That'll Add Some Retro Vibes to Your Next Couch Session
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Get a blast from the past with these classic movies and TV shows, which are all available to stream.
It was the decade that gave us Magic Eye pictures, the Macarena, Pokemon and Tamagotchi, too. We're talking, of course, about the 90s. The decade might've come to an end exactly 20 years ago now, but it's easy to get nostalgic about — especially in a hectic year where we're all thinking about how simple life once was.
The easiest way to indulge that nostalgia? You can pop on a flannelette shirt or some Hypercolour if you like, or you can head back in time via your viewing choices. Press play on one of the big hits of the decade, and you'll be transported back to a period when a group of mates sat on an orange coffee shop couch, and when the Dude also abided. To help plan out your ultimate retro watch list, we've teamed up with streaming service Binge to highlight five beloved TV shows and movies that'll take you back to the 90s faster than a DeLorean — including via a 14-day free trial for new customers.
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In 1999, two new releases posed the same question: what would happen if a member of the mafia went to see a psychiatrist about his many woes? The first, The Sopranos, changed TV forever. Indeed, it’s the show that many people instantly think of whenever they see HBO’s famed logo sequence on the small screen. And it also ensured the comedy movie with the same premise, aka Analyse This, would always be seen as the lesser of the two projects.
Focusing on New Jersey mobster Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), and spanning both his professional and personal lives, The Sopranos is the gangster series that all subsequent gangster series want to be — and the weighty, nuanced, compelling and thoughtful drama that paved the way for everything from Six Feet Under and The Shield to Mad Men. The now-late Gandolfini is an absolute powerhouse in the lead role, imbuing Tony with both volatility and vulnerability, as he’s paired perfectly with Edie Falco as his wife Carmela
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Pour yourself a white russian, pop on your favourite bathrobe and prepare to spend two hours with one of the best big-screen creations there is. No one else in the history of celluloid is quite like Jeffrey ‘The Dude’ Lebowski, played with such relaxed slacker charm by Jeff Bridges that it genuinely seems as if he isn’t acting. And no other filmmakers could’ve brought his zany (and immensely fictional) story to life like the Coen brothers, either.
There’s a reason that this flick has been a cult classic for more than two decades now. Actually, there are plenty — including a bowling joke that you’ve probably either quoted or heard multiple times, because it never gets old. If you’re a newcomer to the 1998 movie, prepare for a mistaken-identity tale, with The Dude mixed up with a millionaire with the same name. Oh-so-many hijinks ensue, with the Coens firmly in offbeat crime-comedy mode, as aided by a cast that includes everyone from John Goodman and Julianne Moore to John Turturro and Steve Buscemi.
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When September 1994 rolled around, and a new sitcom about six New York City-dwelling friends first debuted on television screens, no one could’ve known just what would follow. It made stars out of Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer, and made seemingly everyone keen to copy Aniston’s hairstyle — and it unleashed a genuine pop culture phenomenon that’s still watched and rewatched by adoring fans all these years later.
The setup is so very simple, and it’s one that plenty of other shows have also tried. But Friends manages to distill a familiar and straightforward idea into 236 episodes of entertaining comedy. Call it ‘The One with the Huge Longevity’, ‘The One That No One Seems to Be Able to Get Enough Of’ or ‘The One That Made Sitting on Orange Coffee Shop Couches and Singing About Smelly Cats Cool’.
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We can’t all live in a world where a newspaper columnist pens one article about her love life a week, gets paid enough to wear Manolo Blahniks and spends most of her time drinking cocktails with her best mates — and coming up with amorous fodder for her next pithy essay. But, thanks to 1998–2004 series Sex and the City, we can all watch that fictional world, which is actually partly based on the experiences and New York Observer columns of writer Candace Bushnell.
As everyone with even the slightest pop culture knowledge already knows, Sarah Jessica Parker plays fashion-loving writer Carrie Bradshaw, who has given plenty of viewers a sizeable case of wardrobe envy over the years. She’s joined by Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis, in a series that pushed the boundaries when it came to both sex and friendship. Just ignore the 2008 and 2010 movies
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Every phrase has to start somewhere, and “you had me at hello” started with Jerry Maguire. When it’s uttered by Renée Zellweger to Tom Cruise, it’s one of those big on-screen moments that lovers of romantic comedy-dramas will still be talking about decades from now — as they have been for the nearly quarter-century since the Cameron Crowe-directed movie first arrived on screens.
Everyone knows that aforementioned piece of dialogue, and the film’s other catchy line: “show me the money”. You might recall that Cuba Gooding Jr won an Oscar for his supporting performance, too. But you may not always remember how astutely the feature steps through its narrative, spinning a story about a sports agent who has an epiphany about the ruthless business he’s in, decides that both him and the entire industry should do better, subsequently gets fired from his high-paying job and then goes out on his own.
To watch your way through all of the above series and movies, head to streaming platform Binge — where you can sign up for a free 14-day trial, then keep working your way through its jam-packed catalogue for $10 per month (based on Binge Basic, its first subscription tier).
