Hacker Cinema
Swingers
1996 · Film · 96 min
Directed by Doug Liman
After 6 years together, Mike's girlfriend leaves him, so he travels to LA to be a star. Six months on, he's still not doing very well— so a few of his friends try to reconnect him to the social scene and hopefully help him forget his failed relationship.
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5 comments on Hacker News
Ya I'm shocked by it too, said as a Gen Xer born in the late 1970s, occasionally a Xennial.
I partied for 4 years of college which is something like 30 years in sober adult terms. Our ragers were reminiscent of Animal House and Revenge of the Nerds, all of those old party movies that didn't age well. Scenes from Hackers, Fight Club, The Matrix, Trainspotting, Go, Swingers, Made, 200 Cigarettes, SLC Punk, Dazed and Confused, PCU, even Undergrads (a cartoon) were so spot-on for campus life, living for the weekend. Can't Hardly Wait, American Pie, Varsity Blues, Waiting, Superbad, etc came later, and I almost consider those watered down versions of the feral partying that happened earlier just as the internet went mainstream, but still canon.
A Friday night at my city's bar scene today looks like what our Sunday or Monday was. People half tipsy on 2 drinks, even though they're Ubering home later. The faint scent of ganja now instead of basements filled with smoke and first timers trying laughing gas. Nobody puking or disappearing around a corner to relieve themselves. No sound of bottles shattering. I feel like a curator of a museum now, a derelict from a forgotten time.
In fairness, I went to college in the midwest, where there was nothing else to do. Now the West Coast has effectively legalized drugs, awakening much of the country to the full human experience, and people have done the trips and plant medicine and maybe realize at a young age that alcohol and tobacco are rough drugs that tear you up. Which is admirable, but they also prepare you for getting torn up as an adult. To miss out on learning how to make your way home on drunk logic before you black out seems like a crucial rite of passage has been lost.
And it shows. In our country's embrace of puritanical politics like we saw in the jingoist 2000s, regentrified for the antivax era. In the worship of unspoiled beauty, idolizing of influencers, pursuit of financial security over visceral experience. In the fanboyism, bootlicking and drinking the kool-aid for every new evolutionary tech that cements the status quo instead of freeing the human spirit in a revolutionary manner. I gotta be honest, most of what's happening today is laughable to my generation. Blah I sound like a Boomer. Ok cryable then. We're in mourning. We worry about the kids today. All work and no play and all that. It's killing our souls, and theirs.
I guess my final thought after writing this is that partying is one of the most powerful reality-shifting tools in our arsenal. All of this can't be it. This can't be how America ends. You know what to do.
What are you going through is a normal reaction when going through a breakup. You just need perspective and that will only come with time. In the meantime focus on your physical health - diet, working out, sleep etc. Don't repeat my mistake - these things may seem completely pointless now and future may seem bleak etc. But please, just do it, you will thank yourself in the future. Watch some movies, I recommend "Swingers" (1996) and "A Serious Man". And remember, there are plenty of fish in the sea.
Which is why their heavy investments in making high quality films out of the first film for each character is the real key.
Click into each director of the phase 1 films. They were all multi-decade successes, with their biggest films fitting well with what they’re after.
Rudy, Swingers -> Iron Man
Transporter movies -> Hulk
OG Jumanji, October Sky -> Cpt America
They made big bets up front and it’s paid dividends, and then some.
Swingers for instance had to be shot on short ends. http://grantland.com/features/an-oral-history-swingers.
A lot of other movies as well (It was mentioned in Dolemite Is My Name). Clerks was black and white because of cost.
Gimbals, scouts, dangerous stunts and everything else can be done cheap. You can pirate editing software if you have to. I've seen nothing to say Snowbrawl had CGI or expensive post production applied.
Cheap film has been the holey grail for a long time.
Now we get to see did the artificial barrier of filming cost improve film quality, or did we miss out on great directors, actors and films.
I see no proof either way yet.
I would pay for his service, not a lot, but I would pay. Every now and then I find a good movie (last one being "Swingers"), but it's completely random. I can't find a website with a constant flow of good recommendations. I get very frustrated every time I try to get something out of one of those "the 100 best movies of..." lists.