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What to stream: Turn back the clock with this 'Y2K' companion watch list

Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service on

Published in Entertainment News

With Kyle Mooney’s nostalgia-packed horror comedy “Y2K” hitting theaters, it may be time for a bit of an education about the millennium, especially for Gen Z, who have the appetite for all things 2000s, but might not have all the references. Or, this streaming guide can serve as a comfort watch for millennials who miss the good ol' days of flip phones and JNCO jeans (or remember that maybe things were also not great then, too).

So consider this a “Y2K” companion watch list, to make the movie that much richer, or just to relive the real thing.

First up, some real context, watch “Time Bomb Y2K,” an archival footage documentary about the Y2K problem and the mass hysteria that surrounded it. Directed by Marley McDonald and Brian Becker, it premiered at the esteemed True/False Film Fest and is now streaming on Max, so check that out for some technological and cultural background on the bug.

Mooney draws on the classic teen comedy formula that proliferated in the late ‘90s, where a dorky guy moons after a popular girl, and hopes to connect with her at the big party (“Superbad” and “Booksmart” also riffed on the genre). Specifically movies like “Can’t Hardly Wait” (1998), starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jamie Kennedy, or “Drive Me Crazy” with Melissa Joan Hart and Adrian Grenier (1999), or another deep cut, “Get Over It” starring future acting A-Listers Kirsten Dunst and Ben Foster (2001). “Get Over It” also features a supporting turn by singer Sisqo, whose “Thong Song” features prominently in “Y2K.” Plus, all the 2000s fashions. Rent “Can’t Hardly Wait” and “Drive Me Crazy” on iTunes or Amazon, stream “Get Over It” on Prime Video, or rent it elsewhere.

The horror element of “Y2K” feels heavily influenced by the Terminator franchise, so maybe watch or rewatch your favorites from that bunch, including the classics “The Terminator” (Prime Video or rent) and “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” (Paramount+ or rent). You can always add on “Terminator Genisys” on Prime Video, or rent “Terminator: Dark Fate,” but that is between you and your machine overlord.

Fred Durst and Limp Bizkit play a role in the denouement and climax of “Y2K,” and for the youths out there, you simply must understand the role that Limp Bizkit played in the late ‘90s. So saddle up for some Woodstock ’99 content, at which Limp Bizkit played a huge role, or at least became the scapegoat for profound organizational failures. On Netflix, the three-part series “Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99” and on Max, “Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage.” And if you were there, see if you can spot yourself in the mosh pit or the mud.

 

Another fun quirk of “Y2K” is a nod to the ‘90s swing revival. To understand this will require doing some reading, internet searches and watching old Gap TV commercials, but you could also just queue up Jon Favreau’s “Swingers,” which captures the swinging retro style of L.A. hipsters in the ‘90s. You’re so money baby. Stream it on Paramount+ or rent it elsewhere.

Finally, there’s a character in the film who is deeply into conscious hip-hop, one of the more specific and arcane references that can only be understood through lived experience and/or deep scholarship. The closest we can get to this is is 2005 Michel Gondry documentary “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party” about a hip-hop concert Dave Chappelle throws in Brooklyn, with the Roots, Jill Scott, the Fugees, Common, Dead Prez, Mos Def, Talib Kweli and more. All we know is that our character would definitely have been at that show, so it might illuminate some of that culture for any viewers otherwise unfamiliar. Rent it on iTunes or Amazon.

Enjoy the walk down memory lane or the historical education for anyone unfamiliar with life at the turn of the century.

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