Yup, I'm in the later part of the cohert. While I was technically born in the late 70s, I have no recollection of it, but the 80s is where I grew up. The best years were the 87-89 where there is allot of nostalgic memories around those years. One of the features of the time was I discovered a Super 8 mm camera in the basement, and started filming. I also discovered the 16mm projector and started borrowing films from the library to play on a larger screen at home. (at the time TVs were small cathode ray tubes and not as exciting an experience as watching films play on a mechanical projector).
The 90s turned out to be one the worst decade with me because I believed I had allot of potential that was just wasted. The decade started strong where I graduated High School on the honour roll. The later half just fell of a cliff and there is not many great memories associated with that decade.
The early 2000s was just a fail recovery for the 90s with me. The OP referenced Mandy Moore. I viewed Walk to Remember, 2002, at an Oakville drive-through with my folks and it was the one and only time I went to a Drive through theater. My favorite song from Mandy Moore comes from that film:
Here she is just amazing. I've re-watched this movie at least twice since 2017 (bought a larger TV and played it on it for Nostalgia).
I missed a movie called "Princess Diaries", but I feel this song derived from that movie captures the early 2000s vibe as well:
I did have allot of Nostalgia for 2002 - 2004 simply because I visited theaters both independently (without my folks) and with a Chinese female friend I met at University and went out a number of places with her. I may also remember viewing Matrix Reloaded twice in the cinema on an empty stomach and then riding the newly built Sheppard subway, before re-watching it again, then going home and drinking half a bottle of wine to get the movie out of my head, lol!
Bought my first car in 1999. I went from a used 1987 second had car that was half-broken back then to a nice SUV today.
I see for my life that everything after 2000 to now is making the best out of a situation that I messed up with in the 90s, and the 90s was really the only chance I had to really have made something great out of my life.