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Re: Best Films of the 1990s
This is tougher than the 70s. So many films.
Unforgiven
Se7en
Leon: The Professional
Schindler's List
Quiz Show
Heat
Saving Private Ryan
Georgia
Slingblade
What About Bob
Honorary mentions...
Silence of the Lambs
Manhattan Murder Mystery
Happiness
Jackie Brown
Grumpy Old Men
Only the Lonely
Mission Impossible
Boys Don't Cry
The Sixth Sense
Goodfellas or Casino
Re: Best Films of the 1990s
Some movies I watched at the time and still remember fondly, not necessarily good movies but it was about the people, the life I had at the time...or they have a fantastic soundtrack.
Point Break - saw this with friends (was it summer 1991?)
Man Bites Dog - I don't know if it was ever a thing in the US.
Natural Born Killers ( I believe it was Trent Reznor's first stint in the world of movie soundtracks. Amazing soundtrack. I remember the movie was discussed a lot on TV, was it too violent, should it be banned? A young couple decided to be real life Mickey and Mallory in Paris and it didn't end well).
The Blair Witch Project (how to make a scary movie out of nothing...)
Bridget Jones' Diary (I still watch it at Christmas time, I never get fed up with it)
Muriel's Wedding
Drop Dead Gorgeous
La Femme Nikita (aka Nikita) - the only Besson movie I still enjoy watching. I saw the Professional too many times, and the "special cut" with added scenes between Leon and Matilda is a bit cringy. The "cleaner" in La Femme Nikita inspired Leon.
Four Weddings and a Funeral
True Romance
Pulp Fiction
American History X
Casino
Dracula ( Coppola, with Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder)
Boyz N the Hood (must be in my top 10 for the decade, and all time movies too)
Juice
The Usual Suspects
Thelma and Louise
Titanic (it really was an impressive movie at the time).
The Bodyguard ( used to love this movie, but I now find it a bit too long)
I said "some movies" 
I think I am forgetting some of them.
I still haven't seen Trainspotting and some others.
I think I did see Sleepers ages ago and would like to see it again. Same with My Cousin Vinny.
Re: Best Films of the 1990s
American History X
Yeah this is great... it's both Norton and Furlong's best film.
As good as it is, I want that alternate, extended cut we were supposed to get until Norton overruled the director and made a different film with the footage.
Point Break
Yeah this was huge that summer.
If Swayze's career hadn't immediately nosedived into B movies, we probably get some sort of sequel/prequel to this in 94-95.
Boyz N the Hood
I always mixed this up with Menace Ii Society.
They're both really good.
The Usual Suspects
Yeah this was killer...watched it again last year.
Too bad Michael Biehn and Chris Cornell turned down roles handed to them on a silver platter. Biehn still regrets it today.
I gotta rewatch Natural Born Killers.
One of my aunts loved Muriel's Wedding.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Best Films of the 1990s
Recapping what you guys already listed, I love Casino, and Heat and Dracula.
Damn just thinking of that and reading those lists makes me think how epic the 1990s was for films!
Not sure if you guys mentioned but a couple of others:
Strange Days
The Shawshank Redemption
Matrix 1
Apollo 13
Jurassic Park
Re: Best Films of the 1990s
The Shawshank Redemption
Apollo 13
These almost made my list. Apollo 13 really is amazing.
Strange Days
I liked it back in the day. I gotta watch this again and see how it holds up...it's in a dystopic, slightly futuristic 2000.
Jurassic Park
I think this would be held in higher regard had it never had all those sequels. It really was mind blowing at the time.
It's unfortunate that the horror genre was in the dark age at the time. Other than something in the late 90s like Scream, Blair Witch, or Sixth Sense, there's just nothing to represent the genre in a list.
Re: Best Films of the 1990s
A lot of bests in the 90s. Production standards had reached a peak level. Better cameras, better lightning, more realism. It would all be downhill from here.
Unforgiven (best American Western)
Phantom Menace (George Lucas)
Carlito's Way (Maybe De Palma's best)
Mission Impossible (best MI)
Heat (best crime thriller)
The Insider (best drama)
Casino (maybe best mob movie)
12 Monkeys (best time travel movie)
Rob Roy (best historical epic)
Last of the Mohicans (best indian movie)
Get Shorty (best meta)
Lost Highway (second best Lynch)
Alien 3 (last really good Alien movie)
Devil's Advocat (a great Hollywood movie)
Eyes Wide Shut (maybe Kubrick's best)
Snake Eyes (great DePalma)
Could easily name a bunch more that just misses the cut:
Wes Cravens New Nightmare
Seven
The Rock
The Matrix
Dark City
Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs
Shawshank Redemption
Usual Suspects
True Romance
Green Mile
Goodfellas
Absolute Power
A Perfect World
Re: Best Films of the 1990s
After going over that, I may lean towards Polluxlm's view that the 90s is on par or even better than the 70s. While 70s films look better, I had to leave off a lot more amazing films on this list than I did for the 70s.
Yep. While I love the grittiness of the 70s and the ambivalent/creative endings, for pure rewatchability its the 90s stuff. It's just so easy to just kind of watch this stuff and get sucked back into the decade. I think it's probably we all grew up during this decade and for better or worst we can relate to the films more. I had a hard time just putting 10, I had to leave off some great films as well.
In the Line of Fire
Unforgiven
Casino
Pulp Fiction
Jackie Brown
The Last Seduction
Seven
The King of New York
Heat
Four Weddings and a Funeral
The ones I left off:
Clueless : it's probably one of the quintiseential 90s comedies and Alicia Silverstone was never hotter or better. Weird to think now that Paul Rudd has had the better career.
Silence of the Lambs: had a really tough time leaving this one off. Another 90s essential.
Bound/ Wild Things: both get notoriety for the lesbian scenes but that's a disservice. Bound is a great cat/mouse/heist movie. Wild Things i s just a freaking sleazy and wonderful movie where people decieve each other like crazy
Rushmore: coming of age story with Bill Murray transforming into whatever you describe his acting is (it's way different than his 80s stuff) kick ass soundtrack
New Jack City
Jurrasic Park
The Game
The Grifters
Face Off
One False Move
State of Grace
Shallow Grave
Basic Instinct; another 90s essential but I had to leave it off, the second half drags a little
Sneakers
Gonin; 90s japanese film, sort of rare, Japanese version (kind of) of Heat
Some brief comments on those that did make the list: Pulp, Heat, In the Line of Fire, Four Weddings, are all comfort movies. I pop it in and relax. Four Weddings seems like an odd one amidst all the thrillers but I've always liked how it made me laugh with it's British charm plus I've always sort of respected the question it poses in the film : Is marriage overrated or do you even need or want to be married?
Seven is a damn masterpiece in terms of almost everything. It's like perfect. Constantly raining and dark. And then you have these characters who are bleak yet balanced with upbeat ones. Then there's the moral choice at the end that has to be made, and it doesn't matter if you've seen it more than once; it's still gripping.
Unforgiven is a western...and it's not at the same time. And that 's the brillant part. It takes what you know about the genre and sort of twists it around.
The Last Seduction; it's sort of a similar reasoning for Unforgiven. The femme fatale/lure (use your own term) usually doesn't get the starring role, it's usually a support character or just used to move the plot along. Fiorentino has a ball here as Bridget and it shows. There's also a very un PC (in current times) ending.
On Strange Days: I liked it (saw it within the last few years) but I found the tech parts a little dated, not horrible like some other 90s film but it could use a modern approach
Point Break, saw it a few years ago after having not seen it since the 90s. and you know what time totally changes your perspective. When I was growing up, whenver I saw that film I focused on the heists and the masks "gimmick". But the last time I saw it, I saw it as a celebration of the surfer culture and less of a heist film.
Just as I post this, I see Polluxm's list.
I just saw Lost Highway last month or whatever. It's very trippy
Carlito's Way is probably top 5 DePalna for me. Snake Eyes is really fun to rewatch because the plot doesn't matter as much and you pay attention more to the camera work and directing.
Re: Best Films of the 1990s
Schindler's List
The movie where Spielberg was forced to up his game. At heart he is a superficial, fun type director, yet he really excels here. Especially the first act is just ace. I didn't include it because there is so much to choose from, but definitely his best.
I just saw Lost Highway last month or whatever. It's very trippy
Carlito's Way is probably top 5 DePalna for me. Snake Eyes is really fun to rewatch because the plot doesn't matter as much and you pay attention more to the camera work and directing.
Ever since I got into movies Carlito's Way has been recommended as a great mob type movie. Back then I didn't get it, Goodfellas, Godfather just seemed so much better. But now I see the greatness. It can be hard to explain exactly what makes DePalma so great. He's definitely an acquired taste and he can also be very hit and miss. He's not flashy, he doesn't really do anything new. There is no obvious music, humor or coolness about him. But you can tell he loves what he's doing. He lives and breathe film. He's a bit like Lynch where he's got this ideal, romantic touch to his film making. So many directors fall prey to their own hype. They want to be the big man and somewhere along the way they lose their essence. Tarantino is a good example of this. Great, innovative, fun director in his early years, now he's become pretentious and full of himself. Lars Von Trier also went down this path. But DePalma stayed true.
Re: Best Films of the 1990s
Not a movie but deserves a mention.
Lars Von Trier - The Kingdom. Scandinavian humor at its very best. People may fail to appreciate this because they are unfamiliar with the culture, I don't know. Worth a watch if you can get it. Hilarious but also very dark and trippy. The "priest murdered by a demon" scene is really haunting.
