Best Movies Of The 90s: There where a lot of movies on the early and late 90’s, but this article will solely concern on the top best movies in the 1990’s. Action movies reached new heights of excitement, the horror genre experienced a renaissance, and epic dramas reigned supreme at the box office.
Following the end of the Cold War, the 1990s were a fascinating decade distinguished by a period of relative peace, but the early 2000s saw the start of the War on Terror, a worldwide war.
Beyond changes in music, technology, and fashion, this decade also saw a number of noteworthy movies come into existence.
List of 50 Best Movies Of The 90s (1990’s)
1. Title: Pulp Fiction
Release Year: 1994
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Runtime: 2h 34m
Quentin Tarantino’s mind-bending black-comedy masterpiece takes you on a wild ride through a world filled with blood, guns, gangsters, and cheeseburgers. It’s a lesson in post-modern storytelling and an iconic ’90s film.
2. Title: Fargo
Release Year: 1996
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Runtime: 1h 38m
While the TV reboot is impressive, nothing beats the original. The Coen brothers’ 1996 black comedy masterpiece stars Frances McDormand as Marge, a seven-months pregnant cop investigating a triple murder in small-town Minnesota.
3. Title: GoodFellas
Release Year: 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Runtime: 2h 21m
Goodfellas occupies a special place in public imagination, constantly captivating viewers whenever it’s on TV. No matter how many times you’ve seen it, you can’t help but stop and watch.
4. Title: The Lion King
Release Year: 1994
Director: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff
Runtime: 1h 58m
Disney’s epic classic follows Simba, a royal lion cub, on a journey of revenge for his father’s murder. This children’s film tackles dark themes like revenge, destiny, death, and politics, with a genuinely spine-chilling villain, Scar.
5. Title: Boyz N the Hood
Release Year: 1991
Director: John Singleton
Runtime: 1h 52m
This powerful film tells the story of Tre Styles, an African-American teenager growing up in South Central, facing tough choices in the wake of the Rodney King beating and race riots.
6. Title: Titanic
Release Year: 1997
Director: James Cameron
Runtime: 3h 14m
James Cameron’s romantic epic, with 11 Oscars to its name, takes you aboard the ill-fated Titanic, creating a global phenomenon.
7. Title: The Matrix
Release Year: 1999
Director: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
Runtime: 2h 16m
‘The Matrix’ made history as the first movie to sell 1 million copies on DVD. Keanu Reeves stars as Neo, a software writer who discovers that the world isn’t what it seems.
8. Title: Dazed and Confused
Release Year: 1993
Director: Richard Linklater
Runtime: 1h 42m
This coming-of-age film follows rowdy teenagers in 1976 Austin, Texas, celebrating their last day of high school.
9. Title: Toy Story
Release Year: 1995
Director: John Lasseter
Runtime: 1h 21m
Ever wonder what toys do when kids aren’t around? ‘Toy Story’ explores their adventures, from existential crises to friendship dramas and daring escapes.
10. Title: Malcolm X
Release Year: 1992
Director: Spike Lee
Runtime: 3h 22m
This biographical epic traces the life of the controversial and influential Black Nationalist leader, from his early days as a small-time gangster to his ministry with the Nation of Islam and eventual assassination.
11. Title: Princess Mononoke
Release Year: 1997
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Runtime: 2h 14m
Ashitaka embarks on a quest to cure a Tatarigami’s curse and becomes embroiled in a war between forest gods and a mining colony. Along the way, he encounters San, the Mononoke Hime.
12. Title: Europa
Release Year: 1991
Director: Lars von Trier
Runtime: 1h 52m
Set just after World War II, an American takes a sensitive railway job in Germany, navigating a politically charged environment with various individuals seeking to manipulate him.
13. Title: Sense and Sensibility
Release Year: 1995
Director: Ang Lee
Runtime: 2h 16m
Following the death of wealthy Mr. Dashwood, his second wife and three daughters are left in financial hardship due to inheritance rules. The two eldest daughters represent the title’s opposing qualities.
14. Title: Life Is Beautiful
Release Year: 1997
Director: Roberto Benigni
Runtime: 1h 56m
In the face of the Holocaust, an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son use a blend of determination, humor, and imagination to shield the boy from the horrors around their camp.
15. Title: Rushmore
Release Year: 1998
Director: Wes Anderson
Runtime: 1h 33m
A teenager at Rushmore Academy develops a complex relationship with a much older teacher and befriends a middle-aged industrialist. Discovering their affair triggers a vendetta.
16. Title: The Silence of the Lambs
Release Year: 1991
Director: Jonathan Demme
Runtime: 1h 58m
A young F.B.I. cadet forms an uneasy alliance with an incarcerated and manipulative cannibalistic killer to capture another serial murderer, known for skinning his victims.
17. Title: Hamlet
Release Year: 1996
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Runtime: 4h 2m
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother married to the murderer, his uncle. Meanwhile, war looms.
18. Title: Dreams
Release Year: 1990
Director: Akira Kurosawa, Ishirô Honda
Runtime: 1h 59m
A collection of tales inspired by director Akira Kurosawa’s recurring dreams.
19. Title: Hard Boiled
Release Year: 1992
Director: John Woo
Runtime: 2h 8m
A resilient cop joins forces with an undercover agent to dismantle a sinister mobster and his criminal syndicate.
20. Title: Audition
Release Year: 1999
Director: Takashi Miike
Runtime: 1h 55m
A widower, at a friend’s behest, participates in an unusual audition to find a new wife. However, his favored candidate isn’t quite what she appears to be.
21. Title: Dead Man Walking
Release Year: 1995
Director: Tim Robbins
Runtime: 2h 2m
A nun offers comfort to a convicted killer on death row, empathizing with both the condemned man and the victim’s families.
22. Title: The Sweet Hereafter
Release Year: 1997
Director: Atom Egoyan
Runtime: 1h 52m
A small-town bus crash prompts a lawyer to represent the grieving families, uncovering hidden truths that challenge their perception of the tragedy.
23. Title: The Player
Release Year: 1992
Director: Robert Altman
Runtime: 2h 4m
A Hollywood studio executive receives death threats from a rejected screenwriter. The question is, which one?
24. Title: Porco Rosso
Release Year: 1992
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Runtime: 1h 34m
Set in 1930s Italy, a World War I veteran pilot is cursed to appear as an anthropomorphic pig.
25. Title: Dead Man
Release Year: 1995
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Runtime: 2h 1m
On the run after a murder, accountant William Blake encounters a peculiar Native American named Nobody who guides him on a journey into the spiritual world.
26. Title: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Release Year: 1998
Director: Terry Gilliam
Runtime: 1h 58m
An eccentric journalist and his psychopathic lawyer embark on a series of psychedelic escapades in Las Vegas.
27. Title: Philadelphia
Release Year: 1993
Director: Jonathan Demme
Runtime: 2h 5m
When a man with HIV is fired by his law firm due to his condition, he hires a homophobic small-time lawyer for a wrongful dismissal suit.
28. Title: Raise the Red Lantern
Release Year: 1991
Director: Yimou Zhang
Runtime: 2h 5m
A young woman becomes the fourth wife of a wealthy lord, learning to navigate the strict rules and tensions within the household.
29. Title: The Ice Storm
Release Year: 1997
Director: Ang Lee
Runtime: 1h 52m
In suburban 1973 New Canaan, Connecticut, middle-class families experiment with casual sex and substance abuse, ultimately losing control of their lives.
30. Title: Felicia’s Journey
Release Year: 1999
Director: Atom Egoyan
Runtime: 1h 56m
A young Irish woman travels to England to find her boyfriend, receiving unexpected help from a man with unsettling secrets.
31. Title: Only Yesterday
Release Year: 1991
Director: Isao Takahata
Runtime: 1h 59m
A 27-year-old office worker reminisces about her childhood in Tokyo while visiting the countryside.
32. Title: Reversal of Fortune
Release Year: 1990
Director: Barbet Schroeder
Runtime: 1h 50m
Wealthy Sunny von Bülow lies comatose, and her husband Claus is convicted of attempted murder. He maintains his innocence and seeks help from attorney Alan Dershowitz for his appeal.
33. Title: Secrets & Lies
Release Year: 1996
Director: Mike Leigh
Runtime: 2h 16m
After the death of her adoptive parents, a successful young black optometrist reconnects with her biological mother, a struggling white factory worker in East London.
34. Title: Unforgiven
Release Year: 1992
Director: Clint Eastwood
Runtime: 2h 10m
Retired Old West gunslinger William Munny reluctantly accepts one last job, aided by his old partner Ned Logan and a young man known as The “Schofield Kid.”
35. Title: Whisper of the Heart
Release Year: 1995
Director: Yoshifumi Kondô
Runtime: 1h 50m
A love story between a girl who loves reading books and a boy who has read all the library books she selects.
36. Title: Amistad
Release Year: 1997
Director: Steven Spielberg
Runtime: 2h 35m
In 1839, the rebellion of Mende captives aboard a Spanish-owned ship sparks a major controversy in the United States when the ship is captured near Long Island. Courts must decide whether the Mende are slaves or legally free.
37. Title: Natural Born Killers
Release Year: 1994
Director: Oliver Stone
Runtime: 1h 59m
Two victims of traumatic childhoods become lovers and psychopathic serial killers, sensationalized by the mass media.
38. Title: Bound
Release Year: 1996
Director: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
Runtime: 1h 49m
Tough ex-con Corky and her lover Violet hatch a scheme to steal mob money and frame Violet’s crooked boyfriend, Caesar.
39. Title: The Remains of the Day
Release Year: 1993
Director: James Ivory
Runtime: 2h 14m
A butler, who dedicated his life to service in the years leading up to World War II, realizes too late the misguided nature of his loyalty to his lordly employer.
40. Title: The Usual Suspects
Release Year: 1995
Director: Bryan Singer
Runtime: 1h 46m
The lone survivor of a pier shootout recounts how a notorious criminal influenced the events that began with five criminals meeting in a seemingly random police lineup.
41. Title: The Adjuster
Release Year: 1991
Director: Atom Egoyan
Runtime: 1h 42m
A family devoid of sincerity faces a crisis that tests their bonds.
42. Title: Barton Fink
Release Year: 1991
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Runtime: 1h 56m
A renowned New York playwright is lured to California to write for the movies and discovers the dark side of Hollywood.
43. Title: Saving Private Ryan
Release Year: 1998
Director: Steven Spielberg
Runtime: 2h 49m
After the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers goes behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have perished in combat.
44. Title: The Nightmare Before Christmas
Release Year: 1993
Director: Henry Selick
Runtime: 1h 16m
Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, discovers Christmas Town, leading to confusion and chaos as he tries to bring Christmas to his home.
45. Title: Perfect Blue
Release Year: 1997
Director: Satoshi Kon
Runtime: 1h 21m
A pop singer abandons her music career to become an actress but is plagued by an obsessed fan and a haunting past.
46. Title: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
Release Year: 1990
Director: Tom Stoppard
Runtime: 1h 57m
Two minor characters from Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ stumble through life, unaware of their scripted existence and unable to deviate from it.
47. Title: Chasing Amy
Release Year: 1997
Director: Kevin Smith
Runtime: 1h 53m
Comic book artists Holden and Banky’s lives take a turn when they meet Alyssa, a fellow comic book artist. Holden falls for her, only to discover she’s a lesbian.
48. Title: Breaking the Waves
Release Year: 1996
Director: Lars von Trier
Runtime: 2h 39m
In a deeply religious community in Scotland, a woman makes a pact with God to save her paralyzed husband’s life, with tragic consequences.
49. Title: The Piano
Release Year: 1993
Director: Jane Campion
Runtime: 2h
In the mid-19th century, a mute woman is sent to New Zealand along with her young daughter and prized piano for an arranged marriage to a wealthy landowner, but she’s soon lured by the bright lights of the town.
50. Title: Before Sunrise
Release Year: 1995
Director: Richard Linklater
Runtime: 1h 41m
A young man and woman meet on a train in Europe and spend one magical evening together in Vienna.
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