15. Clueless (1995)
Cinematically speaking,Cluelessmay not be the most sophisticated film to come out of the 90s. But man, is it iconic! Made back when chick flicks weren’t quite so cringe and predictable,Cluelessboasts a popping wardrobe and tons of memorable lines.
Technically,Cluelessis an adaptation of the 1815 Jane Austen novelEmma, but you wouldn’t know it. Alicia Silverstone stars as a rich and shallow high school student who ends up falling for her former stepbrother (played by Paul Rudd).
Cluelessisn’t just fun to watch. It’s actually quite highly regarded in cinema’s feminist circles! From the tartan suits to the 90s soundtrack, so many—including myself—are still obsessed with this one.
Related:The Best Feminist Movies (And What They Did Right)
14. The Matrix (1999)
Influenced by cyberpunk and Japanese animation, Lana and Lilly Wachowski ended up creating a sci-fi film in 1999 that would influence the medium for decades to come.
The tone of Christopher Nolan’sBatmanfilms, the popularity of the comic book film genre, the advancements in special effects—all of these things are partly due to the success ofThe Matrix.
Keanu Reeves stars as computer programmer Neo, who’s “woken up” to the reality of the Matrix, a simulated world that’s run by sentient machines. He’s also prophesied to be The One who will free all mankind from enslavement to the machines.
Today, people say strange sightings and minor miracles are “glitches in the Matrix.” It’s gone beyond cinema and into our everyday vocabulary, even sparking entire conspiracy theories!
Related:The Best Cyberpunk Movies of All Time
13. Pulp Fiction (1994)
Quentin Tarantino has put out a lot of hits across his filmography, but none have been more iconic than his independent noir flickPulp Fiction. Split into seven chapters,Pulp Fictionis told non-chronologically—and that’s just one of its many quirks.
John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson open the movie as two foul-mouthed, short-tempered, incredibly entertaining hitmen who are seeking a briefcase. A stunning example of a MacGuffin in action.
As the narratives interweave, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Christopher Walken, and Bruce Willis all make appearances.Pulp Fictionwon the Palme d’Or at Cannes and was hailed as a self-reflexive, masterfully written touchstone of postmodern cinema.
Related:What’s a MacGuffin? The Most Iconic Movie MacGuffins
12. Trainspotting (1996)
This list is crowded with Hollywood classics, but what about the Brits? During the 1990s, British cinema was having its own boom way across the pond. You’ve probably even seen a bunch of them.
There were avant-garde films likeOrlandoandShallow Grave; cultural homages likeVelvet GoldmineandSense and Sensibility; Hugh Grant rom-coms likeNotting HillandFour Weddings and a Funeral; and historical biopics likeChaplinandElizabeth.
ButTrainspottingis my UK entry of choice, hurtling at us in a drug-fueled rage from up north. Danny Boyle set up his trademark style inTrainspotting, which centers on a group of heroin addicts in Scotland.
Grimy, trippy, funny, and occasionally revolting,Trainspottingis as much about the depravity of addiction as it is Edinburgh’s poor economy, all tied up with an anti-consumerist narration from Ewan McGregor.
Related:The Most Psychedelic Drug Movies
11. Jurassic Park (1993)
Before movie franchises were the norm, blockbusters likeJurassic ParkandIndiana Jones(both thanks to Steven Spielberg, king of nostalgia and whimsy) were such treats to watch.
TheJurassic Parkseries now has six installments, each one edging further away from the magic of the first. Not only was it a great escapist adventure that unfolded in a theme park of resurrected dinosaurs, but it also made several big technological leaps!
Hook,Schindler’s List,Amistad,Saving Private Ryan, and twoJurassic Parkfilms… It was an impressive decade for Spielberg, but still comparatively quiet against some of the director’s fuller decades!
Related:The Most Rewatchable Movies of All Time
10. Goodfellas (1990)
Martin Scorsese is the king of gangster movies, andGoodfellasremains his most beloved film of the genre.Mean Streets,Gangs of New York,The Irishman… sure, they’re all brilliant and worth watching, but everybody knowsGoodfellasreigns supreme.
Starring Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci,Goodfellasis brimming with tension and shootouts. Scorsese’s use of the long take has been feverishly analyzed by film students and cinephiles as he takes us through the seedy underbelly of Brooklyn.
Set in the 1950s,Goodfellasfollows one man’s rise through the ranks of the Italian mob. It’s based on the 1985 bookWiseguy: Life in a Mafia Familyby crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi.
Related:The Best Gangster Movies of All Time
9. The Truman Show (1998)
The Truman Show(as well asEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) was a hint to the spiritual awakening and existential interests of Jim Carrey to come, who seems to always be talking about the nature of reality and power of manifestation nowadays.
Apart from its super intriguing and original premise—about an average man who lives his entire life in a fake town with his day-to-day activities broadcasted live on television 24/7 without his knowledge—The Truman Showalso mulls over some potent philosophical themes.
Truman’s studio dome might be an extravagant production, but to him it is fully reality (until he realizes it’s not). And that raises a frightening question: Who’s to say we aren’t mistaken about ours, too?
The fact that he’s called Tru(e)man hints to the film’s overarching narrative of spiritual enlightenment, with Truman being symbolic of maya (the veil of illusion in Hinduism).
Related:The Most Existential Movies About Life
8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Few horror films have made even a fraction of the impact thatThe Silence of the Lambsmade. Audiences have developed an insatiable taste for serial killers over the past few decades, and Hannibal Lecter was one of the first.
The psychopathic cannibal is eerily portrayed to perfection by Anthony Hopkins, and what sets Lecter apart from other on-screen psychos are his manners and intellect. He’s educated, deceptive, and speaks with a creepy sense of calm that’s downright uncanny.
Jodie Foster plays Clarice Starling, an FBI agent who picks Lecter’s brain to help solve another case. Jonathan Demme’s masterpiece thriller won six Academy Awards in 1992.
Related:The Best Movies With Female Detectives
7. The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Coen brothers are the perfect marriage of indie and Hollywood, bringing the weird and wonderful to mainstream audiences.
Their golden age happened between the late-1980s to the 2000s, withRaising Arizona,Fargo,Burn After Reading,No Country for Old Men,Barton Fink, andMiller’s Crossingmaking cinephile headlines.
I’m choosingThe Big Lebowskias the best 90s Coen comedy, which now has a cult status to matchA Clockwork OrangeandAmerican Psycho.
Its iconic humor is primarily due to protagonist “The Dude,” portrayed by Jeff Bridges in a permanent stoner-hippie getup with White Russian in hand. Don’t be surprised by the handful of psychedelic montages!
The Big Lebowskiis also a match for Quentin Tarantino’s foot fetish, following the bizarre sequence of events that occur after a mann pees on The Dude’s favorite rug. It’s pretty much the only thing that disturbs his calm (stoned) demeanor!
Related:The Best Stoner Movies of All Time
6. Fight Club (1999)
The first rule of Fight Club has been broken many, many times. In fact, film buffs haven’t stopped talking aboutFight Clubsince it was released way back at the tail end of the 1990s.
Brad Pitt stars as Edward Norton’s zany new buddy, who stands against all forms of materialism. Inspired by his lifestyle, Norton (known only as “The Narrator”) ditches his apartment to run an underground fight club.
The plot twists, hidden clues, cinematography, anti-capitalist agenda… there’s just so much to pick apart! David Fincher directs this adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s 1996 novel, imbuing it with his usual shadowy color grading and sculpted dialogue.
Related:Who Is Tyler Durden? Clues and Hints You Probably Missed
5. The Green Mile (1999)
The Green Mileis up there among the saddest movies that’ll make you weep. It’s not about war or lost romance, but about a death row inmate with supernatural powers and his prison guard who has a UTI.
As a 90s flick starring Tom Hanks, you know this one’s going to be either heartwarming or heartbreaking. So, where does the sobbing come in?
Set in 1930s Louisiana, the supernatural John Coffey (played by Michael Clarke Duncan) is sentenced to death because of his race, not because he’s guilty. And though his magical powers can take other people’s pain away, it means he has to suffer that pain himself.
The Green Mileprides itself on its use of juxtaposition—in genre (realism drama meets fantasy), characters (love them or loathe them), and expectations (Coffey’s towering build mismatches his childlike soul).
Related:The Best Movies With Unhappy Endings
4. Forrest Gump (1994)
Forrest Gumpswarms with catchy, quotable phrases. A fine example of the bildungsroman genre,Forrest Gumpalso went on to win multiple Academy Awards, including Best Actor in a Leading Role for Tom Hanks, who starred as the dumb-but-lovable optimist Forrest.
“I may not be a smart man, but I know what love is,” Forrest pleads to the troubled love of his life (played by Robin Wright).
Despite his meager IQ of 75, Forrest leads a pretty eventful life: he’s a Vietnam War veteran, a table tennis champion, a fisherman, a philanthropist, a world-famous runner, a millionaire. And the best part? Forrest achieves all of this by accident!
Director Robert Zemeckis’s film is based on the 1986 novel by Winston Groom, and it’s sure to warm the old cockles.
Related:The Best Examples of Positive Masculinity in Movies
3. Good Will Hunting (1997)
You’ve probably heard this film raved about a million times, so let’s make it a million-and-one.
Robin Williams and Matt Damon (who also wrote the original script with co-star Ben Affleck while in college) form the perfect patient-therapist duo in Gus Van Sant’s drama.
Matt Damon’s Will Hunting is a genius in disguise, working as a janitor at the local university and getting drunk on the weekends. But after he “secretly” solves a near-impossible mathematical equation, he’s forced into therapy in exchange for not going to prison.
Good Will Huntingaddresses some important topics surrounding masculinity, domestic abuse, social class, and heartbreak, resonating just as much today as it did when it first came out.
Related:The Best Movies About Geniuses
2. Titanic (1997)
A fresh-faced Leonardo DiCaprio and his blustering old-school romance with Kate Winslet had viewers swooning overTitanic. Sure, James Cameron’s epic was torture to make, but it was totally worth it!
Not only isTitanicone of the most famous films in all of cinema, but it also shattered box office records back in the 1990s.
The first half of the movie takes us on a whirlwind journey of socially improper love between a homeless man and a high-class woman who’s stuck in an arranged marriage.
The second half recreates the experience of passengers on board the RMS Titanic in 1912 as it hits an iceberg, splits in half, and sinks to the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean.
The sheer scope ofTitanichad audiences in awe, who gasped and cried their way through the couple’s doomed love story.
Related:The Best Billion Dollar Movies That Are Actually Good
1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Voted one of—if notthe—best movie ever made, I couldn’t leaveThe Shawshank Redemptionoff this list. Based on the 1982 Stephen King novella,The Shawshank Redemptionmostly takes place in a 1940s prison.
Andy Dufresne (played by Tim Robbins) isn’t your usual criminal. After he’s sent to prison, he quickly befriends Red (played by Morgan Freeman) who’s “the only guilty man in Shawshank.”
While everyone else claims they’re innocent, Andy is the only prisoner who actually is. It’s a shame he’s serving a double life sentence! Though you wouldn’t think it from his calm aura and the way he “strolls, like a man in a park without a care.”
Frank Darabont’s classic movie grabbed viewers by the heartstrings. A strong connection is formed with its sympathetic characters, who we watch as they grow and develop across a 20-year span.
Related:The Best Movies About Redemption
Other honorable mentions:
