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1990s

Independent film went mainstream, CGI changed everything, and Tarantino, the Coens and Pixar arrived. From Goodfellas to The Matrix — the decade that defined the modern movie.

Top 10 movies of 1990

Wiseguys, wolves and a kid home alone — a decade opens with crime sagas and record-breaking comedy.

  1. Goodfellas — IMDb 8.7, Rotten Tomatoes 93%, $47.1M box office. Directed by Martin Scorsese; starring Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci.
  2. Dances With Wolves — IMDb 8.0, Rotten Tomatoes 87%, $424.2M box office. Directed by Kevin Costner; starring Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney Grant.
  3. Home Alone — IMDb 7.8, Rotten Tomatoes 66%, $476.7M box office. Directed by Chris Columbus; starring Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern.
  4. Edward Scissorhands — IMDb 7.8, Rotten Tomatoes 92%, $86M box office. Directed by Tim Burton; starring Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest.
  5. Misery — IMDb 7.8, Rotten Tomatoes 86%, $61.3M box office. Directed by Rob Reiner; starring James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth.
  6. Miller's Crossing — IMDb 7.7, Rotten Tomatoes 93%, $5M box office. Directed by Joel Coen, Coen brothers; starring Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro.
  7. Total Recall — IMDb 7.5, Rotten Tomatoes 80%, $261.4M box office. Directed by Paul Verhoeven; starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone.
  8. The Hunt for Red October — IMDb 7.5, Rotten Tomatoes 88%, $200.5M box office. Directed by John McTiernan; starring Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn.
  9. Ghost — IMDb 7.1, Rotten Tomatoes 76%, $505.7M box office. Directed by Jerry Zucker; starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg.
  10. Pretty Woman — IMDb 7.1, Rotten Tomatoes 65%, $463.4M box office. Directed by Garry Marshall; starring Richard Gere, Julia Roberts.

Top 10 movies of 1991

Hannibal Lecter sweeps the Oscars, T-2 rewrites the effects playbook, and Belle gets a ballroom.

  1. The Silence of the Lambs — IMDb 8.6, Rotten Tomatoes 95%, $272.7M box office. Directed by Jonathan Demme; starring Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn.
  2. Terminator 2: Judgment Day — IMDb 8.6, Rotten Tomatoes 90%, $519M box office. Directed by James Cameron; starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick.
  3. Beauty and the Beast — IMDb 8.0, Rotten Tomatoes 95%, $451.2M box office. Directed by Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise; starring Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White.
  4. JFK — IMDb 8.0, Rotten Tomatoes 85%, $205.4M box office. Directed by Oliver Stone; starring Kevin Costner, Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones.
  5. Boyz n the Hood — IMDb 7.7, Rotten Tomatoes 93%, $57.5M box office. Directed by John Singleton; starring Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chestnut.
  6. Thelma & Louise — IMDb 7.6, Rotten Tomatoes 87%, $45.4M box office. Directed by Ridley Scott; starring Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel.
  7. Point Break — IMDb 7.3, Rotten Tomatoes 69%, $83.5M box office. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow; starring Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, Gary Busey.
  8. The Addams Family — IMDb 7.0, Rotten Tomatoes 67%, $191.5M box office. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld; starring Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd.
  9. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves — IMDb 6.9, Rotten Tomatoes 52%, $390.5M box office. Directed by Kevin Reynolds; starring Kevin Costner, Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater.
  10. Hook — IMDb 6.8, Rotten Tomatoes 37%, $301M box office. Directed by Steven Spielberg; starring Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, Julia Roberts.

Top 10 movies of 1992

Eastwood’s final western, Tarantino’s debut and a Genie with a lot of phenomenal cosmic power.

  1. Unforgiven — IMDb 8.2, Rotten Tomatoes 96%, $159M box office. Directed by Clint Eastwood; starring Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris.
  2. Reservoir Dogs — IMDb 8.2, Rotten Tomatoes 90%, $22M box office. Directed by Quentin Tarantino; starring Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn.
  3. Aladdin — IMDb 8.0, Rotten Tomatoes 96%, $504M box office. Directed by John Musker, Ron Clements; starring Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, Linda Larkin.
  4. A Few Good Men — IMDb 7.8, Rotten Tomatoes 85%, $243.2M box office. Directed by Rob Reiner; starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore.
  5. Malcolm X — IMDb 7.7, Rotten Tomatoes 89%, $73M box office. Directed by Spike Lee; starring Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Albert Hall.
  6. The Last of the Mohicans — IMDb 7.6, Rotten Tomatoes 88%, $143M box office. Directed by Michael Mann; starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Jodhi May.
  7. Batman Returns — IMDb 7.1, Rotten Tomatoes 81%, $266.8M box office. Directed by Tim Burton; starring Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer.
  8. Basic Instinct — IMDb 7.1, Rotten Tomatoes 56%, $353M box office. Directed by Paul Verhoeven; starring Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, George Dzundza.
  9. Wayne's World — IMDb 7.0, Rotten Tomatoes 79%, $183.1M box office. Directed by Penelope Spheeris; starring Dana Carvey, Rob Lowe.
  10. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York — IMDb 6.9, Rotten Tomatoes 35%, $359M box office. Directed by Chris Columbus; starring Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern.

Top 10 movies of 1993

Spielberg’s double: dinosaurs that broke the box office and a Holocaust drama that broke hearts.

  1. Schindler's List — IMDb 9.0, Rotten Tomatoes 98%, $322.2M box office. Directed by Steven Spielberg; starring Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes.
  2. Jurassic Park — IMDb 8.2, Rotten Tomatoes 91%, $1.06B box office. Directed by Steven Spielberg; starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum.
  3. In the Name of the Father — IMDb 8.1, Rotten Tomatoes 94%, $65.8M box office. Directed by Jim Sheridan; starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Emma Thompson, Pete Postlethwaite.
  4. Groundhog Day — IMDb 8.0, Rotten Tomatoes 93%, $105M box office. Directed by Harold Ramis; starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott.
  5. The Nightmare Before Christmas — IMDb 7.9, Rotten Tomatoes 95%, $109M box office. Directed by Henry Selick; starring Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara.
  6. The Fugitive — IMDb 7.8, Rotten Tomatoes 96%, $368.9M box office. Directed by Andrew Davis; starring Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Sela Ward.
  7. Tombstone — IMDb 7.8, Rotten Tomatoes 76%, $73.2M box office. Directed by George P. Cosmatos; starring Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Michael Biehn.
  8. Philadelphia — IMDb 7.7, Rotten Tomatoes 81%, $206.7M box office. Directed by Jonathan Demme; starring Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Jason Robards.
  9. Dazed and Confused — IMDb 7.6, Rotten Tomatoes 94%, $8.2M box office. Directed by Richard Linklater; starring Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, Rory Cochrane.
  10. Mrs. Doubtfire — IMDb 7.1, Rotten Tomatoes 71%, $441.3M box office. Directed by Chris Columbus; starring Sally Field, Pierce Brosnan, Harvey Fierstein.

Top 10 movies of 1994

Arguably the greatest film year of the decade — Shawshank, Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump and The Lion King.

  1. The Shawshank Redemption — IMDb 9.3, Rotten Tomatoes 89%, $73.3M box office. Directed by Frank Darabont; starring Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton.
  2. Pulp Fiction — IMDb 8.8, Rotten Tomatoes 92%, $213.9M box office. Directed by Quentin Tarantino; starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman.
  3. Forrest Gump — IMDb 8.8, Rotten Tomatoes 75%, $678M box office. Directed by Robert Zemeckis; starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise.
  4. The Lion King — IMDb 8.5, Rotten Tomatoes 92%, $979M box office. Directed by Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff; starring Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons.
  5. Léon: The Professional — IMDb 8.5, Rotten Tomatoes 76%, $45.3M box office. Directed by Luc Besson; starring Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Natalie Portman.
  6. Ed Wood — IMDb 7.8, Rotten Tomatoes 92%, $13.8M box office. Directed by Tim Burton; starring Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker.
  7. Speed — IMDb 7.3, Rotten Tomatoes 95%, $350.4M box office. Directed by Jan de Bont; starring Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock.
  8. True Lies — IMDb 7.3, Rotten Tomatoes 77%, $378.9M box office. Directed by James Cameron; starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold.
  9. Dumb and Dumber — IMDb 7.3, Rotten Tomatoes 69%, $247.3M box office. Directed by Peter Farrelly; starring Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Lauren Holly.
  10. Four Weddings and a Funeral — IMDb 7.1, Rotten Tomatoes 92%, $245.7M box office. Directed by Mike Newell; starring Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, Kristin Scott Thomas.

Top 10 movies of 1995

Pixar’s first feature, a box on a doorstep, and De Niro and Pacino face to face at last.

  1. Seven — IMDb 8.6, Rotten Tomatoes 84%, $327.3M box office. Directed by David Fincher; starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow.
  2. The Usual Suspects — IMDb 8.5, Rotten Tomatoes 87%, $67M box office. Directed by Bryan Singer; starring Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro.
  3. Toy Story — IMDb 8.3, Rotten Tomatoes 100%, $401.2M box office. Directed by John Lasseter; starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts.
  4. Heat — IMDb 8.3, Rotten Tomatoes 84%, $187.4M box office. Directed by Michael Mann; starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Tom Sizemore.
  5. Braveheart — IMDb 8.3, Rotten Tomatoes 74%, $209M box office. Directed by Mel Gibson; starring Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan, Catherine McCormack.
  6. Casino — IMDb 8.2, Rotten Tomatoes 79%, $116.1M box office. Directed by Martin Scorsese; starring Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci.
  7. Before Sunrise — IMDb 8.1, Rotten Tomatoes 100%, $22.5M box office. Directed by Richard Linklater; starring Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy.
  8. Apollo 13 — IMDb 7.7, Rotten Tomatoes 94%, $355.2M box office. Directed by Ron Howard; starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton.
  9. Die Hard with a Vengeance — IMDb 7.6, Rotten Tomatoes 60%, $366M box office. Directed by John McTiernan; starring Bruce Willis, Jeremy Irons, Samuel L. Jackson.
  10. Clueless — IMDb 6.9, Rotten Tomatoes 82%, $88M box office. Directed by Amy Heckerling; starring Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy.

Top 10 movies of 1996

Aliens blow up the White House, a pregnant police chief cracks a case, and Scream reboots horror.

  1. Fargo — IMDb 8.1, Rotten Tomatoes 95%, $60.6M box office. Directed by Joel Coen, Coen brothers; starring Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi.
  2. Trainspotting — IMDb 8.1, Rotten Tomatoes 90%, $72M box office. Directed by Danny Boyle; starring Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller.
  3. Scream — IMDb 7.5, Rotten Tomatoes 78%, $173M box office. Directed by Wes Craven; starring David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox.
  4. The English Patient — IMDb 7.4, Rotten Tomatoes 86%, $232M box office. Directed by Anthony Minghella; starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe.
  5. The Rock — IMDb 7.4, Rotten Tomatoes 76%, $335.6M box office. Directed by Michael Bay; starring Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris.
  6. Jerry Maguire — IMDb 7.3, Rotten Tomatoes 84%, $273.6M box office. Directed by Cameron Crowe; starring Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger.
  7. Mission: Impossible — IMDb 7.2, Rotten Tomatoes 65%, $457.7M box office. Directed by Brian De Palma; starring Jon Voight, Henry Czerny, Emmanuelle Béart.
  8. Independence Day — IMDb 7.0, Rotten Tomatoes 77%, $817.4M box office. Directed by Roland Emmerich; starring Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum.
  9. Happy Gilmore — IMDb 7.0, Rotten Tomatoes 66%, $41.4M box office. Directed by Dennis Dugan; starring Christopher McDonald, Julie Bowen, Carl Weathers.
  10. Twister — IMDb 6.6, Rotten Tomatoes 68%, $499M box office. Directed by Jan de Bont; starring Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jami Gertz.

Top 10 movies of 1997

Titanic becomes the biggest film ever made, while L.A. Confidential and Boogie Nights steal the critics.

  1. Life Is Beautiful — IMDb 8.6, Rotten Tomatoes 81%, $230.1M box office. Directed by Roberto Benigni; starring Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini.
  2. Good Will Hunting — IMDb 8.4, Rotten Tomatoes 97%, $225.9M box office. Directed by Gus Van Sant; starring Robin Williams, Stellan Skarsgård, Minnie Driver.
  3. Princess Mononoke — IMDb 8.3, Rotten Tomatoes 93%, $231.3M box office. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki; starring Yōji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yūko Tanaka.
  4. L.A. Confidential — IMDb 8.2, Rotten Tomatoes 99%, $126.2M box office. Directed by Curtis Hanson; starring Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce.
  5. Titanic — IMDb 8.0, Rotten Tomatoes 88%, $2.26B box office. Directed by James Cameron; starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane.
  6. Boogie Nights — IMDb 7.9, Rotten Tomatoes 91%, $43.1M box office. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson; starring Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds.
  7. The Fifth Element — IMDb 7.6, Rotten Tomatoes 70%, $263.9M box office. Directed by Luc Besson; starring Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm.
  8. Jackie Brown — IMDb 7.5, Rotten Tomatoes 88%, $74.7M box office. Directed by Quentin Tarantino; starring Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster.
  9. Men in Black — IMDb 7.3, Rotten Tomatoes 91%, $589.4M box office. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld; starring Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino.
  10. Face/Off — IMDb 7.3, Rotten Tomatoes 93%, $246M box office. Directed by John Woo; starring John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen.

Top 10 movies of 1998

Omaha Beach, a man living on TV and The Dude abides.

  1. Saving Private Ryan — IMDb 8.6, Rotten Tomatoes 94%, $482.3M box office. Directed by Steven Spielberg; starring Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Matt Damon.
  2. American History X — IMDb 8.5, Rotten Tomatoes 84%, $23.8M box office. Directed by Tony Kaye; starring Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Fairuza Balk.
  3. The Truman Show — IMDb 8.2, Rotten Tomatoes 94%, $264M box office. Directed by Peter Weir; starring Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich.
  4. The Big Lebowski — IMDb 8.1, Rotten Tomatoes 80%, $48.3M box office. Directed by Joel Coen, Coen brothers; starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore.
  5. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels — IMDb 8.1, Rotten Tomatoes 75%, $28.1M box office. Directed by Guy Ritchie; starring Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran.
  6. Mulan — IMDb 7.7, Rotten Tomatoes 91%, $304M box office. Directed by Barry Cook, Tony Bancroft; starring Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, BD Wong.
  7. Shakespeare in Love — IMDb 7.1, Rotten Tomatoes 92%, $289M box office. Directed by John Madden; starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush.
  8. There's Something About Mary — IMDb 7.1, Rotten Tomatoes 84%, $369.9M box office. Directed by Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly; starring Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Ben Stiller.
  9. Rush Hour — IMDb 7.1, Rotten Tomatoes 62%, $245.3M box office. Directed by Brett Ratner; starring Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Tom Wilkinson.
  10. Armageddon — IMDb 6.7, Rotten Tomatoes 42%, $553.7M box office. Directed by Michael Bay; starring Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler.

Top 10 movies of 1999

There is no spoon. The final year of the century might be the most influential of them all.

  1. Fight Club — IMDb 8.8, Rotten Tomatoes 81%, $102.4M box office. Directed by David Fincher; starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter.
  2. The Matrix — IMDb 8.7, Rotten Tomatoes 83%, $473.3M box office. Directed by The Wachowskis; starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss.
  3. The Green Mile — IMDb 8.6, Rotten Tomatoes 78%, $286.8M box office. Directed by Frank Darabont; starring Tom Hanks, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt.
  4. American Beauty — IMDb 8.3, Rotten Tomatoes 87%, $356.3M box office. Directed by Sam Mendes; starring Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch.
  5. The Sixth Sense — IMDb 8.2, Rotten Tomatoes 86%, $672.8M box office. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan; starring Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams.
  6. Magnolia — IMDb 8.0, Rotten Tomatoes 82%, $48.4M box office. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson; starring Jeremy Blackman, Tom Cruise, Melinda Dillon.
  7. Toy Story 2 — IMDb 7.9, Rotten Tomatoes 100%, $511.4M box office. Directed by John Lasseter; starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen.
  8. Being John Malkovich — IMDb 7.7, Rotten Tomatoes 94%, $23.1M box office. Directed by Spike Jonze; starring John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener.
  9. Office Space — IMDb 7.6, Rotten Tomatoes 82%, $12.2M box office. Directed by Mike Judge; starring Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, Stephen Root.
  10. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace — IMDb 6.5, Rotten Tomatoes 54%, $1.05B box office. Directed by George Lucas; starring Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman.
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