This article lists ten of the best '90s movies according to the author. They include 'Trainspotting', 'The Matrix', 'Pulp Fiction', and 'Titanic', among others.
If you're looking at overall great decades for cinema, and trying to single out which was the best one overall, the two main competitors – at least of the 20th century – are likely going to be the 1970s and 1990s.
What follows is not an argument that the 1990s was better, but an acknowledgment that the decade was at least one of the very best in cinema history, with a selection of movies to showcase that. These are among the best of the ‘90s, and they also feel like the most important movies of the ‘90s.
If a movie made a splash at the time, or seemed to summarize the decade in some way, or did a bit of both while having enduring legacies beyond the 1990s, then such a movie has a chance of landing on this ranking. 10 'Trainspotting' The soundtrack plays a fairly decent role in Trainspotting being as beloved a cult classic as it is, and the music’s also one factor in the movie’s overall ‘90s energy and style.
Yes, there are songs in the soundtrack from before the 1990s, but those older tracks are paired well with more contemporary music, and the attitude of doing that and making it work in such a way feels fitting for the time. Somehow. Again, vibes.
Narratively, Trainspotting is mostly about addiction, and the chaos that comes about when life, already with its ups and downs, is made simultaneously more exhilarating and more despairing when drugs enter the picture. You do get an exploration of the good with the bad, which makes Trainspotting surprisingly nuanced, and there is almost a level of danger to the whole film that would've been alarming in 1996, and still feels quite surprising, in some ways, three decades later.
Oh, and the film led to a surprisingly good legacy sequel 21 years down the line, too. 9 'The Matrix' Approaching The Matrix now, it’s a little hard to tell whether it was the culmination of the 1990s, or a foreshadowing of the decade to come. It’s classic science fiction, in any event, with some parts of it feeling distinctly of the time, while other aspects were indeed forward-thinking, so it’s a bit of both.
And, anyway, an important part of a decade’s end is what it means for the next decade. In the case of The Matrix, it was helping to alter what was popular action-wise, with a martial arts resurgence that it helped kick off on an international scale, alongside Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and then maybe Kill Bill, too.
Focusing on The Matrix, though, it has that sort of edgy ‘90s vibe and angst, yet channeled into something unique, all the while being the perfect sort of science fiction movie for that specific time in history. 8 'Pulp Fiction' No disrespect to Reservoir Dogs, which came earlier and so was arguably more important for establishing the whole “indie” boom, signified by various young directors unapologetically making their mark on cinema in the first half of the 1990s. Quentin Tarantino really did do that with Reservoir Dogs, which is a largely great film, but with Pulp Fiction, he did something similarly bold and made something even better.
Pulp Fiction tells three fairly chaotic and darkly funny crime stories that sometimes collide violently, but nonetheless collide in ways that make an odd sort of sense. Also, Pulp Fiction is one of the first movies people will think about when they hear the term “1990s cinema,” and that’s for better or worse .
As for what this one’s about: lots of stuff, with three fairly chaotic and darkly funny crime stories sometimes colliding violently, but nonetheless colliding in ways that make an odd sort of sense. It’s an easy film to take for granted nowadays, but if you place yourself back in 1994 as best as you can, you can hopefully appreciate what a shock to the system Pulp Fiction was, at the time. 7 'Titanic' If someone wants to scoff at the idea of Titanic being singled out as a genre-defining movie, then hey, they're welcome to.
People can disagree with any movie being here, or feel grumpy about any movie not being here. There’s freedom there, but Titanic is here on the basis of it being a huge deal, and one of the all-time great pieces of mass-appeal cinema, owing to its marriage of the romance and disaster genres rather seamlessly.
It’s all about the titular ship, and more specifically, about two young people from different backgrounds on that ship who fall in love, and then all the inevitable drama and heartbreak that comes about when they try to survive its sinking together.
Much of Titanic is still spectacular, and even if there are things to be cynical about here , it’s also an easy film to get swept up in, if you're willing to give yourself over to its emotional core. 6 'Fargo' It’s hard to pick which Coen Brothers movie of the ‘90s is more iconic, out of Fargo and The Big Lebowski, so consider the latter’s shout-out there as something of an honorable mention.
Fargo might well be a more perfect movie, and perhaps more striking, not to mention succeeding as a blend of the dark comedy, crime, tragedy, and thriller genres, alongside maybe some other things, too . There’s also something about Fargo’s energy and look that feels very 1990s, which might sound like a weird thing to say when the movie’s technically set in the late 1980s, but it’s a vibe thing.
Fargo does a lot emotionally and succeeds in taking you on an odd sort of ride, and there really isn't anything else quite like it, even if some Coen Brothers movies at least partly scratch the same itch , and even with the fact that there is a Fargo TV series based on/inspired by the film. 5 'Heat' Heat is an all-timer of a heist movie, and also much more than just a heist movie.
Like, the two main characters are a police detective and a master thief/criminal, respectively, and the movie is mostly about the former trying to stop the latter from pulling off a massive bank heist, yet there’s a good deal of drama to make Heat feel like more than just an action/crime film. Without any shootouts or chases, it would still be riveting because of how it explores aspects of human nature, especially relating to men.
It’s a movie kind of for the boys, sure, but it’s nuanced and has things to critique regarding the things that men do. And then it’s also just cool and exciting.
It manages to have the cake, eat the cake, still have the cake, eat more of the cake, somehow the cake comes back and stays had, then the cake’s nibbled at again, and on and on, until Heat wraps up after a very satisfying three-hour runtime. 4 'Jurassic Park' There are other iconic Steven Spielberg movies he directed during the 1990s for sure, beyond just Jurassic Park. Schindler’s List even came out the same year as Jurassic Park, and was obviously a very different sort of movie, and then 1998’s Saving Private Ryan was also one of the most important movies of the ‘90s.
Yet Jurassic Park is going here, even if those war films of Spielberg’s might technically have more to say. Jurassic Park is important for the decade for other reasons. Namely, it was revolutionary in terms of technology and special effects, and then it was also arguably the definitive blockbuster of the ‘90s, or it sits alongside Titanic when looking at movies from the decade that went big and succeeded immensely.
Also, no movie with dinosaurs has ever come close to being as good as Jurassic Park, just like how no shark-related movie has ever really come close to touching Spielberg’s Jaws. 3 'Goodfellas' While it’s unfair to say that gangster movies made before Goodfellas lacked any kind of brutal honesty, Goodfellas does feel like it went the extra mile in that regard, and probably influenced The Sopranos more than any other gangster movie. And, hey, if you count a show’s decade as the one in which it began airing, then you could call The Sopranos the best show of the 1990s.
Even if not, Goodfellas influenced the best gangster show of the 2000s, so to spin that in a lawyerly way, look at that: its influence went well beyond the decade it was released during. It’s about two and a half hours of Henry Hill guiding you through life in the mafia, albeit without ever being a full-fledged made guy.
Goodfellas bounces around tonally, being funny, bleak, sad, and sometimes even quite disturbing, feeling coherent throughout regardless, and overall being a candidate for the crown of “best gangster movie ever. ” 2 'Fight Club' There’s a lot to be disturbed by in Fight Club, especially if you're somehow able to enter into it without knowing what happens by the film’s end, but there’s also quite a bit here that’s genuinely entertaining and darkly funny.
The best way to succinctly summarize the film is to say that it’s about a listless and lonely man who meets a far more charismatic individual, and then his life gets changed in ways that are first exciting, and later confronting. Fight Club feels incredibly 1990s in style and tone, perhaps even more so than The Matrix, which came out the same year and could also be seen as an inadvertent culmination of the decade that had been.
Plenty of the film still holds up and feels compelling nowadays, of course, yet there really doesn’t feel like any other point in history at which Fight Club could’ve ever been made, besides the late ‘90s. 1 'The Shawshank Redemption' There are plenty of thrilling and/or scary films based on Stephen King stories, sure, but The Shawshank Redemption is arguably better than any of those, and outside of some dark moments, it’s really not in thriller or horror territory.
Instead, it’s a drama set in prison, and a mostly character-focused one at that, being about two men with different outlooks on life – and their time behind bars – striking up a gradual but undeniably enduring friendship. Put simply, The Shawshank Redemption is about as beloved and easy-to-like as movies get, so regardless of the decade it came out in, it’d probably be a good candidate for “best of” – or “most significant movie of” – that decade.
If you can find someone who doesn’t like a single part of this movie, they might well be 1 in a billion . COLLIDER. Collider · Quiz Collider Exclusive · Oscar Best Picture Quiz Which Oscar Best Picture Is Your Perfect Movie? Parasite · Everything Everywhere · Oppenheimer · Birdman · No Country Five Oscar Best Picture winners.
Five completely different visions of what cinema can be — and what it can do to you. One of them is the film that was made for the way your mind works. Ten questions will figure out which one. 🪜Parasite 🌀Everything Everywhere ☢️Oppenheimer 🐦Birdman 🪙No Country for Old Men FIND YOUR FILM → QUESTION 1 / 10TONE 01 What kind of film experience do you actually want?
The best movies don't just entertain — they leave something behind. ASomething that pulls the rug out — that makes me think I'm watching one kind of film and then reveals I'm watching another entirely. BSomething overwhelming — funny, sad, absurd, and genuinely moving, all at once. CSomething grand and weighty — a film that makes me feel the full scale of what I'm watching.
DSomething formally daring — a film that pushes what cinema can even do. ESomething lean and relentless — pure tension with no wasted frame.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 2 / 10THEME 02 Which idea grabs you most in a film? Great films are driven by a central obsession. What's yours? AClass, inequality, and what people are willing to do when desperation meets opportunity.
BIdentity, family, and the chaos of trying to hold your life together when everything is falling apart. CGenius, moral responsibility, and the catastrophic weight of a decision you can never take back. DEgo, legacy, and the terror of becoming irrelevant while you're still alive to watch it happen. EEvil, chance, and whether moral order actually exists or if we just tell ourselves it does.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 3 / 10STRUCTURE 03 How do you like your story told? Form is content. The way a story is shaped changes what it means. AGenre-twisting — I want it to start in one lane and migrate into something completely different.
BMaximalist and genre-blending — comedy, action, drama, sci-fi, all in one ride. CEpic and non-linear — cutting between timelines, building a mosaic of cause and consequence. DA single unbroken flow — I want to feel like I'm living it in real time, no cuts to safety. ESpare and precise — every scene doing exactly what it needs to do and nothing more.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 4 / 10VILLAIN 04 What makes a truly great antagonist? The opposition defines the protagonist. What kind of opposition fascinates you? AA system — invisible, structural, and almost impossible to fight because it has no single face.
BThe self — the ways we sabotage, abandon, and fail the people we love most. CHistory — the unstoppable momentum of events that no single person can stop or redirect. DThe industry — the machinery of culture that chews up talent and spits out irrelevance. EPure, implacable evil — a force so certain of itself it becomes almost philosophical.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 5 / 10ENDING 05 What do you want from a film's ending? The final note is the one that lingers. What do you want it to sound like? AShock and inevitability — a conclusion that recontextualises everything that came before it.
BEarned emotion — I want to cry, laugh, and feel genuinely hopeful, even if the world is a mess. CDevastation and grandeur — an ending that makes me sit in silence for a few minutes after. DAmbiguity — something that leaves enough open that I'm still thinking about it days later. EBleakness — an honest refusal to pretend the world is tidier than it actually is.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 6 / 10WORLD 06 Which setting pulls you in most? Where a film takes place shapes everything — mood, stakes, what's even possible. AA gleaming modern city with a hidden underside — beauty masking rot, wealth masking desperation. BA collapsing suburban life that opens onto something infinite — the multiverse of a single ordinary person.
CThe corridors of power and science at a world-historical turning point — where decisions echo for decades. DThe grimy, alive chaos of New York and Hollywood — fame as both destination and trap. EVast, indifferent landscape — desert and highway where violence arrives without warning or reason.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 7 / 10CRAFT 07 What cinematic craft impresses you most? Every great film has a signature — a technical or artistic element that makes it unmistakable. AProduction design and mise-en-scène — every frame composed to carry meaning beneath the surface. BEditing and tonal control — the ability to move between registers without losing the audience.
CScore and sound design — music that becomes inseparable from the dread and awe of what you're watching. DCinematography as performance — the camera not recording events but participating in them. ESilence and restraint — what's left unsaid and unshown doing more work than any dialogue could.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 8 / 10PROTAGONIST 08 What kind of main character do you root for? The protagonist is the lens. Who you choose to follow says something about you. ASomeone smart and resourceful who makes increasingly dangerous decisions under pressure.
BSomeone overwhelmed and ordinary who turns out to be capable of something extraordinary. CA brilliant, tortured figure whose gifts and flaws are inseparable from each other. DA self-destructive artist whose ego is both their superpower and their undoing. EA quiet, principled person trying to make sense of a world that has stopped making sense.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 9 / 10PACE 09 How do you feel about a film that takes its time? Pace is a choice. Some films sprint; others let tension accumulate slowly, deliberately. AI love a slow build when I know the payoff is going to be seismic — patience for a devastating reveal.
BGive me relentless momentum — I want to feel breathless and emotionally spent by the end. CEpic runtime doesn't scare me — if the material demands three hours, give me three hours. DI want it to feel propulsive even when nothing is technically happening — restless energy throughout. EDeliberate and unhurried — I want dread to accumulate in the spaces between the action.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 10 / 10AFTERMATH 10 What do you want to feel walking out of the cinema? The best films leave a mark. What kind of mark do you want? AUnsettled — like I've just seen something I can't fully explain but can't stop thinking about.
BMoved and energised — like the film reminded me what actually matters and gave me something to hold onto. CHumbled — like I've been in the presence of something genuinely important and overwhelming. DExhilarated — like I've just seen cinema doing something it's never quite done before. EHaunted — like a cold, quiet dread that stays with me for days.
REVEAL MY FILM → The Academy Has Decided Your Perfect Film Is… Your answers have pointed to one Oscar Best Picture winner above all others. This is the film that was made for the way your mind works. BEST PICTURE 2020 Parasite You are drawn to films that operate on multiple levels simultaneously — that begin in one genre and quietly, brilliantly migrate into another.
Bong Joon-ho's Parasite is a film about class, desire, and the architecture of inequality that manages to be darkly funny, deeply suspenseful, and genuinely shocking across a single extraordinary running time. Your instinct is for cinema that hides its true intentions until the moment it's ready to reveal them. Parasite is exactly that — a film that rewards close attention and punishes assumptions, right up to its devastating final image.
BEST PICTURE 2023 Everything Everywhere All at Once You want it all — and this film gives you all of it. The Daniels' Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of the most maximalist films ever made: action comedy, multiverse sci-fi, family drama, existential crisis, and a genuinely earned emotional core that sneaks up on you amid the chaos. You are someone who responds to ambition, who doesn't want cinema to choose between being entertaining and being meaningful.
This film refuses that choice entirely. It is overwhelming by design, and its overwhelming nature is precisely the point — because the feeling of being crushed by infinite possibility is exactly what it's about. BEST PICTURE 2024 Oppenheimer You are drawn to cinema on a grand scale — films that understand history not as a backdrop but as a force, and that place their characters inside that force and watch what happens.
Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is a film about the terrifying gap between what we can do and what we should do, told with the full weight of one of the most consequential moments in human history behind it. You want your films to feel important without feeling self-important — to earn their ambition through sheer craft and the gravity of their subject. Oppenheimer does exactly that. It is enormous, complicated, and refuses easy comfort.
BEST PICTURE 2015 Birdman You are drawn to films that foreground their own construction — that make the how of the filmmaking part of the what it's about. Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman, shot to appear as a single continuous take, is cinema examining itself through the cracked mirror of a fading actor's ego. You respond to formal daring, to the feeling that a film is doing something that probably shouldn't be possible.
Michael Keaton's performance and Emmanuel Lubezki's restless camera create something genuinely unlike anything else — a film that is simultaneously about creativity, relevance, self-destruction, and the impossibility of ever truly knowing if your work means anything at all. BEST PICTURE 2008 No Country for Old Men You are drawn to cinema that trusts silence, that refuses to explain itself, and that treats dread as a form of meaning.
The Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men is a film about the arrival of a new kind of evil — implacable, arbitrary, and utterly indifferent to the moral frameworks we use to make sense of the world. It is one of the most formally controlled films ever made, and its controlled restraint is what makes it so terrifying. You want your films to haunt you, not comfort you. You are not interested in resolution if resolution would be dishonest.
No Country for Old Men is honest in a way that most cinema never dares to be. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ Like The Shawshank Redemption R Drama Crime Release Date September 23, 1994 Runtime 142 minutes Director Frank Darabont Writers Frank Darabont Cast See All Powered by Expand Collapse
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