Best Films of the 1990s
by HBSmith_Critic | created - 23 Jun 2019 | updated - 6 months ago | Public1. Jurassic Park (1993)
2. Goodfellas (1990)
3. Toy Story (1995)
4. Three Colours trilogy (1993–1994) (Collectively ranked at number four)
5. Schindler's List (1993)
6. The Insider (1999)
7. Boogie Nights (1997)
8. The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
9. The Thin Red Line (1998)
10. Jerry Maguire (1996)
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1. Jurassic Park (1993)
PG-13 | 127 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A pragmatic paleontologist touring an almost complete theme park on an island in Central America is tasked with protecting a couple of kids after a power failure causes the park's cloned dinosaurs to run loose.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough
Votes: 1,072,159 | Gross: $402.45M
Best film of 1993
My top ten films of all time; number two
2. Goodfellas (1990)
R | 145 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of Henry Hill and his life in the mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco
Votes: 1,263,289 | Gross: $46.84M
Best film of 1990
My top ten films of all time; number four
3. Toy Story (1995)
G | 81 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A cowboy doll is profoundly threatened and jealous when a new spaceman action figure supplants him as top toy in a boy's bedroom.
Director: John Lasseter | Stars: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney
Votes: 1,073,969 | Gross: $191.80M
Best film of 1995
My top ten films of all time; number six
4. Three Colors: Red (1994)
R | 99 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A model discovers a retired judge is keen on invading people's privacy.
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski | Stars: Irène Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Frédérique Feder, Jean-Pierre Lorit
Votes: 110,593 | Gross: $4.04M
Best film of 1994
Collectively ranked at number five
5. Three Colors: Blue (1993)
R | 94 min | Drama, Music, Mystery
A woman struggles to find a way to live her life after the death of her husband and child.
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski | Stars: Juliette Binoche, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy, Benoît Régent
Votes: 111,028 | Gross: $1.32M
Second best film of 1993
Collectively ranked at number five
6. Three Colors: White (1994)
R | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After his wife divorces him, a Polish immigrant plots to get even with her.
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski | Stars: Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy, Janusz Gajos, Jerzy Stuhr
Votes: 80,005 | Gross: $1.46M
Second best film of 1994
Collectively ranked at number five
7. Schindler's List (1993)
R | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History
In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Caroline Goodall
Votes: 1,457,917 | Gross: $96.90M
Third best film of 1993
8. The Insider (1999)
R | 157 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller
A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a 60 Minutes exposé on Big Tobacco.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Russell Crowe, Al Pacino, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora
Votes: 181,038 | Gross: $28.97M
Best film of 1999
9. Boogie Nights (1997)
R | 155 min | Drama
Back when sex was safe, pleasure was a business and business was booming, an idealistic porn producer aspires to elevate his craft to an art when he discovers a hot young talent.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Luis Guzmán
Votes: 283,588 | Gross: $26.40M
Best film of 1997
10. The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
R | 130 min | Biography, Drama
The story of controversial pornography publisher Larry Flynt, and how he became a defender of free speech.
Director: Milos Forman | Stars: Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, Edward Norton, Brett Harrelson
Votes: 101,209 | Gross: $20.19M
Best film of 1996
11. The Thin Red Line (1998)
R | 170 min | Drama, History, War
Adaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Jim Caviezel, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Kirk Acevedo
Votes: 200,654 | Gross: $36.40M
Best film of 1998
12. Jerry Maguire (1996)
R | 139 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When a sports agent has a moral epiphany and is fired for expressing it, he decides to put his new philosophy to the test as an independent agent with the only athlete who stays with him and his former colleague.
Director: Cameron Crowe | Stars: Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger, Kelly Preston
Votes: 288,432 | Gross: $153.95M
Second best film of 1996
13. Forrest Gump (1994)
PG-13 | 142 min | Drama, Romance
The history of the United States from the 1950s to the '70s unfolds from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, who yearns to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Sally Field
Votes: 2,267,741 | Gross: $330.25M
Third best film of 1994
14. JFK (1991)
R | 189 min | Drama, History, Thriller
New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison discovers there's more to the Kennedy assassination than the official story.
Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau
Votes: 170,697 | Gross: $70.41M
Best film of 1991
15. Heat (1995)
R | 170 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A group of high-end professional thieves start to feel the heat from the LAPD when they unknowingly leave a verbal clue at their latest heist.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight
Votes: 722,821 | Gross: $67.44M
Second best film of 1995
16. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
R | 142 min | Drama
Over the course of several years, two convicts form a friendship, seeking consolation and, eventually, redemption through basic compassion.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler
Votes: 2,902,523 | Gross: $28.34M
Fourth best film of 1994
17. Pulp Fiction (1994)
R | 154 min | Crime, Drama
The lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster and his wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis
Votes: 2,230,835 | Gross: $107.93M
Fifth best film of 1994
18. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
R | 169 min | Drama, War
Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns
Votes: 1,503,722 | Gross: $216.54M
Second best film of 1998
19. Toy Story 2 (1999)
G | 92 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
When Woody is stolen by a toy collector, Buzz and his friends set out on a rescue mission to save Woody before he becomes a museum toy property with his roundup gang Jessie, Prospector, and Bullseye.
Directors: John Lasseter, Ash Brannon, Lee Unkrich | Stars: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer
Votes: 622,889 | Gross: $245.85M
Second best film of 1999
20. Magnolia (1999)
R | 188 min | Drama
An epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of love, forgiveness and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Tom Cruise, Jason Robards, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Votes: 330,187 | Gross: $22.46M
Third best film of 1999
21. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
R | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten year old son John from an even more advanced and powerful cyborg.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick
Votes: 1,179,983 | Gross: $204.84M
Second best film of 1991
22. Fight Club (1999)
R | 139 min | Drama
An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Meat Loaf, Zach Grenier
Votes: 2,334,611 | Gross: $37.03M
Fourth best film of 1999
23. Aladdin (1992)
G | 90 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A kind-hearted street urchin and a power-hungry Grand Vizier vie for a magic lamp that has the power to make their deepest wishes come true.
Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker | Stars: Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, Linda Larkin, Jonathan Freeman
Votes: 469,115 | Gross: $217.35M
Best film of 1992
24. L.A. Confidential (1997)
R | 138 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
As corruption grows in 1950s Los Angeles, three policemen - one strait-laced, one brutal, and one sleazy - investigate a series of murders with their own brand of justice.
Director: Curtis Hanson | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger
Votes: 620,930 | Gross: $64.62M
Second best film of 1997
25. Before Sunrise (1995)
R | 101 min | Drama, Romance
A young man and woman meet on a train in Europe, and wind up spending one evening together in Vienna. Unfortunately, both know that this will probably be their only night together.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Andrea Eckert, Hanno Pöschl
Votes: 340,887 | Gross: $5.54M
Third best film of 1995
26. Casino (1995)
R | 178 min | Crime, Drama
In Las Vegas, two best friends - a casino executive and a mafia enforcer - compete for a gambling empire and a fast-living, fast-loving socialite.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, James Woods
Votes: 566,712 | Gross: $42.44M
Fourth best film of 1995
27. Tommy Boy (1995)
PG-13 | 97 min | Adventure, Comedy
After his auto-parts tycoon father dies, the overweight, underachieving son teams up with a snide accountant to try and save the family business.
Director: Peter Segal | Stars: Chris Farley, David Spade, Brian Dennehy, Bo Derek
Votes: 97,790 | Gross: $32.70M
Fifth best film of 1995
28. Se7en (1995)
R | 127 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, Andrew Kevin Walker
Votes: 1,807,939 | Gross: $100.13M
Sixth best film of 1995
29. Pleasantville (1998)
PG-13 | 124 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Two 1990s teenage siblings find themselves transported to a 1950s sitcom where their influence begins to profoundly change that colorless, complacent world.
Director: Gary Ross | Stars: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Daniels, Joan Allen, William H. Macy
Votes: 137,113 | Gross: $40.57M
Third best film of 1998
30. Good Will Hunting (1997)
R | 126 min | Drama, Romance
Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård
Votes: 1,073,031 | Gross: $138.43M
Third best film of 1997
31. Primal Fear (1996)
R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An altar boy is accused of murdering a priest, and the truth is buried several layers deep.
Director: Gregory Hoblit | Stars: Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Edward Norton, John Mahoney
Votes: 248,245 | Gross: $56.12M
Third best film of 1996
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