The Greatest Movies of the 90’s

Ever since I did The Greatest Movies of the 00’s I wanted to go back even further in time and try to assemble a list of my favourite films from previous decades. So I set out to try to create a list of the top movies of the 90’s. This turned out to take a lot more time then I originally thought, because there was a lot of movies that I had heard good things about but have never seen. In the end I ended up watching a lot of movies to watch.

I decided to follow the same format as my last list by first finding the best 10 movies of each year then from those lists I would find my favourite movies of the decade.

Overall I feel the the 90’s were not as great for movies as the 00’s. Part of this may be due to the introduction of PG13 and part may be to the poor uses of early CG. Whatever the case is I have whittled down the list to what I consider the best films of the 90’s.

Top Ten Films of the 90’s (1990 – 1999)

	10.  La Femme Nikita – Director Luc Besson is a master of taking a story with deep character development and mixing in some amazing action. Nikita is a story of a woman who has lost all value in life, but is given another chance, and a reason to live, if she agrees become a top secret spy/assassin. It is amazing to watch her character develop and find meaning in her life, while going through such amazing circumstances.
	9. Hot Shots! Part Deux – This is the funniest movie I have ever seen. I laugh out loud every time I see it and I am always finding something new to laugh at. The movie follows a group of special forces on a mission to rescue some hostages (including the man that won the Nobel prize for the artificial appendix) from a country located between Iraq and A Hard Place.
	8. Other People’s Money – This was the only film that made it to my top ten that I had never seen before. This is the type of movie that could never get made today, the type of movie that does not apologies or make up excuses for someone’s love of money. Not only that, it morally defends that persons point of view. This is a far better objectivist movie the the Atlas Shrugged films.
	7. Reservoir Dogs – If you saw my last greatest movies of a decade list you will know how much I love Quentin Tarantino and this was the film that started it all. A film with a great set of characters, a unique setting (the rendezvous point after diamond robbery gone wrong) and that signature Tarantino dialogue.
	6. Leon: The Professional – Luc Besson does it again, this time by exploring the relationship between a mentally stunted professional hit man (Jean Reno) and a 12 year old girl (Natalie Portman) that has just lost her parents. Again a great blend of character development and bloody action. Plus Gary Oldman makes a amazing bad guy.
	5. The Thomas Crown Affair – This is one of those films that always puts a smile on my face. This is a very smart sophisticated love story with some great characters played by Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo.
	4. Terminator 2: Judgment Day – One of the greatest action films ever made. To take the villain from the first film (a cold murdering cyborg) and make him a good guy is one amazing twist. Plus the relationship between the terminator and John Connor is amazing to watch.
	3. Pulp Fiction – Quentin Tarantino is the master of finding amazing parts from low budget grind house films and assembling them together into something great. Some people call this stealing, but I think it takes a real genius to see the things that were overlook by everyone else and make them work where others had failed. Plus I think this movie is greater then the some of its parts.
	2. Braveheart – “… they may take our lives, but they’ll never take… OUR FREEDOM!” By romanticizing this tale and adding in a moral underpinning, Mel Gibson has created something that is more then a story of a simple rebel uprising. He has created a universal story that will stand the test of time. Also this movie has the greatest battle sequence to ever appear in a movie before the introduction of CG.
	1. Eyes Wide Shut – I will admit that the first time I saw this film I did not fully understand what was going on. But I have now seen it many times and every time I see it I take away some new and greater understanding. Like all other Stanley Kubrick films this film is perfect and I am a huge fan of everything he has done. So it should be no surprise that his final film, the one he completed just before his death, would take my top spot for best film of the 90’s.

I had a lot of fun making this list and would like to continue with the next decade, the 80’s. And who knows one day I may be able to put together a list of the greatest movies of all time.

If you feel I have missed something important or would like to post a list of your own you can do so in the comments below.