Best Films of the 1990s
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1.
Lost Highway
(1997)
After a bizarre encounter at a party, a jazz saxophonist is framed for the murder of his wife and sent to prison, where he inexplicably morphs into a young mechanic and begins leading a new life. (134 mins.)
Director: David Lynch
2.
A Perfect World
(1993)
A kidnapped boy strikes up a friendship with his captor: an escaped convict on the run from the law, headed by an honorable U.S. Marshal. (138 mins.)
Director: Clint Eastwood
3.
Heat
(1995)
A group of professional bank robbers start to feel the heat from police when they unknowingly leave a clue at their latest heist. (170 mins.)
Director: Michael Mann
4.
Eyes Wide Shut
(1999)
A New York City doctor, who is married to an art curator, pushes himself on a harrowing and dangerous night-long odyssey of sexual and moral discovery after his wife admits that she once almost cheated on him. (159 mins.)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
5.
Unforgiven
(1992)
Retired Old West gunslinger William Munny reluctantly takes on one last job, with the help of his old partner and a young man. (131 mins.)
Director: Clint Eastwood
6.
Farewell My Concubine
(1993)
The story of two men, who met as apprentices in the Peking Opera, and stayed friends for over 50 years. (171 mins.)
Director: Kaige Chen
7.
American Beauty
(1999)
Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation for his daughter's attractive friend. (122 mins.)
Director: Sam Mendes
8.
Quiz Show
(1994)
Dick Goodwin discovers game shows are fixed: Charles Van Doren is fed answers so he beats Herbie Stempel. (133 mins.)
Director: Robert Redford
9.
JFK
(1991)
A New Orleans DA discovers there's more to the Kennedy assassination than the official story. (189 mins.)
Director: Oliver Stone
10.
Carlito's Way
(1993)
A Puerto-Rican ex-con, just released from prison, pledges to stay away from drugs and violence despite the pressure around him and lead on to a better life outside of NYC. (144 mins.)
Director: Brian De Palma
11.
The Silence of the Lambs
(1991)
A young FBI cadet must confide in an incarcerated and manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims. (118 mins.)
Director: Jonathan Demme
12.
Glengarry Glen Ross
(1992)
An examination of the machinations behind the scenes at a real estate office. (100 mins.)
Director: James Foley
13.
Dead Man Walking
(1995)
A nun, while comforting a convicted killer on death row, empathizes with both the killer and his victim's families. (122 mins.)
Director: Tim Robbins
14.
The People vs. Larry Flynt
(1996)
A partially idealized film of the controversial pornography publisher and how he became a defender of free speech for all people. (129 mins.)
Director: Milos Forman
15.
The Godfather: Part III
(1990)
In the midst of trying to legitimize his business dealings in 1979 New York and Italy, aging mafia don Michael Corleone seeks to vow for his sins while taking a young protégé under his wing. (162 mins.)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
16.
The Funeral
(1996)
New York City, the 1930s. A powerful crime family is caught in a lethal crossfire between union organizers and brutal corporate bosses... (99 mins.)
Director: Abel Ferrara
17.
In the Name of the Father
(1993)
Man's coerced confession to an IRA bombing he didn't do imprisons his father as well; a British lawyer helps fight for their freedom. (133 mins.)
Director: Jim Sheridan
18.
Fargo
(1996)
Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson. (98 mins.)
Director: Joel Coen
19.
Pulp Fiction
(1994)
The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption. (154 mins.)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
20.
eXistenZ
(1999)
A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged. (97 mins.)
Director: David Cronenberg
21.
Casino
(1995)
Greed, deception, money, power, and murder occur between two mobster best friends and a trophy wife over a gambling empire. (178 mins.)
Director: Martin Scorsese
22.
Boogie Nights
(1997)
The story of a young man's adventures in the Californian pornography industry of the 1970s and 1980s. (155 mins.)
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
23.
Dances with Wolves
(1990)
Lt. John Dunbar, exiled to a remote western Civil War outpost, befriends wolves and Indians, making him an intolerable aberration in the military. (181 mins.)
Director: Kevin Costner
24.
Dracula
(1992)
The vampire comes to England to seduce a visitor's fiancée and inflict havoc in the foreign land. (128 mins.)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
25.
Starship Troopers
(1997)
Humans in a fascistic, militaristic future do battle with giant alien bugs in a fight for survival. (129 mins.)
Director: Paul Verhoeven
26.
Se7en
(1995)
Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his modus operandi. (127 mins.)
Director: David Fincher
27.
Schindler's List
(1993)
In Poland during World War II, Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis. (195 mins.)
Director: Steven Spielberg
28.
Jurassic Park
(1993)
During a preview tour, a theme park suffers a major power breakdown that allows its cloned dinosaur exhibits to run amok. (127 mins.)
Director: Steven Spielberg
29.
Dazed and Confused
(1993)
The adventures of incoming high school and junior high students on the last day of school, in May of 1976. (102 mins.)
Director: Richard Linklater
30.
To Live
(1994)
Fugui and Jiazhen endure tumultuous events in China as their personal fortunes move from wealthy landownership to peasantry... (125 mins.)
Director: Yimou Zhang
31.
The Insider
(1999)
A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a "60 Minutes" expose on Big Tobacco. (157 mins.)
Director: Michael Mann
32.
Demolition Man
(1993)
A cop is brought out of suspended animation in prison to pursue an old ultra-violent enemy who is loose in a nonviolent future society. (115 mins.)
Director: Marco Brambilla
33.
In the Mouth of Madness
(1994)
An insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact a horror writer's books have on his fans is more than inspirational. (95 mins.)
Director: John Carpenter
34.
Face/Off
(1997)
A revolutionary medical technique allows an undercover agent to take the physical appearance of a major criminal and infiltrate his organization. (138 mins.)
Director: John Woo
35.
Wild at Heart
(1990)
Young lovers Sailor and Lula run from the variety of weirdos that Lula's mom has hired to kill Sailor. (125 mins.)
Director: David Lynch
36.
Naked Lunch
(1991)
After developing an addiction to the substance he uses to kill bugs, an exterminator accidentally murders his wife and becomes involved in a secret government plot being orchestrated by giant bugs in a port town in North Africa. (115 mins.)
Director: David Cronenberg
37.
Of Mice and Men
(1992)
Two drifters, one a gentle but slow giant, try to make money working the fields during the Depression so they can fulfill their dreams. (115 mins.)
Director: Gary Sinise
38.
Bad Lieutenant
(1992)
While investigating a young nun's rape, a corrupt New York City police detective, with a serious drug and gambling addiction, tries to change his ways and find forgiveness. (96 mins.)
Director: Abel Ferrara
39.
The Last of the Mohicans
(1992)
Three trappers protect a British Colonel's daughters in the midst of the French and Indian War. (112 mins.)
Director: Michael Mann
40.
Awakenings
(1990)
The victims of an encephalitis epidemic many years ago have been catatonic ever since, but now a new drug offers the prospect of reviving them. (121 mins.)
Director: Penny Marshall
41.
In the Company of Men
(1997)
Two business executives--one an avowed misogynist, the other recently emotionally wounded by his love interest--set out to exact revenge on the female gender by seeking out the most innocent, uncorrupted girl they can find and ruining her life. (97 mins.)
Director: Neil Labute
42.
Pi
(1998)
A paranoid mathematician searches for a key number that will unlock the universal patterns found in nature. (84 mins.)
Director: Darren Aronofsky
43.
Cemetery Man
(1994)
A cemetery man must kill the dead a second time when they become zombies. (105 mins.)
Director: Michele Soavi
44.
Reservoir Dogs
(1992)
After a simple jewelery heist goes terribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant. (99 mins.)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
45.
Dead Man
(1995)
On the run after murdering a man, accountant William Blake encounters a strange Indian named "Nobody" who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world. (121 mins.)
Director: Jim Jarmusch
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