To single out ten the best movies from a whole decade, especially when that decade is the 90s, is almost a mission impossible (pun intended). This era was a fantastic mix of blockbusters, but also “artsy” and a bit of “weird” movies. Thrillers, horrors, dramas, and even romantic comedies were equally represented, and some of them gained cult status.
Who doesn’t remember Home Alone, Seven, Goodfellas, The Bodyguard, and so many more? Almost everybody could find something to suit their needs. It was the time when CGI became more viable; directors experimented more, and we said goodbye to VHS and entered the era od DVDs. With all that, Hollywood burst with amazing films. However, we did choose ten movies that are certainly worth watching in 2020.
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) is at the end of his rope. He is a street puppeteer who, although gifted and fun, returns home mostly empty-handed. A 10-year marriage to Lotte (Cameron Diaz), a workaholic and pet store employee who brings her work home, is not at its best; they have no money, no passion, and no way out. Craig`s life changes when he discovers the door to the mind of actor John Malkovich. The original humor of the film intensifies when more and more people learn about the door.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Clarice is a young FBI agent who is working on solving the case of a serial killer called Buffalo Bill. Trying to get to the killer’s psychological profile, Claire is sent to work with Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a man of brilliant mind and judgment who has been imprisoned for eight years for his crimes.
While official personnel and investigators can’t get anything out of him, he’s willing to play with Clarice. Winning five Oscars, The Silence of the Lambs has been ranked among the most successful and significant films of all time, opening the space to a new genre and numerous imitations of all these years.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American drama written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. When Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis), acclaimed child psychologist, meets Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), a scared and confused eight-year-old, Dr. Crowe is reluctant to find out what really haunts Cole.
When he discovers the depth of Cole’s incredible sixth sense, they both find themselves in a tense and mysterious encounter that has unforgettable consequences.
The Big Lebowski (1998)
In 1991 in Los Angeles, we found Jeff Lebowski—better known as The Dude—a passionate lover of bowling, drinking beer, and doing nothing. When two burglars come into his apartment one evening asking him to pay them back the money his wife allegedly spent, Dude unsuccessfully tries to convince them that it’s not true because he doesn’t have a wife. The burglars eventually leave, but they urinate on his favorite rug. Dude would soon realize that the burglars were looking for Jeffrey Lebowski, a disabled rich man, and from whom Dude decides to ask for a new carpet. Hilarity—and a little bit or tragedy—ensues.
Clerks (1994)
In this comedy, two New Jersey salesman go through the workday. Dante works in a supermarket, while his friend works in a video store. Both of them would instead do something else—anything else! Even as they expose themselves to the never-ending river of unpredictable customers, they manage to play hockey on the rooftop and repair their unusual love lives. The landlord is out of sight, so you can bet that anything can happen when these guys run the stores.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) arrives in the notorious Shawshank prison in 1947 to serve a life sentence for the murder of his wife and her lover. The bank expert and distinguished gentleman, Andy found himself in the situation he never dreamed of. Surrounded by criminals and sadistic guards, he quickly faces the brutality of prison life.
He is kept to himself and rarely communicates, except with the well-meaning prisoner Red (Morgan Freeman). The change will come one day when Andy starts offering financial services and advice to the security guards. Then he begins to enjoy a special status among prisoners and guards.
The Usual Suspect (1995)
The Usual Suspects is an intriguing detective film with an unusual, suggestive atmosphere, a complex and carefully crafted scenario of unexpected turns, and excellent acting interpretations.
An unprecedented crime has taken place in the Californian city of San Pedro: thirty people have been murdered. The only two survivors, a Hungarian and Roger Kint (Kevin Spacey), who turns out to be a weapons smuggler, are the only real witnesses to the event. In a police investigation led by an experienced investigator, Kujan (Chazz Palminteri), Kint begins to narrate how the crime took place, and what preceded it.
Fight Club (1999)
Imprisoned in a monotonous office job, an unnamed young man tries to determine his identity in a consumer society and fight insomnia. He follows the instructions of trending magazines, visits support groups, participates in the organization of brutal rituals of masculinity, and eventually, with the help of Tyler Durden, establishes a terrorist organization intending to cause widespread chaos.
It’s Edward Norton vs. Brad Pitt in this classic drama whose sudden turns leave no one indifferent. The fourth film by gifted director David Fincher (Alien 3, Seven, Game, Panic Room) is an anxious, visually fascinating, intellectually challenging, precisely directed and impeccably acted masterpiece.
The Basketball Diaries (1995)
In the poor suburbs of New York, Jim Carroll (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his friend Micky (Mark Wahlberg) are the best young basketball players in town and members of the basketball school team. But, when they are not training, they do drugs with other friends. They leave school soon, and, when one of them dies of leukemia, Jim begins to write a diary. The gang is increasingly falling to the bottom, indulging in drugs and delinquency. After Jim`s mother threw him out of the house, he kept sinking deeper until he has hit rock bottom.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Pumpkin (Tim Roth) and Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer) are two thieves who decide the best thing they can do is to rob a diner. Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) are paid murderers who work for Marcellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). Later, on Wallace’s orders, Vincent also has to take Wallace’s wife Miu (Uma Thurman) out to dinner in town.
Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) is a boxing veteran who is paid to fake the match but who accidentally kills his opponent. Now he wants to escape the city, but not before he takes his father’s lucky gold watch. Black comedy told through an omnibus frame, Pulp Fiction is, without a doubt, one of the most important and best films of all time. This masterpiece, with its quoting aesthetics, juicy dialogues, and unpredictable acting, introduced us to the brilliant mind of Quentin Tarantino.
