My top ten films for each year of the 1990s. These are always up for revision as I watch more films, revisit ones I’ve seen before, and think about them over time. I don’t really believe in top “ten” lists, despite using the common nomenclature for the title of this page, nor do I hold fast to the order, though it’s generally from films I liked better to films I liked less well. This is going to be my top several films of each year, down to whatever point I feel is right. Might be eight one year, might be twenty-three another.
1999
- Run Lola Run
- The Matrix
- Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
- All About My Mother
- Fight Club
- American Beauty
- Election
- Galaxy Quest
- Magnolia
- Office Space
- Toy Story 2
- Being John Malkovich
- Dogma
- Three Kings
- An Ideal Husband
- 42 Up
- Topsy Turvy
- eXistenZ
- Fantasia 2000
- Go
- Girl, Interrupted
- The Iron Giant
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Ratcatcher
Eyes Wide Shut
The Limey
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Sweet and Lowdown
1998
- The Truman Show
- Shakespeare in Love
- The Big Lebowski
- Rushmore
- Billy’s Balloon
- American History X
- The Spanish Prisoner
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
- Dark City
- Ronin
- Saving Private Ryan
- The Mask of Zorro
- Pi
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
The Thin Red Line
Blade
The Celebration
Beau travail
Histoire(s) du cinema
1997
- L.A. Confidential
- Jackie Brown
- The Fifth Element
- Titanic
- Gattaca
- Chasing Amy
- Princess Mononoke
- Boogie Nights
- Good Will Hunting
- Waiting for Guffman
- Grosse Pointe Blank
- Open Your Eyes
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
A Taste of Cherry
The Sweet Hereafter
Happy Together
Cube
Contact
1996
- Fargo
- Trainspotting
- Ghost in the Shell
- The English Patient
- Lone Star
- Irma Vep
- Freeway
- William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet
- Bound
- The Frighteners
- Scream
- From Dusk Till Dawn
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
La Promesse
Breaking the Waves
The Rock
Hard Eight
The Muppet Treasure Island
1995
- Before Sunrise
- Toy Story
- Kicking and Screaming
- The City of Lost Children
- Braveheart
- Clueless
- Pride and Prejudice
- GoldenEye
- Desperado
- Sense and Sensibility
- Heat
- The Usual Suspects
- Se7en
- The Flower of My Secret
- Forgotten Silver
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Twelve Monkeys
Dead Man
Strange Days
La Haine
Fallen Angels
1994
- Three Colors: Red
- Chungking Express
- Pulp Fiction
- The Lion King
- Ed Wood
- Little Women
- Bullets Over Broadway
- Four Weddings and a Funeral
- Clerks
- The Professional
- The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
- Interview with the Vampire
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Heavenly Creatures
Reality Bites
Shallow Grave
Satantango
The Crow
1993
- True Romance
- Jurassic Park
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Schindler’s List
- Much Ado About Nothing
- The Remains of the Day
- Groundhog Day
- The Fugitive
- Wayne’s World 2
- Naked
- Three Colors: Blue
- Strictly Ballroom
- The Piano
- The Joy Luck Club
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Short Cuts
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape
Cronos
Benny & Joon
Baraka
1992
- Unforgiven
- The Muppet Christmas Carol
- My Cousin Vinny
- Army of Darkness
- Raise the Red Lantern
- Howards End
- Aladdin
- Shadows and Fog
- A League of Their Own
- Bram Stoker’s Dracula
- Patriot Games
- Hard Boiled
- 35 Up
- Batman Returns
- The Crying Game
- Reservoir Dogs
- The Player
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Noises Off
Chaplin
Porco Rosso
Husbands and Wives
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
1991
- Beauty and the Beast
- The Double Life of Veronique
- JFK
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day
- The Rocketeer
- Barton Fink
- The Silence of the Lambs
- Slacker
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Delicatessen
My Own Private Idaho
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse
La belle noiseuse
The Lovers on the Bridge
1990
- Wild at Heart
- GoodFellas
- Edward Scissorhands
- Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
- Miller’s Crossing
- Cyrano de Bergerac
- Troll 2
- Metropolitan
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Total Recall
Misery
Jacob’s Ladder
Ju Dou
The Match Factory Girl