Top Ten Best Movies of the 90s

The 90s were great. Arguably the best decade ever. It gave us beepers, body suits, and the Macarena. Also, the 90s were a landmark decade for the film industry. Along with the introduction of breakthrough special effects in movies like the Matrix, came the revival of the teen movie genre with movies like Clueless and American Pie. The 90s also birthed a brand of raunchy, over-the-top, late night comedies that kept our butt-cheeks glued to the chair and thoroughly clenched. So, in honor of my favorite decade, the 90s, and my favorite thing to watch when I'm bored, movies, I have compiled a list of what I believe to be the Indisputable Champs of 90s Cinema, in my humble opinion. (Just to give you an idea of how this is going to go, Titanic did NOT make the cut. Suck it James Cameron. Avatar was the worst.)

Depicting the lives of a group of troubled pre-teens as they struggle with sex, drugs, and STDs, this cult classic earned the rare rating of NC-17, was written off as exploitation and obscenity, and caused ever parent to gasp in horror. Despite the fact that the actual message was decidedly against the behavior it depicted. It was a gritty portrayal of what real kids really deal with in the real world.

A breakthrough screwball comedy, brought to you by the combined genius of the Farrelly Bros., in which two lovable morons venture out on a lovably moronic road trip in an attempt to return a lost briefcase. All the while they have unknowingly entrenched themselves into a kidnapping scandal. (Am I required to give a Spoiler Alert for a movie from 15 years ago?) This movie set the standard for every dumb comedy to follow.

This surreal dark comedy was the beginning of the great cinematic duo of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. Also the beginning of many a crush on Johnny Depp.  It is the story of a lonely, timid...puppet, I guess, built by Vincent Price, with scissors for hands. When avon comes calling, a sympathetic, naive, probably bored, housewife welcomes him into her home in an idealic, suburban community...Maybe he's a robot?

This is a gritty crime drama about a motley crue of career criminals called in for a police line-up. Although the gathering of seems to be a random coincidence, they are all somehow connected in a way that confuses me.  A forever classic, with a original take on the old school who-dun-it with a brilliant twist. A twist ending that inspired many a spoof, and perhaps many an M. Night Shamalamamam script.

Christopher Guest was at the forefront of the mockumentary genre, before there was "The Office" or "The Office" there was, Waiting for Guffman (though technically first there was This is Spinal Tap, but that was the 80s). This fantastic tale of mistaken identity, as an amateur theatre troop awaits the arrival of someone from broadway to attend the opening of their production, is charming and hilarious.  

A coming of age, end of an era combo story, about an eclectic group of hipsters with only one thing in common, they work at a record store. Oh and also that they are eclectic hipsters. The employees begin to examine their lives, their relationship, and Renee Zellweiger's scantily clad body, (which is hot, but her face was weird, even back then) after they discover their store will soon be absorbed by a corporate chain.

Scream was the movie that brought horror movies into mainstream, A-list hollywood. It poked fun at itself, allowing for terrified laughter, instead mocking laughter, in a genre that, at the time, was taken seriously pretty much only by the people that created it. Wes Craven truly changed the game with this horror movie staple, in which he broke down the unspoken "rules" of your standard horror movie, and then blew them away with his mixture of wit, suspense, and the Fonz, gutted and hanging from field goal post.

Although many of you may be pounding your fist in anger because I chose Reservoir Dogs over Pulp Fiction.  But you fist pounders can't deny that there is something pretty extraordinary about a movie that takes almost entirely in an abandoned warehouse, the plot of which is almost exclusively delivered through intelligent, albeit somewhat pretentious, dialogue however it still manages to be riveting, eloquent, and incredibly violent.  To me, Pulp Fiction was just Tarantino wondering what Reservoir Dogs would've been outside the warehouse, and for me, Reservoir Dogs remains the stand-out among all other Tarantino movies. 

Angelina Jolie portrays a top fashion model from the 70s, Gia Carangi.  The movie is a tragic, moving tale of a young women who goes from waitress to model to drug addict to dead, of aids, being one of the first females in the country to die from the disease.  But more importantly Angelina Jolie in all of her full frontal glory, as well as experimenting with lesbian tendency.  

Not just my #1 favorite of the nineties, but of all time.  The Big Lebowski weaves a tangled tale of bowling, trophy wives, nihilists, a rug that really tied the room together, a fake kidnapping, white russians, vietnam, porn, and of course smoking pot.  Some may call him a bum, but most know him as the dude, and he abides.  With so many great quotes and memorable moments, to touch on them all is for another hub, another time.  But I will say this, "It's good knowin' he's out there...takin' 'er easy for all us sinners.

So, there it is. I must say it was more difficult to pick my top ten then I had expected when I began.  For instance, I struggled between Trainspotting and Dumb and Dumber for the coveted #9 slot for a good twenty minutes before I finally decided that a hilarious movie about two buffoons was more crucial to the integrity of my study of 90s culture than a cautionary tale about heroin. Besides that baby scene is super creepy. A few other movies that lost out an appearance on my list were: Fight Club, From Dusk 'til Dawn, Don't Tell Mom the Baby-Sitters Dead, and Dark City.