Best Films of The 90s [List] - Movies & TV

LedZep

I hate it when I spoil the top 10 by clicking the wrong number Rolling Eyes

First of all, thank you Hayden, these polls are a blast. Second things second, how did Fargo end up being so high? I mean I'm not complaining at all, but it's surprising since there's this little movie called The Big Lebowski out there. Another huge surprise to me is Chungking Express in the top 15. The list overall is fantastic, there's loads of movies I haven't seen and a good portion of it is Asian cinema, which is a plus plus for me.

Whoever had Trainspotting as number one besides me is my new favourite BEA user.
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Finally updated the overall chart

2020s
90s

jnfbn

Gender: Male

Hayden, thank you a thound times for putting up these lists, it's a lot of work, but a great one! I'm sure everyone appreciates it dearly and be sure that i will participate in each as long as you keep going.

Regarding the list; i was expecting an american domination in the top ten, but i see there's great progress for non-english films from the first list. Anyway, glad that 13 of my top 15 made the cut (except for My Own Private Idaho and Hoop Dreams, i expected MOPI, but suprised to see Hoop Dreams out).

I loved the quotes! So i'm leaving one from my favourite film of the 90's. This is a great quote from a marvellous scene (i love the memory-can line too)

''Did I leave the tap running, or is the apartment getting more tearful? I always thought it would cope okay. Didn't expect it to cry so much. When people cry, they can dry their eyes with tissues. But when an apartment cries, it takes a lot to mop it up.''

Hayden

Annual breakdown—

'99: 18
'98: 12
'97: 13
'96: 4
'95: 11
'94: 11
'93: 9
'92: 6
'91: 9
'90: 6

Animated films: 8
Black-and-White films: 5 (+2 partial)
Non-English films: 30
Countries represented: 20
Best Picture winners: 5
Palme D'or winners: 9

Directors with 4 films: The Coen Brothers
Directors with 3 films: David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, Krzysztof Kieślowski

New entries: 31
Highest new entry: Funny Games (#16)
Biggest climber: Dead Man (up 57 spots)

Longest film: Satantango (7h19m)
Shortest film: Toy Story (1h21m)
Film with least amount of votes on IMDB: La Belle Noiseuse (under 7,000)

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/besteverfilms/li...he-90s-v2/
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Last edited by Hayden on 10/19/2020 02:59; edited 5 times in total

Hayden

LedZep wrote:

I hate it when I spoil the top 10 by clicking the wrong number Rolling Eyes

First of all, thank you Hayden, these polls are a blast. Second things second, how did Fargo end up being so high? I mean I'm not complaining at all, but it's surprising since there's this little movie called The Big Lebowski out there. Another huge surprise to me is Chungking Express in the top 15. The list overall is fantastic, there's loads of movies I haven't seen and a good portion of it is Asian cinema, which is a plus plus for me.

Whoever had Trainspotting as number one besides me is my new favourite BEA user.

The second Trainspotting #1 was the final list submitted. Razz

Shot it way up in the rankings.

Believe it or not, Fargo was #1 for a long time (and... it was #1 until... like, two days ago). For most of the poll it was Fargo v Schindler's List, with Pulp Fiction kinda floating about 4th. There were 6 films that occupied the top slot at different times (including Chungking Express! Razz

... early on). I thought there would be a surprise winner. I like that it wasn't a runaway win like the last two decades, everything was truly quite close and constantly flipping. Kept it exciting from my point of view.

Quote:

Anyway, glad that 13 of my top 15 made the cut (except for My Own Private Idaho and Hoop Dreams, i expected MOPI, but suprised to see Hoop Dreams out).

My Own Private Idaho was extremely close (Hoop Dreams was not). Take of that what you will.

And there were tonnes of great quotes from the 90s, but I tried to keep the vulgarity to a minimum Laughing

(... occasionally failing... obviously...). There's some solid one-liners and a couple great monologues, but I found the rapid back-and-forth dialogue the 90s strong point. Wong Kar-Wai's scripts always have this poetic tinge to them that makes them easy-pickings for good quotes— that one included.

OH
RIGHT
SPEAKING of Wong Kar-Wai, do I have a bone to pick with BEA............

EDIT: I apologize, Hoop Dreams had more points than I remembered it having. It got a decent boost in the final week. It wasn't too far off at all. My bad. (Idaho was still closer though).
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Last edited by Hayden on 10/19/2020 03:28; edited 1 time in total

TodFitz

Gender: Male

Thanks for all your hard work Hayden,
and to everyone who put together a list.
As always, a few surprises in the top 100.

Thanks again!

jnfbn

Gender: Male

Hayden wrote:

My Own Private Idaho was extremely close (Hoop Dreams was not). Take of that what you will.

And there were tonnes of great quotes from the 90s, but I tried to keep the vulgarity to a minimum Laughing

(... occasionally failing... obviously...). There's some solid one-liners and a couple great monologues, but I found the rapid back-and-forth dialogue the 90s strong point. Wong Kar-Wai's scripts always have this poetic tinge to them that makes them easy-pickings for good quotes— that one included.

O thought i saw hoop dreams in more lists than MOPI but that's obviously wrong Smile

And yes kar wai's scripts are like that! it's just the idea of a house as a living being was one of the key elements that made me fell in love with Chunking (trenchcoats and pineapples were others) so that's the one for me. Chunking is a masterclass of filmmaking at every level, an utter masterpiece and im so glad that its that high on the list but frustrared that' it's not higher.

Hayden

jnfbn wrote:

And yes kar wai's scripts are like that! it's just the idea of a house as a living being was one of the key elements that made me fell in love with Chunking (trenchcoats and pineapples were others) so that's the one for me. Chunking is a masterclass of filmmaking at every level, an utter masterpiece and im so glad that its that high on the list but frustrared that' it's not higher.

Quote:

OH
RIGHT
SPEAKING of Wong Kar-Wai, do I have a bone to pick with BEA............

Chungking Express is possibly the only film I know where you can pause at any given moment and the frame will be incredible. Doesn't matter if it's an action scene, mid-motion, a transition, something banal, the composition of the shot will be perfect. The atmosphere Doyle and Wong Kar-Wai created in the 90s is powerful stuff... always makes you feel like you've been there (not that you're there now, but that you've lived it... at some point or another). There's this formed nostalgia in Chungking Express in particular that I have absolutely no clue how they managed to amass. Can really consume you.

Anywho.

I'm shocked Days of Being Wild made the cut. Pleasantly surprised of course, but I didn't even think it would stand a chance at a top 250 sort of placement.

HOWEVER

I completely expected Fallen Angels to make the cut. And it was only on two lists! Shocked

TWO! I think Fallen Angels is easily one of the best films of the 90s, and I'm surprised the way BEA's Wong Kar-Wai preferences swung. For the longest time I was the only person with it on their list. Made me kinda sad Laughing

. It's not like it's a crazy obscure pick or anything either. Happy Together did decently, but I'm surprised Days of Being Wild was the second fav of the bunch.

Chungking Express was pretty comfortably in the top 10 for most of the poll. Only dropped out sometime this week. I'm happy with its placement though— top 15 of the 90s is no easy feat.
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AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

Well done as always Hayden!

For the most part I think it's an excellent list. The top choices were mostly predictable. Slightly surprising how close Fargo came to knocking out Pulp Fiction from the throne ... then again, maybe not so much (Coen and Tarantino are pretty similarly praised, beloved by their fans, and there is probably considerable crossover with those bases). Outside of my disagreement with Shawshank still being ranked THAT high (not a bad film btw) I don't think there is anything that wrong with a predictable set of selections as at this point, most polled 90s lists are going to end up the same way. But it is nice to see some others rising more and more (like the 7 hour Satantango, Kar-Wai's films, Kieslowski, Koreeda, Underground at 62 was a pleasant surprise -- wasn't sure it would make it).

Though I like The Matrix, I am pleased more people seem to be realizing it wasn't THAT life-changing (I saw it in theaters when it came out so have experienced the whole trajectory of its esteem, among friends and so on). Don't get me wrong, people are welcome to their opinions and all; I'm just pleased at how some of them seem to be gradually changing shape to what I would consider a more accurate list. Hope more people continue to see Dark City (which is a superior film, especially in terms of cinematography, editing, atmosphere, art direction, even if much less of a "blockbuster"... particularly before its ending gets just as convoluted) ...or even the much more original World on a Wire, where the essence of such ideas can be seen.

I need to revisit Army of Darkness! Been forever!
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mickilennial
The Most Trusted Name in News

Gender: Female
Age: 35
Location: Detroit

Disappointed that those Japanese animated films aren't shown more respect. Not one cracked the top ten???

Hayden

Gowi wrote:

Disappointed that those Japanese animated films aren't shown more respect. Not one cracked the top ten???

I'm just glad Perfect Blue made the cut this time around (wasn't on the last list...). I agree that I would have liked to see it a bit higher though.

Princess Mononoke hit #10 at somepoint or another, but never stuck. Don't remember it ever being higher than that. I must admit, I thought Whisper of The Heart would be much higher, perhaps even top 50. Animated films in general seemed to be a little underloved this time around. I figured The Lion King would be considerably higher, and A Nightmare Before Christmas wasn't close at all despite being on our previous list. A Bug's Life, Mulan, Beauty and The Beast, and Aladdin were never in the top 100 at any point. Disney may just be shooting their reputation in the foot with the remakes. Ghost In The Shell, End of Evangelion and Porco Rosso weren't really in major contention either. Not sure what to tell ya.

Being said, Japan was the most represented country after the USA, followed by France.

Quote:

Well done as always Hayden!

For the most part I think it's an excellent list. The top choices were mostly predictable. Slightly surprising how close Fargo came to knocking out Pulp Fiction from the throne ... then again, maybe not so much (Coen and Tarantino are pretty similarly praised, beloved by their fans, and there is probably considerable crossover with those bases). Outside of my disagreement with Shawshank still being ranked THAT high (not a bad film btw) I don't think there is anything that wrong with a predictable set of selections as at this point, most polled 90s lists are going to end up the same way. But it is nice to see some others rising more and more (like the 7 hour Satantango, Kar-Wai's films, Kieslowski, Koreeda, Underground at 62 was a pleasant surprise -- wasn't sure it would make it).

Though I like The Matrix, I am pleased more people seem to be realizing it wasn't THAT life-changing (I saw it in theaters when it came out so have experienced the whole trajectory of its esteem, among friends and so on). Don't get me wrong, people are welcome to their opinions and all; I'm just pleased at how some of them seem to be gradually changing shape to what I would consider a more accurate list. Hope more people continue to see Dark City (which is a superior film, especially in terms of cinematography, editing, atmosphere, art direction, even if much less of a "blockbuster"... particularly before its ending gets just as convoluted) ...or even the much more original World on a Wire, where the essence of such ideas can be seen.

I need to revisit Army of Darkness! Been forever!

Thanks Afterhours. I must admit, I was looking forward to posting Fargo at #1 just for the reaction Laughing

. This is the first poll I've done in awhile where it was a legit fight for the top slot. Pulp Fiction only managed to squeak through with the final few lists.

I'm actually quite fond of the list. I think we did a fantastic job. There's a little bit of everything up there (including five films I haven't seen, which I'm hoping to get around to sometime soon— Army of Darkness being one of them). I'm glad Satantango made the cut after being excluded from the last. Perhaps a 7h+ film simply takes 25 years to get around to Laughing

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