Top Ten Movies of the Year: The Nineties

Which were the best films of the 1990s? Here are my selections! The 1990s represent my formative cinematic education, as I spent a good part of the time at University where going to see a film was a frequent ritual. From the moment that Quentin Tarantino hit the screens with “Reservoir Dogs” in 1992, all the signs were there that the years to follow would generate a new independent-flavoured ethos to movie-making. The appropriation of music, film history, and pop culture in all its forms blended together in Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction”, surely one of the defining films of the ‘90s. But it was by no means alone in drawing on the past to create something new and exciting. So which were the best films of the decade? I make no apologies for my choices or omissions, as these are my favourites, but I hope you get some inspiration to add to your own film collections when you’re shopping for DVDs!

Here are my favourite movies for each year of the 1990s:

1999

What a year for film! 1999 was a hard “Top 10” to put together, and it could easily have been a Top 30. I’ve plumped for “Magnolia” as my year’s “best”, purely because I love the multiple narratives, can forgive the biblical frogs, and find so many compelling elements to Paul Thomas Anderson’s masterpiece. Tom Cruise is great as “inspirational” speaker ‘TJ Mackey’, and the whole tale ties together strands of coincidence, fate, luck, while walking the line between anguish and hope so beautifully. If you’ve never heard of “The Red Violin”, I was astounded by it when I first saw it in the cinema. The central conceit of the movie is that a very special violin is up for sale in a contemporary Canadian auction house, but the movie takes you through the centuries following the path of the violin (and its international owners) over time. “American Beauty” is a stunning film in every way, and was rightly awarded Best Picture at the Oscars, although the most original and mind-blowing film of the year was “Being John Malkovich”. Maaaaaaaalkovichhhhh!!!!

1) MAGNOLIA
(dir: Paul Thomas Anderson, stars: Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore)

2) THE RED VIOLIN
(dir: Francois Girard, stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Flemyng)

3) AMERICAN BEAUTY
(dir: Sam Mendes, stars: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening)

4) ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER
(dir: Pedro Almodovar, stars: Penelope Cruz, Cecilia Roth)

5) BEING JOHN MALKOVICH
(dir: Spike Jonze, stars: John Cusack, Catherine Keener)

6) THE CIDER HOUSE RULES
(dir: Lasse Hallstrom, stars: Michael Caine, Charlize Theron)

7) THE END OF THE AFFAIR
(dir: Neil Jordan, stars: Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore)

8) SHOWER
(dir: Zhang Yang, stars: Quanxin Pu, Wu Jiang)

9) TOPSY-TURVY
(dir: Mike Leigh, stars: Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner)

10) SUNSHINE
(dir: Istvan Szabo, stars: Ralph Fiennes, Jennifer Ehle)

1998

I remember the Oscar ceremony in early 1999 (for the 1998 films) as being very entertaining because costume dramas “Elizabeth” and “Shakespeare in Love” (eventual Best Picture winner) were pitted against each other, as were World War Two epics “Saving Private Ryan” and “The Thin Red Line”. Crowd favourite “Life is Beautiful” even took glory as Roberto Benigni clambered over the distinguished heads of Hollywood’s elite to get his Best Actor award. For me the year’s real virtuoso movie was “The Truman Show” which really says far more about contemporary culture than many films do. My two sentimental favourites for the year are the remake of “Great Expectations”, with Floridian Ethan Hawke continually downtrodden by the unrequited love of his life, Gwyneth Paltrow. Equally, the beautiful “Besieged” tells of pianist David Thewlis longing for the love of Thandie Newton. “Croupier” features the excellent Clive Owen, while Brendan Gleeson is phenomenal as the complex real life character, Martin Cahill, in “The General”.

1) THE TRUMAN SHOW
(dir: Peter Weir, stars: Jim Carrey, Ed Harris)

2) GREAT EXPECTATIONS
(dir: Alfonso Cuaron, stars: Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow)

3) BESIEGED
(dir: Bernardo Bertolucci, stars: Thandie Newton, David Thewlis)

4) CROUPIER
(dir: Mike Hodges, stars: Clive Owen, Alex Kingston)

5) THE THIN RED LINE
(dir: Terrence Malick, stars: Jim Caviezel, Sean Penn)

6) THE GENERAL
(dir: John Boorman, stars: Brendan Gleeson, Jon Voight)

7) SLAM
(dir: Marc Levin, stars: Saul Williams, Sonja Sohn)

8) SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE
(dir: John Madden, stars: Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes)

9) CENTRAL STATION
(dir: Walter Salles, stars: Fernanda Montenegro, Vinicius de Oliveira)

10) BULWORTH
(dir: Warren Beatty, stars: Warren Beatty, Halle Berry)

1997

What I said about 1999 was also true of 1997. Although “Titanic” took all of the Oscars, including Best Picture, and “L.A. Confidential” was many critics’ favourite, my choices for the year may offer you some surprises. I’m particularly attached to the wonderful “Love and Death on Long Island”, as stuffy English writer John Hurt falls in love with American teen screen idol Jason Priestley, gently mimicking his own success in the likes of “Beverly Hills 90210”. “The Ice Storm” is one of Ang Lee’s terrific collection, and dissects early 1970s suburban America as both the physical and emotional landscape go through a freeze and thaw. I make no apologies for loving “Good Will Hunting”, as the Matt Damon mathematical genius meets therapist Robin Williams is a very engaging story. “Donnie Brasco” should get more respect due to the based-on-a-true-story tale of FBI agent Jonny Depp who infiltrated the mob, befriending Al Pacino. Foreign Language Oscar winner “Character” and nominee “Beyond Silence” are both beautiful films set in the Netherlands and Germany respectively.

1) LOVE AND DEATH ON LONG ISLAND
(dir: Richard Kwietniowski, stars: John Hurt, Jason Priestley)

2) THE ICE STORM
(dir: Ang Lee, stars: Kevin Kline, Tobey Maguire)

3) GOOD WILL HUNTING
(dir: Gus Van Sant, stars: Matt Damon, Robin Williams)

4) DONNIE BRASCO
(dir: Mike Newell, stars: Johnny Depp, Al Pacino)

5) BEYOND SILENCE
(dir: Caroline Link, stars: Sylvie Testud, Sibylle Canonica)

6) NIGHT FALLS ON MANHATTAN
(dir: Sidney Lumet, stars: Andy Garcia, Ian Holm)

7) BOOGIE NIGHTS
(dir: Paul Thomas Anderson, stars: Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds)

8) THE SWEET HEREAFTER
(dir: Atom Egoyan, stars: Ian Holm, Sarah Polley)

9) CHARACTER
(dir: Mike van Diem, stars: Fedja van Huet, Jan Decleir)

10) THE SPANISH PRISONER
(dir: David Mamet, stars: Campbell Scott, Steve Martin)

1996

The late-great director Anthony Minghella left behind a phenomenal if all too brief cinematic legacy, with the tip of the iceberg being the beautiful Oscar Best Picture winner, “The English Patient”. This is a film I could watch any number of times and still find completely compelling on so many levels, although if your local cinema ever decides to show it again on their big screen, jump at the chance to see it on the big screen. My love of American sports is catered to nicely as Tom Cruise inhabits the highs and lows of an agent in “Jerry Maguire”, although its Cuba Gooding with the celebrated one-liner “show me the money” who grabbed the Oscar glory. Liv Tyler heads a very good cast in the lush “Stealing Beauty”, and for quality small-scale drama, check out the Italian restaurant action in “Big Night”. Just don’t watch it when you’re hungry! “Secrets & Lies” by Mike Leigh, and the Coens’ “Fargo” deserve a place in any film fan’s collection because they are both brilliant.

1) THE ENGLISH PATIENT
(dir: Anthony Minghella, stars: Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas)

2) JERRY MAGUIRE
(dir: Cameron Crowe, stars: Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr.)

3) STEALING BEAUTY
(dir: Bernardo Bertolucci, stars: Liv Tyler, Jeremy Irons)

4) BIG NIGHT
(dir: Campbell Scott & Stanley Tucci, stars: Tony Shalhoub, Stanley Tucci)

5) SECRETS & LIES
(dir: Mike Leigh, stars: Brenda Blethyn, Marianne Jean-Baptiste)

6) FARGO
(dir: Joel Coen, stars: Frances McDormand, William H. Macy)

7) CARLA’S SONG
(dir: Ken Loach, stars: Robert Carlyle, Oyanka Cabezas)

8) RIDICULE
(dir: Patrice Leconte, stars: Charles Berling, Jean Rochefort)

9) GET ON THE BUS
(dir: Spike Lee, stars: Richard Belzer, Andre Braugher)

10) SWINGERS
(dir: Doug Liman, stars: Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau)

1995

In the middle of the decade when so many original and exciting movies were being made, it seemed an anomaly to find Mel Gibson’s kilt-wearing, make-up wearing, sword-wielding old-fashioned battle epic “Braveheart” taking Best Picture at the Oscars. Critics revelled at Nicolas Cage’s turn as a drunk deciding to check out in an alcoholic stupor in “Leaving Las Vegas”, and director Mike Figgis makes the film moody and atmospheric. “The Usual Suspects” is still a highly quotable movie if you can remember all the plot twists and answer the question “who is Keyser Soze?” as described by the compelling Kevin Spacey. Hankies at the ready for Richard Dreyfuss inspiring generations of American high school students to learn music in “Mr. Holland’s Opus”. Ang Lee may have seemed an odd choice to direct a quintessentially English costume drama, but he did it very well because “Sense and Sensibility” is a really beautiful movie. One of the cinematic moments that sticks with me is a scene in Paul Auster’s “Smoke” where Harvey Keitel shows his photograph albums to William Hurt. Each picture reveals the same scene of a Brooklyn street corner at 8am, and as Hurt protests that they’re all the same, Keitel explains that it’s a living document of a place. If you look closely you see the changing seasons, different people, and then the defining image: Hurt sees his wife who has since died. A very poignant film, and must be seen in tandem with the improvised sequel “Blue In the Face”.

1) LEAVING LAS VEGAS
(dir: Mike Figgis, stars: Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue)

2) THE USUAL SUSPECTS
(dir: Bryan Singer, stars: Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Spacey)

3) MR. HOLLAND’S OPUS
(dir: Stephen Herek, stars: Richard Dreyfuss, Glenne Headly)

4) SENSE AND SENSIBILITY
(dir: Ang Lee, stars: Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet)

5) SMOKE
(dir: Wayne Wang, stars: Harvey Keitel, William Hurt)

6) ANTONIA’S LINE
(dir: Marleen Gorris, stars: Willeke van Ammelrooy, Jan Decleir)

7) IL POSTINO
(dir: Michael Radford, stars: Massimo Troisi, Philippe Noiret)

8) DON JUAN DE MARCO
(dir: Jeremy Leven, stars: Johnny Depp, Marlon Brando)

9) NIXON
(dir: Oliver Stone, stars: Anthony Hopkins, Joan Allen)

10) RICHARD III
(dir: Richard Loncraine, stars: Ian McKellen, Annette Bening)

1994

I don’t mind admitting that I think “Forrest Gump” is an excellent film! In fact I saw it twice in the cinema as I found it such a clever and original idea to transport a fictional character through the defining moments of the (American) 20th century. It won a heap of Oscars, including Best Picture, and arguably 1994 is the year with the most accomplished collection of nominees for the top category. Critics and film fans every since have bemoaned the lack of awards for “The Shawshank Redemption”, but remember also that Quentin Tarantino’s witty and explosive “Pulp Fiction” was nominated too. (Can you think of a sentence that made your heart skip a beat more noisily than “Bring out the gimp!”??) As well as the funniest Britcom “Four Weddings and a Funeral”, I would argue that the unsung masterpiece is Robert Redford’s film “Quiz Show” about the television scandals of the 1950s when America’s trust for TV was dealt a huge blow when it emerged that contestants on the universally-watched game shows were being fed the answers in advance to make for more compelling drama. Ralph Fiennes is excellent as the charming intellectual groomed as the quiz champion in place of working man John Turturro, but it’s the 1966 Best Actor winner, Paul Scofield, who stands out with gravitas and intensity as Fiennes’ father. Having thought so highly of the year’s Best Picture nominees, I can point out that my favourite film of the year was Linklater’s talky “Before Sunrise”. A simple concept – an American guy meets a French girl on a train, they get off in Vienna, and talk their way through to a sunrise that leaves them wondering if they will ever meet again. See it and then watch the follow-up (a mere ten years later!) “Before Sunset”!

1) BEFORE SUNRISE
(dir: Richard Linklater, stars: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy)

2) THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
(dir: Frank Darabont, stars: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman)

3) QUIZ SHOW
(dir: Robert Redford, stars: Ralph Fiennes, John Turturro)

4) PULP FICTION
(dir: Quentin Tarantino, stars: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson)

5) FORREST GUMP
(dir: Robert Zemeckis, stars: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright Penn)

6) FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL
(dir: Mike Newell, stars: Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell)

7) GROUNDHOG DAY
(dir: Harold Ramis, stars: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell)

8) LEON
(dir: Luc Besson, stars: Jean Reno, Natalie Portman)

9) SHALLOW GRAVE
(dir: Danny Boyle, stars: Ewan McGregor, Kerry Fox)

10) ED WOOD
(dir: Tim Burton, stars: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau)

1993

Great films stick in the memory, and my choice for 1993 easily makes it into my Top Five of films from any decade. While some may dismiss it as theatre pasted onto film, John Guare’s stageplay “Six Degrees of Separation” is given a very engrossing telling by director Fred Schepisi. Although Will Smith was known for “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” and then spent the rest of the 1990s working on his bank balance with a slew of blockbuster shoot ‘em ups, he is excellent as a con artist who wants acceptance into the elite echelons of New York high society by masquerading as the son of film legend Sidney Poitier. As the theory of six degrees of separation purports, we are all globally linked by a chain of six people to any other human being. That concept stands as the metaphor for the intersection of lives in the microcosm of the Manhattan / New England elite. Stockard Channing is amazing, Donald Sutherland his usual brilliant self, and throw in Ian McKellen, Heather Graham, Bruce Davison, and 80s “Breakfast Club” alumnus Anthony Michael Hall for a great ensemble cast. But it’s a Will Smith you have not seen before or since that makes it a film to see. “Fearless” is a existential look at life and death through the eyes of plane crash survivor, Jeff Bridges. “The Remains of the Day” is a touching look at servant life before the Second World War, recounting the pent-up emotions of Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts” is an episodic interlinking of disparate characters around Los Angeles involving sex, death, life and love.

1) SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION
(dir: Fred Schepisi, stars: Will Smith, Stockard Channing)

2) FEARLESS
(dir: Peter Weir, stars: Jeff Bridges, Rosie Perez)

3) THE REMAINS OF THE DAY
(dir: James Ivory, stars: Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson)

4) SHORT CUTS
(dir: Robert Altman, stars: Bruce Davison, Jack Lemmon)

5) THE MUSIC OF CHANCE
(dir: Philip Haas, stars: James Spader, Mandy Patinkin)

6) DAVE
(dir: Ivan Reitman, stars: Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver)

7) SHADOWLANDS
(dir: Richard Attenborough, stars: Anthony Hopkins, Debra Winger)

8) IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER
(dir: Jim Sheridan, stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Emma Thompson)

9) THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA
(dir: Anh Hung Tran, stars: Tran Nu Yen-Khe, Thi Loc Truong)

10) THE PIANO
(dir: Jane Campion, stars: Holly Hunter, Anna Paquin)

1992

If you’ve watched “The West Wing” on TV in the past few years, writer Aaron Sorkin’s earlier foray into the world of Washington politics was in the military courtroom drama “A Few Good Men”.
Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise, and Demi Moore headline this gripping and quote-worthy movie. For a quieter and more thoughtful story, Kevin Kline and Danny Glover find a solidarity of purpose to their lives as they journey (ultimately) towards “Grand Canyon”. Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-winning Best Picture western, “Unforgiven”, clearly did this more successfully for the critics, but I rate “Grand Canyon” very highly. In excellent form again, Woody Allen’s “Husbands and Wives” looks at the battles between married New Yorkers, and features a very funny supporting role by film director Sydney Pollack as a guy having a mid-life crisis (with accompanying girlfriend half his age!). “Jamon, Jamon” is a typically sexually-charged offering from Spanish director, Bigas Luna, and is great for fans of both Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. “My Cousin Vinny” is classic culture-clash comedy with Italian New Yorkers Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei trying to save the bacon of Ralph Maccio in a small(-minded) Southern town. Billy Crystal will forever be remembered for playing opposite orgasmic Meg Ryan in “When Harry Met Sally ...” (1987) but the film that really shows him off as very good performer is “Mr. Saturday Night” through the entire career of fictional comedian Buddy Young Jr.

1) A FEW GOOD MEN
(dir: Rob Reiner, stars: Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson)

2) GRAND CANYON
(dir: Lawrence Kasdan, stars: Kevin Kline, Danny Glover)

3) HUSBANDS AND WIVES
(dir: Woody Allen, stars: Woody Allen, Judy Davis)

4) JAMON, JAMON
(dir: Bigas Luna, stars: Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem)

5) MY COUSIN VINNY
(dir: Jonathan Lynn, stars: Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei)

6) MR. SATURDAY NIGHT
(dir: Billy Crystal, stars: Billy Crystal, David Paymer)

7) MALCOLM X
(dir: Spike Lee, stars: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett)

8) CHAPLIN
(dir: Richard Attenborough, stars: Robert Downey Jr., Dan Aykroyd)

9) ENCHANTED APRIL
(dir: Mike Newell, stars: Joan Plowright, Miranda Richardson)

10) LOVE FIELD
(dir: Jonathan Kaplan, stars: Michelle Pfeiffer, Dennis Haysbert)

1991

Love him or hate him, Oliver Stone created a cinematic masterpiece in the epic telling of Jim Garrison’s (Kevin Costner) attempt to bring conspirators to justice over the killing of President John F. Kennedy. “JFK” caused as much debate in the United States about the “responsibility” of filmmakers to document history as he did in riling up a new generation to the possibility that Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963 did not happen in line with the official story of events. The Oscar, and indeed all of the top five awards, went to “Silence of the Lambs” as Anthony Hopkins appreciation for Chianti and assorted meats was the other main talking point of the year. “Point Break” is a superb action film and has a fantastic atmosphere and pace to it with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze duelling through a tale of Californian surfing and bank robbery. “Rambling Rose” and “Boyz N The Hood” are poles apart in terms of the settings, but equally engaging in their handling of small-town Southern USA and the ganglands of South Central Los Angeles respectively.

1) JFK
(dir: Oliver Stone, stars: Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones)

2) POINT BREAK
(dir: Kathryn Bigelow, stars: Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze)

3) RAMBLING ROSE
(dir: Martha Coolidge, stars: Laura Dern, Robert Duvall)

4) SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
(dir: Jonathan Demme, stars: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins)

5) BOYZ ‘N’ THE HOOD
(dir: John Singleton, stars: Cuba Gooding Jr., Laurence Fishburne)

6) BARTON FINK
(dir: Joel Coen, stars: John Turturro, Michael Lerner)

7) RAISE THE RED LANTERN
(dir: Zhang Yimou, stars: Gong Li, Ma Jingwu)

8) BUGSY
(dir: Barry Levinson, stars: Warren Beatty, Annette Bening)

9) L.A. STORY
(dir: Mick Jackson, stars: Steve Martin, Victoria Tennant)

10) MEDITERRANEO
(dir: Gabriele Salvatores, stars: Diego Abatantuono, Claudio Bigagli)

1990

“Dances With Wolves” is a beautiful piece of cinema in my eyes, and is a fine example of an epic film winning the Best Picture Oscar. I’m fascinated by American history, and while I’m sure the film has its critics for various reasons, I find it eminently watchable no matter the number of viewings. 1990 was also the “year of Gerard Depardieu”. “Green Card” is something of a throwaway “light” movie featuring Gerard as a Frenchman needing an arranged marriage, and Andie MacDowell as an uptight garden-loving New Yorker desperate to show that she has the requisite husband to be allowed to move into a desirable apartment block. In his Oscar-nominated role, Depardieu is the nasally-challenged “Cyrano de Bergerac”, and is really very funny and charismatic in the leading role. “Avalon” is not very well-known but follows the story of an Polish-Jewish immigrant family in Baltimore during the early years of the 20th Century. I don’t mind sneaking “chick flicks” like “Pretty Woman” and “Ghost” into the Top 10 for the year because they’re stories well-made and engaging that are still popular nearly twenty years later.

1) DANCES WITH WOLVES
(dir: Kevin Costner, stars: Kevin Costner, Graham Greene)

2) CYRANO DE BERGERAC
(dir: Jean-Paul Rappeneau, stars: Gerard Depardieu, Vincent Perez)

3) GREEN CARD
(dir: Peter Weir, stars: Gerard Depardieu, Andie MacDowell)

4) AVALON
(dir: Barry Levinson, stars: Armin Mueller-Stahl, Aidan Quinn)

5) GOOD FELLAS
(dir: Martin Scorsese, stars: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta)

6) JU DOU
(dir: Zhang Yimou, stars: Gong Li, Li Baotian)

7) THE GRIFTERS
(dir: Stephen Frears, stars: Anjelica Huston, John Cusack)

8) PRETTY WOMAN
(dir: Garry Marshall, stars: Julia Roberts, Richard Gere)

9) MISERY
(dir: Rob Reiner, stars: Kathy Bates, James Caan)

10) GHOST
(dir: Jerry Zucker, stars: Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze)

The 1990s is the decade where a cinema fan in the 21st century must begin before working back in time to expand their film knowledge. There really were so many good films made, advances in technology were considerable throughout the period, and a generation of new directors and writers were clearly influenced by the classics of their own seventies youth. To pick a favourite ten movies from the decade is a challenge, but for the record, here they are:


TOP 10 MOVIES OF THE 1990s!

1) SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION (1993)
(dir: Fred Schepisi, stars: Will Smith, Stockard Channing)

2) BEFORE SUNRISE (1994)
(dir: Richard Linklater, stars: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy)

3) MAGNOLIA (1999)
(dir: Paul Thomas Anderson, stars: Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore)

4) DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990)
(dir: Kevin Costner, stars: Kevin Costner, Graham Greene)

5) THE TRUMAN SHOW (1998)
(dir: Peter Weir, stars: Jim Carrey, Ed Harris)

6) THE ENGLISH PATIENT (1996)
(dir: Anthony Minghella, stars: Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas)

7) LOVE AND DEATH ON LONG ISLAND (1997)
(dir: Richard Kwietniowski, stars: John Hurt, Jason Priestley)

8) THE RED VIOLIN (1999)
(dir: Francois Girard, stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Flemyng)

9) JFK (1991)
(dir: Oliver Stone, stars: Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones)

10) LEAVING LAS VEGAS (1995)
(dir: Mike Figgis, stars: Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue)