The 100 Greatest movies of the 1990s 1. Goodfellas (7 Viewers)

[Cowboysfan8]

Wait Boyz N the Hood isn't on the list? Would be curious to know why.

Mostly because it sucks

 

[Keith R]

1. Goodfellas (1990)

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Robert DeNiro, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino

Synopsis: Henry Hill joins the mob.

As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster. - Ray Liotta as Henry Hill

Gets the #1 spot because there’s not a single wasted moment. A perfect film for me from beginning to end. The use of music is extraordinary, especially “Sunshine of Your Love” and the Jim Gordon piano solo from “Layla”. If not for The Godfather this would be the greatest mob film of all time. And who knows? Maybe it’s better.

Not quite, but it's a worthy #1 from the 1990s

 

[Andy Dufresne]

No really. The list includes Barton Fink but not Miller's Crossing?

C'MON MAN!!!

 

[Alex P Keaton]

1. Goodfellas (1990)

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Robert DeNiro, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino

Synopsis: Henry Hill joins the mob.

As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster. - Ray Liotta as Henry Hill

Gets the #1 spot because there’s not a single wasted moment. A perfect film for me from beginning to end. The use of music is extraordinary, especially “Sunshine of Your Love” and the Jim Gordon piano solo from “Layla”. If not for The Godfather this would be the greatest mob film of all time. And who knows? Maybe it’s better.

Great movie. Not in my top-5 for the 90s, but just outside the top-5. Very worthy of this spot. The Layla piano solo still gives me chills.

 

[Zow]

Others I found tremendously overrated like Dances With Wolves. Though that movie did better when James Cameron moved it to outer space.

Meh Fern Gully still did it best.

 

[El Floppo]

Grabbed these from Rolling Stone's list...I don't think Tim included any of them, and I'd consider most.

'Buffalo '66' (1998)
'The Ice Storm' (1997)
'Lone Star' (1996)
'The City of Lost Children' (1995)
'Before Sunrise' (1995)
'Friday' (1995)
'Life Is Sweet' (1990)
'Jackie Brown' (1997)
'Audition' (1999)
'South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut' (1999)
'L.A. Confidential' (1997)
'Heavenly Creatures' (1994)
'Breaking the Waves' (1996)
'Starship Troopers' (1997)
'Naked' (1993)
'Crumb' (1994)
'The Sweet Hereafter' (1997)
'My Own Private Idaho' (1991)
'Princess Mononoke' (1997)
'Heat' (1995)
'Three Colors: Blue' (1993)
'Magnolia' (1999)
'Paris Is Burning' (1990)
'Groundhog Day' (1993)
'Chunking Express' (1994)
'Malcolm X' (1992)

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

I agree with 76% of this list. The movies that I'm adding are

Before Sunrise
Starship Troopers
Stargate
Dogma
Chaplin
Benny and Joon
Mallrats
Happygilmore
Run Lola Run
The Rock
Gettysburg
The Mummy
Gattaca
My Cousin Vinny
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
Edward Scissorhands
Dances with Wolves
The Fifth Element
Home Alone
Galaxy Quest
The Rocketeer
Get Shorty
Magnolia
City Slickers

 

[El Floppo]

Run Lola Run
Gattaca
Galaxy Quest
Get Shorty
City Slickers

Good call with those... Not on Rolling Stones list.

 

[Zow]

Tim, as always, great work and effort. None of the below is intended to be a personal criticism of you. Just joining in the fun of providing my own thoughts/rankings.

Hugely glaring omissions:
My Cousin Vinny - would have easily been top ten for me. Genuinely shocked it's not in your top ten let alone not on your list. Biggest travesty IMO.
Heat - already discussed
Run Lola Run - probably the first foreign film brought to my attention
Happy Gilmore - not exactly a cinematic masterpiece but hugely popular. Far exceeds The Waterboy.
Before Sunrise - Don't personally love it, but highly acclaimed

Personal favorites that were omitted:
Tin Cup
Mallrats
Stargate
The Rock
Rounders

Most overrated on Tim's list (ranked too high):
Europa Europa
Quiz Show
The Player
Ed Wood
That Thing You Do!
Boogie Nights
Hoop Dreams

Most underrated on Tim's list (ranked too low):
Se7en
Usual Suspects
The Sixth Sense
Primal Fear
The Big Lebowski
A Time to Kill

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Speaking of Fiennes, I'm a little surprised English Patient got left off. I thought he was great in that and that movie was terrific.

I really didn’t like it. Bored me to tears.

I guess I can reveal now that there are many films that I didn’t have on this list despite high regard by many because I found them too boring. In addition to the one you named that includes LA Confidential.

There are a few other films folks have mentioned which I have not seen, including Heat and Magnolia.

There's a lot of head scratchers in your list for me, Tim, but it's YOUR favorites, not mine (or anybody else's) so I need to remind myself of that.

I know English Patient didn't thrill 'em all, but I really liked it. But not hard to understand why you left it off. The ones that I'm really puzzled you didn't include are things like:

Slingblade - Maybe I'm in the minority, but I thought that was one of the better performances an actor has ever turned in and I think the movie overall is just spectacular.
The Ice Storm - Don't want to beat this one to death, but I found it to be one of the better films of the 90s in the way it presented the human condition.
LA Confidential - It bored you? Huh.
Private Parts - I was not expecting to enjoy this movie as much as I did when it came out. I was never a big Howard Stern guy but I thought this was an excellent effort and would easily put it inside my top 100 of the 90s.
True Romance - I think I might be on an island of 1 here, but this is my favorite Tarantino project (yes, I like it better than Pulp Fiction, I'm weird).|
Boyz n the Hood - Actually shocked you left this one out. C'mon, Tim.
Dead Man Walking - Another one that puzzles me, though I'm guessing it bored you. It wasn't for everybody, but this was a tremendous movie covering a very divisive topic.
Lone Star - Incredible storytelling and I'm guessing too boring for you. Kris Kiristopherson as a bad sheriff? Does it get any better than that?
Chasing Amy - This movie blew me away when I saw it the first time. Not sure what I'd think about it today, but at the time, this was very fresh movie that had a lot of great dialog.


If you didn't see Heat, there's not much to say there. It's a classic but if you haven't seen it that's the explanation for omission.

For comedy, I'd have added Kingpin, Waiting for Guffman and My Cousin Vinny.

For film noir, Grifters and Get Shorty make my top 100.

Small budget Indies that got left out IMO: Bottle Rocket and Clerks,

Plenty I wouldn't have included I've mentioned in here a time or twenty. There's a few I'd never seen on your list I'd like to check out. There's some I never even knew existed before this exercise (Europa Europa).

Otherwise - Two thumbs up here, Tim.

True Romance is in my top-10 for the 90s, obviously along with Heat. Clerks of course belongs on this list. LA Confidential. Have never talked with someone who disliked it. Boyz n the Hood….i mean wtf. Not even on this list good god.


All respect to tim for making his list, being true to his list, putting it out there. And hey, he had The Player on the list, pretty high. Major props for that.

But if somebody had told me I was going to spend time reading a top 100 list of the 90s that didn’t include Heat or True Romance, I basically would have bowed out. (Which is a me issue, not a tim issue)

Nothing gets replies and clicks than a little controversy.

Also titling your thread "the greatest 100" instead of "my favorite 100".

 

[KarmaPolice]

Speaking of Fiennes, I'm a little surprised English Patient got left off. I thought he was great in that and that movie was terrific.

I really didn’t like it. Bored me to tears.

I guess I can reveal now that there are many films that I didn’t have on this list despite high regard by many because I found them too boring. In addition to the one you named that includes LA Confidential.

There are a few other films folks have mentioned which I have not seen, including Heat and Magnolia.

There's a lot of head scratchers in your list for me, Tim, but it's YOUR favorites, not mine (or anybody else's) so I need to remind myself of that.

I know English Patient didn't thrill 'em all, but I really liked it. But not hard to understand why you left it off. The ones that I'm really puzzled you didn't include are things like:

Slingblade - Maybe I'm in the minority, but I thought that was one of the better performances an actor has ever turned in and I think the movie overall is just spectacular.
The Ice Storm - Don't want to beat this one to death, but I found it to be one of the better films of the 90s in the way it presented the human condition.
LA Confidential - It bored you? Huh.
Private Parts - I was not expecting to enjoy this movie as much as I did when it came out. I was never a big Howard Stern guy but I thought this was an excellent effort and would easily put it inside my top 100 of the 90s.
True Romance - I think I might be on an island of 1 here, but this is my favorite Tarantino project (yes, I like it better than Pulp Fiction, I'm weird).|
Boyz n the Hood - Actually shocked you left this one out. C'mon, Tim.
Dead Man Walking - Another one that puzzles me, though I'm guessing it bored you. It wasn't for everybody, but this was a tremendous movie covering a very divisive topic.
Lone Star - Incredible storytelling and I'm guessing too boring for you. Kris Kiristopherson as a bad sheriff? Does it get any better than that?
Chasing Amy - This movie blew me away when I saw it the first time. Not sure what I'd think about it today, but at the time, this was very fresh movie that had a lot of great dialog.


If you didn't see Heat, there's not much to say there. It's a classic but if you haven't seen it that's the explanation for omission.

For comedy, I'd have added Kingpin, Waiting for Guffman and My Cousin Vinny.

For film noir, Grifters and Get Shorty make my top 100.

Small budget Indies that got left out IMO: Bottle Rocket and Clerks,

Plenty I wouldn't have included I've mentioned in here a time or twenty. There's a few I'd never seen on your list I'd like to check out. There's some I never even knew existed before this exercise (Europa Europa).

Otherwise - Two thumbs up here, Tim.

True Romance is in my top-10 for the 90s, obviously along with Heat. Clerks of course belongs on this list. LA Confidential. Have never talked with someone who disliked it. Boyz n the Hood….i mean wtf. Not even on this list good god.


All respect to tim for making his list, being true to his list, putting it out there. And hey, he had The Player on the list, pretty high. Major props for that.

But if somebody had told me I was going to spend time reading a top 100 list of the 90s that didn’t include Heat or True Romance, I basically would have bowed out. (Which is a me issue, not a tim issue)

Nothing gets replies and clicks than a little controversy.

Also titling your thread "the greatest 100" instead of "my favorite 100".

and never defining what the criteria for the list is.

 

[Gally]

Grabbed these from Rolling Stone's list...I don't think Tim included any of them, and I'd consider most.

'Buffalo '66' (1998)
'The Ice Storm' (1997)
'Lone Star' (1996)
'The City of Lost Children' (1995)
'Before Sunrise' (1995)
'Friday' (1995)
'Life Is Sweet' (1990)
'Jackie Brown' (1997)
'Audition' (1999)
'South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut' (1999)
'L.A. Confidential' (1997)
'Heavenly Creatures' (1994)
'Breaking the Waves' (1996)
'Starship Troopers' (1997)
'Naked' (1993)
'Crumb' (1994)
'The Sweet Hereafter' (1997)
'My Own Private Idaho' (1991)
'Princess Mononoke' (1997)
'Heat' (1995)
'Three Colors: Blue' (1993)
'Magnolia' (1999)
'Paris Is Burning' (1990)
'Groundhog Day' (1993)
'Chunking Express' (1994)
'Malcolm X' (1992)

I have only seen three of these (LA Confidential, Heat, Groundhog Day).

 

[Gally]

Speaking of Fiennes, I'm a little surprised English Patient got left off. I thought he was great in that and that movie was terrific.

I really didn’t like it. Bored me to tears.

I guess I can reveal now that there are many films that I didn’t have on this list despite high regard by many because I found them too boring. In addition to the one you named that includes LA Confidential.

There are a few other films folks have mentioned which I have not seen, including Heat and Magnolia.

There's a lot of head scratchers in your list for me, Tim, but it's YOUR favorites, not mine (or anybody else's) so I need to remind myself of that.

I know English Patient didn't thrill 'em all, but I really liked it. But not hard to understand why you left it off. The ones that I'm really puzzled you didn't include are things like:

Slingblade - Maybe I'm in the minority, but I thought that was one of the better performances an actor has ever turned in and I think the movie overall is just spectacular.
The Ice Storm - Don't want to beat this one to death, but I found it to be one of the better films of the 90s in the way it presented the human condition.
LA Confidential - It bored you? Huh.
Private Parts - I was not expecting to enjoy this movie as much as I did when it came out. I was never a big Howard Stern guy but I thought this was an excellent effort and would easily put it inside my top 100 of the 90s.
True Romance - I think I might be on an island of 1 here, but this is my favorite Tarantino project (yes, I like it better than Pulp Fiction, I'm weird).|
Boyz n the Hood - Actually shocked you left this one out. C'mon, Tim.
Dead Man Walking - Another one that puzzles me, though I'm guessing it bored you. It wasn't for everybody, but this was a tremendous movie covering a very divisive topic.
Lone Star - Incredible storytelling and I'm guessing too boring for you. Kris Kiristopherson as a bad sheriff? Does it get any better than that?
Chasing Amy - This movie blew me away when I saw it the first time. Not sure what I'd think about it today, but at the time, this was very fresh movie that had a lot of great dialog.


If you didn't see Heat, there's not much to say there. It's a classic but if you haven't seen it that's the explanation for omission.

For comedy, I'd have added Kingpin, Waiting for Guffman and My Cousin Vinny.

For film noir, Grifters and Get Shorty make my top 100.

Small budget Indies that got left out IMO: Bottle Rocket and Clerks,

Plenty I wouldn't have included I've mentioned in here a time or twenty. There's a few I'd never seen on your list I'd like to check out. There's some I never even knew existed before this exercise (Europa Europa).

Otherwise - Two thumbs up here, Tim.

True Romance is in my top-10 for the 90s, obviously along with Heat. Clerks of course belongs on this list. LA Confidential. Have never talked with someone who disliked it. Boyz n the Hood….i mean wtf. Not even on this list good god.


All respect to tim for making his list, being true to his list, putting it out there. And hey, he had The Player on the list, pretty high. Major props for that.

But if somebody had told me I was going to spend time reading a top 100 list of the 90s that didn’t include Heat or True Romance, I basically would have bowed out. (Which is a me issue, not a tim issue)

Nothing gets replies and clicks than a little controversy.

Also titling your thread "the greatest 100" instead of "my favorite 100".

and never defining what the criteria for the list is.

That's why it can't be wrong.

 

[KarmaPolice]

No really. The list includes Barton Fink but not Miller's Crossing?

C'MON MAN!!!

Miller's and Arizona are the two that seem to get praised the most by people who's tastes I jive with the most around here, and I get nothing out of them.

Sorry, I can't remember which fellow MADer who said that Fargo was too quirky for the sake of it, and that is 100% how I feel about Arizona. Miller's operates in a subgenre and era I don't really dig, so I get where my biases come in there. I've also only seen in maybe two times, so I don't really even have a great reason why it didn't click. I remember liking Blood Simple more than Miller's. I also remember liking a couple of their movies that don't seem to get brought up like The Man Who Wasn't there or even Intolerable Cruelty. All of their other movies always seemed to weird and quirky outside of the 2 I loved.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Speaking of Fiennes, I'm a little surprised English Patient got left off. I thought he was great in that and that movie was terrific.

I really didn’t like it. Bored me to tears.

I guess I can reveal now that there are many films that I didn’t have on this list despite high regard by many because I found them too boring. In addition to the one you named that includes LA Confidential.

There are a few other films folks have mentioned which I have not seen, including Heat and Magnolia.

There's a lot of head scratchers in your list for me, Tim, but it's YOUR favorites, not mine (or anybody else's) so I need to remind myself of that.

I know English Patient didn't thrill 'em all, but I really liked it. But not hard to understand why you left it off. The ones that I'm really puzzled you didn't include are things like:

Slingblade - Maybe I'm in the minority, but I thought that was one of the better performances an actor has ever turned in and I think the movie overall is just spectacular.
The Ice Storm - Don't want to beat this one to death, but I found it to be one of the better films of the 90s in the way it presented the human condition.
LA Confidential - It bored you? Huh.
Private Parts - I was not expecting to enjoy this movie as much as I did when it came out. I was never a big Howard Stern guy but I thought this was an excellent effort and would easily put it inside my top 100 of the 90s.
True Romance - I think I might be on an island of 1 here, but this is my favorite Tarantino project (yes, I like it better than Pulp Fiction, I'm weird).|
Boyz n the Hood - Actually shocked you left this one out. C'mon, Tim.
Dead Man Walking - Another one that puzzles me, though I'm guessing it bored you. It wasn't for everybody, but this was a tremendous movie covering a very divisive topic.
Lone Star - Incredible storytelling and I'm guessing too boring for you. Kris Kiristopherson as a bad sheriff? Does it get any better than that?
Chasing Amy - This movie blew me away when I saw it the first time. Not sure what I'd think about it today, but at the time, this was very fresh movie that had a lot of great dialog.


If you didn't see Heat, there's not much to say there. It's a classic but if you haven't seen it that's the explanation for omission.

For comedy, I'd have added Kingpin, Waiting for Guffman and My Cousin Vinny.

For film noir, Grifters and Get Shorty make my top 100.

Small budget Indies that got left out IMO: Bottle Rocket and Clerks,

Plenty I wouldn't have included I've mentioned in here a time or twenty. There's a few I'd never seen on your list I'd like to check out. There's some I never even knew existed before this exercise (Europa Europa).

Otherwise - Two thumbs up here, Tim.

True Romance is in my top-10 for the 90s, obviously along with Heat. Clerks of course belongs on this list. LA Confidential. Have never talked with someone who disliked it. Boyz n the Hood….i mean wtf. Not even on this list good god.


All respect to tim for making his list, being true to his list, putting it out there. And hey, he had The Player on the list, pretty high. Major props for that.

But if somebody had told me I was going to spend time reading a top 100 list of the 90s that didn’t include Heat or True Romance, I basically would have bowed out. (Which is a me issue, not a tim issue)

Nothing gets replies and clicks than a little controversy.

Also titling your thread "the greatest 100" instead of "my favorite 100".

and never defining what the criteria for the list is.

That's why it can't be wrong.

Favorites can't be wrong, either. IMO some of the bickering is because of the title as we debated and joked at the start.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Speaking of Fiennes, I'm a little surprised English Patient got left off. I thought he was great in that and that movie was terrific.

I really didn’t like it. Bored me to tears.

I guess I can reveal now that there are many films that I didn’t have on this list despite high regard by many because I found them too boring. In addition to the one you named that includes LA Confidential.

There are a few other films folks have mentioned which I have not seen, including Heat and Magnolia.

There's a lot of head scratchers in your list for me, Tim, but it's YOUR favorites, not mine (or anybody else's) so I need to remind myself of that.

I know English Patient didn't thrill 'em all, but I really liked it. But not hard to understand why you left it off. The ones that I'm really puzzled you didn't include are things like:

Slingblade - Maybe I'm in the minority, but I thought that was one of the better performances an actor has ever turned in and I think the movie overall is just spectacular.
The Ice Storm - Don't want to beat this one to death, but I found it to be one of the better films of the 90s in the way it presented the human condition.
LA Confidential - It bored you? Huh.
Private Parts - I was not expecting to enjoy this movie as much as I did when it came out. I was never a big Howard Stern guy but I thought this was an excellent effort and would easily put it inside my top 100 of the 90s.
True Romance - I think I might be on an island of 1 here, but this is my favorite Tarantino project (yes, I like it better than Pulp Fiction, I'm weird).|
Boyz n the Hood - Actually shocked you left this one out. C'mon, Tim.
Dead Man Walking - Another one that puzzles me, though I'm guessing it bored you. It wasn't for everybody, but this was a tremendous movie covering a very divisive topic.
Lone Star - Incredible storytelling and I'm guessing too boring for you. Kris Kiristopherson as a bad sheriff? Does it get any better than that?
Chasing Amy - This movie blew me away when I saw it the first time. Not sure what I'd think about it today, but at the time, this was very fresh movie that had a lot of great dialog.


If you didn't see Heat, there's not much to say there. It's a classic but if you haven't seen it that's the explanation for omission.

For comedy, I'd have added Kingpin, Waiting for Guffman and My Cousin Vinny.

For film noir, Grifters and Get Shorty make my top 100.

Small budget Indies that got left out IMO: Bottle Rocket and Clerks,

Plenty I wouldn't have included I've mentioned in here a time or twenty. There's a few I'd never seen on your list I'd like to check out. There's some I never even knew existed before this exercise (Europa Europa).

Otherwise - Two thumbs up here, Tim.

True Romance is in my top-10 for the 90s, obviously along with Heat. Clerks of course belongs on this list. LA Confidential. Have never talked with someone who disliked it. Boyz n the Hood….i mean wtf. Not even on this list good god.


All respect to tim for making his list, being true to his list, putting it out there. And hey, he had The Player on the list, pretty high. Major props for that.

But if somebody had told me I was going to spend time reading a top 100 list of the 90s that didn’t include Heat or True Romance, I basically would have bowed out. (Which is a me issue, not a tim issue)

Nothing gets replies and clicks than a little controversy.

Also titling your thread "the greatest 100" instead of "my favorite 100".

and never defining what the criteria for the list is.

That's why it can't be wrong.

Favorites can't be wrong, either. IMO some of the bickering is because of the title as we debated and joked at the start.

Some of the bickering is because it was inevitable that a random great movie like Heat would be left out. I hope it’s just shtick, but if not it’s honestly hard to take any of the list seriously then.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

No really. The list includes Barton Fink but not Miller's Crossing?

C'MON MAN!!!

Miller's and Arizona are the two that seem to get praised the most by people who's tastes I jive with the most around here, and I get nothing out of them.

Sorry, I can't remember which fellow MADer who said that Fargo was too quirky for the sake of it, and that is 100% how I feel about Arizona. Miller's operates in a subgenre and era I don't really dig, so I get where my biases come in there. I've also only seen in maybe two times, so I don't really even have a great reason why it didn't click. I remember liking Blood Simple more than Miller's. I also remember liking a couple of their movies that don't seem to get brought up like The Man Who Wasn't there or even Intolerable Cruelty. All of their other movies always seemed to weird and quirky outside of the 2 I loved.

I said that thing about Fargo.

The Man Who Wasn't There is criminally underrated. Intolerable Cruelty has holes in the story but the acting is great.

The Coen film I seem to love more than the consensus is Burn After Reading. To me it's as funny and memorable as The Big Lebowski.

 

[Ghost Rider]

Apologies if I missed it, but Philadelphia is another major glaring omission. A groundbreaking movie for its time, and both Hanks and Washington were tremendous.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Speaking of Fiennes, I'm a little surprised English Patient got left off. I thought he was great in that and that movie was terrific.

I really didn’t like it. Bored me to tears.

I guess I can reveal now that there are many films that I didn’t have on this list despite high regard by many because I found them too boring. In addition to the one you named that includes LA Confidential.

There are a few other films folks have mentioned which I have not seen, including Heat and Magnolia.

There's a lot of head scratchers in your list for me, Tim, but it's YOUR favorites, not mine (or anybody else's) so I need to remind myself of that.

I know English Patient didn't thrill 'em all, but I really liked it. But not hard to understand why you left it off. The ones that I'm really puzzled you didn't include are things like:

Slingblade - Maybe I'm in the minority, but I thought that was one of the better performances an actor has ever turned in and I think the movie overall is just spectacular.
The Ice Storm - Don't want to beat this one to death, but I found it to be one of the better films of the 90s in the way it presented the human condition.
LA Confidential - It bored you? Huh.
Private Parts - I was not expecting to enjoy this movie as much as I did when it came out. I was never a big Howard Stern guy but I thought this was an excellent effort and would easily put it inside my top 100 of the 90s.
True Romance - I think I might be on an island of 1 here, but this is my favorite Tarantino project (yes, I like it better than Pulp Fiction, I'm weird).|
Boyz n the Hood - Actually shocked you left this one out. C'mon, Tim.
Dead Man Walking - Another one that puzzles me, though I'm guessing it bored you. It wasn't for everybody, but this was a tremendous movie covering a very divisive topic.
Lone Star - Incredible storytelling and I'm guessing too boring for you. Kris Kiristopherson as a bad sheriff? Does it get any better than that?
Chasing Amy - This movie blew me away when I saw it the first time. Not sure what I'd think about it today, but at the time, this was very fresh movie that had a lot of great dialog.


If you didn't see Heat, there's not much to say there. It's a classic but if you haven't seen it that's the explanation for omission.

For comedy, I'd have added Kingpin, Waiting for Guffman and My Cousin Vinny.

For film noir, Grifters and Get Shorty make my top 100.

Small budget Indies that got left out IMO: Bottle Rocket and Clerks,

Plenty I wouldn't have included I've mentioned in here a time or twenty. There's a few I'd never seen on your list I'd like to check out. There's some I never even knew existed before this exercise (Europa Europa).

Otherwise - Two thumbs up here, Tim.

True Romance is in my top-10 for the 90s, obviously along with Heat. Clerks of course belongs on this list. LA Confidential. Have never talked with someone who disliked it. Boyz n the Hood….i mean wtf. Not even on this list good god.


All respect to tim for making his list, being true to his list, putting it out there. And hey, he had The Player on the list, pretty high. Major props for that.

But if somebody had told me I was going to spend time reading a top 100 list of the 90s that didn’t include Heat or True Romance, I basically would have bowed out. (Which is a me issue, not a tim issue)

Nothing gets replies and clicks than a little controversy.

Also titling your thread "the greatest 100" instead of "my favorite 100".

and never defining what the criteria for the list is.

That's why it can't be wrong.

Favorites can't be wrong, either. IMO some of the bickering is because of the title as we debated and joked at the start.

Some of the bickering is because it was inevitable that a random great movie like Heat would be left out. I hope it’s just shtick, but if not it’s honestly hard to take any of the list seriously then.

He said he never saw it.

 

[KarmaPolice]

No really. The list includes Barton Fink but not Miller's Crossing?

C'MON MAN!!!

Miller's and Arizona are the two that seem to get praised the most by people who's tastes I jive with the most around here, and I get nothing out of them.

Sorry, I can't remember which fellow MADer who said that Fargo was too quirky for the sake of it, and that is 100% how I feel about Arizona. Miller's operates in a subgenre and era I don't really dig, so I get where my biases come in there. I've also only seen in maybe two times, so I don't really even have a great reason why it didn't click. I remember liking Blood Simple more than Miller's. I also remember liking a couple of their movies that don't seem to get brought up like The Man Who Wasn't there or even Intolerable Cruelty. All of their other movies always seemed to weird and quirky outside of the 2 I loved.

I said that thing about Fargo.

The Man Who Wasn't There is criminally underrated. Intolerable Cruelty has holes in the story but the acting is great.

The Coen film I seem to love more than the consensus is Burn After Reading. To me it's as funny and memorable as The Big Lebowski.

Is it something as simple as being from the Midwest so hearing the accent seemed natural, but I could see how it could seem weird and quirky for others. Or is something the plot or characters?

I watched Burn recently when I was watching a few Coen movies and thought it was funny, but still weird and quirky. 5 years or so ago I didn't like Lebowski much, either so tastes change on repeat watches, and I very much think the Coens are directors where multiple viewings could be needed for some people. Maybe a couple more watches of Burn or Arizona and I will think differently. I also thought about reading a book about them as well since that has helped me appreciate movies a lot more that I hadn't clicked with before, like Punch Drunk Love.

ETA: It's the MAD avatars that make me confuse people more now. I didn't remember if it was you, doc, or don - I just remembered a band pic. I also confuse GM and lambskin a bit.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Speaking of Fiennes, I'm a little surprised English Patient got left off. I thought he was great in that and that movie was terrific.

I really didn’t like it. Bored me to tears.

I guess I can reveal now that there are many films that I didn’t have on this list despite high regard by many because I found them too boring. In addition to the one you named that includes LA Confidential.

There are a few other films folks have mentioned which I have not seen, including Heat and Magnolia.

There's a lot of head scratchers in your list for me, Tim, but it's YOUR favorites, not mine (or anybody else's) so I need to remind myself of that.

I know English Patient didn't thrill 'em all, but I really liked it. But not hard to understand why you left it off. The ones that I'm really puzzled you didn't include are things like:

Slingblade - Maybe I'm in the minority, but I thought that was one of the better performances an actor has ever turned in and I think the movie overall is just spectacular.
The Ice Storm - Don't want to beat this one to death, but I found it to be one of the better films of the 90s in the way it presented the human condition.
LA Confidential - It bored you? Huh.
Private Parts - I was not expecting to enjoy this movie as much as I did when it came out. I was never a big Howard Stern guy but I thought this was an excellent effort and would easily put it inside my top 100 of the 90s.
True Romance - I think I might be on an island of 1 here, but this is my favorite Tarantino project (yes, I like it better than Pulp Fiction, I'm weird).|
Boyz n the Hood - Actually shocked you left this one out. C'mon, Tim.
Dead Man Walking - Another one that puzzles me, though I'm guessing it bored you. It wasn't for everybody, but this was a tremendous movie covering a very divisive topic.
Lone Star - Incredible storytelling and I'm guessing too boring for you. Kris Kiristopherson as a bad sheriff? Does it get any better than that?
Chasing Amy - This movie blew me away when I saw it the first time. Not sure what I'd think about it today, but at the time, this was very fresh movie that had a lot of great dialog.


If you didn't see Heat, there's not much to say there. It's a classic but if you haven't seen it that's the explanation for omission.

For comedy, I'd have added Kingpin, Waiting for Guffman and My Cousin Vinny.

For film noir, Grifters and Get Shorty make my top 100.

Small budget Indies that got left out IMO: Bottle Rocket and Clerks,

Plenty I wouldn't have included I've mentioned in here a time or twenty. There's a few I'd never seen on your list I'd like to check out. There's some I never even knew existed before this exercise (Europa Europa).

Otherwise - Two thumbs up here, Tim.

True Romance is in my top-10 for the 90s, obviously along with Heat. Clerks of course belongs on this list. LA Confidential. Have never talked with someone who disliked it. Boyz n the Hood….i mean wtf. Not even on this list good god.


All respect to tim for making his list, being true to his list, putting it out there. And hey, he had The Player on the list, pretty high. Major props for that.

But if somebody had told me I was going to spend time reading a top 100 list of the 90s that didn’t include Heat or True Romance, I basically would have bowed out. (Which is a me issue, not a tim issue)

Nothing gets replies and clicks than a little controversy.

Also titling your thread "the greatest 100" instead of "my favorite 100".

and never defining what the criteria for the list is.

That's why it can't be wrong.

Favorites can't be wrong, either. IMO some of the bickering is because of the title as we debated and joked at the start.

Some of the bickering is because it was inevitable that a random great movie like Heat would be left out. I hope it’s just shtick, but if not it’s honestly hard to take any of the list seriously then.

He said he never saw it.

Channeling some otb here: That is an even worse offense!! HTF can you do a top 100 movies of the 90s list if you haven't bothered to watch movies like Heat??

 

[General Malaise]

Apologies if I missed it, but Philadelphia is another major glaring omission. A groundbreaking movie for its time, and both Hanks and Washington were tremendous.

Leaving Las Vegas too, for that matter. That movie was to alcoholism what Trainspotting was to heroin. At least for me. Cage was $$$$.

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

We should start a thread where we assign each other a movie to watch (that we will probably dislike )

This is a great idea with the caveat that the assigner has to at least like the movie to some degree. Figure out some scoring method (not sure what makes sense without thinking about it more) and see what happens.

I have a bit of a temper and I'm vengeful but I'm not really into torture so I wouldn't make GM watch Jack and Jill and it's ineligible by your rules anyway since I don't even like it. We don't really need a scoring system although a basic 1-10 rating would be fine but I suspect some posters will go into greater detail of why or why not they liked the movie. I think several of us already try and watch movies/tv shows from these lists that we haven't seen yet. The one I can think of is, I think it was KP who said that he hadn't seen Constantine so I was thinking he might watch it but he might hate it since the critics did too.

 

[General Malaise]

We should start a thread where we assign each other a movie to watch (that we will probably dislike )

This is a great idea with the caveat that the assigner has to at least like the movie to some degree. Figure out some scoring method (not sure what makes sense without thinking about it more) and see what happens.

I have a bit of a temper and I'm vengeful but I'm not really into torture so I wouldn't make GM watch Jack and Jill and it's ineligible by your rules anyway since I don't even like it. We don't really need a scoring system although a basic 1-10 rating would be fine but I suspect some posters will go into greater detail of why or why not they liked the movie. I think several of us already try and watch movies/tv shows from these lists that we haven't seen yet. The one I can think of is, I think it was KP who said that he hadn't seen Constantine so I was thinking he might watch it but he might hate it since the critics did too.

I invite you to watch "Four Little Girls". If you don’t think it one of the better docs you've seen - and you're being forthright about it - I'll make a small donation to a charity of your choice.

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

@timschochet
I don’t know how this is possible that you haven’t seen Heat, but do so immediately.
Have the sound turned up. Particularly for the shoot out.

I will have more later, but i do wish to thank tim for generating this much discussion. So many great films, a lot that have been forgotten from the 90s

 

[UncleZen]

The Green Mile?

Clerks was too low. Waterboy over Happy Gilmore was a miss. True Romance was miss.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

Private Parts - I was not expecting to enjoy this movie as much as I did when it came out. I was never a big Howard Stern guy but I thought this was an excellent effort and would easily put it inside my top 100 of the 90s.

I wasn't feeling well, and this was what was on. I really enjoyed it. The look on Mr R's face when I told him he needed to see it was priceless.

(He also liked it.)

 

[KarmaPolice]

We should start a thread where we assign each other a movie to watch (that we will probably dislike )

This is a great idea with the caveat that the assigner has to at least like the movie to some degree. Figure out some scoring method (not sure what makes sense without thinking about it more) and see what happens.

I have a bit of a temper and I'm vengeful but I'm not really into torture so I wouldn't make GM watch Jack and Jill and it's ineligible by your rules anyway since I don't even like it. We don't really need a scoring system although a basic 1-10 rating would be fine but I suspect some posters will go into greater detail of why or why not they liked the movie. I think several of us already try and watch movies/tv shows from these lists that we haven't seen yet. The one I can think of is, I think it was KP who said that he hadn't seen Constantine so I was thinking he might watch it but he might hate it since the critics did too.

I'm down.

I've taken many notes as I go, but one that stood out as I went year to year is the number of dark "superhero" movies I remember liking, or ones from graphic novels. One I haven't seen for a few reasons is Constantine. I don't have NF, but I will figure something out. Movies that stood out were ones like: Hellboy, Logan, Watchmen, Dredd, Super, and Kick-***. I assume Constanine will fit in with those movies? (any of those you haven't seen?)

 

[Ilov80s]

Tim and I synced up near the end. I had Schindler's at 4 and Goodfellas at 1. My top 10 movies that missed Tim's list:

2. Underground
3. Brighter Summer Day
6. L.A. Confidential
10. Groundhog Day
12. Malcolm X
15. Chungking Express
20. Miller's Crossing
23. Beau Travail
26. Happy Together
27. Basic Instinct

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

These were the ones I scribbled down that would have made my list:
Contact
Miller's Crossing
Run Lola, Run
Con Air
The Rock
Speed
Gettysburg
The Hunt For Red October
The Mummy
In The Line Of Fire

If I ever 'retire' and move into teaching film I'd for sure spend a class on The Hunt for Red October. The construction of that film is brilliant. The more I rewatch it, the better it is every time. I swear you could turn off the audio and completely understand the plot, the characters, and their relationship to each other just by watching the color choices. Amazing film.

It's all about the score by Basil Poledouris. I was crushed when he died at 61. All that beautiful music lost.

 

[AAABatteries]

Magnolia is so good. Julianne Moore is great in that

Don't get me started on that pile of excrement...

Wow - you really hate Julianne Moore, huh?

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

My Cousin Vinny and Galaxy Quest should be here, as should Philadelphia.

 

[AAABatteries]

Tim and I synced up near the end. I had Schindler's at 4 and Goodfellas at 1. My top 10 movies that missed Tim's list:

10. Groundhog Day
20. Miller's Crossing

These two would be in my personal top 10.

 

[Barry2]

good work Tim.

would have included Flirting with Disaster and Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels.

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

I assume Constanine will fit in with those movies? (any of those you haven't seen?)

yea. Of that list I have not seen Super so will watch that one. You might have to just rent Constantine from amazon for $3.79. I looked around and couldn't find a free stream. Says it is fee on itv but when I search it doesn't come up. Sorry about that bro.

And while we are swapping movies @General Malaise you can watch West of Memphis (if you haven't seen it yet) while I watch Four Little Girls (god that sounds so pervy)

 

[KarmaPolice]

I assume Constanine will fit in with those movies? (any of those you haven't seen?)

yea. Of that list I have not seen Super so will watch that one. You might have to just rent Constantine from amazon for $3.79. I looked around and couldn't find a free stream. Says it is fee on itv but when I search it doesn't come up. Sorry about that bro.

And while we are swapping movies @General Malaise you can watch West of Memphis (if you haven't seen it yet) while I watch Four Little Girls (god that sounds so pervy)

Probably the weirdest of the bunch. Rainn Wilson as a regular Joe that tries to be a superhero. I remember it having dark comedy and some uncomfortable messed up scenes. It was one I was thinking about rewatching soon. It could be one that doesn't hold up.

 

[El Floppo]

good work Tim.

would have included Flirting with Disaster and Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels.

Oh damn... 2 great ommisions. Flirting was fantastic

 

[nightmare]

I've watched Constantine multiple times. It's not a "must see" like Heat but it is a good movie.

 

[TripItUp]

Tim and I synced up near the end. I had Schindler's at 4 and Goodfellas at 1. My top 10 movies that missed Tim's list:

10. Groundhog Day
12. Malcolm X
20. Miller's Crossing
27. Basic Instinct

Groundhog Day is easily in my top 10...by the far the hugest discrepancy between Tim's rankings and mine. The others mentioned here all well within my top 100.

 

[TripItUp]

True Romance
Heat
Miller’s Crossing
Gattaca
The Thin Red Line

All of these make my top 100.

 

[TripItUp]

1. Goodfellas (1990)

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Robert DeNiro, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino

Synopsis: Henry Hill joins the mob.

it's an all timer. Tough to argue with a high ranking.

Trip's Official Ruling: Appropriately Ranked (in my top 5)

 

[TripItUp]

An omission that i can 100% get behind is LA Confidential...one of the most overrated films in cinematic history.

 

[rockaction]

this was a dark film at its core

It was really dark. Nearly pitch black. I once saw a stripper I knew dress as Rollergirl and sort of elide away from what we might call normalcy and into that mentality. It was actually quite profoundly sad.

There's a scene in Boogie Nights where I became really sensitive to people that cheerlead the film for the wrong reasons (KP and tim don't do that, I think, just in case anybody is wondering) and I'm always a little rattled that people miss the real pain that manifests in the characters and their acquaintances. Eh, people probably get it just fine and it's me, but I'm not so sure sometimes.

Curious what you mean by this.

I dig it because it's funny in parts, quotable, but mostly it's a movie about a "family" of really troubled and sad people.

There are people who sort of revel in the movie without seeing the real downside that (I think) PTA is trying to convey. The scene in the driveway really slammed home to me that sex isn't so casual to a whole lot of people and that those whole lot of people might have something to say about the complete degradation of our society into pornographic pleasure. Reading David Foster Wallace's "Big Red Son" was also as illuminating in that sense.

That driveway scene was so callous and shocking that it just seemed—and I could be wrong—like a point that PTA made with a bunch of nails in a club for that cartoon guy to swing around a bit.

 

[TripItUp]

All tastes are different, and I enjoyed this countdown. Tim just revealed that he ignored some movies that he found boring and others that he has never seen. So this amounts to Tim's favorite 100 movies of the 1990s, as opposed to "the greatest" 1990s movies. Nothing wrong with that.

Here are 40 movies that did not make Tim's list but would be in my favorite 100 1990s movies (in alphabetical order, not ranked order):

1. Absolute Power
2. Basic Instinct
3. Boyz N the Hood
4. Grosse Point Blank
5. Groundhog Day
6. He Got Game
7. Heat
8. In the Line of Fire
9. Men in Black
10. Mission Impossible
11. My Cousin Vinny
12. Philadelphia
13. Point Break
14. Presumed Innocent
15. Ronin
16. Rounders
17. The Firm
18. The Game
19. The Hunt for Red October
20. The Thin Red Line
21. Tin Cup
    

There are some huge misses here IMO.

Some good call outs here.

Presumed Innocent makes my top 40, I've always thought it was underrated. Also, Carolyn Polemus was a smokeshow.

They recently did a remake that wasn't half bad but obviously not as good as the original.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

I’m watching Swingers right now on IFC. Haven’t seen it in years. Still awesome.

 

[FarFromHome]

I’m watching Swingers right now on IFC. Haven’t seen it in years. Still awesome.

Your so money Alex.

 

[nightmare]

this was a dark film at its core

It was really dark. Nearly pitch black. I once saw a stripper I knew dress as Rollergirl and sort of elide away from what we might call normalcy and into that mentality. It was actually quite profoundly sad.

There's a scene in Boogie Nights where I became really sensitive to people that cheerlead the film for the wrong reasons (KP and tim don't do that, I think, just in case anybody is wondering) and I'm always a little rattled that people miss the real pain that manifests in the characters and their acquaintances. Eh, people probably get it just fine and it's me, but I'm not so sure sometimes.

Curious what you mean by this.

I dig it because it's funny in parts, quotable, but mostly it's a movie about a "family" of really troubled and sad people.

There are people who sort of revel in the movie without seeing the real downside that (I think) PTA is trying to convey. The scene in the driveway really slammed home to me that sex isn't so casual to a whole lot of people and that those whole lot of people might have something to say about the complete degradation of our society into pornographic pleasure. Reading David Foster Wallace's "Big Red Son" was also as illuminating in that sense.

That driveway scene was so callous and shocking that it just seemed—and I could be wrong—like a point that PTA made with a bunch of nails in a club for that cartoon guy to swing around a bit.

For the average person-yes. For people in the "porn" industry, not so much. I think that might have been his intent.

 

[Ghost Rider]

The Green Mile?

Clerks was too low. Waterboy over Happy Gilmore was a miss. True Romance was miss.

Damn, I forgot about The Green Mile. Maybe tim doesn't like Tom Hanks a lot. He had so many legendary movies in the 90s, yet only three of them were in his top 100, and even a monster classic like Forrest Gump was way too low.

Scent of a Woman is another awesome one that got left off.

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

I've never seen The Green Mile despite liking MCD. Nor have I seen Heat or Swingers or Millers Crossing. I got a lot of stuff to watch.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

I will also tip my cap to @timschochet for the same reasons I praise others
Maybe this isn't the 100 movies you would pick but it got a lot of folks together to share thoughts and POV on the movies he chose and to add your own afterwards
It's hard to drive a 61 page thread, trust me I know
It's obvious people enjoyed themselves

Good job Timmy