What Are the Best Movies of the 90s?

How did we choose these 90s movies?

Every film on this list meets at least one outside benchmark, checked in Wikidata ^[1]: it was selected for the Library of Congress National Film Registry, which chooses films for preservation ^[2], or it won or was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. From that pool, we chose 25 films that cover a range of styles and audiences. The benchmarks decide who qualifies; the final 25 is our editorial choice, not a ranking. We do not use review scores, and the list is in order of release, not quality.

All 25 are on the National Film Registry ^[3], 6 won Best Picture, and 8 others were nominated for Best Picture without winning; some films hold more than one honor. Years are each film's earliest release year in Wikidata ^[1].

Early 90s (1990 to 1992)

1. Goodfellas (1990). Martin Scorsese's story of a mob associate's rise and fall, based on the life of Henry Hill. Best Picture nominee; National Film Registry.
2. Dances with Wolves (1990). A Union soldier posted to the frontier comes to know a Lakota community. Won Best Picture; National Film Registry.
3. Thelma & Louise (1991). Two friends' weekend road trip turns into a flight from the law. National Film Registry.
4. The Silence of the Lambs (1991). An FBI trainee seeks a jailed killer's help to catch another. Won Best Picture; National Film Registry.
5. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). A cyborg from the future targets young John Connor, and another is sent to find him. National Film Registry.
6. Boyz n the Hood (1991). John Singleton's drama about friends growing up in South Central Los Angeles. National Film Registry.
7. Beauty and the Beast (1991). Disney's animated musical about Belle and a cursed prince. Best Picture nominee; National Film Registry.
8. Malcolm X (1992). Spike Lee's biography of the civil rights leader. National Film Registry.
9. A League of Their Own (1992). Women ballplayers join a new professional league during World War II. National Film Registry.
10. Unforgiven (1992). Clint Eastwood's western about a retired gunfighter who takes one last job. Won Best Picture; National Film Registry.

Mid 90s (1993 to 1995)

11. Groundhog Day (1993). A TV weatherman relives the same day over and over. National Film Registry.
12. Jurassic Park (1993). Dinosaurs cloned for a theme park break loose. National Film Registry.
13. Schindler's List (1993). The story of Oskar Schindler, who saved more than a thousand Jewish workers during the Holocaust. Won Best Picture; National Film Registry.
14. The Lion King (1994). Disney's animated story of a lion cub's exile and return. National Film Registry.
15. Forrest Gump (1994). A kind-hearted man finds himself present for decades of American history. Won Best Picture; National Film Registry.
16. The Shawshank Redemption (1994). A banker wrongly sent to prison forms a lasting friendship behind bars. Best Picture nominee; National Film Registry.
17. Pulp Fiction (1994). Quentin Tarantino's interlocking Los Angeles crime stories. Best Picture nominee; National Film Registry.
18. Apollo 13 (1995). Three astronauts on the 1970 lunar mission must find a way home after an onboard emergency. Best Picture nominee; National Film Registry.
19. Clueless (1995). A Beverly Hills teenager plays matchmaker, loosely inspired by Jane Austen's Emma. National Film Registry.
20. Toy Story (1995). Toys come to life when their owner is away, in Pixar's first feature film. National Film Registry.

Late 90s (1996 to 1999)

21. Fargo (1996). A car salesman's kidnapping scheme goes wrong in snowy Minnesota. Best Picture nominee; National Film Registry.
22. L.A. Confidential (1997). Three 1950s Los Angeles police officers are pulled into a widening case. Best Picture nominee; National Film Registry.
23. Titanic (1997). A romance aboard the ocean liner on its doomed maiden voyage. Won Best Picture; National Film Registry.
24. Saving Private Ryan (1998). A squad of soldiers searches for one paratrooper after D-Day. Best Picture nominee; National Film Registry.
25. The Matrix (1999). A hacker is drawn into a war over the nature of reality. National Film Registry.

Quick facts for all 25 picks

Directors and runtimes come from Wikidata ^[1]. Runtimes can differ by a few minutes between versions.

Film	Year	Director	Runtime (min)
Goodfellas	1990	Martin Scorsese	145
Dances with Wolves	1990	Kevin Costner	236
Thelma & Louise	1991	Ridley Scott	129
The Silence of the Lambs	1991	Jonathan Demme	118
Terminator 2: Judgment Day	1991	James Cameron	137
Boyz n the Hood	1991	John Singleton	112
Beauty and the Beast	1991	Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise	84
Malcolm X	1992	Spike Lee	201
A League of Their Own	1992	Penny Marshall	122
Unforgiven	1992	Clint Eastwood	130
Groundhog Day	1993	Harold Ramis	101
Jurassic Park	1993	Steven Spielberg	127
Schindler's List	1993	Steven Spielberg	195
The Lion King	1994	Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff	88
Forrest Gump	1994	Robert Zemeckis	142
The Shawshank Redemption	1994	Frank Darabont	142
Pulp Fiction	1994	Quentin Tarantino	154
Apollo 13	1995	Ron Howard	134
Clueless	1995	Amy Heckerling	97
Toy Story	1995	John Lasseter	80
Fargo	1996	Joel Coen, Ethan Coen	98
L.A. Confidential	1997	Curtis Hanson	132
Titanic	1997	James Cameron	194
Saving Private Ryan	1998	Steven Spielberg	169
The Matrix	1999	Lilly Wachowski, Lana Wachowski	136

What made 90s movies different?

Two shifts stand out in this list. First, animation: Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Toy Story are all on the National Film Registry, and Toy Story was Pixar's first feature. Second, independent-minded crime films such as Pulp Fiction and Fargo sat alongside studio epics like Titanic and Forrest Gump.

Some 90s films connect to series covered elsewhere on this site. Jurassic Park opens our Jurassic Park watch order, and the first Mission: Impossible (1996), which is not on this list, opens our Mission: Impossible watch order. In our view, the decade's mix of big studio films and smaller, director-driven ones is a big part of why these titles still feel fresh. The decade also produced one of our favorite holiday films, Home Alone, which appears on our best Christmas movies list instead of here.

Which notable 90s films did not make the cut?

Four other 90s Best Picture winners qualified but are not in our 25: Braveheart, The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, and American Beauty ^[1]. We chose Registry films that cover more genres instead. Other Registry titles from the decade, including The Truman Show and The Big Lebowski, are good next picks.

Which directors appear more than once?

• Steven Spielberg: Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan
• James Cameron: Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Titanic

Repeat appearances come from the benchmarks, not from favoritism: each of these films qualified on its own.

How should you watch these 90s movies?

Try one film from each year group per weekend: an early-90s pick, a mid-90s pick, and a late-90s pick. That way you see the decade change, from Goodfellas and The Silence of the Lambs to Toy Story and The Matrix, without watching a block of similar films in a row.

Which of these 90s movies should you watch first?

For families: Toy Story, The Lion King, or Beauty and the Beast. For a crowd-pleaser: Jurassic Park, Groundhog Day, or Apollo 13. For crime and drama: Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction, or Fargo. For science fiction: The Matrix or Terminator 2.

Several of these films are rated R, so check each rating before watching with younger viewers.