Best Movies of the 90s: Top 40 Films of the 1990s, Ranked!

Ahhh, the 1990’s!  The thought of this great decade, We don’t know you, but for us, remembers of locker combination, sleep shouts, Brad Pitt’s posters, Rom-Com marathons, hyper color shirts, and truly high bangs. And if you like it not only will the following list of films be a blow from the past, it will also bring back a lot of dear memories from the nights with your friends and family.

But probably, the nineties were a bubble, and the cinema of the last decade of the 20th century is just about to be enjoyed by you. We know that—Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts were all about the 1990s (among many other greats). This list covers all genres ranging from Romanesque to drama, science fiction, and documentary. When you go through our best movie list as well as the fascinating films which make you smile, those that you see with your mother and the best funny, scary films, make sure that you add these 90’s films to the film list so that you can be well versed in one of the greatest decades.

So, let’s round up to this list of Top 10 90’s Movies!

10. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The Shawshank Redemption is the 1994 film by Frank Darabont, adopted by the novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King in 1982. It tells the history of Banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), who, despite his allegations of innocence, was sentenced to death in the Shawshank State Penitentiary for killing his wife and lover.

Over the following two décades, he has been part of the money-laundering operation led by the prison warden Samuel Norton. He has been part of a friendly contrast smuggler, Ellis “Red” Redding, Morgan Freeman (Bob Gunton). The supporting roles are played by William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, and James Whitmore. The film won seven nominations for the Oscars.

9. The Lion King (1994)

The Lion King was an American 1994 animated musical drama film that Walt Disney Feature Animation produced. It is the 32nd animated Disney feature film and the fifth film produced during the Disney Renaissance period. King Lion was directed to Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linde Woolverton by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn. 

The Lion King was so beloved that it became Broadway’s long-lasting hit and became a live movie with Beyoncé. The story follows SIMBA, a lion’s cube set as King of the Jungle to take possession of the throne—so long as he lapses away after believing his father died. All of the voices for an all-star cast were provided by Matthew Broderick, Whoopi Goldberg (The Stand Season 1), Nathan Lane, Jeremy Irons (Watchmen Season 2), and James Earl Jones (Coming to America 2).

8. A Brighter Summer Day (1991)

 A Brighter Summer day is a 1991 Taiwanese teen crime drama directed by the “New Taiwanese Cinema” director Edward Yang. Its title is derived from “Are You Lonesome Tonight” by Elvis Presley. The film was chosen as a Taiwanese entry for the 64th Academy Awards but was not nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in 1960. 

This Taiwanese film is about a group of disaffected teenage boys, American rock and roll music, and assassinations. “A Brighter Summer Day” is a real crime movie at the end of the day. Writing for The New York Times, A.O. Scott says, “This film has absolute mastery in every aspect of the technique, from the smoky colors to the lively and off-center compositions and its architecture.

7. Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Beauty and the Beast is an American animated fantasy, romantic music film by Walt Disney Feature Animation, produced by Don Hahn and directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise in 1991. The first Disney film of the early 1990s, which was animated to gain legions of fans, is “Beauty and the Beast.” It tells the story of a local book girl who a malignant French prince has taken. 

For his film musical contributions, including the title track, Alan Menken won two Oscars. Disney released the animated classic in 2017, an adaptation of the well-known French fairytale and a French movie from 1946. It was also the first animated film to be named at the 64th Academy Awards for the Academy Awards for Best Picture.

6. Goodfellas (1990)

The American biographical criminal movie Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese, is a 1990 U.S. biographical crime film produced by Irwin Winkler. The film was made for $ 25,000,000 and grossed $47,000,000. The binding agreement of the Rotten Tomatoes defines it as “probably the height of the career of Martin Scorsese.” The movie has been nominated as Best Picture and Best Director for six Academy Awards. 

“Goodfellas” is the first collaboration between Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, who wrote the film’s story. This film follows the existence of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), who, while still in high school, became mixed with the mob in 1955. Also, stars in this movie are Lorraine Bracco, Joe Pesci, and Robert De Niro. This is one of the best movies of the 1990s, so we ranked it number six on our list.

5. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Saving Private Ryan is an epic war movie from the USA produced by Robert Rodat in 1998 and directed by Steven Spielberg. During the World War II Invasion of Normandy, the film is known for its pictorial representation of war, particularly the attack on Omaha Beach in Normandy. Spielberg won his second Academy Award for Best Registrar in this epic war film. 

It shows the story of an army crew who tracked down the last remaining brother of a family of soldiers who died in the Second World War. Tom Hanks stars, including Matt Damon, as a private Ryan, alongside a mostly younger cast. It also was a successful movie at the box office and the world’s second-largest record film of 1998 with $216.8 million at the domestic market and $481.8 million globally.

4. Toy Story (1995)

Toy Story is a 1995 American comedy film made and published by Walt Disney Pictures and produced by the Pixar Animation Studios. The first installment in the Toy Story franchise was the first fully computer-animated feature film and the first Pixar feature. It was the largest film on the first weekend, with over 373 million dollars collection worldwide at the end of its weekend. 

The film was highly praised and has been approved 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. The animated film by CGI captivated audiences with a story about a group of living toys, who pretend to be lifeless when humans are present, are preparing to move into a new house with their owner Andy, his sister Molly and their single mother, Mrs. Davis.

3. Three Colors: Red (1994)

Three colors: Red is a 1994 romantic mystery drama by Polish cinematographer Krzysztof Kieślowski. Red is about brotherhood, which it examines by demonstrating characters whose lives gradually become closely linked with ties between two characters that seem to have little in common. 

The third and last film of the arthouse trilogy contains a model that overlooks a dog of a retired judge (Joseph Kern) judge and then has a unique relation to the judge. The three films in the trilogy are based on the French flag in color. They also focus on the subjects of freedom, equality, and brotherhood of the French Republic. Red was released to universal critical acclaim and was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Director for Kieslowski.

2. Schindler’s List (1993)

Schindler’s List is a 1993 film by Steven Spielberg directed and produced by Steven Zaillian. It was based on Australian novelist Thomas Keneally’s 1982 historical fiction novel Schindler’s Ark. It follows Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who saved over a thousand mainly Polish-Jewish refugees from the Holocaust in his factories during World War 2 with his wife, Emilie Schindler. 

As the Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern, Liam Neeson stars as Schindler, Ralph Fiennes as S.S. officer Amon Göth and Ben Kingsley. It was also a successful box office with a global budget of $322 million. It was nominated for twelve Academy Awards, winning seven, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Picture, and Best Director.

1. Pulp Fiction (1994)

Pulp Fiction is the 1994 film written by Quentin Tarantino, who also directed it with Roger Avary. It is a neo-black American crime comedy film. It tells several Los Angeles stories. It is a title of the pulp magazines and hardboiled crime novels, known for their graphic violence and their punchy dialogue during the mid-20th century. With this scattered mixture of Los Angeles crime stories with John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, and Bruce Willis, Quentin Tarantino hit mainstream popularity. 

The film earned an Oscar for Tarantino and won six other nominations for Best Screenplay. The $8 million budget brought enormous dividends as the film flooded. The paltry 8 million dollar budget yielded massive dividends as the movie soared to more than $200 million worldwide in box office receipts.

So, these are all about The Best Movies of the 90s! If you want to take a glimpse of all the further 30 Ranked Movies with their respective details, then have a look below:

Conclusion!

We have compiled this data from all the 90s movies which produced good IMDb scores to celebrate the incredible cinematic achievements of the ten years. These films were released from 1990 to 1999 and left us with a classic memorable remark. As well, we collected all 1980s movies to enjoy the classic movies of the Hollywood industry.