The Lists, Must See Movies, 1990-1999

Pulp Fiction. Image courtesy of Miramax.

Boldfaced titles with asterisk (*) indicate top 10 of the decade.

An Angel at My Table (1990, Jane Campion)
Avalon (1990, Barry Levinson)
Close-Up (1990, Abbas Kiarostami)
Dances with Wolves (1990, Kevin Costner)
Days of Being Wild (1990, Wong Kar Wai)
Dick Tracy (1990, Warren Beatty)
Europa, Europa (1990, Agnieszka Holland)
The Godfather Part III (1990, Francis Ford Coppola)
Goodfellas (1990, Martin Scorsese) *
The Grifters (1990, Stephen Frears)
Jacob's Ladder (1990, Adrian Lyne)
King of New York (1990, Abel Ferrara)
Miller's Crossing (1990, Joel and Ethan Coen)
My Father's Glory (1990, Yves Robert)
My Mother's Castle (1990, Yves Robert)
Total Recall (1990, Paul Verhoeven)
Wild at Heart (1990, David Lynch)
Barton Fink (1991, Joel and Ethan Coen)
Beauty and the Beast (1991, Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise)
Boyz 'N the Hood (1991, John Singleton)
A Brighter Summer Day (1991, Edward Yang)
City of Hope (1991, John Sayles)
Grand Canyon (1991, Lawrence Kasdan)
JFK (1991, Oliver Stone) *
Life is Sweet (1991, Mike Leigh)
The Lovers on the Bridge (1991, Leos Carax)
My Own Private Idaho (1991, Gus Van Sant)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991, Jonathan Demme)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991, James Cameron)
Thelma and Louise (1991, Ridley Scott)
Bad Lieutenant (1992, Abel Ferrara)
Basic Instinct (1992, Paul Verhoeven)
The Crying Game (1992, Neil Jordan) *
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992, James Foley)
Hard Boiled (1992, John Woo)
Howards End (1992, James Ivory)
Husbands and Wives (1992, Woody Allen)
The Long Day Closes (1992, Terence Davies)
Malcolm X (1992, Spike Lee) *
My Cousin Vinny (1992, Jonathan Lynn)
The Player (1992, Robert Altman)
Raise the Red Lantern (1992, Zhang Yimou)
Reservoir Dogs (1992, Quentin Tarantino)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992, David Lynch)
Unforgiven (1992, Clint Eastwood)
The Age of Innocence (1993, Martin Scorsese)
Blue (1993, Krzysztof Kieslowski)
The Blue Kite (1993, Tian Zhuangzhuang)
Carlito's Way (1993, Brian De Palma)
Dazed and Confused (1993, Richard Linklater)
The Fugitive (1993, Andrew Davis)
Groundhog Day (1993, Harold Ramis)
In the Name of the Father (1993, Jim Sheridan)
Jurassic Park (1993, Steven Spielberg)
Menace II Society (1993, Albert and Allen Hughes)
Naked (1993, Mike Leigh)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993, Henry Selick)
Philadelphia (1993, Jonathan Demme)
The Piano (1993, Jane Campion)
The Puppetmaster (1993, Hou Hsiao Hsien)
The Remains of the Day (1993, James Ivory)
Schindler's List (1993, Steven Spielberg) *
Short Cuts (1993, Robert Altman)
Strictly Ballroom (1993, Baz Luhrmann)
Before the Rain (1994, Milcho Manchevski)
Bullets Over Broadway (1994, Woody Allen)
Chungking Express (1994, Wong Kar Wai)
Clerks (1994, Kevin Smith)
Ed Wood (1994, Tim Burton)
Forrest Gump (1994, Robert Zemeckis)
Heavenly Creatures (1994, Peter Jackson)
Hoop Dreams (1994, Steve James)
The Lion King (1994, Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff)
Natural Born Killers (1994, Oliver Stone)
Pulp Fiction (1994, Quentin Tarantino) *
Quiz Show (1994, Robert Redford)
Red (1994, Krzysztof Kieslowski)
Satantango (1994, Bela Tarr)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994, Frank Darabont)
White (1994, Krzysztof Kieslowski)
Before Sunrise (1995, Richard Linklater)
Braveheart (1995, Mel Gibson)
Casino (1995, Martin Scorsese)
Clockers (1995, Spike Lee)
Crumb (1995, Terry Zwigoff)
Dead Man Walking (1995, Tim Robbins)
Exotica (1995, Atom Egoyan)
Fallen Angels (1995, Wong Kar Wai)
Heat (1995, Michael Mann)
Il Postino (1995, Michael Radford)
Leaving Las Vegas (1995, Mike Figgis)
Kids (1995, Larry Clark)
Nixon (1995, Oliver Stone)
Safe (1995, Todd Haynes)
Seven (1995, David Fincher)
Strange Days (1995, Kathryn Bigelow)
Toy Story (1995, John Lasseter)
Underground (1995, Emir Kusturica)
The Usual Suspects (1995, Bryan Singer)
Big Night (1996, Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci)
Bottle Rocket (1996, Wes Anderson)
Breaking the Waves (1996, Lars Von Trier)
Dead Man (1996, Jim Jarmusch)
The English Patient (1996, Anthony Minghella)
Fargo (1996, Joel and Ethan Coen) *
Lone Star (1996, John Sayles)
The People Vs. Larry Flynt (1996, Milos Forman)
Scream (1996, Wes Craven)
Secrets and Lies (1996, Mike Leigh)
Shine (1996, Scott Hicks)
Slingblade (1996, Billy Bob Thornton)
Trainspotting (1996, Danny Boyle)
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1996, Todd Solondz)
Amistad (1997, Steven Spielberg)
As Good As It Gets (1997, James L. Brooks)
Boogie Nights (1997, Paul Thomas Anderson) *
Contact (1997, Robert Zemeckis)
Crash (1997, David Cronenberg)
Cure (1997, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Deconstructing Harry (1997, Woody Allen)
Donnie Brasco (1997, Mike Newell)
Good Will Hunting (1997, Gus Van Sant)
Happy Together (1997, Wong Kar Wai)
The Ice Storm (1997, Ang Lee)
Jackie Brown (1997, Quentin Tarantino)
L.A. Confidential (1997, Curtis Hanson)
Lost Highway (1997, David Lynch)
The Sweet Hereafter (1997, Atom Egoyan)
Taste of Cherry (1997, Abbas Kiarostami)
Titanic (1997, James Cameron)
Waiting for Guffman (1997, Christopher Guest)
After Life (1998, Hirokazu Koreeda)
The Big Lebowski (1998, Joel and Ethan Coen)
Bulworth (1998, Warren Beatty)
Dark City (1998, Alex Proyas)
Happiness (1998, Todd Solondz)
Life is Beautiful (1998, Robert Benigni) *
Out of Sight (1998, Steven Soderbergh)
Pi (1998, Darren Aronofsky)
Pleasantville (1998, Gary Ross)
Rushmore (1998, Wes Anderson)
Saving Private Ryan (1998, Steven Spielberg)
Shakespeare in Love (1998, John Madden)
There's Something About Mary (1998, Bobby and Peter Farrelly)
The Thin Red Line (1998, Terrence Malick)
The Truman Show (1998, Peter Weir) *
All About My Mother (1999, Pedro Almodovar)
American Beauty (1999, Sam Mendes)
Being John Malkovich (1999, Spike Jonze)
The Blair Witch Project (1999, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez)
Boys Don't Cry (1999, Kimberly Peirce)
Bringing Out the Dead (1999, Martin Scorsese)
Election (1999, Alexander Payne)
Eyes Wide Shut (1999, Stanley Kubrick)
Fight Club  (1999, David Fincher)
The Insider (1999, Michael Mann)
Magnolia (1999, Paul Thomas Anderson)
The Matrix (1999, Andy and Larry Wachowski)
The Straight Story (1999, David Lynch)
Three Kings (1999, David O. Russell)
Topsy Turvy (1999, Mike Leigh)