Defining Era
THE 1990S
INDIE GOES MAINSTREAM
Tarantino at Cannes, Miramax at the Oscars, Sundance in every agent's calendar. The decade indie became its own industry.
1990 — 1999
6,924
Films Catalogued
64.4
Avg Master Score
6.1
Avg IMDb
JING WONG
Top Director
106
Oscar-Nominated
The Defining Three
ESSENTIAL VIEWING
Top-ranked by master score. If you only saw three films from this decade, these are the three.
Filter the List
6,924/6,924 films
Master Score
Awards
Showing 50 of 6924
01
Schindler's List
1993 · Steven Spielberg · 7 Oscars
94.6
02Trainspotting
1996 · Danny Boyle
92.8
03Raise the Red Lantern
1991 · Yimou Zhang
92.7
04The Silence of the Lambs
1991 · Jonathan Demme · 5 Oscars
92.0
05Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
1995 · Aditya Chopra
92.0
06Clerks
1994 · Kevin Smith
91.9
07The Sixth Sense
1999 · M. Night Shyamalan
91.9
08Se7en
1995 · David Fincher
91.9
09Princess Mononoke
1997 · Hayao Miyazaki
91.8
10Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
1998 · Guy Ritchie
91.6
11Hoop Dreams
1994 · Steve James
91.5
12Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
1991 · Fax Bahr, George Hickenlooper, Eleanor Coppola
91.5
13American Beauty
1999 · Sam Mendes · 5 Oscars
91.4
14Boyz n the Hood
1991 · John Singleton
91.1
15Forrest Gump
1994 · Robert Zemeckis · 6 Oscars
91.0
16Dances with Wolves
1990 · Kevin Costner · 7 Oscars
90.9
17Baraka
1992 · Ron Fricke
90.7
18Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
1996 · Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky
90.5
19Saving Private Ryan
1998 · Steven Spielberg · 5 Oscars
90.5
20Chungking Express
1994 · Wong Kar-Wai
90.4
21Underground
1995 · Emir Kusturica
90.3
22Pi
1998 · Darren Aronofsky
90.1
23Happy Together
1997 · Wong Kar-Wai
90.0
24Paris Is Burning
1990 · Jennie Livingston
90.0
25Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama
1993 · Ram Mohan, Yûgô Sakô, Koichi Saski
89.9
26Unforgiven
1992 · Clint Eastwood · 4 Oscars
89.9
27Swingers
1996 · Doug Liman
89.7
28Once Were Warriors
1994 · Lee Tamahori
89.7
29Fist of Legend
1994 · Gordon Chan
89.6
30Titanic
1997 · James Cameron · 11 Oscars
89.3
31Good Will Hunting
1997 · Gus Van Sant · 2 Oscars
89.2
32The Ring
1998 · Hideo Nakata
89.2
33Chasing Amy
1997 · Kevin Smith
89.2
34Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
1998 · Karan Johar
89.1
35Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
1997 · Hideaki Anno, Kazuya Tsurumaki
89.1
36Godfather
1991 · Lal, Siddique
88.9
37Menace II Society
1993 · Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
88.8
38Lessons of Darkness
1992 · Werner Herzog
88.8
39Crumb
1994 · Terry Zwigoff
88.7
40The Green Mile
1999 · Frank Darabont
88.7
41The English Patient
1996 · Anthony Minghella · 9 Oscars
88.7
42American Movie
1999 · Chris Smith
88.6
43Jurassic Park
1993 · Steven Spielberg · 3 Oscars
88.6
44Drifting Clouds
1996 · Aki Kaurismäki
88.5
45Waking Ned Devine
1998 · Kirk Jones
88.4
46The Lion King
1994 · Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff · 2 Oscars
88.4
47Beautiful Thing
1996 · Hettie Macdonald
88.3
48Fallen Angels
1995 · Wong Kar-Wai
88.3
49Border
1997 · J.P. Dutta
88.2
50Strictly Ballroom
1992 · Baz Luhrmann
88.2
Continue the Timeline
THE NEXT CHAPTER
A hundred years of cinema in eleven decade-shaped chunks. Step forward, step back, or jump straight to the era you want.
Step Back
THE 1980S
THE BLOCKBUSTER DECADE
Spielberg and Lucas rebuilt the industry around opening weekends. The franchise was born, the auteur was demoted.
Step Forward
THE 2000S
PRESTIGE AND THE PIXEL
DV brought the camera to every kid with a dream. Studios bet bigger, longer, louder, and the prestige era began.