Columbia
Last Updated: August 10th
As CGI found its footing in the ’90s, the masses flocked to big-budget spectacles like Titanic and Jurassic Park. But another revolution was unfolding on a smaller scale. We also saw the first films from some of the best indie directors, from Wes Anderson to Quentin Tarantino. Below are 15 of the best ’90s movies on Netflix right now, ranked. They range from the ’90s-est ’90s movies that every millennial grew up watching to the influential award winners that are worth discovering or revisiting.
Related: The Best Indie Movies On Netflix Right Now
Buena Vista Pictures
15. Armageddon (1998)
Run Time: 151 min | IMDb: 6.6/10
No binge of overblown ’90s action movies would be complete without a sampling from Michael Bay, and Armageddon is one of his best thanks to its lovable ridiculousness and implausibility. As the other “we have to stop the world-ending meteor” movie of 1998 — it arrived a bit after Deep Impact — this is the one that is packed with some of the biggest names of the decade. Despite some of the actors saying that they only did the movie for the paycheck and Bay himself saying he wishes he could redo the error-filled third act, it has a bloated charm to its mess. This is largely due to Steve Buscemi’s appearance, which was contractually obligated in every movie of the ’90s.
Dreamworks Pictures
14. The Prince of Egypt (1998)
Run Time: 99 min | IMDb: 7/10
The Prince of Egypt might just be the best-kept secret when it comes to animated movies. It’s not a Disney production, which is why marketing of the movie failed to help it ascend to the heights it deserves, but it does boast an impressive voice-cast including Ralph Fiennes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Goldblum, Danny Glover, Patrick Stewart, Helen Mirren, Steve Martin, and Martin Short. The story of Moses is beautifully retold –- the artistry behind the animation in this film is next level –- but what you’ll probably end up obsessing over is the soundtrack. Sweepingly epic, this soundtrack is one of the best in film history (and no, that is not an exaggeration).
Sony
13. Bad Boys (1995)
Run Time: 119 min | IMDb: 6.8/10
Another worthy installment in the buddy-cop genre, Bad Boys is a decidedly more R-rated version of the good-cop-bad-cop, bromance-heavy trope. It’s got Will Smith and Martin Lawrence paling around Miami, executing bullet-ridden drug busts and investigating corrupt cops with a stake in the heroin game. Smith and Lawrence have great chemistry, both are funny as hell, and the action does not disappoint.
Trimark Pictures
12. Cube (1997)
Run Time: 90 min | IMDb: 7.3/10
The genius of Cube is in its simplicity. A group of strangers awakens to find themselves in a complex system of identical rooms, many of which contain hidden, lethal traps for anyone clueless enough to enter them. With no knowledge of where they are, how they got there, or why they’re there, they have to work together to escape and/or — usually and — die trying. As it all pretty much takes place in a single room, it’s a prime example that the only things needed are a solid idea, a little money, and the stomach to depict people getting their faces melted or their bodies diced by razor-sharp wire. The follow-up installments go a little further out there in ideas and the world outside the Cube, but the original can’t be topped thanks to its unnerving score and tense, claustrophobic nature.
Buena Vista Pictures
11. Quiz Show (1995)
Run Time: 133 min | IMDb: 7.5/10
Millions of families were captivated by the boom of quiz shows during TV’s golden age in the 1950s, completely unaware that they were being duped for the sake of ratings. Contestants were often coached to win or lose, and even though it wasn’t illegal, that fix coming to light was enough to change the medium forever. Robert Redford’s Oscar-nominated drama focuses on how this scam unraveled. When ousted Twenty One winner Herbie Stempel (John Turturro) attempts to tell the world about being forced to take a dive, a lawyer investigates the show and its shiny new champion Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes). Wonderfully directed, Quiz Show highlights a scandalous time in television that anticipates our own creatively edited and outright fabricated reality programming.
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
10. The Sixth Sense (1999)
Run Time: 107 min | IMDb: 8.1/10
Hijinks-y teen movies and all, 1999 was an impressive year for movies. Magnolia, Fight Club, The Green Mile, Being John Malkovich, The Matrix… The list goes on and on. Among those entries is M. Night Shyamalan’s first big release, and one of his best (behind Unbreakable, of course). This was a simpler time, before seeing his name in trailers garnered skepticism. Centered on a boy who can’t separate the dead from the living and his child psychologist with issues of his own, The Sixth Sense remains one of four horror movies to ever be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. It’s endlessly tense, driven by strong performances from the two leads over jump scares. It’s held up well, even if it’s established a tough hurdle for the director’s future efforts to clear.
Columbia Pictures
9. Cruel Intentions (1999)
Run Time: 97 min | IMDb: 6.8/10
This romantic thriller focuses on a trio of high schoolers exploring their sexuality and dealing in deceit. Ryan Phillippe and Sarah Michelle Gellar play a wealthy pair of step-siblings dabbling in all kinds of debauchery before placing a bet on a young girl’s (Reese Witherspoon) virginity. The usual happen — bad boy turns good because of love — but the fun part of this story is watching Gellar deliver such a wickedly good villain.
Warner Bros.
8. The Iron Giant (1999)
Run Time: 86 min | IMDb: 8/10
It’s a tale as old as time: Boy meets giant robot. Boy befriends giant robot. Government tries to find and destroy iron giant. Who didn’t face problems like that in their youth? Set in a post-Sputnik 1957, Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant centers on the sci-fi obsessed Hogarth Hughes as he protects his new pet/BFF/unstoppable killing machine (voiced by a then-relatively unknown Vin Diesel). The story captures the fear and paranoia of the space race and makes it palatable for kids who’ve never heard “duck and cover” before. It was a truly scary time in U.S. history, and just imagine how worse it would be if a huge metal man showed up out of nowhere. It’s a fun, touching story filled with funny moments and gorgeous animation.
Warner Brothers
7. L.A. Confidential (1997)
Run Time: 138 min | IMDb: 8.3/10
This neo-noir crime thriller put Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe on the map as two detectives with murky pasts and questionable methods. Pearce plays the straight-shooter, a cop determined to advance within the department and carry on his father’s legacy, while Crowe pays a rugged plain-clothes officer who likes roughing up men who beat up women. The two end up uncovering corruption in the LAPD but not before things get bloody.
Paramount
6. The Godfather III (1990)
Run Time: 162 min | IMDb: 7.6/10
Al Pacino, Andy Garcia, and Diane Keaton return to wrap up Francis Ford Coppola’s mob family trilogy. Now an older man, Michael Corleone reflects on the brutal tactics he used to rise to power and names a new Don but not before securing his family’s legacy. Vincent (Garcia) is welcomed into the family business and uses violence to ensure his reign will be unchallenged while the rest of the Corleone family suffer at the hands of outside forces thanks to Michael’s dealings.
Disney
5. Mulan (1998)
Run Time: 88 min | IMDb: 7.6/10
Mulan turned the tables on the archetype of the “Disney Princess,” with a heroine whose storyline doesn’t revolve around wooing or waiting to be wooed by a man. Unable to fit within the accepted roles of young women in China, and with a home that’s under threat, Mulan decides to disguise herself as a man and take her father’s place in the war against the Huns. She’s a strong, willful character who’s craftier than those in the male-driven world around her. Eddie Murphy’s Mushu is the perfect sidekick to bring much-needed levity to some downright bleak moments. It’s got just enough memorable songs to be a ’90s Disney movie while not breaking up the powerful story.
Universal Pictures
4. Jurassic Park (1993)
Run Time: 127 min, IMDb: 8.1/10
Jurassic Park tells the story of one man’s dream of a theme park filled with genetically engineered dinosaurs run amok. When three experts are brought in to sign off on the park and its cloned creatures, things unsurprisingly don’t go as planned, and the humans are forced to survive amidst T-Rexes, raptors, and Wayne Knight. An effects breakthrough at the time, Steven Spielberg’s film still retains the beautiful terror that comes from seeing giant, millions-of-years-old killing machines for the first time. It’s an iconic film for a reason, and not just because of the trembling glass of water and the John Williams score. It deservedly won three Oscars, broke box office records, and remains a favorite of many today.
Universal Pictures
3. Casino (1995)
Run Time: 178 min | IMDb: 8.2/10
Another crime drama from director Martin Scorsese, this one touts an impressive cast that includes Robert De Niro and Sharon Stone. De Niro plays a gambling handicapper from Chicago sent to run a few casinos in Vegas and keep the local mob outfit in line while Stone plays his conniving wife. Filled with con-artists, grifters, hit men, and corrupt cops, the movie imagines the old days of America’s playground, before big corporations put their stamp on the gambling business.
Universal Pictures
2. Schindler’s List (1993)
Run Time: 195 min | IMDb: 8.9/10
It took decades in the industry for Steven Spielberg to finally earn an Oscar for one of his movies, but his win for Schindler’s List is well deserved. The film focuses on wealthy businessman Oskar Schindler, who spends his fortune and risks his life to save the lives of 1,100 Jewish men and women after taking in the horrors of WWII and the concentration camps. Between the three hour running time, the cold, unrelenting cruelty of Ralph Fiennes’ portrayal of Amon Goeth, and its realistic style, it’s a bleak film. But there’s hope to be found in the grim black and white images. It’s an important story told movingly by a filmmaker at the height of his powers.
New Line
1. Boogie Nights (1997)
Run Time: 155 min | IMDb: 7.9/10
Wunderkind Paul Thomas Anderson synthesized all his greatest influences — Scorsese’s hyperkinetic camerawork, Altman’s profound empathy for human suffering, Tarantino’s flair for sleazy L.A. dialogue — into something completely original in his breakout film. Not even out of his twenties at the time, Anderson conducted a flawless ensemble cast including Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Don Cheadle, and a headstrong kid named Mark Wahlberg in a sweeping statement on Hollywood, America, and cinema in general. In turns side-splittingly funny and unspeakably dark, teeming with life in every meticulously constructed frame, traversing two decades in the life of an industry at a pivotal moment of flux, Boogie Nights remains one of the greatest American films to come out of the ’90s
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