Dave Tompkins :: DVD Library :: IMDb Charts :: Top by Decade :: 1990s


(text-only version)

1.  The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.

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2.  Pulp Fiction (1994)

The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.

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3.  Schindler's List (1993)

Oskar Schindler uses Jews to start a factory in Poland during the war. He witnesses the horrors endured by the Jews, and starts to save them.

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4.  Fight Club (1999)

An office employee and a soap salesman build a global organization to help vent male aggression.

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5.  Forrest Gump (1994)

Forrest Gump, while not intelligent, has accidentally been present at many historic moments, but his true love, Jenny, eludes him.

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6.  Goodfellas (1990)

Henry Hill and his friends work their way up through the mob hierarchy.

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7.  The Matrix (1999)

A computer hacker learns from mysterious rebels about the true nature of his reality and his role in the war against the controllers of it.

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8.Andaz Apna Apna (1994)
9.The Bandit (1996)
10.  The Usual Suspects (1995)

A boat has been destroyed, criminals are dead, and the key to this mystery lies with the only survivor and his twisted, convoluted story beginning with five career crooks in a seemingly random police lineup.

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11.  Se7en (1995)

Police drama about two cops, one new and one about to retire, after a serial killer using the seven deadly sins as his MO.

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12.  Leon (1994)

Professional assassin Leon reluctantly takes care of 12-year-old Mathilda, a neighbor whose parents are killed, and teaches her his trade.

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13.  The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

A young FBI cadet must confide in an incarcerated and manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims.

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14.  Life is Beautiful (1997)

A Jewish man has a wonderful romance with the help of his humour, but must use that same quality to protect his son in a Nazi death camp.

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15.  American History X (1998)

A former neo-nazi skinhead tries to prevent his younger brother from going down the same wrong path that he did.

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16.  Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Following the Normandy Landings, a group of US soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.

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17.  Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

The cyborg who once tried to kill Sarah Connor must now protect her teenager son, John Connor, from an even more powerful and advanced cyborg.

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18.  The Green Mile (1999)

The story about the lives of guards on death row leading up to the execution of black man accused of child murder & rape, who has the power of faith healing.

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19.Pretty Village, Pretty Flame (1996)
20.  The Lion King (1994)

Tricked into thinking he killed his father, a guilt ridden lion cub flees into exile and abandons his identity as the future King.

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21.  American Beauty (1999)

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation for his daughter's attractive friend.

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22.  Princess Mononoke (1997)

On a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami's curse, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest and Tataraba, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime.

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23.  Children of Heaven (1997)

Zohre's shoes are gone; her older brother Ali lost them. They are poor, there are no shoes for Zohre until they come up with an idea: they will share one pair of shoes...

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24.  Braveheart (1995)

William Wallace, a commoner, unites the 13th Century Scots in their battle to overthrow English rule.

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25.  Reservoir Dogs (1992)

After a simple jewelery heist goes terribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.

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26.Innocence (1997)
27.Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992)
28.  L.A. Confidential (1997)

A shooting at an all night diner is investigated by three LA policemen in their own unique ways.

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29.  Unforgiven (1992)

Retired Old West gunslinger William Munny reluctantly takes on one last job, with the help of his old partner and a young man.

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30.  Toy Story (1995)

A cowboy toy is profoundly threatened and jealous when a fancy spaceman toy supplants him as top toy in a boy's room.

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31.  Heat (1995)

A Los Angeles crime saga, ''Heat'' focuses on the lives of two men on opposite sides of the law - one a detective; the other a thief.

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32.Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)
33.  Raise the Red Lantern (1991)

China in the 1920's. After her father's death, nineteen year old Songlian is forced to marry Chen Zuoqian...

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34.  Underground (1995)

The story follows an underground weapons manufacturer in Belgrade during WWII and evolves into fairly surreal situations...

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35.  Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

Four London working class stiffs pool their money to put one in a high stakes card game, but things go wrong and they end up owing half a million pounds and having one week to come up with the cash.

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36.  The Big Lebowski (1998)

''Dude'' Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire Lebowski, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.

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37.  Good Will Hunting (1997)

Will Hunting, a janitor at MIT, has a gift for mathematics which is discovered, and a psychologist tries to help him with his gift and the rest of his life.

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38.  To Live (1994)

Fugui and Jiazhen endure tumultuous events in China as their personal fortunes move from wealthy landownership to peasantry. Addicted to gambling, Fugui loses everything. In the years that ...

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39.Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1995)
40.  Casino (1995)

Greed, deception, money, power, and murder occur between two mobster best friends and a trophy wife over a gambling empire.

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41.  Trainspotting (1996)

Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out, despite the allure of the drugs and influence of friends.

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42.  Fargo (1996)

Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of pregnant Marge Gunderson.

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43.Black Cat, White Cat (1998)
44.  Close-Up (1990)

Pretending to be Mohsen Makhmalbaf making his next movie, Ali Sabzian enters the home of a well-to-do family in Teheran...

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45.On Board (1998)
46.  The Sixth Sense (1999)

A boy who communicates with spirits that don't know they're dead seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist.

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47.The Color of Paradise (1999)
48.  The Celebration (1998)

At Helge's 60th birthday party, some unpleasant family truths are revealed.

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49.Everything's Gonna Be Great (1998)
50.  In the Name of the Father (1993)

Man's coerced confession to an IRA bombing he didn't do imprisons his father as well; a British lawyer helps fight for their freedom.

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Count: 39 / 50