AV Club: The 50 Best Films of the 90s

Th AV Club ruminates on what the best 50 Films of the 90s were.

Part 1:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-50-best-films-of-the-90s-1-of-3,86304/

Part 2:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-50-best-films-of-the-90s-2-of-3,86361/

Part 3:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-50-best-films-of-the-90s-3-of-3,86467/


Other than a real WTF miss by leaving out Shawshank Redemption entirely (I don't care how snotty you are as a film critic, it's a great, great movie) I thought they did a pretty good job. I would have put Good Will Hunting on the list too, but I understand why it's cool for hipsters to shit on these days. It's not a "great" film but it's certainly something that has a lot of personal emotional resonance to it.

Thoughts? Instead of spoiling the order, I'll ask a trio questions:

1. There are four Coen Brothers films on the list. I would not rank the in the order they're ranked. In fact, I might flip them entirely. Would you?

2. Was Terminator 2 really the best action flick of the 90s?

3. Let's assume everyone has seen Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas. Which would you rank as No. 1? Why? Or would you pick another film for the top honors?

 

I read those earlier. I could smell the PBR coming off the screen.

 

I didn't get that out of the list. The top 10 were mainstream Hollywood. One of them was Toy Story 2. If they wanted to be hipsters, they would've picked 10 foreign films of which we've never heard.

 

I'm a frequent reader of the AV Club. I love a lot of their features. But when it comes to movies, they're basically Pitchfork.

 

I'm sure it's generational - or something - but that list is baffling.

 

Grosse Point Blank and Gattaca deserve to be on the list. Eyes Wide Shut? NFW

 

Putting Toy Story 2 third and omitting the original is SO hipster.

 

Here's the blowback, and an alternative list, from Slate.

www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/10/10/best_1990s_movies_an_alternate_list.html

 

Went through that entire list again. What do they have against Jonathan Demme? No Silence of the Lambs or Philadelphia, unless I completely missed them.

 

Yes -- clearly, sexism is the only explanation for the AV Club leaving "Point Break" off its top 50.

As for the original top 50, I'd quibble here and there, but overall it's a pretty solid list. My two favorites of the era, Rushmore and The Big Lebowski, both ranked high so I'm happy.

I will say, it has become fashionable to suggest Eyes Wide Shut is an unfairly maligned masterpiece. It is not.

 

As U.R. points out, can a 'best' movie list of the 1990s be taken seriously without 'Silence of the Lambs?'

Where's 'American Beauty?'

 

No Apollo 13, either. But there's the motherfucking Blair Witch Project, so all is well. :

Hipster Douches Are Hipster.