Slant Magazine's The 100 Best Films of the 1990s

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The further one sifts through the decade's offerings, the more surprising its highlights seem. This is, after all, the decade during which Terrence Malick broke his two-decade-long sabbatical from filmmaking, a fugue only Stanley Kubrick came close to rivaling, both creating masterworks well worth the wait. The decade when all sorts of Eastern cinema broke through, from sensual Hong Kong mixtapes to cerebral Iranian puzzle boxes. The decade where Robert Altman, Brian De Palma, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, David Cronenberg, Steven Spielberg, and others who made their names during the American New Wave of the '70s all broadened their horizons and confirmed their artistry, even with next-generation filmmakers like Gus Van Sant, David Fincher, Todd Haynes, and Quentin Tarantino all nipping at their heels. The decade where a commercial tie-in to a hit TV show could also be perhaps the strangest, most confounding wide-release film of its era (which should've surprised no one, given David Lynch's involvement). The decade that saw a talking pig (Babe) competing against another one (Mel Gibson) for the Best Picture Oscar. The '90s were all that and still found room for Aleksandr Sokurov holding a landscape shot for 40 minutes, James Cameron breaking the $100-million-budget ceiling, Chantal Akerman people-watching, and at least two anarchic, if not downright Marxist, sequels to hit children's movies. Dated? This decade is daft punk.

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  1. 18 new

    Dekalog

    1989, in 11 top lists Check
  2. 6 new

    Sátántangó

    1994 — a.k.a. Satantango, in 12 top lists Check
  3. 86 new

    Dukhovnye golosa. Iz dnevnikov voyny....

    1995, in 2 top lists Check
  4. 78 new

    La Belle Noiseuse

    1991 — a.k.a. The Beautiful Troublemaker, in 11 top lists Check
  5. 4 new

    Guling jie shaonian sharen shijian

    1991 — a.k.a. A Brighter Summer Day, in 19 top lists Check
  6. 145 new

    Public Housing

    1997, in 2 top lists Check
  7. 75 new

    Schindler's List

    1993, in 35 top lists Check
  8. 153 new

    Titanic

    1997, in 25 top lists Check
  9. 106 new

    JFK

    1991, in 13 top lists Check
  10. 47 new

    Magnolia

    1999, in 17 top lists Check
  11. 16 new

    Short Cuts

    1993, in 9 top lists Check
  12. 85 new

    Vale Abraão

    1993 — a.k.a. Abraham's Valley, in 5 top lists Check
  13. 113 new

    Casino

    1995, in 11 top lists Check
  14. 154 new

    Comment je me suis disputé... (ma vie sexuelle)

    1996 — a.k.a. My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument, in 5 top lists Check
  15. 81 new

    Central Park

    1990, in 1 top list Check
  16. 158 new

    Beloved

    1998, in 0 top lists Check
  17. 128 new

    A Comédia de Deus

    1995 — a.k.a. God's Comedy, in 3 top lists Check
  18. 17 new

    Heat

    1995, in 23 top lists Check
  19. 27 new

    Hoop Dreams

    1994, in 15 top lists Check
  20. 167 new

    Secret défense

    1998 — a.k.a. Secret Defense, in 0 top lists Check
  21. 1 new

    The Thin Red Line

    1998, in 14 top lists Check
  22. 8 new

    Underground

    1995, in 9 top lists Check
  23. 139 new

    Saving Private Ryan

    1998, in 28 top lists Check
  24. 35 new

    Breaking the Waves

    1996, in 14 top lists Check
  25. 2 new

    Eyes Wide Shut

    1999, in 11 top lists Check
  26. 164 new

    The Insider

    1999, in 5 top lists Check
  27. 34 new

    Boogie Nights

    1997, in 12 top lists Check
  28. 23 new

    Jackie Brown

    1997, in 5 top lists Check
  29. 13 new

    Pulp Fiction

    1994, in 38 top lists Check
  30. 5 new

    Goodfellas

    1990, in 31 top lists Check
  31. 30 new

    Carlito's Way

    1993, in 5 top lists Check
  32. 51 new

    Xi meng ren sheng

    1993 — a.k.a. The Puppetmaster, in 11 top lists Check
  33. 159 new

    Lan feng zheng

    1993 — a.k.a. The Blue Kite, in 8 top lists Check
  34. 137 new

    The Age of Innocence

    1993, in 6 top lists Check
  35. 37 new

    Bitter Moon

    1992, in 3 top lists Check
  36. 58 new

    Fight Club

    1999, in 19 top lists Check
  37. 110 new

    Face/Off

    1997, in 7 top lists Check
  38. 90 new

    A Perfect World

    1993, in 2 top lists Check
  39. 151 new

    Henry Fool

    1997, in 1 top list Check
  40. 69 new

    Terminator 2: Judgment Day

    1991, in 27 top lists Check
  41. 182 new

    The Matrix

    1999, in 30 top lists Check
  42. 118 new

    Secrets & Lies

    1996, in 16 top lists Check
  43. 103 new

    The Bridges of Madison County

    1995, in 5 top lists Check
  44. 198 new

    Lone Star

    1996, in 6 top lists Check
  45. 115 new

    Happiness

    1998, in 8 top lists Check
  46. 52 new

    Lost Highway

    1997, in 10 top lists Check
  47. 92 new

    Mononoke-hime

    1997 — a.k.a. Princess Mononoke, in 18 top lists Check
  48. 174 new

    Pola X

    1999, in 2 top lists Check
  49. 11 new

    Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

    1992, in 6 top lists Check
  50. 181 new

    Yang guang can lan de ri zi

    1994 — a.k.a. In the Heat of the Sun, in 4 top lists Check
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Last updated on Nov 6, 2012; source