Ah, the 90′s, what a decade to have a childhood in and what a decade for the movies. An increase in big non-studio filmmakers provided many new and exciting stories from some of the most creative and innovative minds working in the business. It became a decade of removing the gloss and shine of the Hollywood of the past, bringing in new prospectives and insight into the story-telling formula. It began with one of Scorsese’s very best Goodfellas in 1990 which put an entirely unblinkingly and gritty look into the mob culture so romanticized in the Godfather Saga. Then Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven turned the entire Western genre on its head with its stark realistic portrayal of the ole west. Tarantino followed suit with his own version of the crime dramas i.e Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction. Finally, Spielberg himself would cap off the decade with one of the best anti-war and WWII films ever in Saving Private Ryan by portraying the violence and emotions of the men who fought as true as any documentary.
It will always be a decade to remember. However, there are certain films that were lost in the shuffle. They never found an audience to pull in and grab hold of. For many reasons, they weren’t flashy enough, too different or just weren’t marketed well. Well today we’re going to fix all that today with this list of the underrated, under appreciated and just plain forgotten. I kept the list limited to American-made movies because although foreign movies constantly are under the radar in the States, I’m not sure if they are well-regarded and wide-spread in their home countries.
So, here are in my humble opinion the ten most criminally underrated American movies from the 1990′s…
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6 Comments
Great list, I watched man on the moon last week and had forgotten how good Jim Carey was in it. Miller’s crossing and LA confidential are two great choices. Another film that is worth mention is wag the dog. If you haven’t seen it, its well worth a looks
I was thinking about putting it on, but I do hear about Wag the Dog occasionally when political satire movies get brought up or when conspiracy movies get talked about. It’s probably 11 on this list, it’s just I felt that these ten are egregiously left out of great movies, in general, from the 90′s . Thank you for the comment, keep reading my stuff!
Man on the Moon is truly Jim Carrey’s best non comedic role. I love it.
Yeah, he is spectacular at playing Kuafman both on-stage and off. The movie also is a great study in show-business, presenting the choices of giving the people what they want again and again or doing what you want to do as an entertainer. Thanks for the comment, hope you liked the other selections!
Anthony Hopkins was nominated for Nixon.
Oops, my bad, but I just recall he wasn’t praised enough for his work. Even though he bears no resemblance to the real Mccoy, he WAS Nixon in every regard.