25 Greatest Films Of The Last 25 Years

Heart of Summer The last 25 years have been incredibly great for the advancement of film as an artform. We've seen the potential that 3D can achieve if it isn't being used as a gimmick, the rise of independent filmmaking take precedence unlike it ever has before and the development of digital filmmaking cutting costs and sometimes artistic merit. Some of the greatest films of all time have graced our screens in the last 25 years and we've also been privileged enough to see the brilliance of some truly amazing filmmakers in the process. It's probably hard for any cinema lover born after 1988 to not remember a time when Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, David Fincher, Wes Anderson, The Coen Brothers, Christopher Nolan and Steven Soderbergh weren't putting out one incredible work after the other. A lot of my favorite movies have come out since 1988 and I wrote this list really to celebrate the best films of the last 25 years just as much as I did to rank them. The ranking is really arbitrary since the list is, of course, only my opinion. Everybody's list is going to be a little different in some way. Whether you agree with my placing of certain films is definitely going to be a point for debate but I'm certain that there can be no debating that every film I've listed is certainly worthy and the majority of them are absolute masterpieces while many of them are also pop culture icons that will not soon be forgotten. Without further ado I present to you the greatest films of the last 25 years.

25. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Tim Burton's sublime first film with Johnny Depp. Edward Scissorhands is a deeply moving, modern day fairy tale that's told with all of the brilliance that Burton was known for in his early years as a director. On the surface this movie shouldn't work at all. Johnny Depp wasn't known in 1990 nearly as much as he is now and who would have thought a film about a man with scissors for hands would turn out to be any good? Therein lies the genius behind the movie. It's so odd that you can't help but be captivated by what is, essentially, a story of a strange man from a strange world who just longs to fit in. Everybody can relate to that in some way and that's what makes Edward Scissorhands work as an emotionally resonant film and not a movie that's just weird to be weird similar to what Burton is doing now.
 
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Contributor
Contributor

My favorite movies are Before Sunrise, Pulp Fiction, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien and Her so don't be surprised to see those pop up in my writing from time to time. I'm currently in school for Journalism/English and I have an obsession with all things cinematic on the side.