14. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
One of the greatest independent films ever made and still a high point of 90s cinema in general. In 1992 Reservoir Dogs gave the world a daring new filmmaker named Quentin Tarantino. The structure of the film is disjointed yet easy to follow since Tarantino's script never allows for the focus to shift away from his dynamic characters and the cast is comprised of some of the most prolific character actors to ever grace the screen. Each separate character has their own personality and watching them all clash with each other provides the movie with a sense of realism that is undercut brilliantly by Tarantino's highly stylized dialogue. The sense of mystery that pervades Reservoir Dogs, as the audience tries to figure out who the cop amongst the gangsters is, has a way of making the film enjoyable even when it seems like nothing of importance is actually happening.
13. Magnolia (1999)
The first entry for Paul Thomas Anderson on this list(expect to see a lot more of him in the coming pages). Magnolia is an epic, sprawling mosaic of failure, redemption and familial discord. The nature of the narrative gives the film such an intimate feel even when the story is transitioning from multiple different characters that are completely different than each other. Anderson handles the structure brilliantly and is able to create a deeply effective portrayal of broken people. The final moments of Magnolia are some of the most moving that cinema has to offer. After frogs rain from the sky the focus of the story shifts from being manic to a slower pace that really allows the audience to reflect on what they've seen for the past 3 hours. In the final moment the camera slowly moves in on the character Claudia and as she smiles, for the first time yet, the credits immediately begin. This one moment tells the viewer that no matter how many times things go wrong that people can change and situations are never permanent. "Things fall down, people look up and when it rains it pours".