The 15 Best Movies of 1990, Ranked

Film, of course, had some noteworthy moments as well. Ghost was the highest-grossing film at the box office while Dances with Wolves earned seven Academy Awards as it became a critical sensation, and a slew of international filmmakers announced themselves to the Western world as well. A landmark year for cinema, these 15 films stand as the best movies of 1990 in retrospect.

15 ‘Wild at Heart’

From the vibrant mind of David Lynch, Wild at Heart may not be his most mind-bending film, nor his most brilliant, but it does offer up a great dose of road-movie spontaneity. It follows two young lovers – one of whom is on parole – who flee to California to escape their chaotic lives but find their problems catching up with them throughout their journey.

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While it was criticized for being uneven, the film has a lot to offer, with elements of romance, black comedy, erotic thrillers, and crime drama all prominent in the film. While it only received one Oscar nomination, it did win the Palme d’Or at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival and has become an energetic cult classic.

14 ‘Miller’s Crossing’

One of the earliest films from the Coen Brothers, Miller’s Crossing was a neo-noir crime thriller which, despite flopping at the box office, has become a cult classic amid the directing duo’s filmography. With great stylistic flair, it follows a squabble over a police informant between two Prohibition-era gangsters and the crook who plays both sides against each other.

It was just the third film from the Coen brothers and featured many of their defining traits including great dialogue, immaculate cinematography, and a wide array of quirky characters. It also boasted an incredible cast led by standout performances from Gabriel Byrne and John Turturro which helped elevate it to be one of the best films of its year.

13 ‘Back to the Future Part III’

A wonderful mix of sci-fi, 80s adventure, and comedy, the Back to the Future trilogy is viewed by many to be one of the best movie trilogies of all time. Following on directly from where the second film finished, Back to the Future Part III tracks Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) as he travels back to 1885 to warn his friend Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) of his impending demise.

While it does excel as a strong stand-alone film, it is probably more celebrated for the manner in which it concluded the beloved time-travel trilogy. The film offers terrific fun, and a heart-warming dose of good guy triumph, and has stood the test of time for its enjoyable, blockbuster simplicity.

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12 ‘An Angel at my Table’

Just the second film from Oscar-winning filmmaker Jane Campion, An Angel at my Table saw the acclaimed director break out on the international stage. A biographical drama, it documents various stages in the life of New Zealand writer Janet Frame (Kerry Fox, Alexia Keogh, and Karen Fergusson), from her difficult childhood to her discovering her talent for writing while in a mental institution.

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Whatever Campion may have lacked in experience in her second directing effort she more than made up for with maturity, presenting the life story as a grounded, gripping drama absent unnecessary flourishes while still being incredibly powerful. At 158 minutes long, there is an air of a rousing epic about it, but its poignant inflection gives it a beautiful, intimate feeling which makes it one of the great movies of 1990.

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11 ‘Close-Up’

Coming from Iran, Close-Up is considered by many critics to be not just one of the greatest films of the 1990s, but one of the best of all time. Categorized as a docufiction, it is based on a true story in which a cinephile impersonates a renowned Iranian filmmaker to con a family of film lovers and infiltrate their home.

Fascinatingly, the film features the real people involved acting as themselves, effectively blending fact and fiction into a compelling true crime drama with rewarding investment themes of human identity. Contained within a compact 98-minute runtime, Close-Up is an astonishing international film that all movie lovers should seek out.

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10 ‘Ghost’

Ghost is one of those rare films that excels at being entirely of its time while also aging incredibly as the decades go on. The famous romance movie blends elements of horror, fantasy, mystery, and comedy as it follows the spirit of a murdered banker trying to get in touch with his lover to warn her about the plans of his corrupt business partner.

From the chemistry of Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore to the intelligent and witty screenplay, and even the subversive execution of its supernatural overtones, every element of the film works in tandem. It also features one of the most iconic movie scenes of all time in the famous pottery sequence.

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9 ‘La Femme Nikita’

Presenting the earliest signs of the grounded, weighty violent thrills that would engulf 90s indie cinema, La Femme Nikita was pivotal in its re-imaging of the action genre. The French film tracks a convicted teen who is recruited by the government to serve as a deadly assassin and eliminate high-profile targets.

Underscoring all the pulsating mayhem is Nikita’s (Anne Parillaud) struggles to balance her personal life with her profession, which lends a grounded and humane tone to its violence. The end result was an intense thriller that bet big on its badass female movie assassin and reaped the maximum reward as an enduring masterpiece that paved the way for all the action heroines to come.

8 ‘Jacob’s Ladder’

Featuring highly in plenty of lists analyzing famous films too disturbing to watch twice, Jacob’s Ladder is an anxiety-inducing mind-twister of the highest caliber. The psychological horror film follows a Vietnam War veteran losing his grasp on reality as flashbacks and hallucinations overwhelm his day-to-day life.

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A disorienting masterpiece, it isn’t afraid to confuse audiences in the pursuit of showcasing its protagonist’s experience which set star Tim Robbins the task of both guiding the audience through the film while depicting a harrowing descent into insanity. He excels at both, putting forward a criminally underrated performance as the film leaves audiences awestruck as the end credits begin to roll.

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7 ‘The Hunt for Red October’

Tom Clancy‘s Jack Ryan books have proven to be a frequent source of inspiration for politically-charged action thrillers over recent years, but none have managed to surpass 1990’s The Hunt for Red October. The Cold War movie utilizes close-confined suspense and global stakes as its greatest asset and delivers an edge-of-your-seat spectacle that still holds up after 30 years.

It follows a rogue captain in the Soviet navy who seeks to defect to the U.S. with an advanced submarine, leading to an intense situation as the CIA and U.S. military try to determine why the vessel is approaching America. It found its excellence in its leading men with Alec Baldwin impressively understated in the heroic role while Sean Connery was spectacular as the Soviet captain.

6 ‘Edward Scissorhands’

Tim Burton made a name for himself through the latter part of the 1980s with his unmistakable sense of style responsible for such hits as Beetlejuice and Batman. The turn of the decade brought about what might be Burton’s best film in Edward Scissorhands, a modern gothic fairy tale following an artificial man with scissors for hands.

Left on his own after the death of his creator, Edward (Johnny Depp) is taken in by a kindly woman and her family where he ends up falling in love with their teenage daughter. The offbeat hit became an endearing cult classic and marked the first of many collaborations between Burton and Depp.

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5 ‘Days of Being Wild’

Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai has amassed a dedicated cult following throughout his career with his unique films which flaunt a rich atmosphere, incredible cinematography, and a surreal dream-like aura. As just his second feature film, Days of Being Wild hasn’t quite reached the popularity of some of his later classics, but it still boasts all the essential elements that make Wong Kar-wai’s impressive filmography his own.

It focuses on an amoral and selfish playboy who tries to find out who his mother is when the ex-sex worker who raised him confesses that he isn’t her child. It wafts through moods and across characters as an exploration of unrequited love made more powerful by its strikingly perfect visuals, making it one of the best movies from 1990.

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4 ‘Misery’

From psychological thrillers to supernatural slashers, the horror novels of Stephen King have been adapted to the screen countless times over the decades with varying levels of quality. One of the most underrated of those adaptations was 1990’s Misery which still stands as one of the best of King’s adaptations to date.

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Featuring excellent performances from James Caan and Kathy Bates, it follows a successful author who, after being involved in a serious car accident, is abducted by a crazed fan who wants to nurse him back to health. A creeping, disturbing, psychological twister, Misery has endured as one of the best horror movies from the 90s due to its ability to get under its audience’s skin.

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3 ‘Total Recall’

Arnold Schwarzenegger was arguably the greatest action movie star of the 1980s and, while the excessive, explosive blockbuster bonanzas were on the outer, he was quick to prove that he could excel in more nuanced iterations of the action genre. Total Recall was a prime example of just that, as an action blockbuster imbued with commanding sci-fi overtones and loaded with thematic meditation.

It follows a futuristic construction worker who, upon his visit to a company that implants false memories into people’s minds, learns he is being hunted due to a forgotten past. Fast-paced, hard-hitting, ridiculously fun, and with plenty of visual splendor to boot, it is still capable of offering obscene fun to modern audiences.

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2 ‘Dances with Wolves’

The winner of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Kevin Costner’s rousing Western epic was undeniably the film of its time. It focuses on a Civil War soldier stationed at a remote outpost who chooses to join the Lakota People as he comes to appreciate their lifestyle even as the threat of the Union army draws near.

One of the more grandiose highlights of the Western resurgence through the 1990s, Dances with Wolves harkened to the genre classics of the 1960s with its epic stature and sweeping landscapes. A harrowing elegy on the demise of the frontier, the film’s cultural simplicity is more apparent now than it was in 1990, but its noble intentions and riveting triumph are still plain to see.

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1 ‘Goodfellas’

Dances with Wolves may have taken home all the Oscars, but Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas has more eloquently stood the test of time. Celebrated as one of the greatest crime movies ever made, the biographical drama follows Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and his two friends as they rise up the ranks of the New York mob.

While the confronting nature of the film’s violence speaks for itself, where Goodfellas distinguished itself was in its deftness in showing both the allure and the dread of organized crime. Coupled with Liotta’s outstanding lead performance – as well as some good work from Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci – and Scorsese’s flawless inflection of style and drama, Goodfellas still stands as one of the best movies ever made.

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