Well if were going for best movie that defines the mood of the youth, then yeah its probably up there. But as far as best overall movie of the 1990s? More seriously than my previous post, Ill have to go with American Beauty. Yeah its pretentious, but it was so well done. Dont be such a pessimist...
If we're picking actually BEST movies of the 90's and not Dumbass Culture-defining, then I would say: 1) Dances with Wolves 2) Fargo 3) American Beauty 4) Shawshank Redemption 5) Strange Days 6) Natural Born Killers 7) Goodfellas 8) Braveheart 9) Pulp Fiction 10) Raise the Red Lantern ...almost all Hollywood films, too.
My actual best of the 90s is 1. Beat (1997) 2. Legend of the Wolf 3. Croupier 4. The Shawshank Redemption 5. The Matrix 6. Running out of Time 7. The Visitors 8. Ronin 9. Office Space 10. Audition/The Quest (yes, I'm serious with that last one...)
Just throwing this out there, but I watched Airborne because of the OP (it's streaming on Netflix) and I have to agree it is a PHENOMENAL movie if you're looking for a stereotypical 90's flick, highly recommended, especially if drunk.
Hate to bump an old thread but I was thinking that this film should count for something when the 90's are being discussed. I didn't actually discover the film myself until like 2004, during my own grunge revival phase (still love it). The focus of the thread is pretty vague, which is why it died, but a couple more that have a nostalgic value to me, and I think represent certain trends : Batman Forever: Not the best of the series (if you count the Burton films), but is the go-to for quintessential 90's excess. My uess is that heroin was going out of fashion and this was more inspired by MDMA (not aggressive enough to be coke). It's all bright tertiary colours on a backdrop of darkness (plus day-glo), littered with not-quite-there CGI, the script is filled to the hilt with "witty" post-modern one liners, and Jim Carrey. The Lost World: Once again, not the best film in the series, but this one seems to be more 90's-ish than JP. It seems to represent the 90's hippy in a lot of ways. They even changed the scenery from Hawaii's lush rainforests to San Fran woodland (the logic was it was more like the forests Dinosaurs lived in). The colour palette was all "earthy" colours, relfecting the environmentalist concerns that replaced the deeper, philisophical 'playing god' discussion in the first film. Add to that a "strong" female character (played by Julianne Moore, natch), and nurturingly parental T-Rexes.
I asked my girlfriend what movie best defines the 90s and she immediately said Clueless. Never seen it. Good choice? I say:
Here's a 90's time capsule: Tales from The Crypt presents: Demon Knight. This one fits the mould of the ninties movie so well: A pounding all-star rock soundtrack, lots of great n' corny zingers (thanks mostly to Billy Zane's villain, a fantastic character), it's also got that expensive-looking 90's polish and it's really gruesome. One of my favourite 90's horror films.
"Empire Records" is a pretty solid 90's movie. Wish I had it on DVD. It's a good sick/hungover/tired movie.
I'll always watch Grosse Pointe Blank when it's on. Never fails to crack me up. Also, in my opinion, Dan Aykroyd's career standout performance. I think it's probably also John Cusack's funniest performance - his sister was also outstanding as the secretary. I'd post the youtube link of that scene in the cafe/diner but I'm having difficulties loading youtube at the moment.