Top Fifty Guy Movies of the 1990s
20. 12 Monkeys, 1995
Premise: A convicted criminal living in a grim post-apocalyptic future is sent back in time to try and stop a deadly virus.
Director: Terry Gilliam
Stars: Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt
What you’ll Remember: Animals in the streets of Philadelphia.
Reasons it is on the List: Guys generally like science fiction, and this is a perfect piece, dealing with the themes of madness and sanity, combined with a great story and good performances. From the wild mind of Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam, this twisted tale actually is fairly mainstream for his tastes.
19. Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, 1998
Premise: Four long-time friends lose a large sum of money to a local gangster in a crooked card game and have a few days to come up with money.
Director: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran, Jason Statham
What you’ll Remember: Ass Tickler’s Faggots Fan Club.
Reasons it is on the List: Ritchie comes across as a British poor man’s Quentin Tarantino, finding his niche with crime thrillers that contain a fair amount of comedy. This movie helped launch the careers of Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones, and remains very quotable. Just don’t be thrown off by the thick British accents.
18. The Big Lebowski, 1998
Premise: An unemployed slacker and avid bowler is mistaken for a multi-millionaire who has the same name, and gets caught up in a million-dollar ransom scheme.
Director: Joel Coen
Stars: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore
What you’ll Remember: The Dude.
Reasons it is on the List: This comedy has it all: idiosyncratic characters, surreal dream sequences, unconventional dialogue, and an eclectic soundtrack. And it has The Dude. The Coen brothers don’t really go wrong, but this is where they went really right. And it has bowling!
17. The Rock, 1996
Premise: A disenfranchised Brigadier General holds hostages and VX rockets on Alcatraz to try and get the U.S. government to pay due compensation to the families of marines killed in covert action.
Director: Michael Bay
Stars: Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris
What you’ll Remember: The car chase through San Francisco.
Reasons it is on the List: Although hated by many, Bay remains a go-to director for making money on action films with his quick cut style. The Rock remains his best effort, even Bay haters will usually like it, combining action, adventure, comedy, Vanessa Marcil, and special effects with a great plot.
16. Seven, 1995
Premise: Also marketed as Se7en, two detectives try to stop a serial killer before he finishes his work on the seven deadly sins.
Director: David Fincher
Stars: Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey
What you’ll Remember: The ending.
Reasons it is on the List: A great crime thriller, it’s one of the most complex and disturbing entries in the serial killer genre. There’s not a lot of action, but their is a fair amount of gruesomeness from the murders. The appeal is from the story and how the entire plan plays out.
15. L.A. Confidential, 1997
Premise: The story about a group of Los Angeles police in the 1950s, dealing with corruption and organized crime.
Director: Curtis Hanson
Stars: Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe
What you’ll Remember: Kim Basinger’s Veronica Lake lookalike.
Reasons it is on the List: A perfectly crafted old-school noir thriller, it features great performances, a tad of violence, and hookers cut like movie stars. I give respect to Titanic, which is an achievement in film-making and a Cameron movie, but this should have won Best Picture in 1997.
14. GoldenEye, 1995
Premise: The seventeenth film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. This time the bad guys are using a EMP to wipe out computer records and destroy nations electronically.
Director: Martin Campbell
Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen
What you’ll Remember: the N64 game that accompanied the movie.
Reasons it is on the List: It’s Bond. Isn’t that enough? So you know it has awesome cars, sexy woman, great action, and some pithy comebacks and glib remarks. Well not so much on the last one as 006 can attest to. Still, it relaunched the franchise after six years of legal hiatus, and it’s one of the best films in the series. Yeah, Casino Royale was better, but this is still near the top of the list for Bond films.
13. Reservoir Dogs, 1992
Premise: The story before and after a botched jewel heist by a group of assembled criminals with Clue-like names.
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth
What you’ll Remember: The ear scene.
Reasons it is on the List: It’s remembered for the violence and mutilation, but it’s the classic dialogue from the Like a Virgin discussion to the Mr. Pink name assignment that keeps me coming back. And I like the little touches, like the fact there’s a box of Fruit Brute clearly visible on screen. Someone remembers Fruit Brute? Awesome.
12. Office Space, 1999
Premise: An IT worker at a typical faceless software company becomes disenfranchised with his job.
Director: Mike Judge
Stars: Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, David Herman
What you’ll Remember: A red Swingline stapler.
Reasons it is on the List: A spot on commentary of the corporate workplace and cubical life, it’s something that most office workers can relate to, whether through moving cubicles or wanting to destroy the office machinery. And its extremely hilarious, just ask me about my TPS reports.
11. Goodfellas, 1990
Premise: Based on the true story of a Henry Hill, a young aspiring gangster who joins the Mob.
Director: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci
What you’ll Remember: What do you mean I’m funny?
Reasons it is on the List: Arguably Scorsese’s greatest work, it shows the inner workings of the mafia, much like the Sopranos tried to tackle years later. It’s so good, it’s in the Godfather’s ballpark for mob stories. And it has that great tracking shot entering the Copa. Oh? And it once broke the record for most occurrences of the ‘f-word’ in a movie.
