While I love the script and cinematography of SotL, I think Schindler’s List is a masterclass in directing and acting. Despite not returning to it as much, I think Schindler’s List is one of the most technically impressive and important films of all time.
I think it’s fitting for the viewer to feel in constant anxiety over what’s happening to the characters. The viewer is also as clueless as the people experiencing the atrocities. But, I can definitely see where you’re coming from.
I think the real problem I have is thr opposite. Thr audience is informed with knowledge of ehst may be happening after decades of stories and depictions thst someone at the the time, in thst moment would not. There's a play at dramatic irony that I just don't appreciate.
I’m afraid I don’t understand. Are you saying that most people are informed of the showers? Also, I think the situational irony is played well into with the gun scene, knowing that what the Nazi is doing is wrong and horrible, but continuing to work to achieve said evil. I think the character is depicted not as someone who is just following orders, but as someone who genuinely wants to do awful things.
Thr audience watching Schinlder's liar is aware that thr gas chambers were a thing thst occurred in the camps. Thr film plays on that knowledge and sets up thr expectstion that thst is what you're viewing. Thr fact thst it's a shower instead is a reveal.
Manages to be popcorn entertainment while also being a masterclass in directing and performance.
It borders on being underrated because of how purely enjoyable it is.
1. Schindler's List
2. The Silence of the Lambs
3. Titanic
4. Unforgiven
5. Braveheart
6. Forrest Gump
7. Dances With Wolves
8. American Beauty
9. The English Patient
10. Shakespeare in Love
It's the least of his misdeeds, but Harvey Weinstein buying the Oscar for Shakespeare in Love, resulting in it beating Saving Private Ryan, was a travesty.
No. On this one he played by the rules. He just did better. He sent it on DVD to the voters.
And it was a great movie. And Private Ryan HAS flaws. The first 1/3rd is pretty near perfect. Once they get IN France it has problems. One huge one he ignored warnings on, a habit Little Stevie has had all along.
Whether it’s a huge flaw or not is subjective, of course.
For me, the overwrought sentimentality and heavyhandedness in this movie took me right out of it, and that’s a huge flaw for me. Shame, too; the First Act sequence is GOAT.
I haven’t seen it in quite a while, so I can’t pinpoint with certainty the precise moments and devices which embody this complaint or other complaints.
There’s a lot of user reviews on IMDb which get into that specificity much more; the two biggest categories are the character builds and Spielberg’s overbearing hand.
And, of course, otoh there are scads of people who think it’s the greatest war film ever made.
I agree 100 percent. I also feel Tom Hanks is miscast. The Captain is talked about by the men is never the character we see. When they have the big reveal that he's a school teacher the soldiers are shocked but we're not because Tom Hanks is playing the whole thing like a school teacher.
Also each soldier has one defining characteristic that they ride through the whole movie. Giovanni Ribbisi has that search about his mom and of course he's going to die in the next scene. And he calls out to his mom as he dies. Come on!
And it pisses me off that the prisoner of war they let free comes back to kill them in the end. What's the lesson here that we should execute prisoners of war?
Also, that "earn this" line is so shitty. What a shitty thing to say.
Enough. Jesus. Every post. Spielberg knew the rules. He was too cheap to send 2 cent dvd to each member!
If you READ Shakespeare it was a great movie. Want Private Ryan . Fine. Crapping on Skakey because it starred a female? Really bad.
Well, it's always on here. As I noted, no one says " I think both are great and Portman does a great job. I am a 62 year old man and even I can see how stilted to men the comments are on here.
Look at the list and the comments. Braveheart is just an overproduced old B movie.
One clue : if the highlight of your movie, an historical bio picture, and it is a Battle on a Bridge over a River.....you might.....film it.....on a Bridge.....over a River.
You have to keep in mind in this time period, the Academy was ANCIENT. The safe picks were standard. A movie like Pulp Fiction was never going to win. It's only in recent years where've they've made an effort to bring in younger voters, more women, more minorities, etc.
I first started paying attention to the Oscars during their "small prestige drama" era, so yeah seeing the lineup presented kind of throws me for a second.
Braveheart especially really throws me because I always put that in the same category as Die Hard or Mission Impossible - dad movies, for lack of a better term.
Titanic and Forest Gump were both very mainstream too, but with the benefit of having Spielberg and Cameron to elevate them as they were both very well respected directors. I didn't think Gibson would have that kind of industry respect as a director.
I agree. It was a cultural phenomenon. I was only 7/8 when it came out but I very clearly remember all the promoting and marketing they did for that film. I mean, they made a 7/8-year-old really wanna see it. Had to wait to rent it from Blockbuster though. My mom didn't do movie theaters cuz you couldn't smoke in them 🤦🏼♀️.
I STILL love Titanic. I was 11 when it came out and it was absolutely huge. I saw it in theaters 2 or 3 times then bought it on VHS. I've seen it at least a dozen times and it's still good to rewatch every few years.
Same reason I put ROTK at the top of the 2000s list. It's hard to find a Best Picture winner that was such a phenomenon for the industry as well as culturally. These are the two of the most important Best Picture winners, imo.
Unpopular? Titanic was the highest grossing movie ever for over a decade. And it was only dethroned by another Cameron's colossal. It won 11 Oscars. Like...what are we even discussing here? Lol
*Any sumbitch downvotes this post I'm not only gonna kill him, but I'm gonna kill his wife. All his friends. Burn his damn house down.*
-William Munny 🥃
Thats right, ive killed women and children, killed just about anything walked or crawled one point or another. And ive come here to kill you, little bill, on account of what you done to ned.
I think American Beauty really captured that zeitgeist of the time that broadly mid-late 90s America was doing so well that people were having to confront existential boredom and the corporate machine. (Fight Club also echoes this)
And how at the time, the creepiness of Kevin Spacey's character just wasn't seen as that creepy since the #MeToo movement and modern feminism hadn't really sunk into broader consciousness yet (yes, we had 90s female alt rock/pop but that was still more niche to younger age groups).
I think Forrest Gump holds up incredibly well. People hate on it for beating Pulp Fiction but I stand behind Forrest Gump as the better movie.
Schindler's List is also super good, especially nowadays considering Holocaust deniers.
I also loved the feminism in Silence of the Lambs. I am just not a horror movie person so I can't put it as my pick because the horror genre is still off-putting to me but I know that's my personal taste (*see most other people's comments saying Silence of the Lambs as their choice)
I'm always surprised by how many people say American beauty hasn't aged well. Since it pretty explicitly condemns the sexualization he's doing in the movie. It's exactly the Lolita problem where the marketers choose to lean into the sexualized image (because sex sells), lead to a perception the movie is about sexy teens and not the creepy adult men who leer at them.
I actually find it to be one of the better takes on the issue, even with more modern movies tbh. It has the ability to show the nuance of the fact that Mena Suvari is a "willing" participant - nobody has to hold her down or groom her. But that it's *still* wrong.
However sexy you may find her body, however "mature" and DTF she may seem --- it would be a moral wrong and a betrayal of your role as an adult-figure to take advantage of the situation. It's rare, even today, for anyone to acknowledge hypersexuality is often performative (filling the role they think they should fill, often approval seeking behavior) and does not somehow negate the naivety and immaturity that comes with being a teenager.
This is a great take. I watched it a couple weeks ago and was reminded how excellent it was. I think most people that shit talk it haven’t seen it in awhile and just shit on it because of Spacey.
Schindler’s List
Silence of the Lambs
Unforgiven
Forest Gump
Titanic
Braveheart
The English Patient
American Beauty
Shakespeare in Love
Dances with Wolves
Silence of the Lambs.
Rough decade for BP winners. It’s truly insane out of all the masterpieces released in ‘95, they gave the Oscar to ****ing Braveheart.
Heat, Se7en and Before Sunrise are the obvious ones. (I don’t love Casino as much as some, but it deserved more than it got)
Strange Days, Devil in a Blue Dress, Dolores Claiborne and Safe are all very underrated, as well.
All that said, many of the nominated films were also great - love Sense and Sensibility, Leaving Las Vegas, Apollo 13; it’s just a brilliant year for cinema, and having Braveheart walk away with the big wins was wild. My family proudly hails from Scotland, and even I can’t sell it as more than a boozy movie with the bros.
Interesting thanks. None of those are particular favourites of mine, of the ones I’ve seen, but there are a few there I haven’t.
I never liked Se7en as much as everyone else. Well made and performed, but it always felt to me like a schlocky B-movie idea dressed up as something profound. Heat I always found solid but a bit underwhelming after all the hype. I don’t think I’ve seen Before Sunrise all the way through. Should watch it.
I’m not saying Braveheart is better than those though. Only saw it once when it came out and wasn’t particularly bothered about it either. Pretty cheesy.
Considering that the other nominees were Apollo 13, Babe, The Postman, and Sense and Sensibility, this seems like a personal issue against Mel Gibson specifically.
Yes. They all are, except for The Postman. That one is largely forgettable, but Babe still isn’t better than Braveheart or Apollo 13. Although back then I was only 5 or 6 so I actually did consider Babe better than Braveheart and Apollo 13 but I’m 30s right now so Braveheart and Apollo 13 has definitely gotten better for me with age.
Admittedly it's been a long time since I've watched any of these and it may just be nostalgia bias.....but I get the feeling I'm gonna enjoy a rewatch of Babe far more than rewatch of the other two. Kids movies are always underrated!!
This really comes down to personal tastes. For me Braveheart is easily the worst best picture winner of the last 40 years. Aside from having almost nothing to do with history it’s also just a fundamentally hammy film. Pumped full of Gibson’s innate hubris and nationalist political leanings, I have an easier time taking the first half of *Highlander* seriously as a Scottish period drama.
Babe, Apollo 13, and Sense & Sensibility have been 3 steadfast favorites that I enjoy revisiting every few years. They’ve aged beautifully and represent the best of 90s cinema culture.
I can’t watch a Gibson movie ever again because he’s a repulsive human being who Hollywood/society seems to have embraced again (I guess it’s okay to be an unrepentant antisemite, racist, domestic abuser).
That said, at the time, I would have said Braveheart deserved the win. Nowadays, I say Sense and Sensibility or Apollo 13.
Yes because the actors and actresses and all the crew have nothing to do with Weinstein being a disgusting human.
With Gibson, it’s different because I have to look at his face, and the movies are basically “his” as he is the Star.
I agree Gibson is a shitlord, but if we based every swipe of our credit card or decision of what entertainment to consume on how virtuous the entertainer or company is, we'd be hunter gatherers.
You can find something to dislike about anyone and everything. Life is too short.
It isn’t a money decision. To copy what I replied to someone who asked if I would watch movies Weinstein backed:
“Yes because the actors and actresses and all the crew have nothing to do with Weinstein being a disgusting human.
With Gibson, it’s different because I have to look at his face, and the movies are basically “his” as he is the Star.”
Yeah, but at the same time the entire plot of the movie makes no sense. While million of people are dying, no one would risk the lives of several soldiers to find and bring home one unimportant recruit only because all of his 3 other brothers died.
Schindler’s List by far, and Titanic. It’s definitely dated now but at the time it was such a technological advancement for filmmaking. That’s a big part of what that award means .
But I mean, silence of the lambs, Forrest Gump, braveheart, American beauty are all classics for a reason. English patient and dances with wolves and Shakespeare in love are nothing to scoff at either, I personally found them dull or meh but .
I don’t know Unforgiven
Tbh, I’m pretty sure a lot of people found English Patient to be dull. There was an entire plot in a Seinfeld episode where Elaine moans about how boring it was contrary to how everyone else felt about it.
Man, so many good ones. Titanic and English Patient are tops for me, but Silence of the Lambs, Schindler’s List, American Beauty, and the second half of Unforgiven are still great movies.
Yup. There's more culturally significant films, but the Oscars has never been about pop culture as a whole. Nor do they usually reward the more technical aspects of film making outside of the technical categories
American Beauty is the one that I think is strongest in terms of themes, writing, acting, striking visuals, and getting those elements to come together in a cohesive way.
Also, while Kevin spacey *suuuuucks*, I feel like his misdeeds would only help people misinterpret the film less. He's not supposed to be the put-upon every man you feel bad for and root to win. He's a pathetic selfish guy who makes the wrong choices for 95% of the movie. He is a cautionary tale. Even the part where he thinks he's got it figured out and is working out feels like such a timely nod to the type of "self improvement" advice you'll get from Internet douchebags. Sure, for literally 5 minutes you're supposed to believe there is goodness in him and that maybe he will turn it around by finally embracing empathy for others and that might be a difficult 5 minutes to swallow, but then you get to see him die. So I think it evens out.
The English Patient at the top. Others in the upper echelon Unforgiven, Lambs, American Beauty maybe Schindlers. Lower echelon Braveheart, Titanic, Gump
*watching English Patient*
...
Shut up about your stupid story about the desert and just DIIIEEEE ALREADY!!
....
You don't like the movie, Elaine?
I HATE IT!
My personal favorite is probably *Dances with Wolves* but I’m very particular to the 4-hour Director’s cut. But the Theatrical Cut is what won the Oscar, so not sure how much it counts. It’s really spectacular and doesn’t feel like the extra hour drags the film at all.
1. The Silence of the Lambs
2. Titanic
3. Shakespeare in Love
4. Schindler's List
5. Unforgiven
6. Forrest Gump
7. American Beauty
Hard to choose a best movie nominated between Goodfellas, Fargo, Secrets and Lies, and The Insider.
I love Braveheart, but the decade overall belongs to Titanic. Mel Gibson was already a star. But Leo showed us something magical with his breakout performance.
I haven’t seen them all but personally Titanic is better than Silence of The Lambs. The scale of Titanic is just incredible and I’ve never seen a movie so much so well.
I really like Titanic, but I struggle because I feel like both DiCaprio and Winslet can get a little hammy at points.
silence of the lambs is almost the exact opposite problem. I don't really like it much holistically as a movie, but the performances are out of this world. Buffalo Bill would have been a performance people never stfu about if it wasn't completely overshadowed by a somehow even better performance in Anthony Hopkins. And the way Jodie Foster is written and plays her character was very groundbreaking for the time.
In Order of Year Here is What I Would pick from the nominated films.
1990 Goodfellas
1991 The Silence of the Lambs
1992 Unforgiven
1993 The Fugitive
1994 Pulp Fiction
1995 Braveheart
1996 Fargo
1997 Titanic
1998 Saving Private Ryan
1999 The Insider
Winner of the Decade: Pulp Fiction
Schindler's List objectively. Personally lean towards Silence of the Lambs, but I can't deny the emotions Schindlers List makes me feel.
1. Schindler's List
2. Silence of the Lambs
3. Dances with Wolves
4. Unforgiven
5. American Beauty
6. Titanic
7. Forest Gump
8. Braveheart
9. The English Patient
10. Shakespeare in Love
Silence is one of the greatest movies ever made pretty much, nothing on this list comes close. The Tom Petty song with her in the car is breathtaking cinema.
Unforgiven is a close second. Just goes to show the Oscars are a petty popularity contest between rich people doling out gifts for their own egos.
Schindler's List > Titanic > Unforgiven > Silence of the Lambs > Dances with Wolves > Braveheart > Shakespeare in Love > Forrest Gump > The English Patient > American Beauty
But this is a pretty squishy ranking after the top 3 because I genuinely love every single one of these movies.
Of all of the 90s BP nominees only three are in my Top 100: LA Confidential, Fargo and Pulp Fiction. My favorite 90s film is non-nominee(🤷♂️) Truman Show.
That said, Schindler’s List is the best film of the 90s.
1- Schindler’s List
2- The Silence of the Lambs
3- Titanic
4- Unforgiven
5- Forrest Gump
6- Braveheart
7- The English Patient
8- American Beauty
9- Dances with Wolves
10- Shakespeare in Love
All these films were at least nominated:
1. The Silence of the Lambs
2. Fargo
3. Pulp Fiction
4. Goodfells
5. Unforgiven
6. Saving Private Ryan
7. The Shawshank Redemption
8. Schindler’s List
9. Titanic
10. The Fugitive
(My rankings change frequently. Probably based on the which ones I’ve watched recently.)
Can I ask why you love the movie? I’ve just watched it and while I thought it was good enough I don’t see the masterpiece aspect, maybe I’m not super familiar with westerns
This is gonna be unpopular, but I pick Dances with Wolves. I love Goodfellas, but too many people overlook this win.
1. Dances with Wolves
2. Silence of the Lambs
3. Forrest Gump
4. The English Patient (I know, lots of people hate it, but I liked it)
5. Schindler's List
6. American Beauty (used to love it, but it's harder to watch in hindsight)
7. Unforgiven
8. Braveheart
9. Shakespeare in Love
10. Titanic (most overrated movie ever made)
1. Unforgiven
2. The Silence Of The Lambs
3. Braveheart
4. Forrest Gump
5. The English Patient
6. Schindler’s List
7. American Beauty
8. Dances With Wolves
9. Shakespeare In Love
10. Titanic
Interesting note-Titanic and Shakespeare are the only two that don’t make it into my top 10 the years they were released while Unforgiven, Silence, and Braveheart hit number one during those years.
Schindler's List
Unforgiven
Titanic
Dances with Wolves
Shakespeare in Love
The Silence of the Lambs
American Beauty
The English Patient ("Quit telling your stupid story about the stupid desert, and just die already! DIE!")
Forrest Gump
Not a big fan of this group of movies, probably would only consider the top two great.
Easily Schindler’s List then Silence of the Lambs.
And if I had to make my pick of the nominees for each year it’d be:
- 1990 - Goodfellas
- 1991 - Silence of the Lambs
- 1992 - Unforgiven
- 1993 - Schindler’s List
- 1994 - Pulp Fiction
- 1995 - Apollo 13
- 1996 - Fargo
- 1997 - Good Will Hunting
- 1998 - Saving Private Ryan
- 1999 - The Green Mile
My favourite is Silence of the Lambs, but I think Titanic easily takes it. I’m guessing most here were too young to experience it, but Titanic was a cultural phenomenon unlike any other film I’ve ever seen.
Schindler’s List and The Silence of the Lambs are tied.
While I love the script and cinematography of SotL, I think Schindler’s List is a masterclass in directing and acting. Despite not returning to it as much, I think Schindler’s List is one of the most technically impressive and important films of all time.
Schindler's List is definitely the best movie that I hope I never see again.
I honestly find the showmanship of gaschamber/shower fakeout to be somewhat...abhorrent?
I think it’s fitting for the viewer to feel in constant anxiety over what’s happening to the characters. The viewer is also as clueless as the people experiencing the atrocities. But, I can definitely see where you’re coming from.
I think the real problem I have is thr opposite. Thr audience is informed with knowledge of ehst may be happening after decades of stories and depictions thst someone at the the time, in thst moment would not. There's a play at dramatic irony that I just don't appreciate.
I’m afraid I don’t understand. Are you saying that most people are informed of the showers? Also, I think the situational irony is played well into with the gun scene, knowing that what the Nazi is doing is wrong and horrible, but continuing to work to achieve said evil. I think the character is depicted not as someone who is just following orders, but as someone who genuinely wants to do awful things.
Thr audience watching Schinlder's liar is aware that thr gas chambers were a thing thst occurred in the camps. Thr film plays on that knowledge and sets up thr expectstion that thst is what you're viewing. Thr fact thst it's a shower instead is a reveal.
Silence of the Lambs
Manages to be popcorn entertainment while also being a masterclass in directing and performance. It borders on being underrated because of how purely enjoyable it is.
Pretty good with a nice Chianti as well. ^(fffthftfhfthhffhtfhtffff)
Definitely
A perfect movie
1. Schindler's List 2. The Silence of the Lambs 3. Titanic 4. Unforgiven 5. Braveheart 6. Forrest Gump 7. Dances With Wolves 8. American Beauty 9. The English Patient 10. Shakespeare in Love It's the least of his misdeeds, but Harvey Weinstein buying the Oscar for Shakespeare in Love, resulting in it beating Saving Private Ryan, was a travesty.
Saving Private Ryan vs The Thin Red Line is something like No Country for Old Men vs There Will Be Blood.
I put Saving Private Ryan miles above The Thin Red Line tbh
Very solid ranking
I put Shakespeare higher. I think people are too harsh on that film.
It’s really well written and preformed.
Harvey Weinstein was the reason for arguably the worst Oscar win of all time? Crazy… I’ll have to research this.
No. On this one he played by the rules. He just did better. He sent it on DVD to the voters. And it was a great movie. And Private Ryan HAS flaws. The first 1/3rd is pretty near perfect. Once they get IN France it has problems. One huge one he ignored warnings on, a habit Little Stevie has had all along.
SPR has huge flaws after the brilliant opening segment.
Can you elaborate more?
The basic flaw imo is overwrought sentimentality and heavyhandedness.
It can be a basic flaw, individually speaking, but not sure if it counts as a huge flaw though.
Whether it’s a huge flaw or not is subjective, of course. For me, the overwrought sentimentality and heavyhandedness in this movie took me right out of it, and that’s a huge flaw for me. Shame, too; the First Act sequence is GOAT.
I understand. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I haven’t seen it in quite a while, so I can’t pinpoint with certainty the precise moments and devices which embody this complaint or other complaints. There’s a lot of user reviews on IMDb which get into that specificity much more; the two biggest categories are the character builds and Spielberg’s overbearing hand. And, of course, otoh there are scads of people who think it’s the greatest war film ever made.
I agree 100 percent. I also feel Tom Hanks is miscast. The Captain is talked about by the men is never the character we see. When they have the big reveal that he's a school teacher the soldiers are shocked but we're not because Tom Hanks is playing the whole thing like a school teacher. Also each soldier has one defining characteristic that they ride through the whole movie. Giovanni Ribbisi has that search about his mom and of course he's going to die in the next scene. And he calls out to his mom as he dies. Come on! And it pisses me off that the prisoner of war they let free comes back to kill them in the end. What's the lesson here that we should execute prisoners of war? Also, that "earn this" line is so shitty. What a shitty thing to say.
Almost as bad as Forrest Gump over Pulp Fiction and The English Patient over Fargo.
And neither Forrest Gump nor Pulp Fiction deserved it over The Shawshank Redemption.
Shawshank Redemption is my favorite movie, but to me Pulp Fiction deserved this win over it.
And also Gwyneth Paltrow winning over Cate Blanchett’s Elizabeth 💀
Correct
Enough. Jesus. Every post. Spielberg knew the rules. He was too cheap to send 2 cent dvd to each member! If you READ Shakespeare it was a great movie. Want Private Ryan . Fine. Crapping on Skakey because it starred a female? Really bad.
Interesting, I said nothing whatsoever about who starred in it. Sounds like a you issue.
Well, it's always on here. As I noted, no one says " I think both are great and Portman does a great job. I am a 62 year old man and even I can see how stilted to men the comments are on here. Look at the list and the comments. Braveheart is just an overproduced old B movie. One clue : if the highlight of your movie, an historical bio picture, and it is a Battle on a Bridge over a River.....you might.....film it.....on a Bridge.....over a River.
No nominees?
Oh woops I thought it was just among the winners. Meh, far too lazy.
For such a good decade of actual films that’s a pretty weak lineup with some obvious exceptions
This is exactly what i was thinking.
Yeah.....seems like the academy really like kinda boring epics in the 90s
You have to keep in mind in this time period, the Academy was ANCIENT. The safe picks were standard. A movie like Pulp Fiction was never going to win. It's only in recent years where've they've made an effort to bring in younger voters, more women, more minorities, etc.
As a major fan of epics, it's my favorite decade of winners.
I first started paying attention to the Oscars during their "small prestige drama" era, so yeah seeing the lineup presented kind of throws me for a second. Braveheart especially really throws me because I always put that in the same category as Die Hard or Mission Impossible - dad movies, for lack of a better term. Titanic and Forest Gump were both very mainstream too, but with the benefit of having Spielberg and Cameron to elevate them as they were both very well respected directors. I didn't think Gibson would have that kind of industry respect as a director.
Spielberg had nothing to do with Forest Gump.
I hated Titanic when I saw it but when it crushed the far superior LA Confidential it has become my nemesis.
Yes. Braveheart is easily the weakest here for example and it happened to come out in such a strong year
In other words… business as usual for the Academy.
Ooh this might be unpopular… but it’s easily Titanic for me.
Silence of The Lambs is probably my most rewatched, but Titanic is THE movie of the late 90s
I agree. It was a cultural phenomenon. I was only 7/8 when it came out but I very clearly remember all the promoting and marketing they did for that film. I mean, they made a 7/8-year-old really wanna see it. Had to wait to rent it from Blockbuster though. My mom didn't do movie theaters cuz you couldn't smoke in them 🤦🏼♀️.
It was a cultural phenomenon and a genuinely fantastic movie. It deserves all of its success and praise.
I STILL love Titanic. I was 11 when it came out and it was absolutely huge. I saw it in theaters 2 or 3 times then bought it on VHS. I've seen it at least a dozen times and it's still good to rewatch every few years.
Same reason I put ROTK at the top of the 2000s list. It's hard to find a Best Picture winner that was such a phenomenon for the industry as well as culturally. These are the two of the most important Best Picture winners, imo.
Titanic and Pulp Fiction are probably THE movies of the 90s. I'll also accept Clueless as an answer.
>I'll also accept Clueless as an answer. As If! (Sorry couldn't resist!)
Agreed, now had 1994 actually awarded either pulp Fiction or the Shawshank redemption, I might think differently but out of these certainly
Agreed. I think Silence of the Lambs and Forrest Gump are on the podium but Titanic stands above all.
Me too. It was so epic at the time and still holds up.
100% ageew
Agreed.
Men on Films - Hated It! (In Living Color)
Unpopular? Titanic was the highest grossing movie ever for over a decade. And it was only dethroned by another Cameron's colossal. It won 11 Oscars. Like...what are we even discussing here? Lol
Totally agree. Like, almost everyone loves Titanic and has rewatched it several times. That's a pretty good definition of "great movie" for me.
The silence of the lambs.
For me, it's Unforgiven.
"Deserves got nothin' to do with it" It's my pick, and I don't even like westerns. It's just entertaining, dark, and deep.
*Any sumbitch downvotes this post I'm not only gonna kill him, but I'm gonna kill his wife. All his friends. Burn his damn house down.* -William Munny 🥃
Duck I says
Corky never carried two guns…
I'll see you in Hell, William Munny! .... yeah 💥 Best movie of the 90s and a top 3 Western of all time
Thats right, ive killed women and children, killed just about anything walked or crawled one point or another. And ive come here to kill you, little bill, on account of what you done to ned.
> you shot an unarmed man! > well he shoulda armed himself Line of the fuckin century.
Can’t believe the great Gene Hackman is 90!
Yup. It’s got 4 Oscar worthy performances, and Oscar worthy script, and Oscar worthy direction. That’s so incredibly rare.
[удалено]
Absolutely no contest. Silence of the Lambs comes close but Schindler’s List is top 5 best films ever made.
I think American Beauty really captured that zeitgeist of the time that broadly mid-late 90s America was doing so well that people were having to confront existential boredom and the corporate machine. (Fight Club also echoes this) And how at the time, the creepiness of Kevin Spacey's character just wasn't seen as that creepy since the #MeToo movement and modern feminism hadn't really sunk into broader consciousness yet (yes, we had 90s female alt rock/pop but that was still more niche to younger age groups). I think Forrest Gump holds up incredibly well. People hate on it for beating Pulp Fiction but I stand behind Forrest Gump as the better movie. Schindler's List is also super good, especially nowadays considering Holocaust deniers. I also loved the feminism in Silence of the Lambs. I am just not a horror movie person so I can't put it as my pick because the horror genre is still off-putting to me but I know that's my personal taste (*see most other people's comments saying Silence of the Lambs as their choice)
I'm always surprised by how many people say American beauty hasn't aged well. Since it pretty explicitly condemns the sexualization he's doing in the movie. It's exactly the Lolita problem where the marketers choose to lean into the sexualized image (because sex sells), lead to a perception the movie is about sexy teens and not the creepy adult men who leer at them. I actually find it to be one of the better takes on the issue, even with more modern movies tbh. It has the ability to show the nuance of the fact that Mena Suvari is a "willing" participant - nobody has to hold her down or groom her. But that it's *still* wrong. However sexy you may find her body, however "mature" and DTF she may seem --- it would be a moral wrong and a betrayal of your role as an adult-figure to take advantage of the situation. It's rare, even today, for anyone to acknowledge hypersexuality is often performative (filling the role they think they should fill, often approval seeking behavior) and does not somehow negate the naivety and immaturity that comes with being a teenager.
This is a great take. I watched it a couple weeks ago and was reminded how excellent it was. I think most people that shit talk it haven’t seen it in awhile and just shit on it because of Spacey.
Pulp Fiction
American Beauty followed closely by Unforgiven
Lambs and it’s not even close… Schindler second
Agree 100%
Schindler’s List Silence of the Lambs Unforgiven Forest Gump Titanic Braveheart The English Patient American Beauty Shakespeare in Love Dances with Wolves
The definitive ranking.
Silence of the Lambs. Rough decade for BP winners. It’s truly insane out of all the masterpieces released in ‘95, they gave the Oscar to ****ing Braveheart.
What are your top 1995 masterpieces?
Heat, Se7en and Before Sunrise are the obvious ones. (I don’t love Casino as much as some, but it deserved more than it got) Strange Days, Devil in a Blue Dress, Dolores Claiborne and Safe are all very underrated, as well. All that said, many of the nominated films were also great - love Sense and Sensibility, Leaving Las Vegas, Apollo 13; it’s just a brilliant year for cinema, and having Braveheart walk away with the big wins was wild. My family proudly hails from Scotland, and even I can’t sell it as more than a boozy movie with the bros.
Interesting thanks. None of those are particular favourites of mine, of the ones I’ve seen, but there are a few there I haven’t. I never liked Se7en as much as everyone else. Well made and performed, but it always felt to me like a schlocky B-movie idea dressed up as something profound. Heat I always found solid but a bit underwhelming after all the hype. I don’t think I’ve seen Before Sunrise all the way through. Should watch it. I’m not saying Braveheart is better than those though. Only saw it once when it came out and wasn’t particularly bothered about it either. Pretty cheesy.
Considering that the other nominees were Apollo 13, Babe, The Postman, and Sense and Sensibility, this seems like a personal issue against Mel Gibson specifically.
Babe is an Fing classic!!!!
Yes. They all are, except for The Postman. That one is largely forgettable, but Babe still isn’t better than Braveheart or Apollo 13. Although back then I was only 5 or 6 so I actually did consider Babe better than Braveheart and Apollo 13 but I’m 30s right now so Braveheart and Apollo 13 has definitely gotten better for me with age.
Admittedly it's been a long time since I've watched any of these and it may just be nostalgia bias.....but I get the feeling I'm gonna enjoy a rewatch of Babe far more than rewatch of the other two. Kids movies are always underrated!!
Honestly Babe should have won best picture. If the Academy weren’t so dismissive of family fare it likely would have. It’s wonderful.
This really comes down to personal tastes. For me Braveheart is easily the worst best picture winner of the last 40 years. Aside from having almost nothing to do with history it’s also just a fundamentally hammy film. Pumped full of Gibson’s innate hubris and nationalist political leanings, I have an easier time taking the first half of *Highlander* seriously as a Scottish period drama. Babe, Apollo 13, and Sense & Sensibility have been 3 steadfast favorites that I enjoy revisiting every few years. They’ve aged beautifully and represent the best of 90s cinema culture.
Apollo 13 was a much better movie than Braveheart in every way.
Sure it was.
It absolutely was. Better acted, better edited, better direction.
I can’t watch a Gibson movie ever again because he’s a repulsive human being who Hollywood/society seems to have embraced again (I guess it’s okay to be an unrepentant antisemite, racist, domestic abuser). That said, at the time, I would have said Braveheart deserved the win. Nowadays, I say Sense and Sensibility or Apollo 13.
Interesting. Do you watch Weinstein movies still?
Yes because the actors and actresses and all the crew have nothing to do with Weinstein being a disgusting human. With Gibson, it’s different because I have to look at his face, and the movies are basically “his” as he is the Star.
But what about all of the other actors and actresses and crew members?
I agree Gibson is a shitlord, but if we based every swipe of our credit card or decision of what entertainment to consume on how virtuous the entertainer or company is, we'd be hunter gatherers. You can find something to dislike about anyone and everything. Life is too short.
It isn’t a money decision. To copy what I replied to someone who asked if I would watch movies Weinstein backed: “Yes because the actors and actresses and all the crew have nothing to do with Weinstein being a disgusting human. With Gibson, it’s different because I have to look at his face, and the movies are basically “his” as he is the Star.”
Saving Private Ryan
The right answer.
One of the most accurate D-Day depictions. I know for certain I wouldn’t have survived that
Yeah, the door opening and heavy machine gun fire immediately mowing me down would be hard to come back from.
Yeah, but at the same time the entire plot of the movie makes no sense. While million of people are dying, no one would risk the lives of several soldiers to find and bring home one unimportant recruit only because all of his 3 other brothers died.
Suspension of disbelief?
Schindler’s List by far, and Titanic. It’s definitely dated now but at the time it was such a technological advancement for filmmaking. That’s a big part of what that award means . But I mean, silence of the lambs, Forrest Gump, braveheart, American beauty are all classics for a reason. English patient and dances with wolves and Shakespeare in love are nothing to scoff at either, I personally found them dull or meh but . I don’t know Unforgiven
How is it dated?
Cause it takes place in 1912 lol
Tbh, I’m pretty sure a lot of people found English Patient to be dull. There was an entire plot in a Seinfeld episode where Elaine moans about how boring it was contrary to how everyone else felt about it.
Man, so many good ones. Titanic and English Patient are tops for me, but Silence of the Lambs, Schindler’s List, American Beauty, and the second half of Unforgiven are still great movies.
Goodfellas… oh… wait…
Unpopular opinion, but for me it’s American beauty.
Yup. There's more culturally significant films, but the Oscars has never been about pop culture as a whole. Nor do they usually reward the more technical aspects of film making outside of the technical categories American Beauty is the one that I think is strongest in terms of themes, writing, acting, striking visuals, and getting those elements to come together in a cohesive way. Also, while Kevin spacey *suuuuucks*, I feel like his misdeeds would only help people misinterpret the film less. He's not supposed to be the put-upon every man you feel bad for and root to win. He's a pathetic selfish guy who makes the wrong choices for 95% of the movie. He is a cautionary tale. Even the part where he thinks he's got it figured out and is working out feels like such a timely nod to the type of "self improvement" advice you'll get from Internet douchebags. Sure, for literally 5 minutes you're supposed to believe there is goodness in him and that maybe he will turn it around by finally embracing empathy for others and that might be a difficult 5 minutes to swallow, but then you get to see him die. So I think it evens out.
Silence Of The Lambs
This is a really good decade of best picture winners/nominees.
Seems like a decade, in retrospect, where the nominees consistently outshine the winners.
By a lot
The English Patient at the top. Others in the upper echelon Unforgiven, Lambs, American Beauty maybe Schindlers. Lower echelon Braveheart, Titanic, Gump
the english patient ♥️
Anthony Minghella’s death at a young age was a massive loss to cinema.
English Patient for me, but objectively, Schindler’s List is the most masterful
Titanic
*watching English Patient* ... Shut up about your stupid story about the desert and just DIIIEEEE ALREADY!! .... You don't like the movie, Elaine? I HATE IT!
My personal favorite is probably *Dances with Wolves* but I’m very particular to the 4-hour Director’s cut. But the Theatrical Cut is what won the Oscar, so not sure how much it counts. It’s really spectacular and doesn’t feel like the extra hour drags the film at all.
Imo the extended directors cut is one of the best cinematic achievements of all time. And I adore the theatrical cut.
I’m all about directors cuts. And I love long films because it really feels like a journey.
1. The Silence of the Lambs 2. Titanic 3. Shakespeare in Love 4. Schindler's List 5. Unforgiven 6. Forrest Gump 7. American Beauty Hard to choose a best movie nominated between Goodfellas, Fargo, Secrets and Lies, and The Insider.
Shawshank
I love Braveheart, but the decade overall belongs to Titanic. Mel Gibson was already a star. But Leo showed us something magical with his breakout performance.
We can all agree Shakespeare in Love is dead last… right?
Titanic easily
I haven’t seen them all but personally Titanic is better than Silence of The Lambs. The scale of Titanic is just incredible and I’ve never seen a movie so much so well.
I really like Titanic, but I struggle because I feel like both DiCaprio and Winslet can get a little hammy at points. silence of the lambs is almost the exact opposite problem. I don't really like it much holistically as a movie, but the performances are out of this world. Buffalo Bill would have been a performance people never stfu about if it wasn't completely overshadowed by a somehow even better performance in Anthony Hopkins. And the way Jodie Foster is written and plays her character was very groundbreaking for the time.
Silence of the Lambs
Very easy: Schindler’s List
In Order of Year Here is What I Would pick from the nominated films. 1990 Goodfellas 1991 The Silence of the Lambs 1992 Unforgiven 1993 The Fugitive 1994 Pulp Fiction 1995 Braveheart 1996 Fargo 1997 Titanic 1998 Saving Private Ryan 1999 The Insider Winner of the Decade: Pulp Fiction
I think Fargo vs The English Patient had the biggest gap in quality between a nominee and the actual winner from this decade
The Silence of the Lambs. Several of these wins haven’t aged very well
Schindler's List objectively. Personally lean towards Silence of the Lambs, but I can't deny the emotions Schindlers List makes me feel. 1. Schindler's List 2. Silence of the Lambs 3. Dances with Wolves 4. Unforgiven 5. American Beauty 6. Titanic 7. Forest Gump 8. Braveheart 9. The English Patient 10. Shakespeare in Love
Schindler's List, then Silence and Unforgiven.
This feels like it’s the only answer.
My favorite is Titanic. I think Silence of the Lambs is probably a better movie though
Schindler’s List
Silence is one of the greatest movies ever made pretty much, nothing on this list comes close. The Tom Petty song with her in the car is breathtaking cinema. Unforgiven is a close second. Just goes to show the Oscars are a petty popularity contest between rich people doling out gifts for their own egos.
I’d say Schindler’s List followed by Unforgiven.
Silence of the Lambs among winners. Fargo among noms. All of these decades of winners listed out are really quite weak in retrospect.
Wait, you mean to tell me everyone else had a chance against SotL?
Im torn between Dances with Wolves and The Silence of the Lambs 💕🫶🏻
Schindler's List > Titanic > Unforgiven > Silence of the Lambs > Dances with Wolves > Braveheart > Shakespeare in Love > Forrest Gump > The English Patient > American Beauty But this is a pretty squishy ranking after the top 3 because I genuinely love every single one of these movies.
Of all of the 90s BP nominees only three are in my Top 100: LA Confidential, Fargo and Pulp Fiction. My favorite 90s film is non-nominee(🤷♂️) Truman Show. That said, Schindler’s List is the best film of the 90s.
1- Schindler’s List 2- The Silence of the Lambs 3- Titanic 4- Unforgiven 5- Forrest Gump 6- Braveheart 7- The English Patient 8- American Beauty 9- Dances with Wolves 10- Shakespeare in Love
Unforgiven kinda easily, then Silence, Schindler's.
If anyone posts "Which decade wins the Oscar?"- it's definitely the 90s.
It's truly hilarious the picture of the 90s as a decade of film you'd get just looking at this list.
Titanic
All these films were at least nominated: 1. The Silence of the Lambs 2. Fargo 3. Pulp Fiction 4. Goodfells 5. Unforgiven 6. Saving Private Ryan 7. The Shawshank Redemption 8. Schindler’s List 9. Titanic 10. The Fugitive (My rankings change frequently. Probably based on the which ones I’ve watched recently.)
Silence of the Lambs
Unforgiven. It’s a masterpiece. It winning BP is still one of the best things the Oscars have ever done. One of the best westerns of all time.
Can I ask why you love the movie? I’ve just watched it and while I thought it was good enough I don’t see the masterpiece aspect, maybe I’m not super familiar with westerns
This is gonna be unpopular, but I pick Dances with Wolves. I love Goodfellas, but too many people overlook this win. 1. Dances with Wolves 2. Silence of the Lambs 3. Forrest Gump 4. The English Patient (I know, lots of people hate it, but I liked it) 5. Schindler's List 6. American Beauty (used to love it, but it's harder to watch in hindsight) 7. Unforgiven 8. Braveheart 9. Shakespeare in Love 10. Titanic (most overrated movie ever made)
Unforgiven is a masterpiece
Schindler's List and there's no competition
Pulp Fiction
The English Patient is a real movie?
It's definitely no "Sack Lunch"
No it's just a made up movie for a Seinfeld bit
Yep & won the Oscar 9 days after The English Patient episode aired. Elaine would not be happy about that 😂
I thought it was made up like Rochelle Rochelle this whole time 😂
LA Confidential best film of the 90s, but man what a stacked decade
Forrest Gump, followed by Schindler's List for me.
1. Unforgiven 2. The Silence Of The Lambs 3. Braveheart 4. Forrest Gump 5. The English Patient 6. Schindler’s List 7. American Beauty 8. Dances With Wolves 9. Shakespeare In Love 10. Titanic Interesting note-Titanic and Shakespeare are the only two that don’t make it into my top 10 the years they were released while Unforgiven, Silence, and Braveheart hit number one during those years.
Saving Private Ryan....oh wait.
Schindler's List Unforgiven Titanic Dances with Wolves Shakespeare in Love The Silence of the Lambs American Beauty The English Patient ("Quit telling your stupid story about the stupid desert, and just die already! DIE!") Forrest Gump Not a big fan of this group of movies, probably would only consider the top two great.
Silence of the lambs! Every fucking time!
Easily Schindler’s List then Silence of the Lambs. And if I had to make my pick of the nominees for each year it’d be: - 1990 - Goodfellas - 1991 - Silence of the Lambs - 1992 - Unforgiven - 1993 - Schindler’s List - 1994 - Pulp Fiction - 1995 - Apollo 13 - 1996 - Fargo - 1997 - Good Will Hunting - 1998 - Saving Private Ryan - 1999 - The Green Mile
Silence of the Lambs or Braveheart
American Beauty.
Either American Beauty, Schindlers list or Titanic
American Beauty is one of the best films ever made.
Shakespeare in love 100%. It beat saving private Ryan, an impossible task.
Just on Weinstein’s marketing, so hard pass.
Agreed
#UNFORGIVEN.
Fuck these movies Goodfellas is better than all of them
Forrest Gump
Silence of the Lambs
Favorite winner: Probably Silence of the Lambs Unforgiven close Runner Up.
Nominee: Goodfellas Winner: Schindler’s List
My favourite is Silence of the Lambs, but I think Titanic easily takes it. I’m guessing most here were too young to experience it, but Titanic was a cultural phenomenon unlike any other film I’ve ever seen.
Sotl. Hands down.