Generational nostalgia is one of today's most lucrative pop culture trends, and it's a matter of time before the '90s are revived. Unsurprisingly, this will inspire audiences and filmmakers alike to revisit important '90s movies.
The '90s were more than just edgy Marvel Comics anti-heroes and grunge music. The decade was truly defined by its politics, generational concerns, and popular trends, which were perfectly encapsulated by certain movies.
10 Armageddon Solidified Bayhem In The Public Consciousness
Thanks to the likes of the practical-effects-laden Jurassic Park, the '90s saw an influx of special effects-heavy blockbusters and disaster movies. There's no better combination of these trends than Armageddon, which was only Michael Bay's third movie that's also one of his most successful and memorable movies to date.
The case could be made for Independence Day, but Armageddon's unapologetically ridiculous plot of oil drillers blowing up an asteroid fits better with the decade's signature stylistic excess. More importantly, it cemented Bay as the definitive '90s action director, so much so that a recurring criticism of his new movies is that he seems to have not outgrown the period.
9 Titanic Was The Biggest Love Story Of The '90s & Beyond
When Titanic was advertised as the biggest love story ever made, it wasn't an exaggeration. James Cameron's period piece held true to its word, and Jack and Rose's tragedy became one of the highest-grossing movies of all time that boasted some of the most impressive larger-than-life visuals ever seen.
Beyond those, Titanic was a simple yet genuine love story that resonated so well with audiences that it became the decade's definitive romance. Nowhere was this clearer than in the movie's endless parodies and homages, which either lifted scenes or surrounding elements like the love team of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio or Cameron's victory on Oscars night.
8 Beauty & The Beast Was The Disney Renaissance's Peak
A key part of many Millennials' formative years was the Disney Renaissance, the period from 1989 to 1999 when Walt Disney Animation dominated the public consciousness and kids' imaginations with award-winning musicals. Everyone has their favorite Disney Renaissance movie, but Beauty And The Beast is the period's uncontested peak, so much so that it even got a live-action remake in 2017.
On top of earning more than $100 million globally, Beauty And The Beast was also the first animated movie to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Belle and The Beast's fairy tale romance didn't only encapsulate an animation studio's peak that it has yet to recapture, but it also perfectly summarizes a generation's collective childhood.
7 Ghost In The Shell (1995) Cemented The Anime Boom In The West
Ghost In The Shell is a watershed movie in many ways, as seen in how it changed the cyberpunk genre and the way Major Motoko Kusanagi became the reference point for countless badass action heroines. What makes the movie an important '90s cornerstone is how it cemented anime's place in the Western mainstream.
Anime was slowly entering Western pop consciousness from the late '80s to the early '90s, and the scarily prophetic Ghost In The Shell was one of the key anime that legitimized the medium internationally. Additionally, it was many people's first hook into anime. Besides its cultural impact, Maj. Kusanagi's existential crisis is just that great and thought-provoking a movie.
6 Pulp Fiction Changed Crime Fiction & Filmmaking Forever
Pop culture of the '90s is often generalized as being cool and edgy, and writer/director Quentin Tarantino embodied this trend better than any other filmmaker. His sophomore movie, Pulp Fiction, was so influential that not only did most of the decade's crime movies copy it, but it reshaped the face of cinematic storytelling practically overnight.
Pulp Fiction's stylistic choices (such as a non-linear anthological timeline, shady but still likable characters, archaic pop culture references, and more) were endlessly imitated from the '90s until today, but with little success. Tarantino's writing and style evolved over time (see: the deliberately paced The Hateful Eight), but he's still an undeniably irreplaceable pillar of the decade.
5 The Matrix Captured The Decade's Existential Crisis Through Cyberpunk
The '90s were defined by the existential dread brought about by the decade's mundanity, and The Matrix took this to the most nightmarish yet amazing extremes possible. As is common knowledge by now, the boring office worker Mr. Anderson is really Neo (played by the irreplaceable Keanu Reeves), the prophesized savior of a human race enslaved by sentient machines.
It's impossible to understate how mind-blowing The Matrix was in 1999, and just how much of a filmmaking and storytelling game-changer it was. Even if it premiered near the decade's end, Neo's rise to godhood came to represent the '90s mindset and aesthetics. Examples include the cybergoth trend, the anxieties towards the coming digital age, and more.
4 Clueless Immortalized '90s Teen Culture & Started Specific Trends
After the genre stagnated, teen comedies enjoyed a resurgence in the '90s thanks to Clueless which, ironically, is actually a parody of such movies. Despite being an affectionate spoof of Beverly Hills' opulence and the naivety of youth, Clueless was nonetheless an accurate recreation of yet understanding look at early '90s teen culture.
An interesting thing about the movie is that it shaped certain trends of the mid to late '90s. Many of the getups that Cher and her friends showed off became popular fashion trends that even made it to the 2010s, and Clueless (which is loosely based on Jane Austen's Emma) popularized the fad of teen movies adapting classical literature for their stories.
3 Clerks Is The Quintessential Generation X Movie
For the longest time, director and comic book writer Kevin Smith was deemed the voice of Generation X. He earned this title with his directorial debut Clerks, which is both a monumental indie movie and the perfect cinematic summary of the '90s. Even today, Dante's purgatorial retail job is considered to be the perfect reflection of the aimlessness that the era's young adults went through.
Clerks isn't just emblematic of the '90s because of its grounded characters and their relatable dialogue, but because it launched Smith's career and defined his creative voice. For better and worse, Smith continues to be the living embodiment of the '90s-era slacker, with his personal cinematic universe, The View Askewniverse, being a time capsule dedicated to this specific decade.
2 Boyz N The Hood Spoke To A Generation Of Black Americans
The '90s saw a burst in hood films, or movies that focus specifically on Black Americans' lives and struggles. This boom owes everything to Boyz n the Hood, which is considered to be the best of its genre and an important movie milestone. In fact, it wrote the blueprint that almost all urban dramas religiously follow even today.
The movie didn't just acknowledge and reflect many Black Americans' daily lives on the big screen, but it served as a genuine emotional compass for those who felt lost and hopeless. Nowhere was this better seen than in Laurence Fishburne's character Jason "Furious" Styles, Tre's stern father and source of life advice that's quoted even now.
1 Fight Club Put A Generation's Misplaced Anger Under A Satirical Microscope
One of the most prevalent emotions in the '90s was a sense of scattered frustration. Movies like Falling Down, Office Space, Trainspotting, and more, reflected about and criticized an entire generation's seeming lack of a purpose in the post-Cold War world, but none are as masterfully done and as timeless as Fight Club is.
The adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's book skewered everything wrong about the '90s, from rampant commercialism to unchecked toxic masculinity, so precisely that its commentary transcended the decade it was critiquing. To this day, the erroneously idolized Tyler Durden and his reign of chaos remain the perfect time capsules of a decade's angsts and misplaced rage.