Certain movies feel vibrant and refreshing, and these gems from the 1990s helped shape the landscape of modern cinema. While the movie industry was undergoing a few major shifts, it still took some flashes of individual brilliance to push the medium forward into the 21st century.

Some of the best movies of the 1990s were years ahead of their time, and they still feel just as powerful and entertaining as they did back then. In some cases, if these movies were released today, audiences wouldn’t think they were out of place whatsoever.

10

Jurᴀssic Park (1993)

Jurᴀssic Park’s Effects Hold Up Brilliantly

Jurᴀssic Park‘s blend of practical effects and groundbreaking CGI has aged brilliantly, and it puts most modern blockbusters to shame. Although the franchise is set to continue with Jurᴀssic World Rebirth, it has been a struggle to recreate the impact of the huge spectacle that came with the original.

Jurᴀssic Park represents the peak of the franchise, because the dinosaur-based action is always backed up by a compelling plot and some relatable characters. This gives an added layer of tension to iconic scenes like the raptors prowling through the kitchen or the T. Rex escaping from its paddock.

9

Toy Story (1995)

Toy Story Changed Animation Forever

While Disney was going through its own creative renaissance in the 1990s, Pixar went off in a different direction and radically changed the landscape of animation for good. Toy Story was the studio’s first feature-length film, and the first computer-generated feature-length ever made. Decades later, this style has become the industry standard.

Toy Story was an immediate sensation, and it didn’t take too long for other major studios to try to emulate Pixar’s style. Within a decade, Disney, DreamWorks and more studios had converged on computer-generated animation, but Pixar has continued to innovate within the confines of their form. Toy Story 5 is set to continue their most successful franchise, and it’s a safe bet that it will represent the technological cutting-edge once again.

8

тιтanic (1997)

James Cameron’s Big-Screen Event Silenced The Doubters

тιтanic was the subject of some ridicule before it was released, since pundits believed that the biggest film budget ever would be wasted on a three-hour-long period romance. Of course, James Cameron proved that he’s more in touch with what audiences want to see than anyone else, and тιтanic justified its budget by becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time.

Although тιтanic is a throwback in some ways, with its lavish production and huge sets reminiscent of Old Hollywood, it was also forward-thinking. The success of тιтanic opened the door for other mᴀssive budgets in Hollywood, and it redefined the kinds of stories which were thought of as potential blockbuster material.

7

The Matrix (1999)

The Wachowskis Ushered Sci-Fi Into The New Millennium

The Matrix is a strikingly original fusion of action and sci-fi, with a concept that sets the stage for some fight scenes unlike anything else. It’s also an intelligent, poignant sci-fi story that has become more and more precient over the years as humanity’s relationship with artificial intelligence has evolved.

Although The Matrix‘s action and visual effects were both revolutionary, its most important contributions have mostly been thematic. The Matrix popularized simulation theory and brought it into the mainstream. It’s no wonder that many quotes and ideas from The Matrix are still part of the cultural zeitgeist today, even if they have been co-opted and used in different ways by different groups.

6

Scream (1996)

Scream Was Ahead Of The Curve With Horror Comedy

Scream shook up the horror genre in a few important ways. Incorporating elements of a whodunnit added another layer to the tension, and killing Drew Barrymore off in the very first scene proved that nobody was safe. However, Scream‘s contributions to comedy have proven to be even more important over the years.

Scream‘s meta, self-aware style pulls apart the horror genre from the inside out. This savvy writing means that Scream can more directly engage in the game that it plays with its audience. Many other movies have taken on a similar tone in the last 30 years, and they have Scream to thank for it.

5

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Steven Spielberg’s War Drama Still Hasn’t Been Topped

Saving Private Ryan is always a contender in debates over the best war movie ever. If it isn’t the outright best, it’s certainly one of the most viscerally powerful, and its immersive style of action has been praised by veterans and other military experts. Saving Private Ryan transports the audience to the heart of the battlefield.

Ever since Saving Private Ryan, many war movies have tried and failed to use Steven Spielberg’s techniques to create battle scenes as terrifyingly realistic. Of course, another key component to this is that Saving Private Ryan fleshes out its characters to make their personal journeys feel even more urgent.

4

The Truman Show (1998)

The Truman Show All But Predicted The Future

The Truman Show follows a man as he gradually discovers that his entire life is an elaborate TV show, and that his quaint hometown is just one big set. Over two decades later, this is the reality that some people live in, as social media and technology have turned people into both audiences and performers in their everyday lives.

Reality television has exploded in popularity since The Truman Show, including many popular formats in which the subjects either don’t know that they’re being filmed or don’t have other key information about the set-up. Like in The Truman Show, anyone can become a TV star at any moment, whether they want to or not.

3

Independence Day (1996)

The Sci-Fi Blockbuster Set The Blueprint For Decades

Jaws is often credited with creating the concept of the summer blockbuster, but Independence Day was the movie that set the agenda for modern blockbusters. With a perfect balance of action, sci-fi and humor, buoyed by a charismatic cast, Independence Day is the ultimate crowdpleaser.

Critics of Independence Day often deride it as mindless popcorn entertainment, but this is hardly a concern for its biggest fans. For better or worse, there have been plenty of entertaining big-budget blockbusters in the 21st century without much substance, and Independence Day wrote the playbook for such movies.

2

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Quentin Tarantino’s Crime Thriller Wrote Its Own Rules

Pulp Fiction pays tribute to the history of cinema, with Tarantino wearing his myriad influences on his sleeve. There are cues taken from gangster movies, Westerns, horror movies and much more. At the same time, Pulp Fiction feels radically new, using a non-linear structure to tell a labyrinthine crime story at its own pace.

Pulp Fiction‘s dialogue underlines one way that it has influenced movies ever since. Even in the midst of chaos and bloodshed, the characters often meander into seemingly unrelated discussions about cheeseburgers and other inconsequential small talk. Tarantino’s dialogue has been mimicked ad nauseam over the years, but the imitators can’t compete with Pulp Fiction.

1

Goodfellas (1990)

Martin Scorsese Invented A Whole New Style

Martin Scorsese was already a legendary director by the time he invented a brand-new style with Goodfellas. The fast-paced, darkly comedic crime biopic has set the standard for plenty more crime movies over the years. As opposed to something like The Godfather‘s grand, operatic tone, Goodfellas feels messy, awkward and real.

There are a lot of scenes in Goodfellas in which the mundane brushes up against the violent gangster lifestyle, like when Tommy stops for dinner at his mother’s house despite having a man locked in the trunk of his car. Goodfellas also has some iconic quotes, even though the dialogue feels surprisingly relatable for a gangster movie at the time.