Recommend important ("important"), mainstream, English-language, films from 1990 to the present

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

If I want high-speed internet in my new apartment, I am going to have to go cable, so I might as well buy a TV (and VCR, or I guess DVD player) and get cable TV with it; which means that this would be a good time for me to catch up on the last 10-15 years of movies.

I'm especially interested in films that are/were important because of what they reflect about society (things that will teach me about my own culture), and to a lesser extent, films that were important for breaking new ground artistically (or being the best examples of their particular style). But I would like to stick to Hollywood films and other English language films that made it big. I am not necessarily looking for films with "deep" messages or any sort of social critique, just films that reflected &/or shaped contemporary American, or at least "western," society.

What movies should I have seen since 1990 in order to know what (average, not necessarily film-obsessed) people are talking about when they drop references to films into their conversation?

Emphasis on 1994 on.

I know there are probably similar threads, but I want my own.

― Rockist Scientist, Friday, 14 May 2004 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)

(I have seen some normal films from this time period, but not many.)

― Rockist Scientist, Friday, 14 May 2004 14:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Toy Story

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Why do they have to be English language, Rockist? I could name several such films that you're talking about, but most of them aren't in English.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Toy Story 2 is better. Really.

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Pulp Fiction?

― Prude (Prude), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it doesn't fit into Rockist's description, being all style and having no "important" content.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Tickle Me Elmo

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not so sure about that. The simultaneously fragmented and circular structure has proven to be really memorable and groundbreaking, I think. (Having taught a course on digital literature, which involved a lot of non-linear narratives, PF was a big touchstone for the students.)

― Prude (Prude), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Tuomas, because I naturally am drawn to foreign and art house films (to the extent that I am drawn to film at all). I want to immerse myself in my own popular culture (which sometimes leaves me feeling like an alien) via popular film.

― Rockist Scientist, Friday, 14 May 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

(xpost) I don't think that's what Rockist meant by "important," though. The fact that Pulp Fiction is "all style" (I might disagree but that's beside the point) is exactly what makes it important.

My nomination would be Fight Club.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

And isn't he looking for films without "important" content, anyway?

― Prude (Prude), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

All style counts as "important" as long as it is all style in a way that reflects or shapes the surfaces of my culture.

(If I made my request in less constipated prose, would I get better results?)

Anyway, Pulp Fiction is probably exactly the sort of thing I am look for.

― Rockist Scientist, Friday, 14 May 2004 14:59 (twenty-one years ago)

And yeah, you could bring in the stuff about redemption and saving Marcellus Wallace's soul and Jules reforming and all that, too, if you wanted to. So the "importance" is optional, I guess.

― Prude (Prude), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Forrest Gump

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Off the top of my head search: The Matrix, Traffic, American Beauty, Saving Private Ryan, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (and Bogus Journey), Office Space, Contact, Goodfellas (and Casino and Heat), Silence of the Lambs and South Park the Movie.

Destroy Titanic.

― christhamrin (christhamrin), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Forrest Gump otm. Actually nearly any Tom Hanks movie in the 90s. And Turner and Hooch.

― christhamrin (christhamrin), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Babe 2: Pig in the City

seriously, this flick is great. dark as fuck, too.

― Kingfish Disraeli (Kingfish), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:06 (twenty-one years ago)

That's a good list, christhamrin.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Dumb & Dumber

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:07 (twenty-one years ago)

American Pie

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Blair Witch Project

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Scream

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Slacker

― mike a, Friday, 14 May 2004 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

like these?:

Sixth Sense
Big Fish
Kill Bill
Lock, Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels
Snatch
Fight Club
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
eXistenZ
Matrix
Requiem for a Dream
Terminator 3
Hypercube
Traffic
Muholland Drive
Seven
Sexy Beast
Royal Tenebaums
Rushmore
Vanilla Sky
Harry Potter
Elephant
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas

― A Nairn (moretap), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I sorta want to add There's Something About Mary, even though I hated it. (Scott is thinking along the same lines, I see, with D&D.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Cool As Ice

― mike a, Friday, 14 May 2004 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Starship Troopers

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Austin Powers!

― A Nairn (moretap), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe a few from the endlessly-debatable spike lee: do the right thing, he got game, summer of sam.

xpost - nice work, a nairn!

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I think some of you are applying "mainstream" pretty broadly here.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Starship Troopers
Big Lebowski
Fargo
Royal Tenenbaums
Suicide Kings
Rushmore
How High
Something About Mary
Zoolander
Dogma
Good Will Hunting

fuck xpost with a nairn nevermind.
Rush Hour
The Fifth Element

― TOMBOT, Friday, 14 May 2004 15:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Showgirls

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Slacker was from before 1990, though, wasn't it?

― Prude (Prude), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:11 (twenty-one years ago)

American History X

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:11 (twenty-one years ago)

The Truman Show

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)

and any Adam Sandler movie

― A Nairn (moretap), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Slacker was 1991. Do the Right Thing and Bill and Ted were 1989.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)

All of Scott's choices are very, very good.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I want to see the Kate Winslet sex scenes so Titanic is in.

― Rockist Scientist, Friday, 14 May 2004 15:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Huh, well what d'ya know. See Slacker, then. It's great.

― Prude (Prude), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Being John Malkovich, too.

― Prude (Prude), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

(shhh, I'm sneaking these in. Everyone look the other way.They are arty.)

Ruby In Paradise
Ulee's Gold
George Washington
All The Real Girls
American Job
Crumb
American Splendour

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Good suggestions. Obvious titles are fine. That's sort of the point. I will recognize most of these as movies I heard a lot about, but I'm not going to easily think of them all off the top of my head.

― Rockist Scientist, Friday, 14 May 2004 15:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh fuck: Reality Bites.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Scott likes Victor Nunez and David Gordon Green!

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:16 (twenty-one years ago)

* Welcome To The Dollhouse
* Ghost World

― mike a, Friday, 14 May 2004 15:16 (twenty-one years ago)

oh lord, not Reality Bites. That and Before Sunrise are tied as my least-favorite '90s flicks. Maybe I just have an aversion to Ethan Hawke.

― mike a, Friday, 14 May 2004 15:17 (twenty-one years ago)

(That was not to scott. Sorry. I didn't say x-post.

Saw Crumb. In NYC.)

― Rockist Scientist, Friday, 14 May 2004 15:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Many of these films are also on the IMDB top-rated films of the 1990s list.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 8 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

heat

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Wow, yeah, if you watch all the movies on that MTV list you will learn all you need to know about western culture. And then some. With a vengeance. And you will need some aspirin when you are done. And some whiskey. And a shoulder to cry on. I think I've seen all but 3 or 4!

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Wo hu cang long, by the way, is Crouching Tiger.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:38 (twenty-one years ago)

JFK? (maybe Natural Born Killers is more important tho)

― ryan (ryan), Friday, 14 May 2004 20:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Swingers was on the cable a couple nights ago... that's a good one.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Friday, 14 May 2004 20:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Pulp Fiction
Babe
Safe
To Die For
Seven
Clueless
The Last Seduction
Leaving Las Vegas
The Usual Suspects
Lone Star
Bound
Fargo
Kids
The Sweet Hereafter
Three Kings
The Apostle
The Ice Storm
Boogie Nights
L.A. Confidential
Donnie Brasco
Saving Private Ryan
Being John Malkovich
The Matrix
Election
The Blair Witch Project
Magnolia
The Sixth Sense
American Beauty
Fight Club
Charlie’s Angels
Memento
Mullholland Falls
The Royal Tenenbaums
Lost in Translation
Capturing the Friedmans
Finding Nemo
Mystic River

― Lee G (Lee G), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I watched The Last Seduction again last night. It's extremely contrived, but still a good, tight film.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:38 (twenty-one years ago)

great movie

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:52 (twenty-one years ago)

What happened to poor John Dahl?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh yes, he made Rounders.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:54 (twenty-one years ago)

And something else last year that looked equally bad.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Rounders is still the source of much amusement around the offices here. All you have to do is stammer out "You HAFF my MOOUNNEYEH?!?" in a loud, bad faux Russian accent to set off the giggles.

― Lee G (Lee G), Monday, 17 May 2004 13:16 (twenty-one years ago)

'Cable Guy'
'Fight Club'
'Adaptation'

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 17 May 2004 13:24 (twenty-one years ago)

two weeks pass...

I just ordered something I can put my TV on, so I'm getting closer to actually watching some of these movies.

― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 16:14 (twenty-one years ago)

i give you big urging you to see Donnie Darko!

― Queen Electric Butt Prober BZZT!! BZZZZZT!! (Queen Electric Butt Prober BZZ), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 04:51 (twenty-one years ago)

"Wo hu cang long, by the way, is Crouching Tiger."

But is not in English...

― Debito (Debito), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 05:08 (twenty-one years ago)

oh man, scott, you've seen george washington? man i loved that movie. i've never met anyone who's seen it other than the ppl i went with.

My Cousin Vinnie came to mind when i read this. i don't like it much.

― g--ff (gcannon), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 05:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Groundhog Day

― Debito (Debito), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 08:23 (twenty-one years ago)

'George Washington' came out in the UK just after 9-11 and was sort of slept on. 'All the real girls' blew, so I dunno if I missed much.

― Enrique (Enrique), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 08:47 (twenty-one years ago)

'Lone Star' is excellent.

― sgs (sgs), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 10:03 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

Here it is.

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 15:13 (nineteen years ago)

In Good Company

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 15:16 (nineteen years ago)

Tombot said Starship Troopers.

― GET EQUIPPED WITH BUBBLE LEAD (ex machina), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 15:22 (nineteen years ago)

both the kill bills, donnie darko, secrets and lies, the edukators.

― emsk ( emsk), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 01:35 (nineteen years ago)

TOMBOT is OTMBOT re: Starship Troopers, check it out.

― gear (gear), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 01:39 (nineteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

I don't think I have the motivation to make myself watch every important film recommended.

Last night I started to watch Love Actually, which isn't from the 90s and wasn't on the list, but which my hair-stylist had recommended. I couldn't get past the first ten minutes, or something like that. Aside from that one very hot maid who I think turns out to be a major character in the movie later on, I didn't care about any of the characters and the humor was too heavy-handed.

On the other hand, I watched Crouching Tiger, Hdden Dragon and absolutely loved it. I definitely want to watch more martial arts movies (although I realize simply calling that one a martial arts movie is misleading).

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 1 January 2006 14:25 (nineteen years ago)

Be glad you stopped Love Actually after the first 10 minutes. The last half-hour was the most excruciating movie-watching experience I can remember.

I like Crouching Tiger a lot. You might like House of Flying Daggers and maybe Hero. These don't fit your criteria, of course.

― sleep (sleep), Sunday, 1 January 2006 16:25 (nineteen years ago)

I am watching Reality Bites, and I wish someone had convinced me not to watch it (though as someone pointed out above, it definitely is the type of thing I was asking for).

I watched Trainspotting a couple days ago and found it mostly just depressing. Not something I'd want to watch again, I think, though I am not saying it's a bad film.

Back to this horrible movie.

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Saturday, 14 January 2006 20:55 (nineteen years ago)

The Shawshank Redemption. My impression is that it's one of those films that no one dislikes (see also: Pirates of the Caribbean). Also, it deals with ISHOOS. It's set in the 50s or 60s or something, but prisons are prisons.

― Mike W (caek), Saturday, 14 January 2006 23:35 (nineteen years ago)

Christie Malrie's Own Double Entry

― Sinister Oink Kingpin (noodle vague), Saturday, 14 January 2006 23:40 (nineteen years ago)

Some more that haven't been mentioned yet...

Muriel's Wedding
As Good As It Gets
The Wonder Boys
Go
The Straight Story

― ailsa (ailsa), Saturday, 14 January 2006 23:51 (nineteen years ago)

Pleasantville
Moulin Rouge
Ocean's 11 (though avoid Ocean's 12 like the plague)
The Big Lebowski
Catch Me If You Can
About A Boy
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 15 January 2006 00:01 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, and Shaun of the Dead.

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 15 January 2006 00:09 (nineteen years ago)

And The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And the Harry Potter films. (cultural phenomena, innit?)

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 15 January 2006 00:11 (nineteen years ago)

ails, I just didn't laff that much at Shaun of the Dead. :(

― Sinister Oink Kingpin (noodle vague), Sunday, 15 January 2006 00:12 (nineteen years ago)

my god, i have seen all of those mtv movies

― cancer prone fat guy (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 15 January 2006 00:12 (nineteen years ago)

I think probably the best three mainstream American films of the last 5+ years are all animations. So you should these three:

Shrek
Lilo & Stitch
The Iron Giant

All of them are culturally important and subversive too. Shrek effectively undermines traditional fairy tale morals and current beauty standards. Lilo & Stitch goes against grain on conservative family values, and says family is whatever you make of it (it can even include a pair of gay aliens), which I think is particularly radical since it is a Disney film. The Iron Giant is paean to pacifism, the best American animation since god knows when, and one of the few movies that make me cry every time I see them.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Sunday, 15 January 2006 00:27 (nineteen years ago)

The Shawshank Redemption. My impression is that it's one of those films that no one dislikes (see also: Pirates of the Caribbean).

Oh, I don't know...

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 15 January 2006 00:38 (nineteen years ago)

Edward Penishands

― LoneNut, Sunday, 15 January 2006 01:58 (nineteen years ago)

Rockist, you should have searched and found this thread! (and if you had, not listened to miccio)

Defend the Indefensible: "Reality Bites"

― gear (gear), Sunday, 15 January 2006 02:02 (nineteen years ago)

lots of people dislike Shawshank, but it's a good movie and, while not of Pulp Fiction magnitude, should be high on this list

if you really want to do this, you're going to face lots of Reality Bites-type dreck. then again, maybe some editing is in order - is that film really in any way salient now?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Sunday, 15 January 2006 02:06 (nineteen years ago)

you should have searched and found this thread!

I will at least know to avoid Ethan Hawke in the future.

I also watched Kill Bill vols. 1 & 2, which I liked. I waited a few days before watching Vol. 2, and it's kind of reorganized my impressions of Vol. 1, which I thought was good but more purely interested in pastiche and the way things look, to be entirely satisfying to me. (Pulp Fiction, by comparison, had a bit more mystery about it, to me anyway. And I thought back to its scenes more often.) Vol. 2 adds some other dimension to the whole story.

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 15 January 2006 02:51 (nineteen years ago)

she's all that, spiceworld, josie and the pussycats, 10 things i hate about you, party girl

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Sunday, 15 January 2006 03:57 (nineteen years ago)

Don't skip Gattaca cos of Hawke, Rockist - its a good watch.

― Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 15 January 2006 04:19 (nineteen years ago)

She's All That was awful! The moral of the story is that you can turn any cute hippieish painter girl into a horrible plasticky prom queen, and she'll even like it that way.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Sunday, 15 January 2006 11:48 (nineteen years ago)

Allot of people were very moved by "The Titanic". They were all inferior beings.

― Latham Green (mike), Sunday, 15 January 2006 11:52 (nineteen years ago)

x-post:

i thought it was more of a parody of that setup - someone even gets to say "do you ALWAYS wear those glasses?"!

honestly i can't see how dressing nicely to go to PROM for fuck's sake is some kind of unforgivable sell-out. it's not like she changed her personality any.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Sunday, 15 January 2006 12:14 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah but she decided she actually likes to look tacky and feminine, even though in my opinion she looked much better in the beginning with dungarees and big glasses and pigtails. The lesson learned in these sort of movies is always the same, the finding of the perfect middle ground: the freak gets to appreciate the more conservative ways, and the conservative gets at least some understanding on how the freak thinks. If you wanna see a high school flick I'd recommend Saved!, in it the freaks at least get to stay freaks instead of finding their inner normalcy.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Sunday, 15 January 2006 12:22 (nineteen years ago)

As for the early 90s, you may not like it, but in terms of "films that tap into something going on in American culture", Michael Douglas is your actor.

Falling Down
Basic Instinct
Disclosure

Oh, and you can add Indecent Proposal to that list, by way of Demi Moore.

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 15 January 2006 12:33 (nineteen years ago)

I detest Shawshank.

to know what(average, not necessarily film-obsessed) people are talking about when they drop references to films into their conversation

ie, mostly bad movies.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 16 January 2006 14:31 (nineteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.