7 More Movies From the 1990s You Forgot Were Awesome

The 1990s were an incredible decade and that goes double when it comes to the movies. It’s a decade that had something for everyone when it came to the cinema. You want action? The 1990s had it. Science fiction, drama, even superhero films? The decade had that, too. It was truly a golden era when it came to movies, which makes it no surprise that it’s a great decade to revisit when sitting down for a nice comfort watch. There’s just so many great movies to choose from.

We’ve already put together a list of movies from the decade that you probably forgot were awesome, but let’s be honest: that list was only scratching the surface. There are countless more movies that are truly great from the 1990s and while we could probably go on forever listing out our favorites, here are seven more from the decade that are also awesome. Some of the movies listed here are movies that you might have forgotten were released in the 1990s, while others are movies you may have just forgotten about entirely. Whatever the case, you’ll want to add them to your to-watch list ASAP.

7) Chaplin

While most audiences know Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe these days, there’s a reason that Jon Favreau looked to the actor to bring the comic book superhero to life — he’s an incredible actor and one of his most underappreciated movies from the 1990s is proof of that. Released in 1992, Chaplin starred the actor as legendary actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin. The biopic was a box office bomb, making just $12 million on a $31 million budget.

However, despite its poor box office performance, Downey received high praise for his performance in the film and, indeed, it is one of his best. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his role among other accolades and is one of those films that if you’re a fan of movies, Hollywood history, and even just Downey as a performer you absolutely need to check out.

6) Office Space

Now, we’re not saying that you forgot Office Space or that you forgot Office Space is awesome. We’re saying that you probably forgot that Office Space was a 1990s movie. Debuting in 1999, Office Space is something of a cult classic and has lived on for over 25 years in internet memes. Written and directed by Beavis and Butt-Head creator Mike Judge, the film is a satire of the office life at a 1990s software company, specifically following a group of employees who are pretty much sick of and exhausted by their jobs.

What makes Office Space such a classic is that, while it’s centered around a software company specifically, its themes are really universal to the white-collar office experience and while the professional experience has changed a great deal since the film’s release, some things stay the same — and the movie remains as classic as ever.

5) Jackie Brown

It might be an unpopular opinion, but Jackie Brown is Quentin Tarantino’s best movie and if you haven’t seen it, what are you even doing? Based on Elmore Leonard’s 1992 novel Rum Punch and an homage to the blaxploitation films of the 1970s, Jackie Brown stars Pam Grier as Jackie, a flight attendant who finds herself caught up in a scheme to smuggle money between Mexico and the United States. The film also stars Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton, Robert De Niro, Bridget Fonda, and Robert Forster.

When it was released, Jackie Brown was unfortunately compared to Pulp Fiction given that both films are crime dramas and while the film did perform well with critics and did well at the box office, many fans just seem to forget about it when they look back at Tarantino’s overall filmography. The reality is that it’s a fantastic film that deserves just as much credit — and it also helped to revive Pam Grier’s career so that’s an extra win.

4) Event Horizon

There are some great science fiction films in the 1990s. There are also some great horror films in the 1990s. Event Horizon just so happens to be both a great science fiction and a great horror film all in one. Directed by Paul Anderson and starring Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, and Joely Richardson, Event Horizon follows a group of astronauts in the then-distant year of 2047 sent on a rescue mission for the Event Horizon spaceship that has spontaneously reappeared in orbit around Neptune after having gone missing seven years earlier.

Event Horizon, outside of the movie itself, has a bit of a legend of its own. The film notably had a troubled production and had its editing rushed by Paramount Pictures to get it into theaters when Titanic ended up not being able to make its release date. The heavily edited film ended up being released on August 15, 1997, and did poorly both at the box office and with critics but was a hit on home release. Since then, it’s become not only a cult classic, but an influential film in both the sci-fi and horror genres — and it even got a sequel comic book series this year as well.

3) School Ties

You really can’t have a list of awesome 1990s movies and not include a Brendan Fraser movie so this time around, it’s School Ties. Released in 1992, School Ties stars Fraser as Davide Greene, a working-class Jewish high school student who gets a scholarship to a very exclusive prep school but, because of the widespread antisemitism at the school, chooses to hide his heritage. The film has a stacked cast, including Matt Damon, Chris O’Donnell, Anthony Rapp, and Ben Affleck. Future Yellowstone star Cole Hauser also appears.

School Ties was a box office flop and didn’t necessarily do very well with critics either and while the film is pretty predictable, it’s also one of the first major dramatic appearances of some major stars — namely Fraser, Affleck, Hauser, and Damon. Fraser is particularly good in the film and that alone makes this one worth revisiting.

2) The Phantom

Released in 1996 and based on the comic strip of the same name, The Phantom is a superhero film that pretty much everyone has forgotten about and for good reason. The film didn’t get the best reviews and did poorly at the box office, but looking back, the film was surprisingly good — and has surprisingly solid visuals for the time.

The Phantom stars Billy Zane as the titular, seemingly immortal crimefighter who battles just about every kind of evil you can imagine. The film also stars Treat Williams, Kristy Swanson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and James Remar. There really isn’t a good way to describe this movie except to tell you to watch it — The Phantom is more a character from folklore than a superhero in some respects in terms of how he’s presented in the film. And while the film did poorly when it was released, it did find an audience in home release and has continued to have a following since. It’s very 1990s — and well worth checking out just to see how far superhero movies have come.

1) The Quick and the Dead

There isn’t a genre that Sam Raimi hasn’t taken on and that includes the western. Released in 1995, The Quick and The Dead is another instance of a film that didn’t perform particularly well at the box office or with critics, but in retrospect is much better than it was given credit for. In fact, the film might just be Raimi’s most underrated film.

Starring Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, and Leonardo DiCaprio, the film follows a gunfighter called “The Lady” (stone” who shows up in the frontier town, Redemption, controlled by John Herod (Hackman). Once there, The Lady joins a duel competition as she seeks to exact revenge for the death of her father. The film has an incredible cast, boasts amazing performances, and is not only one of Raimi’s most underrated films, but might be one of the most underrated films of the entire decade. It’s a great film and a truly fantastic western, too.

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