When most people think about the top streaming service to watch movies, their minds tend to lean towards Netflix. However, it's Amazon Prime that has the most films available to stream as part of their subscription service, with almost ten times as many. That certainly includes some gems from the 1990s.
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The decade was an important one as cinema saw groundbreaking hits like Jurassic Park, Toy Story, and The Matrix. While none of those are currently on Amazon Prime, there are still plenty of really good movies from the era. This list won't include things like stand-up comedy specials and will focus on well-known feature films.
Girl, Interrupted (7.3)
There were actually a handful of films tied with this rating but Girl, Interrupted had the most reviews so it landed in the tenth slot. Released right at the end of the decade in December 1999, this film is one of the brightest in the storied career of Angelina Jolie.
Her performance as Lisa Rowe earned her the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. The film, based on a memoir of the same name, follows Susanna Kaysen (Winona Ryder) and her 18-month stay at a psychiatric hospital after a suicide attempt.
The City Of Lost Children (7.5)
Originally titled La Cité des Enfants Perdus, this French film was co-directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. You may recognize Jeunet's name from 2001's classic Amélie, which is stylistically similar to The City of Lost Children, which was released in 1995.
Entered into the Cannes Film Festival that year, this sci-fi tale centers around a surrealist society and a scientist there attempting to stop the aging process. To do so, he kidnaps kids and seals their dreams. It was considered to be a thought-provoking and memorable film.
Star Trek: First Contact (7.6)
It doesn't get mentioned as often as it should but Star Trek is one of the longest-running and most successful film franchises in history. 1996's Star Trek: First Contact was the eighth installment into the series and was arguably the one with the highest praise from critics.
The IMDb score is certainly high but it also boasts a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. This entry sees the crew of the USS Enterprise-E travel back about three centuries into the past in an effort to prevent a cybernetic Borg from destroying Earth. The special effects were a highlight.
Legends Of The Fall (7.6)
If a film is led by two incredible actors the caliber of Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins, then you can almost guarantee that it will be something special. That's the case with Legends of the Fall, which was released to theaters at the tail end of 1994.
Based on a 1979 novella of the same name, this film follows the lives of a father and his three sons in the early 20th century. Spanning everything from the early 1900s to 1963, including various wars and prohibition, it details how those events shaped their lives.
Open Your Eyes (7.7)
The second foreign entry on this list is 1997's Open Your Eyes. Although it only grossed $370,720, audiences are most likely still familiar with it. That's because an American remake was made in 2001 with Tom Cruise titled Vanilla Sky.
In fact, the always great Penélope Cruz actually reprised her role from this film in the remake. Open Your Eyes centers on a man who falls in love with a woman only to get in an accident that causes him to need total reconstructive facial surgery.
Rushmore (7.7)
One of the most iconic, unique, and respected directors in recent memory is Wes Anderson. His style is simply delightful. After the impressive Bottle Rocket as his debut in 1995, he followed it up with 1998's Rushmore, which stars many of his frequent future collaborators.
Co-written by Owen Wilson, this features the debut of Jason Schwartzman. He plays a teenager who is friends with a rich industrialist (Bill Murray) and they both have feelings for an elementary school teacher (Olivia Williams). Rushmore was praised for its writing, direction, acting, and quirkiness.
The Boondock Saints (7.8)
Here's one of those movies that got panned by most critics but praised by audiences. It holds a paltry 28% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, yet the IMDb rating is telling of how much people adore it. Arriving in late 1999 before a wide release in early 2000, it has become a cult classic.
The Boondock Saints tells the story of the MacManus brothers (Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus), who become vigilantes after they kill Russian mafia members. They went after crime in Boston while being hunted by the FBI, including Agent Paul Smecker, memorably played by Willem Dafoe.
Ghost In The Shell (8.0)
The third and final foreign movie on this list is also the only animated one. 1995's Ghost in the Shell started out as a box office bomb but has become a cult favorite that is also wildly influential. Without it, the world may have never gotten movies like The Matrix. There was a lot of praise in line for pretty much every aspect from the plot to the visuals to the score to the themes about identity and the pitfalls of a technology-driven world.
Ghost in the Shell is set in a futuristic Japan and follows a cyborg agent who hunts down a hacker dubbed the Puppet Master. A live-action remake was released in 2017, while there was also a spiritual successor titled Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence that came out in 2004.
Fargo (8.1)
The Coen Brothers are among the most famous filmmakers anywhere in the world. Picking their best movie should be difficult but most people would agree that it is 1996's Fargo. That should tell you just how special this is. It also spawned a well-received TV series that began in 2014.
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, Fargo centers around a car salesman who hires two criminals to kidnap his wife so he can extort a ransom from her wealthy father, all the while being investigated by a Minnesota police chief. William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, and the rest of the cast is stellar.
The Usual Suspects (8.5)
In terms of films from the 1990s, it doesn't get all that much better than The Usual Suspects. Released in 1995, it was directed by Bryan Singer and written by Christopher McQuarrie. While the entire movie is great, it's the shocking twist ending that is iconic.
The Usual Suspects sees a man named Roger "Verbal" Kent explain the events of a massacre he survived. The tale he weaves is convoluted and features a mastermind named Keyser Söze. The ending with the revelation of who Söze really is remains one of the best in history.
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