Defining a decade with a movie: 1990s

[Ranger REG]

For animation, I'd go with the Lion King.

 

[Darkness]

Moved to the Movie Forum. Also, please don't have too many of these threads active at once. Thanks.

 

[Mark]

Reality Bites (1994)

 

[wingsandsword]

Pulp Fiction was my first thought before I even clicked on the thread. Glad to know others agreed with me. It spawned countless imitators, revived careers, and created many highly quotable scenes. Tarantino and several of the actors all rolled Natual 20's on their skill checks making that movie . That and it had a really cool soundtrack, one of the first CD's I actually went out and bought.

The Matrix is a close second, like Pulp Fiction it spawned countless imitators, quotes, and made a mark on the pop cultural landscape about the size of a mountain range. In terms of just plain fun to watch though, I've still got to go with Pulp Fiction.

Sneakers was good, but I don't know if I'd call it the movie of the Decade. Definitely the year though. Clerks would also be on the short list. Star Trek: First Contact would be further down the candidate list, as the best space-type Sci-Fi movie of the decade, and TNG's finest hour, but not quite up to the bar of Pulp Fiction (or Matrix).

 

[demiurge1138]

I have to say that Clerks, Pulp Fiction and the Matrix were the defining movies of the 90's.

Demiurge out.

 

[John Crichton]

Yes, Pulp Fiction is the first one on the list. There are many others and many great movies that really mirror that decade but Pulp is the best one. The only one that comes close otherwise is Fight Club.

If you want to talk about influential films not mentioned you need to throw in:

The Usual Suspects: Started the "twist ending" craze.
Jurassic Park: CGI like we'd never seen before.
Toy Story: Animation like we'd never seen before and the birth of Pixar, Gods amongst men

And if you want to mention the best science fiction film of the decade you cannot forget about Dark City, which came out before the Matrix.

 

[John Crichton]

Actually, I prefer the original "independents": Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, etc. Without them, the film industry should have died in the 70's.

Good call. People forget the Star Wars movies are all independant films. And that's just one film series created by one of the men on this list.

 

[Viking Bastard]

Two movies: Pulp Fiction and Jurassic Park. One defined the popcorn flicks of the 90s
and the other one the indies.

 

[reveal]

Actually, I prefer the original "independents": Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, etc. Without them, the film industry should have died in the 70's.

By the 90's, though, those "indpendents" were part of the Hollywood elite. And Hollywood was into the "larger than life and must be directed by a famous director to be successful" phase. I think Rodriguez helped to bring them back to earth and remind them of what happened in the 70's.

 

[Klaus]

Jurassic Park.