The roaring 90s was the perfect time for moviegoers. CGI is on the rise, and various topics and genres are melded together to give us unique movie experiences. While movies today focus more on realism, movies from the 90s focused more on giving out a wholesome experience. These movies provide an escapism that a lot of big budget movies seem to be missing.
So take a journey back in time with me, and let’s look at some of the movies from the 90s that you should watch or rewatch, today!
Sleepy Hollow
Tim Burton is known to have a unique style to the movies he directs. It’s dark, quirky and gothic, and you get to experience all that in this flick. Sleepy Hollow brings us the mysterious murder spree that’s happening in the quaint Dutch settlement known as Sleepy Hollow.
Johnny Depp plays the eccentric Ichabad Crane, a detective sent to investigate the murders. He is a man of science, a rarity in those days. However, the intriguing cases of a series of decapitations that take a supernatural turn. A specter known as the Headless Horseman made its existence known and Ichabad is at the brink of breakdown. Black magic, a violent ghost and Tim Burton…what else can you ask for?
The Mummy
The Mummy is a lot of things, but it’s never known to be boring. IT is an action-adventure that transports us to Ancient Egypt mythology, as well as British-ruled Egypt. The Mummy is the perfect blend of horror, comedy and romance.
The Mummy had plenty of memorable lines and visuals, and the charisma of Rick O’Connell, played by Brendan Fraser. He finds himself in the midst of a treasure hunt looking for the Pharaoh’s tomb. However, his partners were more interested in the Book of the Dead, which would be a terrible thing to be rediscovered.
The exotic nature of Egyptian mythology and its culture is the centerpiece of this movie. It felt like the audience were smack dab in the adventure. The humour and witty banter between characters while facing doom is entertaining and adds value to the movie’s entire vibe.
The Matrix
It’s almost hard to talk to someone who has not watched The Matrix. This movie is considered a groundbreaking and innovative concept during its time. It also set the tone for future movies of the same genre. From simulated reality, philosophical ideas and existential themes, The Matrix presents these ideas in a 2-hour movie, leaving you questioning reality at the end of it.
The Matrix also pioneered many new-age film techniques. One of it is the bullet-time visuals, which you’ve probably seen replicated in various ways in pop culture. And let’s not forget the exciting action sequences, taking inspiration from martial arts.
Keanu Reeves plays a human that found the world he’s in to be somewhat incomplete. He finds himself every night scouring the internet for the question that drives him; What is the Matrix? After finding out that the human race is now slaves to the machine, he is now faced with two choices. Live an ignorant blissful life, or fulfill the prophecy of The One.
Men In Black
What if there’s a secret organization that monitors the movements of extraterrestrials on our planet? Men In Black is what you get when a movie doesn’t take itself seriously. And it turned out pretty good. Just roll with a couple of conspiracy theories and you got a movie.
K, a senior agent, is looking for a junior partner and stumbles into J, a young cop that showed remarkable physical abilities. And thus we follow J into the rabbit hole of a secret organization and the aliens that accompanied it.
You have street-wise cracking J, played by Will Smith, accompanied by the deadpan face K, played by Tommy Lee Jones. The duo present a dynamic on-screen chemistry which gives a delightful journey to the totally absurd nature of the actual world within the movie.
The alien designs are unique, the weapons and the details surrounding the delicate balance between planet Earth and the various types of alien species that are now visiting or seeking asylum on Earth.
Godzilla
Get out of the way, Japan. No more rubber suits and scale models. It’s time to give the ol’ boy a proper CGI makeover. And what you get is the instant classic, Godzilla (1998). It does not resemble the original monster design 100%, but the intended effect is still achieved.
Godzilla takes place in the city of New York, where the creature has made the city into its new nesting ground. While the official government organizations are trying to contain the monster and failing miserably, a group of ragtag team decides to solve the Godzilla problem.
We have the scientist, the news reporter, cameraman, and a random bunch of French special ops teams. It’ll all make sense if you give the film a go. Although it does give out a campy vibe, Godzilla features the titanic proportions of the monster and gives a stunning perspective from a human’s POV.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
I might get some hate for this considering not many people think this movie is the best Jurassic Park movie. But I beg to differ. The Lost World: Jurassic Park injects the action-adventure genre into the franchise, bringing pure adrenalin pumping sequences.
While the first movie is basically a dino-zoo tour gone wrong, the second movie injects a bit of the action-adventure formula into it. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) back to the island out of desperation to save his partner.
Above all, we get more dynamic and terrifying velociraptor scenes, further implying the creatures intelligence and the ability to hunt as a team. And let’s not forget the cliff sequence with the two T-Rex parents. And no, we don’t talk about the Vegas part.
Apollo 13
Going to space is hard. Particularly hard in 1970s with the tech level being less powered than our smartphones today. Turns out historically, one of the moon launches ran into problems. And if you have one problem, it’ll turn into cascading failures that usually are a death sentence.
Apollo 13 tells the story of how three astronauts beat the odds and did a bit of DIY to not die in space. The movie perfectly depicts the gripping and intense situation that happened in real life. And let’s not forget, that this is all happening in a cramped up space vessel, which would start induce claustrophobia in an emergency situation.
Fight Club
The best way I would describe Fight Club is provocative and thought-provoking. Some might say that the themes and storytelling of this movie is so well-made that will pose a real-life threat that could destabilize society.
While there were a couple of reported instances of people copying things from the movie, the Fight Club is a must-see movie that tells us how the world works and provides a commentary on the nature of consumerism. We are watching the movie from the perspective of the narrator, played by Edward Norton.
But the person that really stole the show is none other than Brad Pitt. He is the epitome of what every man wants to be. As we go deeper into the path of destruction with the characters, you’ll start realizing that something is wrong.
Fight Club features one of the biggest plot twists in movie cinema, especially if you’re totally enthralled by the movie. You’ll never see it coming. While the main premise seems to be man’s deep plunge into hypermasculinity and self-destruction in an indifferent and cold world, ultimately, it’s all about love.
Deep Impact
Space is always an interesting subject to explore. And in the 90s, the dawn of CGI had just begun. And ambitious directors of the time tried their hands in tackling a space movie. One of them is Deep Impact. It’s about a large asteroid that is on a collision course to Earth.
A high school student on a field trip to look at stars realizes an odd source of light in space, which led to the teacher alerting an astronomer. A with his reaction to this discovery, we can tell that this is going to be a dire issue.
The movie juggles between humanity’s collective effort in stopping the giant asteroid, sending in a team of astronauts to plant explosives and blow it up. We also get to see different perspectives of different characters that have to deal with the extinction level event that will mean the end of humanity.
While the asteroid inevitably hits Earth, the film’s real essence is our ability to overcome the odds and ensure our survival as a species. The humanity of it all is what drives the movie forward.
Starship Troopers
Instead of aliens invading Earth, what if we went ahead and attacked them instead? Starship Troopers brings us just what it would look like if humanity responds to an alien attack with full mobilization of its army. While the movie is based on a book that is meant to be satire of the highly militaristic fascist propaganda, you can’t deny that they accidentally made it a really cool-looking movie.
The arachnids are a species of alien bugs that hurl asteroids towards unsuspecting planets, causing massive damage and feeding on the inhabitant to colonize the army. While their initial attack on Earth was a failure, what they didn’t expect is the crazy humans to come knocking right out their planet system to strike back. The movie criticizes the military mentality of those in charge and shows how propaganda can brainwash kids into fighting in wars.
The plot is straightforward, and the CGI is ahead of its time. We get to see animated alien bugs of different sizes and species, and we get to see them massacring the cocky human soldiers. Overall, it’s a fun movie to watch while being reminded how propaganda by using a tragedy can easily influence the masses. But remember apes, do you want to live forever?!
