Dumb and Dumber
News from the Farrelly brothers hints at a sequel on the horizon, but after the one-two punch of "Ace Venture" and "The Mask" in '94, this was the comedy that cemented Jim Carrey as a bonafide movie star and heir apparent to Jerry Lewis. Ol' rubberface found the perfect counterpart in Jeff Daniels, whose more mellow acting stylings perfectly complemented Carrey's manic mode. Together their Harry and Lloyd made for slapstick nirvana, and one ferocious diarrhea scene。
Groundhog Day
"Don't drive angry, don't drive angry." Bill Murray's self-centered weatherman is going to learn a lesson in humility and gain some spiritual perspective by living the same day in Punxsutawney, PA, over and over and over and over and over. Director Harold Ramis and cowriter Danny Rubin went beyond their clever premise to craft a comedy with genuine weight and charm, not to mention Sonny and Cher. The first glimmers of Murray's more serious "blue period" ("Rushmore," "Lost in Translation") can be found here, with enough truly hilarious bits to make us come back for infinity viewings。
The Usual Suspects
Everyone is this movie wanted to know the answer to one question: Who is Keyser Söze? We'll give you a hint: He's the dude who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Bryan Singer's modern-day noir thriller features five shady characters meeting in a police lineup who decide to pull off a robbery together. Turns out these guys played by Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Pollak, Benicio del Toro and especially Kevin Spacey are all pieces in Söze's intricate chess game, a game played with bullets。
Saving Private Ryan
Spielberg landed us collectively on Omaha Beach and blew our minds with a harrowing bloodbath opening sequence that made us feel like the bullets were whizzing by our heads and we might not make it out alive. It's a testament to the man's power as a filmmaker that he drew us into World War II in a way we'd never experienced, and as the indulgent and prosperous '90s came to a close, the film stood as a fitting remembrance to the Greatest Generation, which saved the world so we could get better cell phone reception in it。
The Shawshank Redemption
Hope truly springs eternal for Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), who comes to Shawshank Prison in early 1947 for murdering his wife and the fella she was bangin'. Over the course of 20 years we follow Andy and his pal Red (Morgan Freeman) as they do the hardest time there is, punctuated by some of the most hauntingly beautiful moments in movie history -- the standout being an impromptu broadcast of "The Marriage of Figaro" over the prison intercom. Initially overlooked at the box office but later championed on home video, writer-director Frank Darabont took Stephen King's tall tale and turned it into a story of friendship that transcends institutionalization through sheer indomitable human will. That, and a big goddamn poster。
The Big Lebowski
Could this be the funniest movie of the '90's? That's just, like, our opinion, man. Jeff Bridges is the embodiment of deadbeat stoner cool as "the other" Jeffrey Lebowski, a.k.a. The Dude, whose quixotic quest for his stolen rug entangles him with performance artists, nihilists, pornographers, cowboys, a crippled millionaire and one very skilled Chicano pederast bowler. Nobody f**ks with the Jesus, and anyone who's seen this cult Coen brothers classic has probably seen it twenty times, as evidenced by Lebowski Fest and all the other Urban Achievers out there。