A few things I’ve learned from IndieWire’s actor/director top 10 lists for the ‘90s. Carrie Coon has very good taste in film. John Boyega has terrible taste in film.
IW asked over 60 actors, directors, writers, and so forth, what their 10 favorite movies of the ’90s were. There are definitely some eclectic choices, but I’ll just highlight six of the lists, those of Ari Aster, Sean Baker, The Safdies, Edgar Wright, Rian Johnson and Paul Schrader.
ARI ASTER
Goodfellas, Eyes Wide Shut, Topsy-Turvy, Starship Troopers, Life, And Nothing More, Defending Your Life, Safe, The Kingdom, Raise the Red Lantern, The Hudsucker Proxy
SEAN BAKER
Lovers on the Bridge, Buffalo ’66, Bad Lieutenant, Naked, Breaking the Waves, The Idiots, Slacker, Seven, Groundhog Day, Hard Boiled
BENNY & JOSH SAFDIE
Goodfellas, The Lovers on the bridge, Close-Up, Jackie Brown, Short Cuts, The Player, Kids, Beau Travail, Fargo, Indecent Proposal, Naked, Single White Female, Narrow Margin, Ed Wood, Crooklyn, The Wedding Singer, Big Daddy, Boogie Nights, The Slums of Beverly Hills, Total Recall, Cliffhanger, Buffalo ’66, Fire in the Sky”
RIAN JOHNSON
Goodfellas, Barton Fink, Pulp Fiction, Chungking Express, Fight Club, The Matrix, Dead Man, Unforgiven, Terminator 2, American Movie
EDGAR WRIGHT
Boogie Nights, Delicatessen, Election, Goodfellas, Hard Boiled, Reservoir Dogs, Run Lola Run, Rushmore, The Silence of the Lambs, Trainspotting
PAUL SCHRADER
A Brighter Summer Day, Affliction, All About My Mother, Boogie Nights, GoodFellas, Natural Born Killers, Pulp Fiction, Taste of Cherry, Three Colors, The Truman Show
Of course, as he always does, Schrader decided to add one of his own movies to his list. Although, he did choose the right one from the ‘90s — he didn’t direct a better and more accomplished movie than “Affliction” that decade.
Back in May of 2020, we polled 175 critics, asking them for their best films of the 1990s, the results were as follows: (1) Goodfellas (2) Pulp Fiction (3) The Silence of the Lambs (4) Fargo (5) Eyes Wide Shut (6) Chungking Express (7) Magnolia (8) Boogie Nights (9) Close-Up (10) The Thin Red Line