Quintessential Films of the 90s Part 3

Quintessential Films of the 90s

We pick the top 5 Quintessential films of the 90’s and rank them in part 3 of the countdown.

The 90s were an interesting time in American History. We had things like corporate upheavals, JNCO jeans, Saved By The Bell, and Dolly the cloned sheep. There were the Clintons, Rodney King, and the First Gulf War. Hell, there were commercials with talking frogs! We sat down and came up with the movies that best typified the 90s for us.

forrest gump sitting on a bench

5) Titanic: Sure, you didn’t like Titanic. You hated it.  Adjusted for inflation, Titanic is the second highest grossing film of all time. So, odds are you saw the movie. Maybe you even saw it twice. It also proved huge budget movies could pull in the dollars in foreign markets which, arguably, started a trend which we are still seeing today. Whole scenes in  Transfomers: Age of Extinction were reshot so the Chinese government would allow the movie to be seen in China. -Jon

Office Space exchanging floppy disk

4) Office Space: The 90s seemed to be the time period where the world began to truly question the corporate culture. People started to ask questions like: “Why am I doing this?” “Do I really hate my life or just my job?” “Is this form really necessary to be filled out in triplicate for the third time this week?” “Why do I really need to wear a tie?” Office Space truly captured the growing angst in the workforce and it did so in such a way that almost everyone could identify with. They even threw in the blue collar character with Diedrich Bader. I can not think of another film from the 90s that captured the entire feelings of a nation so well. -Andy

whipped cream bikini scene from Varsity Blues

3) Varsity Blues: Varsity Blues was the teenage angst movie of the decade. It was released in the late 90s and hit the nail on the head how much of a hormonal mess teenagers were at the time. From trying to get laid to the perceived pressure from parents, Varsity Blues has it all. Even a whipped cream bikini. -Mike

you can't handle the truth from a few good men

2) A Few Good Men: “You can’t handle the truth!” Can anyone out there really say they don’t groan when they hear somebody throw that phrase out there for the hundredth time? However, when this movie came out it was hard to think of a better movie and everyone was all over it. It had some of the most popular actors of the 90’s with Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Jack Nicholson,  and Kevin Bacon. Also, can anyone say that they don’t know what a code red is at this point? -Andy

Forrest Gump sitting on a park bench

1) Forrest Gump: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “Forrest Gump should not have won the Oscar for Best Picture.” The Oscar should have gone to The Shawshank Redemption. I’ve also argued the reason The Shawshank Redemption lost was its lack of a female role. No matter, Forrest Gump won and swept the nation (if not the world) in Gump mania. -Jon

Go back and check out 11-17 of our countdown.

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Andy G for short, is a digital media designer for a local college, previously for some radio stations. If you’re wondering what a digital media designer is, he helps make the internet look pretty. When not at work, he is either at the gym or involved in generally nerdy activities.