Back in 2023 I listed 100 great films released in the 1990s, counting down from 300 to 201. You can find the last instalment of that series here. Wildly delayed by life factors, and then largely forgotten, the list continues today as we count down films ranked from 200th down to 176th: 25 more films from the 1990s that deserve your consideration.

200. GoldenEye
(1995, UK.USA, d. Martin Campbell.)

Legal problems had kept the James Bond films out of cinemas for six years before Martin Campbell directed GoldenEye. A lot had happened culturally during that break, not the least of which was the collapse of the Soviet Union. Rather than sidestep the changes to Bond’s decades-old formula, GoldenEye  attacked them head-on, questioning – and then explosively answering – whether or not the secret agent had a role to play in the new world. New leading man Pierce Brosnan knocks it out of the park on the first attempt.

199. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
(1997, USA, d. Jay Roach.)

Mike Myers’ love letter to the British spy adventures of his youth honestly should not have worked as well as it did, but its combination of self-aware gags, pitch-perfect parody, and pop culture references made it an absolute knock-out of a comedy. What is more, it became a cultural touchstone for its time. A Sellers obsessive, Myers played an increasing number of roles as the franchise went on. Director Jay Roach demonstrated a flair of comedy. There is a freshness to this original film that the sequels simply couldn’t replicate.

198. Rebels of the Neon God
(1992, Taiwan, d. Tsai Ming-liang.)

His later output got progressively experimental, but Tsai Ming-liang’s feature debut retains a huge amount of scrappy energy and artistic integrity. Lee Kang-sheng stars as a college student who strikes out to get revenge on the petty criminals that vandalised his father’s taxi. As the years move on, it has become increasingly clear what an important film this was for Taiwanese cinema, reflecting a more unglamorous and working class expression of local life and culture.

197. A Perfect World
(1993, USA, d. Clint Eastwood.)

Perhaps overshadowed by some of Clint Eastwood’s other 1990s films – notably Unforgiven – A Perfect World is an underrated gem. Kevin Costner plays an escaped convict who takes a young boy hostage, with Eastwood’s Texas ranger hot in pursuit. It’s a deceptive work, which superficially seems simple but contains a lot of nuance and ambiguity. In Eastwood’s hands, Costner is about as good as he has ever been.

196. Bullet in the Head
(1990, Hong Kong, d. John Woo.)

While John Woo’s 1990 combination of war film, drama, and thriller perhaps lacks the iconic action sequences of his more famous works, it compensates with an uncharacteristic level of depth and character. It helps that Woo is working with such a strong cast, notably Tony Leung Chiu-wai as a smuggler caught up in the events of the Vietnam War. Jacky Cheung, Simon Yam, and Waise Lee co-star, and are similarly effective.

195. Newsies
(1992, USA, d. Kenny Ortega.)

The 1990s were something of a wasteland for popular musical films – unless you were animated – and this may explain why Kevin Ortega’s 1992 musical Newsies crashed and burned with nary a trace. This was despite a superb set of original songs by Alan Menken and Jack Feldman, charismatic young performances by Christian Bale, David Moscow, Max Kasella, and others. A 2011 theatrical adaptation was much more successful, which has hopefully drawn audiences at last to the original film.

194. Fearless
(1993, USA, d. Peter Weir.)

Max Klein (Jeff Bridges) miraculously survives a catastrophic airliner crash, losing his sense of fear in the process. It is not the core plot of Fearless that excels so much as Klein’s relationships with the people around him, whether fellow survivors (an outstanding Rosie Perez) or psychologists (Bill Pullman). Peter Weir is a masterful director, but to an extent this feels like the Weir film that audiences and critics forgot. They should remind themselves.

193. Simple Men
(1992, USA, d. Hal Hartley.)

I feel like time has been unfair on Hal Hartley, who barely gets mentioned in the film conversation these days but who spent the 1990s as a darling of American independent cinema. His films were all so well composed and paced, with a collection of wonderfully deadpan actors delivering the funniest of melodramas. Simple Men is a case in point, featuring strong performances and an artfulness that owes a debt to Godard, Lynch, and others. He feels overdue for rediscovery.

192. Dazed and Confused
(1993, USA, d. Richard Linklater.)

It is staggering just how significant to the history of 21st century Hollywood Dazed and Confused turned out to be. Asides from being a great film in its own right, it provided key early roles for Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Cole Hauser, Parker Posey, Adam Goldberg, Matthew McConaughey, and numerous other actors. For writer/director Richard Linklater it was the film that shot him to fame and further success over the ensuing decades.

191. Radiance
(1998, Australia, d. Rachel Perkins.)

This Australian classic sees three estranged sisters return home after the death of their mother. Written by acclaimed playwright Louis Nowra and based on his play, and directed by Rachel Perkins, it is a tremendous showcase for actors Rachael Maza, Trisha Morton-Thomas, and Deborah Mailman. Cinematographer Warwick Thornton went on to a sensational directing career of his own. Despite the white writer, this is an exemplary slice of indigenous Australian filmmaking.

190. The Heroic Trio
(1993, Hong Kong, d. Johnnie To.)

Before he re-invented himself as a master of urban crime cinema, Hong Kong’s Johnnie To was a jobbing filmmaker on a range of different studio pictures. The first of his films that I ever saw was this 1993 martial arts fantasy about a trio of superheroes – played by Anita Mui, Michelle Yeoh, and Maggie Cheung. A starrier showcase of Hong Kong’s 1990s female talent is impossible to find, and while the story is a bit of a mess the film has enormous cult appeal.

189. Misery
(1990, USA, d. Rob Reiner.)

A gripping adaptation of a Stephen King novel, Misery provides a star turn for James Caan as a kidnapped novelist and brought Kathy Bates to the mainstream as the obsessive super-fan Annie Wilkes. When contrasted with Reiner’s earlier King adaptation Stand by Me, it showcases a deep directorial talent. It is tense, claustrophobic, and hugely memorable; once seen, the hobbling sequence is not easily forgotten.

188. Carlito’s Way
(1993, USA, d. Brian De Palma.)

Al Pacino headlines a stunning crime film from director Brian De Palma, inspired by the novel of the same name. For me, it is the cast that makes this film stand out more than anything else. It boasts superb work by numerous actors, many of them consistently underrated like Penelope Ann Miller, Luis Guzman, and John Leguizamo. For Pacino and De Palma it was something of a reunion after making Scarface in 1983. That is the more famous movie of the two, but I have a sneaky feeling it’s Carlito’s Way that is the more effective.

187. The Madness of King George
(1994, UK, d. Nicholas Hytner.)

Sir Nigel Hawthorne was, quite simply, one of the greatest English actors of all time. Starting his career in South African and American theatre, he was convinced by colleagues Ian McKellen and Judi Dench to join the Royal Shakespeare Company – and from there his career went from strength to strength. His best known work was for the BBC series Yes, Minister, but The Madness of King George – playing opposite Dame Helen Mirren – was his masterpiece.

186. The Last Seduction
(1994, USA, d. John Dahl.)

The buzz at the time was that, had The Last Seduction played in a Los Angeles cinema for a week before it made its TV debut, star Linda Fiorentino would have been an Oscar winner for sure. We will never know for certain, but we can still appreciate one of the great femme fatale performances of its decade. This is brilliant modern film noir, with strong supporting turns by Bill Pullman and Jon Berg.

185. Serial Mom
(1994, USA, d. John Waters.)

Probably my all-time favourite performance by Kathleen Turner, playing an absolutely unhinged suburban housewife serial killer. John Waters directs a surprisingly prescient social satire here; as a lot of people have noted over the years, it largely foreshadows the 1995 media frenzy over the O.J. Simpson murder trial. One specific moment that has lived rent-free in my head for decades involves the hilariously prissy manner in which Turner peels a bit of human viscera off the end of a poker. Perfection.

184. Matilda
(1996, USA, d. Danny DeVito.)

It is fair to say that the works of children’s author Roald Dahl have aged problematically, but I still have a world of time for Danny DeVito’s charming film adaptation of Matilda. Mara Wilson is wonderful in the title role, Pam Ferris is a superbly vile antagonist as Miss Trunchpool, and it is honestly a delight to see DeVito and real-life wife Rhea Perlman as Matilda’s dodgy parents. Children’s cinema never gets enough respect, and this one is an absolute keeper.

183. But I’m a Cheerleader
(1999, USA, d. Jamie Babbit.)

A fantastic satire with a superb cast, capturing many of them – Natasha Lyonne, Clea Duvall, Melaine Lynskey, RuPaul Charles – before the height of their respective fame. An all-American teenage girl is sent to a conversion therapy facility when her parents fear she may be a lesbian. Conversion therapy is, of course, a horrifying practice born out of pure homophobia, so the manner in which writer/director Jamie Babbit transforms this into a comedy is hugely impressive – and bold.

182. The Imposters
(1998, USA, d. Stanley Tucci.)

Stanley Tucci, or “the Tooch” as his legions of fans probably refer to him, is something close to an American national treasure. He is always good, whether in comedy or drama, and in 1998 he starred in and directed this absolutely brilliant comedy stacked with gags and a jaw-dropping cast that includes Oliver Platt, Steve Buscemi, Lili Taylor, Hope Davis, Billy Connolly, Alfred Molina, Tony Shalhoub, and more. This film never got the love it deserved.

181. Buffalo ’66
(1998, USA, d. Vincent Gallo.)

Vincent Gallo is likely better known for his genuinely risible subsequent feature The Brown Bunny, but no matter how tedious and unlikeable that film is it does not reduce the quality and charm of his earlier feature Buffalo ’66. Gallo stars opposite a brilliant Christina Ricci – who used 1998 to fully transition from youth and teen films to more adult work like this and The Opposite of Sex. This is self-indulgent movie-making, but it has proper cult appeal as well.

180. Sleepy Hollow
(1999, USA, d. Tim Burton.)

Is it unfair to consider Sleepy Hollow to be the last great Tim Burton movie? He has directed numerous films since, but even when they have been reasonably enjoyable they have lacked that innate wintry artificiality that made his earlier works so satisfying. Wonderful atmosphere abounds here, along with some brilliant visuals, a twisty plot, and a host of marvellous actors. There are only marginal amounts of CGI too – honestly I think Burton and computers were a terrible fit that malign much of his later features.

179. Dingo
(1991, Australia, d. Rolf de Heer.)

A 747 airliner improbably makes an emergency landing in a small Australian town, somewhere in the desert. Out steps jazz legend Miles Davis, trumpet in hand, in what is possibly the most striking and improbable opening scene of the 1990s. There’s a great turn in the lead role by Colin Friels, a plot that shifts from Australia to Paris, and one of the great musicians gracing this small, intimate drama with his presence. I think this film is hugely underrated; much like Rolf de Heer’s work in general.

178. My Girl
(1991, USA, d. Howard Zieff.)

Sentiment gets a bad rap. It is perfectly okay for a film to indulge in sentimentality, so long as it finds an authentic heart. Sentiment without heart is simply saccharine nonsense, but with emotional honesty it can be marvellous. My Girl is a case in point: it is evocative, emotive, and heartfelt, and centres on winning performances by Anna Chlumsky, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Macaulay Culkin. I’m still heartbroken about those bees.

177. The Frighteners
(1996, USA/New Zealand, d. Peter Jackson.)

There is a perfect middle ground between the scatological, scabrous early comedies of Peter Jackson and the effects-driven epic later films like The Lord of the Rings, and that is The Frighteners. As a horror film it’s nicely scary. As a comedy it’s laugh-out-loud funny. As a work of cinema it’s spectacularly creative. Michael J. Fox is great. Jeffrey Combs is a delight.

176. Broken Arrow
(1996, USA, d. John Woo.)

John Woo’s second American feature is stripped back, simple, told visually, wonderfully stylish, and unexpectedly funny. John Travolta is having an infectious sense of fun playing the villain. Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis make for adorable leads. It represents a classic 1990s action flick in which the villain is the showiest character (‘You’re insane,’ says Slater’s Hale. ‘Yeah,’ replies Travolta’s Deakins, ‘ain’t it cool?’) and no amount of slow motion is too much for the film to handle. The film also kickstarts Hans Zimmer’s long career phase of over-produced action soundtracks.

Favourites of the 1990s is counting down 300 of my most liked feature films released between 1990 and 1999. The rankings are broadly pretty arbitrary, but generally speaking the higher the ranking the more I adore it. You can find links to all the instalment here.