40 Favorite Films of 1990
by Blue_Leaf | created - 19 Sep 2014 | updated - 30 Apr 2015 | Public- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. After Dark, My Sweet (1990)
R | 114 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
After he escapes from a mental hospital, a former boxer works for a widow. When she asks him to get involved in a kidnapping, he has second thoughts.
Director: James Foley | Stars: Jason Patric, Rachel Ward, Bruce Dern, Rocky Giordani
Votes: 4,193 | Gross: $2.68M
2. An Angel at My Table (1990)
R | 158 min | Biography, Drama
Janet Frame was a brilliant child who, as a teen, was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia. Explore Janet's discovery of the world and her life in Europe as her books are published to acclaim.
Director: Jane Campion | Stars: Kerry Fox, Alexia Keogh, Karen Fergusson, Iris Churn
Votes: 8,687 | Gross: $1.05M
Top 1000
3. Avalon (1990)
PG | 128 min | Drama
A Polish-Jewish family comes to the U.S. at the beginning of the twentieth century. There, the family and their children try to make themselves a better future in the so-called promised land.
Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Aidan Quinn, Elizabeth Perkins, Leo Fuchs, Eve Gordon
Votes: 6,780 | Gross: $15.74M
4. Awakenings (1990)
PG-13 | 121 min | Biography, Drama
The victims of an encephalitis epidemic many years ago have been catatonic ever since, but now a new drug offers the prospect of reviving them.
Director: Penny Marshall | Stars: Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Julie Kavner, Ruth Nelson
Votes: 158,805 | Gross: $52.10M
5. The Civil War (1990)
TV-14 | 76 min | Documentary, History, War
A comprehensive survey of the American Civil War.
Stars: David McCullough, Sam Waterston, Julie Harris, Jason Robards
Votes: 18,564
6. Close-Up (1990)
Not Rated | 98 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The true story of Hossain Sabzian, a cinephile who impersonated the director Mohsen Makhmalbaf to convince a family they would star in his so-called new film.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Hossain Sabzian, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Abolfazl Ahankhah, Mehrdad Ahankhah
Votes: 23,028 | Gross: $0.00M
Top 1000
7. The Comfort of Strangers (1990)
R | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
A couple retreat to Venice to work on their relationship, but an encounter with a stranger leads them into a world of intrigue - where their darkest desires are in reach.
Director: Paul Schrader | Stars: Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett, Natasha Richardson, Helen Mirren
Votes: 6,354 | Gross: $1.24M
8. Cry-Baby (1990)
PG-13 | 85 min | Comedy, Musical
In 1950s Baltimore, a bad boy with a heart of gold wins the love of a good girl, whose boyfriend sets out for revenge.
Director: John Waters | Stars: Johnny Depp, Ricki Lake, Amy Locane, Susan Tyrrell
Votes: 64,840 | Gross: $8.27M
9. Darkman (1990)
R | 96 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A brilliant scientist left for dead returns to exact revenge on the people who burned him alive.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, Colin Friels, Larry Drake
Votes: 69,856 | Gross: $33.88M
10. Days of Being Wild (1990)
Not Rated | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A man tries to find out who his real mother is after the woman who raised him tells him the truth.
Director: Kar-Wai Wong | Stars: Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Andy Lau, Carina Lau
Votes: 25,501 | Gross: $0.14M
11. Dreams (1990)
PG | 119 min | Drama, Fantasy
A collection of tales based upon eight of director Akira Kurosawa's recurring dreams.
Directors: Akira Kurosawa, Ishirô Honda | Stars: Akira Terao, Mitsuko Baishô, Toshie Negishi, Mieko Harada
Votes: 29,192 | Gross: $1.96M
12. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
PG-13 | 105 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
The solitary life of an artificial man - who was incompletely constructed and has scissors for hands - is upended when he is taken in by a suburban family.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Michael Hall
Votes: 523,957 | Gross: $56.36M
Top 1000
13. Europa Europa (1990)
R | 112 min | Drama, History, War
A boy in Nazi Germany, trying to conceal that he is Jewish, joins the Hitler Youth.
Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: Solomon Perel, Marco Hofschneider, René Hofschneider, André Wilms
Votes: 17,480 | Gross: $5.58M
14. La Femme Nikita (1990)
R | 117 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Convicted felon Nikita isn't going to jail; she's given a new identity and trained, stylishly, as a top secret spy/assassin.
Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Anne Parillaud, Marc Duret, Patrick Fontana, Alain Lathière
Votes: 76,443 | Gross: $5.02M
15. Goodfellas (1990)
R | 145 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of Henry Hill and his life in the mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco
Votes: 1,257,717 | Gross: $46.84M
Top 1000
16. The Grifters (1990)
R | 110 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A small-time conman has torn loyalties between his estranged mother and new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, Annette Bening, Jan Munroe
Votes: 30,557 | Gross: $13.45M
Top 1000
17. The Hairdresser's Husband (1990)
R | 82 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Antoine has always been fascinated by a hairdresser's delicate touch, the beguiling perfume and the enticing figure of a woman with an opulent bosom. After all, he always knew he would marry one, completing his idealised love fantasy.
Director: Patrice Leconte | Stars: Jean Rochefort, Anna Galiena, Roland Bertin, Maurice Chevit
Votes: 10,363 | Gross: $1.16M
Top 1000
18. The Handmaid's Tale (1990)
R | 108 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
Under a dystopian religious tyranny, most women cannot conceive children. Those young women who can live in a form of sexual slavery to provide children for influential families.
Director: Volker Schlöndorff | Stars: Natasha Richardson, Faye Dunaway, Aidan Quinn, Elizabeth McGovern
Votes: 10,747 | Gross: $4.96M
19. Henry & June (1990)
NC-17 | 136 min | Biography, Drama
Anaïs Nin meets American writer Henry Miller in Paris in 1931. She keeps a diary of her sexual awakening, which includes Henry and his wife June.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Fred Ward, Uma Thurman, Maria de Medeiros, Richard E. Grant
Votes: 14,195 | Gross: $11.57M
20. I Love You to Death (1990)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Crime
Joey Boca (Kevin Kline) owns a pizza parlor, and is married to Rosalie (Tracey Ullman). He's also a serial womanizer. Rosalie goes to extremes when she finds he has been cheating.
Director: Lawrence Kasdan | Stars: Kevin Kline, Tracey Ullman, William Hurt, Joan Plowright
Votes: 15,557 | Gross: $16.19M
21. Jacob's Ladder (I) (1990)
R | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Mourning his dead child, a haunted Vietnam War veteran attempts to uncover his past while suffering from a severe case of dissociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusions, and perceptions of death.
Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello, Matt Craven
Votes: 117,916 | Gross: $26.12M
22. Ju Dou (1990)
PG-13 | 95 min | Drama, Romance
In rural China, the young bride of a tyrannical owner of a silk-dyeing business finds temporary solace in the arms of her husband's nephew, but problems arise when she becomes pregnant.
Directors: Yimou Zhang, Fengliang Yang | Stars: Gong Li, Wei Li, Baotian Li, Zhang Yi
Votes: 9,021 | Gross: $1.99M
Top 1000
23. The Krays (1990)
R | 115 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
This fact-based movie follows the life of the twin crime-lords in London's '60s underworld.
Director: Peter Medak | Stars: Gary Kemp, Martin Kemp, Billie Whitelaw, Tom Bell
Votes: 9,051 | Gross: $2.06M
24. Life Is Sweet (1990)
R | 103 min | Comedy, Drama
A shop assistant, her cook husband, and their twin daughters go about their lives in a working-class London suburb.
Director: Mike Leigh | Stars: Alison Steadman, Jim Broadbent, Claire Skinner, Jane Horrocks
Votes: 11,300 | Gross: $1.52M
25. The Match Factory Girl (1990)
Not Rated | 69 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A woman's terribly dull life is upended by a one-night stand pregnancy, causing her to seek retribution.
Director: Aki Kaurismäki | Stars: Kati Outinen, Elina Salo, Esko Nikkari, Vesa Vierikko
Votes: 11,669
Top 1000
26. Metropolitan (1989)
PG-13 | 98 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A group of young upper-class Manhattanites are blithely passing through the gala debutante season, when an unusual outsider joins them and stirs them up.
Director: Whit Stillman | Stars: Carolyn Farina, Edward Clements, Chris Eigeman, Taylor Nichols
Votes: 12,406 | Gross: $2.94M
27. Miller's Crossing (1990)
R | 115 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Tom Reagan, an advisor to a Prohibition-era crime boss, tries to keep the peace between warring mobs but gets caught in divided loyalties.
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Stars: Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, John Turturro, Marcia Gay Harden
Votes: 142,175 | Gross: $5.08M
28. Mindwalk (1990)
PG | 112 min | Drama
Philosophical conversations between a poet, politician, and scientist.
Director: Bernt Amadeus Capra | Stars: Liv Ullmann, Sam Waterston, John Heard, Ione Skye
Votes: 3,251 | Gross: $0.77M
Top 1000
29. Misery (1990)
R | 107 min | Drama, Thriller
After a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan of his novels, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare of captivity and abuse.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen
Votes: 235,655 | Gross: $61.28M
30. My Father's Glory (1990)
G | 105 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
At the end of the nineteenth century, little Marcel lives with his parents in the Provence countryside. During his holiday, Marcel meets Lili, a local boy who knows all the secrets of the hills, and the two become fast friends.
Director: Yves Robert | Stars: Philippe Caubère, Nathalie Roussel, Didier Pain, Thérèse Liotard
Votes: 7,052 | Gross: $1.71M
Top 1000
31. My Mother's Castle (1990)
PG | 98 min | Adventure, Biography, Comedy
Every holiday Marcel and his family go to their cottage near Marseilles. During one of these holidays he meets Isabelle, a pretty but conceited girl... Adapted from the cult classic novel from Marcel Pagnol.
Director: Yves Robert | Stars: Julien Ciamaca, Philippe Caubère, Nathalie Roussel, Didier Pain
Votes: 5,648 | Gross: $1.48M
Top 1000
32. The Nasty Girl (1990)
PG-13 | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, History
When a young woman investigates her town's Nazi past, the community turns against her.
Director: Michael Verhoeven | Stars: Lena Stolze, Hans-Reinhard Müller, Monika Baumgartner, Elisabeth Bertram
Votes: 2,759 | Gross: $2.28M
33. Reversal of Fortune (1990)
R | 111 min | Biography, Drama, Mystery
Wealthy Sunny von Bülow lies brain-dead, husband Claus guilty of attempted murder; but he says he's innocent and hires Alan Dershowitz for his appeal.
Director: Barbet Schroeder | Stars: Jeremy Irons, Glenn Close, Ron Silver, Annabella Sciorra
Votes: 18,813 | Gross: $15.45M
34. The Sheltering Sky (1990)
R | 138 min | Adventure, Drama
An American couple travel abroad to revitalize their relationship. But as the trip drags on, their attempt at recovering what they once had seems futile.
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci | Stars: Debra Winger, John Malkovich, Campbell Scott, Jill Bennett
Votes: 13,736 | Gross: $2.08M
35. A Tale of Springtime (1990)
PG | 108 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Simple conversations engender complicated human interactions. Jeanne is open and even-tempered, a philosophy teacher at a lycée. Her fiancé is away and she doesn't want to stay at his messy... See full summary »
Director: Éric Rohmer | Stars: Anne Teyssèdre, Hugues Quester, Florence Darel, Eloïse Bennett
Votes: 5,754 | Gross: $0.20M
36. To Sleep with Anger (1990)
PG | 102 min | Drama
A charismatic old acquaintance drifts into town, stirring up trouble for a mild-mannered family.
Director: Charles Burnett | Stars: Danny Glover, Paul Butler, DeVaughn Nixon, Mary Alice
Votes: 2,916 | Gross: $1.16M
37. Truly Madly Deeply (1990)
PG | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A woman dealing with inconsolable grief over the death of her partner gets another chance when he returns to earth as a ghost.
Director: Anthony Minghella | Stars: Juliet Stevenson, Alan Rickman, Jenny Howe, Carolyn Choa
Votes: 10,010 | Gross: $1.55M
38. Trust (1990)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
After being thrown out of her house, Maria encounters a married woman who complains of not having children. Maria ends up in an abandoned house, where she meets Matthew. When a baby is kidnapped Maria sets out to find the woman.
Director: Hal Hartley | Stars: Adrienne Shelly, Martin Donovan, Rebecca Nelson, John MacKay
Votes: 12,319 | Gross: $0.36M
39. Vincent & Theo (1990)
PG-13 | 138 min | Biography, Drama
The familiar tragic story of Vincent van Gogh is broadened by focusing as well on his brother Theodore, who helped support Vincent. The movie also provides a nice view of the locations which Vincent painted.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Tim Roth, Paul Rhys, Adrian Brine, Jean-François Perrier
Votes: 4,207 | Gross: $2.23M
40. Wild at Heart (1990)
R | 125 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Young lovers Sailor and Lula run from the variety of weirdos that Lula's mom has hired to kill Sailor.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, J.E. Freeman
Votes: 100,998 | Gross: $14.56M
Tell Your Friends