The 17 ‘90s Movies on Netflix with the Highest Rotten Tomatoes Scores

By Joe Reid @joereid

Published Sep. 25, 2018, 9:00 a.m. ET

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collage of LA Confidential, Schindler's List, Groundhog Day, and The Iron Giant — From Oscar winners to action dramas, comedies to documentaries, Netflix currently has a great selection of '90s movies to choose from, especially if you're looking for the cream of the crop. Check out the Rotten Tomatoes scores on some of these '90s classics and you'll find some of the best-reviewed movies of the decade.Photos: Everett Collection, NETFLIX ; Illustration: Dillen Phelps

Paris is Burning, 1990. — ***Paris Is Burning***
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%
This groundbreaking and still relevant documentary about the house ball scene in 1980s Harlem and the Bronx is both hugely illuminating and wildly entertaining. Watch it to get into the spirit for FX's *Pose* or simply watch it to be entertained at the highest level.
[Stream *Paris Is Burning* on Netflix]Photo: Netflix

LA Confidential, 1997. — ***L.A. Confidential***
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 99%
Los Angeles noir at its most stylish meets a phenomenal cop yarn featuring breakthrough American performances by Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce, plus Kevin Spacey, James Cromwell, Danny DeVito, and an Oscar-winning performance by Kim Basinger.
[Stream *L.A. Confidential* on Netflix]Photo: Netflix

Schindler's List: Starring Liam Neeson — ***Schindler's List***
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%
Steven Spielberg's Oscar-winning opus was a tribute to the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust, and there is a real, deeply-felt sorrow in the film. But it is also a film that believes in life, and in the value of every single life saved. Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes were nominated for Oscars, and Ben Kingsley should've been as well.
[Stream *Schindler's List* on Netflix]Everett Collection

Groundhog Day: Starring Bill Murray — ***Groundhog Day***
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
The preferred film comedy for deep-rooted comedy fans sees Billy Murray as a vainglorious weather man who gets trapped in a folksy hell when his trip to small-town Pennsylvania becomes an endless repetition of the titular holiday.
[Stream *Groundhog Day* on Netflix]Photo: GROUNDHOG DAY, Bill Murray, 1993. (c) Columbia/courtesy Everett Collection

Quiz Show, 1994. — ***Quiz Show***
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
Director Robert Redford tells the real-life story of the quiz-show scandals in the early days of TV, before we all lost our innocence about the medium. Ralph Fiennes plays a TV game show champion whose pristine WASP sheen is scuffed by accusations that he cheated to win. The film was nominated for an Oscar, and co-star John Turturro should've been for his performance as the malcontented quiz-show loser accusing Fiennes.
[Stream *Quiz Show* on Netflix]Photo: Netflix

The Iron Giant, 1999 — ***The Iron Giant***
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
The classic gonna-make-you-cry animated tale from the '90s. The Iron Giant came from the fertile imagination of Brad Bird (*The Incredibles*; *Ratatouille*), who took such great care and delicacy in telling this Cold War-era tale of a young boy and the giant robot from space who he befriends. Like *E.T.*, if E.T. had been a giant weapon who only wants peaceful things. (Wait, *was* he?)
[Stream *The Iron Giant* on Netflix]Photo: Netflix

Unforgiven: starring Clint Eastwood. — ***Unforgiven***
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
Clint Eastwood's (first) big Oscar triumph was this late western, which was seen as a kind of mournful reflection on the great westerns of the part (many of which starred Eastwood himself). There are a lot of big ideas at work here, but there's also just some great adversarial scenes between the likes of Eastwood, Gene Hackman, and Morgan Freeman.
[Stream *Unforgiven* on Netflix]Everett Collection

Forest Whitaker and Stephen Rea in 'The Crying Game' — ***The Crying Game***
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
Director Neil Jordan's famous mid-film twist is what made *The Crying Game* famous, but this is a very effective thriller. For one thing, the misdirection starts well before Jaye Davidson's character is revealed to be more than Stephen Rea bargained for. This is a movie that presents as an IRA political thriller before it becomes an intense character study.
[Stream *The Crying Game* on Netflix]Miramax/IMDB

***The Truman Show***
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
Jim Carrey won a surprise Golden Globe for his superb performance as an everyday man who doesn't realize that his entire life has been a wildly popular television show. Directed by the great Peter Weir and starring Ed Harris, Laura Linney, and *The Americans* star Noah Emmerich, it's a creative and surprisingly emotional film.
[Stream *The Truman Show* on Netflix]Photo: Netflix

***Howards End***
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
The best of the famed Merchant-Ivory costume dramas, this one stars Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham-Carter as a pair of misbegotten sisters whose fortunes and scandals end up going on a rollercoaster ride among the British upper-crust. Thompson won a well-deserved Oscar, and the supporting cast includes the likes of Anthony Hopkins and Vanessa Redgrave.
[Stream *Howards End* on Netflix]Photo: Netflix

Boogie Nights: Burt Reynolds (middle), William H. Macy (right) — ***Boogie Nights***
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
Director Paul Thomas Anderson broke through in a huge way in 1997 with this saga of a porn empire in the 1970s, including its decadent glory days and ugly decline. Mark Wahlberg is charismatic and also very funny as a rags-to-riches porn star, and co-stars Julianne Moore and Burt Reynolds earned Oscar nominations. The whole ensemble cast is a wonder, though, including Philip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly, Don Cheadle, Heather Graham, Alfred Molina, and a ton more.
[Stream *Boogie Nights* on Netflix]Photo: Netflix

Out of Sight: Starring George Clooney (left), Jennifer Lopez (right). — ***Out of Sight***
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
Steven Soderbergh's films often feature crackling chemistry between his leads, but what we got from George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez in this movie was once-in-a-lifetime stuff. Clooney plays a bank robber who breaks out of jail and gets mixed up with Jennifer Lopez's federal marshall. It's sexy, stylish, funny, and surprising, all at once.
[Stream *Out of Sight* on Netflix]Photo: Netflix

Face/Off: Starring Nicolas Cage (left), John Travolta (right). — ***Face/Off***
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
Action director John Woo's finest American film is also one of the most delightfully insane action blockbusters of all time. Nicolas Cage plays a psychotic criminal being pursued by FBI agent John Travolta, who takes the extra step of undergoing plastic surgery to assume Cage's face. Things then go from weird to awesome when Cage's character assumes Travolta's face. Then things get REAL crazy.
[Stream *Face/Off* on Netflix]Everett Collection

Jurassic Park, 1990. — ***Jurassic Park***
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
Heard of it? Do you need some sort of convincing to get you to watch one of the most popular movies of all time? Forget about all the sequels, all future sequels, whatever. Just watch the original, hiss at Dennis Nedry as he makes his escape with his absconded Barbasol canisters, cheer for Laura Dern and scream with her as she's being chased by raptors, and whatever else you do: hold onto your butts.
[Stream *Jurassic Park* on Netflix]Photo: Netflix

Like Water for Chocolate: Starring Marco Leonardi (left), Lumi Cavazos (right). — ***Like Water for Chocolate***
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
Food as a metaphor for sex; food as a replacement for sex; food as a companion for sex. It's all here in this Mexican film that was a legitimate sensation in the U.S. Upon its release, the film became the highest-grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the United States.
[Stream *Like Water for Chocolate* on Netflix]Photo: Netflix

The Commitments, 1991. — ***The Commitments***
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
Dublin locals form an R&B act that catches fire. Nobody really talks about this movie anymore, but when it was first released, there was a small boom market in blue-eyed soul music. The soundtrack to this one is superb, and the working-class Irish story is pretty irresistible.
[Stream *The Commitments* on Netflix]Photo: Netflix

Clerks: Brian O'Halloran (left), Jeff Anderson (right) — ***Clerks***
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
Kevin Smith's debut film surely looks different in 2018 than it did in 1994. What back then was an exciting low-budget debut from a unique voice in independent cinema now merely looks like the *first* time we heard these same riffs. But there's no doubt that *Clerks* made a huge impact on the indie scene back then, and it's worth looking back to see what was what.
[Stream *Clerks* on Netflix]Photo: Netflix

Keeping up with the latest movies and TV can be exhausting! Which is why it’s important to chill out with some movies from the recent-but-not-too-recent past. The ’90s are a great source of nostalgia, whether you were luxuriating in era-approved flannel at the time or marveling at the brand-new invention of cookie dough ice cream. Those two great tastes, together at last?? Netflix currently has a great selection of ’90s movies to choose from, especially if you’re looking for the cream of the crop. Check out the Rotten Tomatoes scores on some of these ’90s classics and you’ll find some of the best-reviewed movies of the decade.

The list of best-reviewed Netflix movies from the ’90s — according to Rotten Tomatoes scores — includes Oscar winners, like Clint Eastwood’ Unforgiven and Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. It includes action blockbusters, like Jurassic Park and Face/Off. You’ve got animation and documentary and comedy in there. Honestly, take off however many days as you need to polish off these 17 movies, even if you’ve seen them before. You won’t regret it.