100 Movies to See Before You Die: The Modern Classics

100 Movies to See Before You Die: The Modern Classics

by The Yahoo! Movies Editorial Staff

It's easy for classic movie lovers to be nostalgic for Hollywood's "Golden Age" of the 1930s and '40s. And many cineastes will tell you that film as an art reached its peak in the late '60s and early '70s. But the truth is there have been remarkable movies made in the 1990s and 2000s. From big budget blockbusters, to breakout independent films, to discoveries from around the world, we have seen exciting and groundbreaking cinematic work created in the last two decades.

For our second installment of our "100 Movies to See Before You Die," we decided to highlight these "Modern Classics" made between 1990 and 2009. Like our first list, we chose movies based on their artistry, originality, and pure cinematic entertainment. And even we were surprised by the results.

While big stars like George Clooney, Tom Hanks, and Morgan Freeman are well-represented on the list with three films each, it's acclaimed actress Catherine Keener who appears in the most movies. By working in both independent films like "Being John Malkovich" and studio productions like "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," she personifies the best of the era.

Look through the list below to see our choices for the top movies made in the last twenty years. Click on a title to add your comments about that particular choice. And take a look at the original "100 Movies to See Before You Die" to see the seventeen films that appear on both lists.

1990
Goodfellas (Directed by: Martin Scorsese, Starring: Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci)
Misery (Directed by: Rob Reiner, Starring: James Caan, Kathy Bates )

1991
Beauty and the Beast (Directed by: Kirk Wise, Gary Trousdale, Starring: Paige O'Hara, Robbie Benson)
The Silence of the Lambs (Directed by: Jonathan Demme, Starring: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Directed by: James Cameron, Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick)
Thelma & Louise (Directed by: Ridley Scott, Starring: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis)

1992
Hard Boiled (Directed by: John Woo, Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai)
Malcolm X (Directed by: Spike Lee, Starring: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett)
The Player (Directed by: Robert Altman, Starring: Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi)
Raise the Red Lantern (Directed by: Zhang Yimou, Starring: Gong Li, Ma Jingwu)
Supercop (Directed by: Stanley Tong, Starring: Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung)
Unforgiven (Directed by: Clint Eastwood, Starring: Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman)

1993
Dazed and Confused (Directed by: Richard Linklater, Starring: Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, Matthew McConaughey)
Groundhog Day (Directed by: Harold Ramis, Starring: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Stephen Tobolowsky)
Schindler's List (Directed by: Steven Spielberg, Starring: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes)

1994
Chungking Express (Directed by: Wong Kar-Wai, Starring: Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Faye Wong)
Ed Wood (Directed by: Tim Burton, Starring: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker)
Forrest Gump (Directed by: Robert Zemeckis, Starring: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (Directed by: Mike Newell, Starring: Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, Simon Callow)
Pulp Fiction (Directed by: Quentin Tarantino, Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis)
The Shawshank Redemption (Directed by: Frank Darabont, Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman)
Red (Directed by: Krzysztof Kieslowski, Starring: Irene Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant)

1995
Babe (Directed by: Chris Noonan, Starring: James Cromwell, Magda Szubanski)
Before Sunrise (Directed by: Richard Linklater, Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy)
Clueless (Directed by: Amy Heckerling, Starring: Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd, Brittany Murphy)
Heat (Directed by: Michael Mann, Starring: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer)
Living in Oblivion (Directed by: Tom DeCillo, Starring: Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener)
Sense and Sensibility (Directed by: Ang Lee, Starring: Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant)
Toy Story (Directed by: John Lasseter, Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen)
The Usual Suspects (Directed by: Bryan Singer, Starring: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri)

1996
Big Night (Directed by: Campbell Scott, Stanley Tucci, Starring: Tony Shaloub, Stanley Tucci, Ian Holm)
Dead Man (Directed by: Jim Jarmusch, Starring: Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Lance Henriksen)
Fargo (Directed by: Joel Coen, Starring: Frances McDormand, William H. Macy)
Ghost in the Shell (Directed by: Mamoru Oshii, Starring: Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Otsuka)
Lone Star (Directed by: John Sayles, Starring: Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Pena, Kris Kristofferson, Matthew McConaughey)
Scream (Directed by: Wes Craven, Starring: Neve Campbell, Drew Barrymore)
Secrets & Lies (Directed by: Mike Leigh, Starring: Brenda Blethyn, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Timothy Spall)
Sling Blade (Directed by: Billy Bob Thornton, Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakam, Lucas Black)
Swingers (Directed by: Doug Liman, Starring: Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Heather Graham)
Trainspotting (Directed by: Danny Boyle, Starring: Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle)

1997
Boogie Nights (Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson, Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore)
Eve's Bayou (Directed by: Kasi Lemmons, Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, Debbi Morgan)
L.A. Confidential (Directed by: Curtis Hanson, Starring: Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey)
The Sweet Hearafter (Directed by: Atom Egoyan, Starring: Ian Holm, Bruce Greenwood, Sarah Polley)
Titanic (Directed by: James Cameron, Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet)

1998
The Big Lebowski (Directed by: Joel Coen, Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore)
Fireworks (Directed by: Takeshi Kitano, Starring: Takeshi Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto)
Out of Sight (Directed by: Steven Soderbergh, Starring: George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Catherine Keener)
Saving Private Ryan (Directed by: Steven Spielberg, Starring: Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore)
There's Something About Mary (Directed by: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly, Starring: Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Ben Stiller)

1999
All About My Mother (Directed by: Pedro Almodovar, Starring: Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Penelope Cruz)
American Beauty (Directed by: Sam Mendes, Starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch)
Being John Malkovich (Directed by: Spike Jonze, Starring: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich)
Election (Directed by: Alexander Payne, Starring: Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein)
Fight Club (Directed by: David Fincher, Starring: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton)
The Matrix (Directed by: Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski, Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne)
Princess Mononoke (Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki, Starring: Yoji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida)
Run Lola Run (Directed by: Tom Tykwer, Starring: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu)
The Sixth Sense (Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan, Starring: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette)
Three Kings (Directed by: David O. Russell, Starring: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube)

2000
Almost Famous (Directed by: Cameron Crowe, Starring: Patrick Fugit, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson)
Best in Show (Directed by: Christopher Guest, Starring: Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Directed by: Ang Lee, Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang)
Yi Yi (Directed by: Edward Yang, Starring: Wu Nien-jen, Issey Ogata, Elaine Jin)

2001
Amelie (Directed by: Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Starring: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz)
Donnie Darko (Directed by: Richard Kelly, Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze)
In the Mood For Love (Directed by: Wong Kar-Wai, Starring: Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai)
The Lord of the Rings (Directed by: Peter Jackson, Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen)
Memento (Directed by: Christopher Nolan, Starring: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano)
Mulholland Drive (Directed by: David Lynch, Starring: Naomi Watts, Laura Elena Harring)
The Royal Tenenbaums (Directed by: Wes Anderson, Starring: Gene Hackman, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow)

2002
The Pianist (Directed by: Roman Polanski, Starring: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Emilia Fox)
Y Tu Mama Tambien (Directed by: Alfonso Cuaron, Starring: Maribel Verdu, Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna)

2003
City of God (Directed by: Fernando Meirelles, Starring: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino De Hora Phellipe, Seu Jorge)
Elephant (Directed by: Gus Van Sant, Starring: Alex Frost, Eric Deulen, John Robinson)
Finding Nemo (Directed by: Andrew Stanton, Starring: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres)

2004
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (Directed by: Adam McKay, Starring: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Directed by: Michel Gondry, Starring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet)
Shaun of the Dead (Directed by: Edgar Wright, Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield)
Sideways (Directed by: Alexander Payne, Starring: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen)

2005
The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Directed by: Judd Apatow, Starring: Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Seth Rogen)
Brokeback Mountain (Directed by: Ang Lee, Starring: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal)
A History of Violence (Directed by: David Cronenberg, Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris)
Oldboy (Directed by: Park Chan-wook, Starring: Choi Min-shik, Kang Hye-jeong)

2006
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Directed by: Larry Charles, Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Kenneth Davitian)
Children of Men (Directed by: Alfonso Cuaron, Starring: Clive Owen, Michael Caine, Julianne Moore)
The Lives of Others (Directed by: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Starring: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Muehe, Sebastian Koch)
Pan's Labyrinth (Directed by: Guillermo del Toro, Starring: Maribel Verdu, Ivana Baquero, Doug Jones)

2007
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (Directed by: Cristian Mungiu, Starring: Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov)
The Bourne Ultimatum (Directed by: Paul Greengrass, Starring: Matt Damon, Joan Allen, David Strathairn)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Directed by: Julian Schnabel, Starring: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze)
Michael Clayton (Directed by: Tony Gilroy, Starring: George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton)
No Country for Old Men (Directed by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin)
There Will Be Blood (Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson, Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano)

2008
The Dark Knight (Directed by: Christopher Nolan, Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart)
Slumdog Millionaire (Directed by: Danny Boyle, Starring: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Freida Pinto)
WALL-E (Directed by: Andrew Stanton, Starring: Fred Willard, Sigourney Weaver, Jeff Garlin)

2009
Avatar (Directed by: James Cameron, Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver)
The Hurt Locker (Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow, Starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty)
Inglourious Basterds (Directed by: Quentin Tarantino, Starring: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Melanie Laurent)