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.
DIRECTED BY: Martin Scorsese
STARRING: Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: Rob Reiner
STARRING: James Caan, Kathy Bates
DIRECTED BY: Kirk Wise, Gary Trousdale
STARRING: Paige O'Hara, Robbie Benson
DIRECTED BY: Jonathan Demme
STARRING: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: James Cameron
STARRING: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick
DIRECTED BY: Ridley Scott
STARRING: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis
DIRECTED BY: John Woo
STARRING: Chow Yun-Fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai
DIRECTED BY: Spike Lee
STARRING: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett
DIRECTED BY: Robert Altman
STARRING: Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi
DIRECTED BY: Zhang Yimou
STARRING: Gong Li, Ma Jingwu
DIRECTED BY: Stanley Tong
STARRING: Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: Clint Eastwood
STARRING: Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman
DIRECTED BY: Richard Linklater
STARRING: Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, Matthew McConaughey
DIRECTED BY: Harold Ramis
STARRING: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Stephen Tobolowsky
DIRECTED BY: Steven Spielberg
STARRING: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes
DIRECTED BY: Wong Kar-Wai
STARRING: Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Faye Wong
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: Tim Burton
STARRING: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker
DIRECTED BY: Robert Zemeckis
STARRING: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise
DIRECTED BY: Mike Newell
STARRING: Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, Simon Callow
DIRECTED BY: Quentin Tarantino
STARRING: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis
DIRECTED BY: Frank Darabont
STARRING: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman
DIRECTED BY: Krzysztof Kieslowski
STARRING: Irene Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant
DIRECTED BY: Chris Noonan
STARRING: James Cromwell, Magda Szubanski
DIRECTED BY: Richard Linklater
STARRING: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy
DIRECTED BY: Amy Heckerling
STARRING: Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd, Brittany Murphy
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: Michael Mann
STARRING: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer
DIRECTED BY: Tom DeCillo
STARRING: Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener
DIRECTED BY: Ang Lee
STARRING: Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant
DIRECTED BY: Bryan Singer
STARRING: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: Campbell Scott, Stanley Tucci
STARRING: Tony Shaloub, Stanley Tucci, Ian Holm
DIRECTED BY: Jim Jarmusch
STARRING: Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Lance Henriksen
DIRECTED BY: Mamoru Oshii
STARRING: Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Otsuka
DIRECTED BY: John Sayles
STARRING: Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Pena, Kris Kristofferson, Matthew McConaughey,
DIRECTED BY: Mike Leigh
STARRING: Brenda Blethyn, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Timothy Spall
DIRECTED BY: Billy Bob Thornton
STARRING: Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakam, Lucas Black
DIRECTED BY: Doug Liman
STARRING: Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Heather Graham
DIRECTED BY: Danny Boyle
STARRING: Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle
DIRECTED BY: Paul Thomas Anderson
STARRING: Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: Kasi Lemmons
STARRING: Samuel L. Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, Debbi Morgan
DIRECTED BY: Curtis Hanson
STARRING: Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey
DIRECTED BY: Atom Egoyan
STARRING: Ian Holm, Bruce Greenwood, Sarah Polley
DIRECTED BY: Joel Coen
STARRING: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore
DIRECTED BY: Takeshi Kitano
STARRING: Takeshi Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto
DIRECTED BY: Steven Soderbergh
STARRING: George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Catherine Keener
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: Steven Spielberg
STARRING: Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly
STARRING: Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Ben Stiller
DIRECTED BY: Pedro Almodovar
STARRING: Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Penelope Cruz
DIRECTED BY: Sam Mendes
STARRING: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch
DIRECTED BY: Spike Jonze
STARRING: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich
DIRECTED BY: Alexander Payne
STARRING: Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein
DIRECTED BY: Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski
STARRING: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: Hayao Miyazaki
STARRING: Yoji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida
DIRECTED BY: Tom Tykwer
STARRING: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu
DIRECTED BY: M. Night Shyamalan
STARRING: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette
DIRECTED BY: David O. Russell
STARRING: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube
DIRECTED BY: Cameron Crowe
STARRING: Patrick Fugit, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson
DIRECTED BY: Christopher Guest
STARRING: Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: Ang Lee
STARRING: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang
DIRECTED BY: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
STARRING: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz
DIRECTED BY: Richard Kelly
STARRING: Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze
DIRECTED BY: Wong Kar-Wai
STARRING: Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu-wai
DIRECTED BY: Peter Jackson
STARRING: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: Christopher Nolan
STARRING: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano
DIRECTED BY: David Lynch
STARRING: Naomi Watts, Laura Elena Harring,
DIRECTED BY: Wes Anderson
STARRING: Gene Hackman, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow
DIRECTED BY: Roman Polanski
STARRING: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Emilia Fox
DIRECTED BY: Alfonso Cuaron
STARRING: Maribel Verdu, Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna
DIRECTED BY: Fernando Meirelles
STARRING: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino De Hora Phellipe, Seu Jorge
DIRECTED BY: Gus Van Sant
STARRING: Alex Frost, Eric Deulen, John Robinson
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: Andrew Stanton
STARRING: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres
DIRECTED BY: Adam McKay
STARRING: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: Michel Gondry
STARRING: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: Edgar Wright
STARRING: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield
DIRECTED BY: Alexander Payne
STARRING: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen
DIRECTED BY: Judd Apatow
STARRING: Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Seth Rogen
DIRECTED BY: David Cronenberg
STARRING: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris
DIRECTED BY: Larry Charles
STARRING: Sacha Baron Cohen, Kenneth Davitian
DIRECTED BY: Alfonso Cuaron
STARRING: Clive Owen, Michael Caine, Julianne Moore
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
STARRING: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Muehe, Sebastian Koch
DIRECTED BY: Guillermo del Toro
STARRING: Maribel Verdu, Ivana Baquero, Doug Jones
DIRECTED BY: Cristian Mungiu
STARRING: Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov
DIRECTED BY: Paul Greengrass
STARRING: Matt Damon, Joan Allen, David Strathairn
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: Julian Schnabel
STARRING: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze
DIRECTED BY: Tony Gilroy
STARRING: George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton
DIRECTED BY: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
STARRING: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin
DIRECTED BY: Paul Thomas Anderson
STARRING: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano
DIRECTED BY: Christopher Nolan
STARRING: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart
DIRECTED BY: Danny Boyle
STARRING: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Freida Pinto
DIRECTED BY: Andrew Stanton
STARRING: Fred Willard, Sigourney Weaver, Jeff Garlin
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: James Cameron
STARRING: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver
DIRECTED BY: Kathryn Bigelow
STARRING: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
DIRECTED BY: Quentin Tarantino
STARRING: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Melanie Laurent