Dramas

26. The Shawshank Redemption

It’s interesting that the film regarded by IMDB as the greatest of all time failed commercially and was completely shut out of the Academy Awards by Forrest Gump.

If there was a re-do now, Pulp Fiction (who only got Best Original Screenplay) and Shawshank would reverse the results quite easily, and Frank Darabont would have definitely drawn at least a nomination for Best Director.

27. The Sixth Sense

You could say this is a horror, or maybe a thriller, but there’s plenty of drama in this movie about a boy who sees dead people. Bruce Willis is Bruce Willis, but it works, while Toni Collete and Donnie Wahlberg offer great support.

28. The Truman Show

Who knew The Truman Show would predict the future? Jim Carrey plays it straight as a man brought up on a television set who eventually realizes his world isn’t real. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you might even stop watching reality tv after viewing this 90s classic.

29. Goodfellas

I love Joe Pesci. For all the plaudits director Martin Scorcese and actors Robert De Niro and Ray Liotta get for this film, it’s all about Pesci. His Tommy DeVitto is a ruthless mafioso with a short temper and an itchy trigger finger. Spider is one of the all-time great performances too.

30. Romeo + Juliet

Baz Lurhman transforms Willy Shakespeare’s tale of forbidden love into a visually stunning masterpiece. Not only does this film look amazing, but the cast (Leonardo DiCaprio, Clare Danes, Brian Dennehy, Paul Sorvino, John Leguizamo, M. Emmet Walsh, and more) is also incredible, and the soundtrack (Garbage, Everclear, The Cardigans, Radiohead, and more) off the charts.

Honorable mentions: Before Sunrise, Malcolm X, Wild At Heart, Trainspotting, Lost Highway, Magnolia, My Own Private Idaho, Fargo, The Bodyguard, My Girl, and Empire Records.