"Seven '90s Movies That Stand the Test of Time... And Seven That Don't"
(by Dustin Seibert)

When I was a teenager in the 1990s, New Jack City was, quite simply, the s***. It ushered in a glut of films centered around black American gang and drug culture, which were in full upswing throughout the 1980s and into the early part of the succeeding decade. Mario Van Peebles’ directorial debut managed to make Wesley Snipes’ Nino Brown simultaneously enviable and detestable, and the film employed a who’s-who of black acting talent (well, maybe rapping and stand-up comedy talent masquerading as “actors”) of the era.

Fast forward more than two decades, and the movie hurts a bit to watch. When compared to the superbly well-acted crime dramas in the aughts, the ham-fisted dialogue and formulaic pacing in New Jack City doesn’t hold up so well. It’s one of many movies from the 1990s that received critical and commercial acclaim at the time, but aren’t that good anymore thanks to elevated expectations.

There are quite a few movies from the decade of Malcolm X hats, high-top fades and rayon shirts that were beloved at the time but didn’t hold up very well…and, of course, there were several that are still worth watching today.

SCI-FI

Held up: Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – I’ve gotten into a healthy amount of debates in defense of this being one of, if not the, greatest science fiction movie of all time. James Cameron actually managed to one-up the classic 1984 original by creating a flick that contains heart, awesome action sequences and then-bleeding-edge special effects. Props also to Cameron for documenting the last time anyone liked Eddie Furlong.

Not so much: Species (1995) – Looking at Natasha Henstridge was the very best thing about this movie — not the several Oscar-winning and -nominated actors in its cast. The premise: A gorgeous lethal lizard lady picks up and screws guys to become impregnated by them before killing them violently. And she must be stopped before she creates a killer alien brood! It was kinda cool at the time, but it’s incapable of being taken seriously in 2015.

BLACK GANGSTER FILMS

Held up: Menace II Society (1993) – I recently re-watched this as well. The authenticity of the portrayal of violent youth in Los Angeles is not hamstrung too much by Tyrin Turner’s non-acting ass, and 18-year-old Larenz Tate’s O-Dog is still a blast to watch as the F-bomb-slinging America’s Worst Nightmare. If you want a laugh, try to find the edited version on network TV somewhere.

Not so much: South Central (1992) – Though South Central got a lot of indie props back in the day, it likely doesn’t come up in conversations about memorable early-90s hood films. Maybe because the acting is that bad. Glenn Plummer, aka Tune Man from the Speed movies, heads a cast of players who are nowhere to be found on anything on IMDB from the past decade. The story of O.G. Bobby Johnson is a compelling one for its time, but it’s like the director took the first take of everything he shot and ran with it.

WHITE GANGSTER FILMS

Held up: GoodFellas (1990) – Still my favorite Martin Scorsese film, this heavily quotable masterpiece featured Bobby DeNiro and Joe Pesci at the beginning of their respective primes. Send me a tweet or something if you can find just one person who says, “Wow, I loved Goodfellas 25 years ago, but it sucks now.”

Not so much: King of New York (1990) – I’m interested in having this film play in the background while I’m doing something more important only so I can look up from time to time to see certain things, including a young Wesley Snipes and Larry Fishburne in a gun battle. Compelling as it is to see Christopher Walken’s Frank White ham it up, the movie as a whole is not memorable, despite having inspired The Notorious B.I.G.

EPIC DISASTER FLICKS

Held up: Umm... does Dumb and Dumber count?

Not so much: Everything – Armageddon, Independence Day, Deep Impact... the list of terrible movies that killed it at the box office thanks to fascinating trailers featuring the Statue of Liberty in tatters goes on and on. They were all interesting at the time and worth seeing on the big screen, but dusting off your old DVD collection to see Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum do the most incredulous crap in the history of movies to beat the bad guys is not the move.

ROMANTIC FILMS

Held up: Jerry Maguire (1996) - Tom Cruise has done a lot of movies both memorable and atrocious over his three decade-plus career. Jerry Maguire is my favorite Tom Cruise film of all time, and it gets better every time I watch it. Cameron Crowe peaked with this flick (or maybe 2000's Almost Famous?); while Jerry Maguire might not fit as neatly in the romantic category as, say, The Bridges of Madison County, it’s a love story at its core.

Not so much: Shakespeare in Love (1998) – I’d discuss this movie honestly and openly in this space, but I don’t think there is enough RAM on my computer to process all the swear-word gerunds and adjectives I have for it.

HORROR

Held up: The Silence of the Lambs (1991) – I didn’t appreciate this film very much as a 10-year-old, but dammit, I was 10. Anthony Hopkins’ best movie felt a decade older than it was when it came out, and it’s still every bit as compelling 24 years later. Too bad Ted Levine never did anything truly meaningful after Buffalo Bill.

Not so much: The Blair Witch Project (1999) – Let’s be honest: This movie was never actually that good. Why it got so much attention and basically served as the progenitor of “found footage” movies we’d all be better off without is still lost on me. Alas, it made a bunch of money, spawned a somehow less-enjoyable sequel and made me question humanity.

PRISON DRAMAS

Held up: The Shawshank Redemption (1994) – The best movie of all time, still and maybe always. From every player’s immaculate acting to the booming score to truly loathsome villains to Morgan Freeman’s voice-over to a denouement that actually resonates instead of being overtly Hollywood, it’s a master class in filmmaking. This is the stuff on the curriculum of your otherwise lame-ass film studies class.

Not so much: Blood In Blood Out: Bound By Honor (1993) – ¡Ayyy carnaaaaaal! This three hour, 10-minute behemoth of a crime drama was epic and fun to watch when I was a teenager, and it’s still fun to watch right now….just not as an example of elite acting or filmmaking. The brutality in the film’s extended prison sequence predates many other sobering depictions of life behind bars in cinema, and it’s a great flick for you ladies to peep a young Benjamin Bratt. But it’s not like you need to see this before you die or anything.