10 Best Picture Winners Of The 1990s, Ranked According To Metacritic

Best Picture winners are nearly always controversial. To say that something is the “best” will forever remain a contentious declaration when it comes to anything, let alone when it comes to something as subjective as movies. With that said, some Best Picture winners are so good and so popular that few people disagree with the win.

It makes sense that Best Picture winners receive strong critical reviews as well. These are the absolute best movies of the year, and their high and enthusiastic critical scores reflect that. But that’s not always the case. Sometimes, movie critics and the Academy simply do not gel.

10 Braveheart (1995) – 68

Despite being a certified classic, Braveheart received surprisingly unexceptional reviews from movie critics. Sitting at just 68 on Metacritic, critics generally praised the movie’s filmmaking and bombastic scope but criticized the relentless and careless historical inaccuracies.

However, historical inaccuracies does not a bad movie make, and most people – including the Academy – were willing to overlook them. Braveheart took home five Academy Awards at the 68th ceremony – Best Makeup, Sound Effects Editing, Cinematography, Director, and Picture.

9 Dances With Wolves (1990) – 72

Directed by and starring Kevin Costner, Dances with Wolves proved a huge commercial hit, grossing over $400 million – despite running a hefty three hours. Costner stars as Lt. John J. Dunbar, a Union army officer who becomes Dances with Wolves among the Lakota tribe.

The movie received good, if not excellent, critical reviews, resulting in a 72 on Metacritic. But that didn’t stop the accolades. It received a staggering twelve nominations at the 63rd Academy Awards and took home seven, including Best Director for Costner and Best Picture.

8 Titanic (1997) – 75

Undeniably one of the most famous movies ever made, Titanic became the highest-grossing movie of all time in 1998, becoming the first movie in history to gross over $1 billion and accumulating a staggering $1.8 billion in its initial theatrical run. The movie received good-but-not-fantastic reviews from critics, most of whom praised the technical filmmaking but criticized the story and writing.

In fact, Best Original Screenplay was excluded from the movie’s record-tying fourteen Oscar nominations. It went on to win 11, tying it with All About Eve and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King for the most Oscar wins of all time.

7 Forrest Gump (1994) – 82

1994 was an incredible year for film, and Forrest Gump had some serious competition at the 67th Academy Awards. In the category of Best Picture, it was up against the likes of The Shawshank Redemption, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Pulp Fiction.

The movie received thirteen nominations (just one away from the record!) and won six – Best Visual Effects, Film Editing, Screenplay, Actor for Tom Hanks, Director, and Picture.

6 American Beauty (1999) – 84

Directed by Sam Mendes, American Beauty is one of those rare introspective dramas that prove a huge commercial success, grossing over $350 million at the global box office. The movie earned widespread acclaim and was deemed the best movie of 1999 by many critics.

It went on to receive eight nominations at the 72nd Academy Awards and won five – Best Cinematography, Original Screenplay, Director, Actor, and Picture. If Annette Bening had won Best Actress (it went to Hilary Swank in Boys Don’t Cry), then American Beauty would have been the fourth movie in history to win the Big Five Oscars – Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor, and Actress.

5 The Silence Of The Lambs (1991) – 85

Speaking of the Big Five, The Silence of the Lambs was the third and most recent movie to achieve the feat. The movie won Best Picture, Best Director for Jonathan Demme, Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins, Best Actress for Jodie Foster, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Ted Tally (having been adapted from Thomas Harris’s novel of the same name).

It was also nominated for Film Editing and Sound, but lost to JFK and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, respectively.

4 Unforgiven (1992) – 85

Unforgiven serves as a brilliant revisionist Western, with Clint Eastwood giving a career-best performance as Will Munny. But the biggest star of the movie is Gene Hackman, who earned widespread praise for his performance as Sheriff Little Bill Daggett.

Hackman took home the award for Best Supporting Actor, which proved one of the movie’s four Oscar wins – the others being Best Film Editing, Best Director, and Best Picture. Dances with Wolves is credited with re-invigorating national interest in the Western, but Unforgiven perfected the genre.

3 The English Patient (1996) – 87

The English Patient is a romantic war film that stars Ralph Fiennes as Almásy, an injured man who regales his young nurse with a love story. The movie was adapted from the novel of the same name by Canadian poet Michael Ondaatje.

The movie received stellar critical reviews and twelve nominations at the 69th Academy Awards, winning nine. Funnily enough, the movie lost out on three of the most “important” – Best Screenplay, Best Actress, and Best Actor.

2 Shakespeare In Love (1998) – 87

Despite receiving excellent critical reviews, Shakespeare In Love remains one of the most controversial Best Picture winners in movie history. The movie stars Joseph Fiennes (Ralph’s brother) as William Shakespeare and Gwyneth Paltrow as actress Viola de Lesseps. The movie received 13 nominations at the 71st Academy Awards, winning seven.

Both the Best Actress and Best Picture wins were contentious, with many thinking that Actress should have gone to Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth and Picture to Saving Private Ryan.

1 Schindler’s List (1993) – 94

The Fiennes brothers dominated the 1990s, with Ralph once again starring in a Best Picture winner. He plays war criminal Amon Göth in Schindler’s List, Steven Spielberg’s harrowing World War II film. Every facet of the movie’s production was acclaimed, with many critics noting the movie’s uncompromising violence and horror.

Schindler’s List received 12 nominations at the 66th Academy Awards and won seven – Best Art Direction, Cinematography, Film Editing, Original Score, Adapted Screenplay, Director, and Picture.

About The Author

Nathan Sharp
(852 Articles Published)

Nathan Sharp is a writer from outside Toronto, Ontario. He has a love of movies and television, having enjoyed them for more than twenty years. His preferences include drama, action, and horror, with the former being a particular point of interest and fascination.

He also has a love of video games, particularly those of Rockstar.

Whether it be about film, television, or video games, Nathan loves a good discussion and has written hundreds of articles for Screen Rant.

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