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John Hartl, Film.com

1. Primary Colors 1998 Primary Colors is the Mr. Smith Goes to Washington of our jaded era.
2. As Good As It Gets 1997 A fairy-tale heartwarmer.
3. Chasing Amy 1997 The script eventually gets beyond the pop-culture jokes and starts dealing frankly and intelligently with the problems of three people who are defined by their pasts.
4. Good Will Hunting 1997 This has not been a great year for language in movies, but people are going to be memorizing and reciting some of these lines for years to come.
5. Year of the Horse: Neil Young & Crazy Horse Live 1997 If you've ever liked the 52-year-old Young's songs, you'll probably be hooked early on.
6. Sling Blade 1996 [Thornton] does wonders with Yoakam, who could have played a standard villain but always manages to suggest a man trapped within his prejudices.
7. The Substitute 1996 There's a certain amount of camp value to this over-the-top thriller, which might as well be called Rambo Goes to High School.
8. Braveheart 1995 There's a matter-of-fact grittiness about Braveheart that infects even its occasional touches of mysticism and photogenic romance.
9. Clerks 1994 At 24, Smith also knows something about casting. Using a mixture of stage actors and novices, he's found the right ensemble tone to make Clerks seem as spontaneous as it needs to be.
10. Pulp Fiction 1994 The whole is finally greater than the sum of its pulpy parts.
11. Swimming with Sharks 1994 Kevin Spacey, who is the reason to see the picture, is hilariously ruthless as Buddy Ackerman.
12. Reservoir Dogs 1992 It's extremely well-acted, written with flair and directed by a 29-year-old first-timer, Quentin Tarantino, who always knows where to put the camera, when to cut to a flashback and how to draw the best work from his brilliant cast.
13. Miller's Crossing 1990 While Miller's Crossing is not as messy or inspired as Martin Scorsese's GoodFellas, or as richly suggestive as The Godfather, it accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do.