15 Best '90s Movies On Hulu

Every decade has at least a few great movies, but the '90s were a particularly unique 10 years in film. 

The era of Blockbuster Video contains more than its share of massive special effects extravaganzas and franchise-expanding sequels and reboots. But in those days, Hollywood also saw a since-diminished value in mid-budget dramas for adults, full of folks using cuss words, committing violence, and doing sex with each other. Heck yeah. 

For the first time since the 1960s, the youth and its associated culture had a name and a defined sense of identity — so naturally, the influence of "Generation X" flows through the metaphorical veins of its epoch's most memorable films. In some respects, that means characters wearing flannel shirts and discussing a general sense of aimlessness. But even when the obvious signifiers of post-"Nevermind" America aren't on display, its less explicit callsigns — irony, irreverence, and deep-seated fixation on popular culture — remain.   

And when it comes to films from the final decade of the previous millennium, what does Hulu offer? Well, let's have us a look...

Updated on December 29, 2021: Hulu is constantly updating its catalogue of awesome '90s movies. Be sure to come back here each month to check out the latest '90s gems streaming on the site, from sci-fi blockbusters to gritty indie flicks.

Michael Bay probably had more influence on '90s pop culture than any film nerd's favorite director. Consider "Armageddon," one of the mightiest box office earners of 1998. An enormous asteroid is on its way to annihilate the Earth. While bits of space rock rain down, causing all kinds of awesome explosions, the U.S. government recruits a scruffy gang of oil drillers led by Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) to go to space and drill the projectile into a state of harmlessness. "Armageddon" was not a serious Oscar contender, but it is representative of the '90s many adventure/disaster blockbusters at their most exciting.

• Starring: Bruce Willis, Liv Tyler, Ben Affleck
• Director: Michael Bay
• Year: 1998
• Runtime: 150 minutes 
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 38%

Tre is a kid trying to find his way in the world. He's smart, curious, and friendly, but he's also got a temper, which eventually gets him sent to live with his dad in Los Angeles' Crenshaw neighborhood. There, he grows into a teenager — but L.A. of the 1990s is not kind to young Black men. Against a backdrop of discrimination, gang violence, and gentrification, Tre and his peers must find a path into the future. With this movie, first-time feature-length director John Singleton became both the youngest and first-ever Black nominee for Best Director at the 1992 Academy Awards. Moreover, Ice Cube guaranteed that his departure from N.W.A. would certainly not be the end of his career in entertainment.

• Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr.
• Director: John Singleton
• Year: 1991
• Runtime: 112 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

An inspired attempt to scratch the decade's Los Angeles-based neo-noir itch a few years ahead of "L.A. Confidential," "Devil in A Blue Dress" sees Denzel Washington play Easy Rawlins, a recently unemployed man who gets tangled up in the case of a missing woman. Don Cheadle might've already been too established by this point for his inspired performance as Mouse to count as his breakthrough, but it definitely didn't make him any less famous.     

• Starring: Denzel Washington, Tom Sizemore, Jennifer Beals
• Director: Carl Franklin
• Year: 1995
• Runtime: 102 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

With the Cold War finally in the rearview, some folks might have wondered what American espionage movies would be about, without the Soviet Union around. The raging popularity of Agents Mulder and Scully's struggle against shadowy operators in "The X-Files" stands as the most obvious next step, but the slow-burning cult status of "Jacob's Ladder" makes a similar point. Tim Robbins plays a traumatized Vietnam veteran who experiences nightmarish visions of train passengers with slithering tentacles and attempted vehicular homicides perpetrated by men with warped faces. The precise nature of his post-war existence grows ever more strange and terrifying, until the movie reaches its unforgettable climax.

• Starring: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello
• Director: Adrian Lyne
• Year: 1990
• Runtime: 113 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 73%

Grand-scale historical epics don't make too many appearances in today's Hollywood, but moviegoers of the '90s couldn't get enough of olden-times drama. Set during the French and Indian War of the 1700s, "The Last of the Mohicans" is the film Michael Mann directed before "Heat," making the early '90s a particularly explosive phase in his career. Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Hawkeye, the adopted son of a Mohican chief. In this now-classic role, he bears witness to the end of one era, and the bloody beginning of another.

• Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Russell Means
• Director: Michael Mann
• Year: 1992
• Runtime: 114 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

We can't tell you "Se7en" embodies the zeitgeist of 1995, because in reality, "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls" also sold a lot of tickets that year. But we can say that David Fincher's feature-length breakthrough represents the decade's gritty, angst-ridden streak at its absolute best. In a city soaked in constant rain, a diabolically cruel serial killer is knocking off his victims in ways that recall the seven deadly sins. It's up to detectives Somerset and Mills to stop him — or be consumed by the carnage themselves.   

• Starring: Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow
• Director: David Fincher
• Year: 1995
• Runtime: 125 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%

According to Rotten Tomatoes, "First Contact" is the best "Star Trek" film featuring crew from "The Next Generation" — arguably the definitive "Trek" series that originally aired from 1987 to 1994. Not coincidentally, "First Contact" also features the Borg — one of the most effective "Doctor Who" rip-offs in all of sci-fi. It's as if a very bright person asked themselves, "What if Cybermen were genuinely frightening, instead of very goofy looking?" 

"First Contact" also involves a time-travel adventure, in which a scientist played by James Cromwell invents warp drive. So if the viewer wants to imagine Cromwell as Farmer Hoggett and tell themselves "Star Trek" occurs in a shared universe with Babe the talking pig, the viewer can certainly do so. And if not, then they can definitely enjoy the greatest cinematic outing of Picard, Data, and the rest of the "TNG" crew.

• Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner

• Director: Jonathan Frakes

• Year: 1996

• Runtime: 110 minutes

• Rating: PG-13

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%