Filmmaking changed as drastically in the 1990s as in any other decade. Technology advanced as the film world became increasingly digital, and every blockbuster strived to be bigger and cooler than the last. As CGI found its footing, the masses flocked to big budget spectacles like Titanic and Jurassic Park. But another revolution was unfolding on a smaller scale. We also saw the first films from some of the best indie directors, from Wes Anderson to Quentin Tarantino. It was an dramatic and innovative time for moviemaking.

Below are 15 of the best ’90s movies on Netflix right now. They range from the ’90s-est ’90s movies that every millennial grew up watching to the influential award winners that are worth discovering or revisiting.

Scream (1996)
As in the average slasher film before Scream, innocent high schooler Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is targeted by a psycho killer. But a key difference separates Scream the average slasher movie. It knows the rules, and both uses this self-awareness to comment on horror tropes and to mess with viewers’ expectations. The characters reference and establish plot devices of the very sort of movie in which they exist. Directed by Wes Craven from a script by Kevin Williamson, Scream is a little more reserved with its tongue-and-cheek humor than its sequels, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t bloody good fun.

The Iron Giant (1999)
It’s a tale as old as time: Boy meets giant robot. Boy befriends giant robot. Government tries to find and destroy iron giant. Who didn’t face problems like that in their youth? Set in a post-Sputnik 1957, Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant centers on the sci-fi obsessed Hogarth Hughes as he protects his new pet/BFF/unstoppable killing machine (voiced by a then-relatively unknown Vin Diesel). The story captures the fear and paranoia of the space race and makes it palatable for kids who’ve never heard “duck and cover” before. It was a truly scary time in U.S. history, and just imagine how worse it would be if a huge metal man showed up out of nowhere. It’s a fun, touching story filled with funny moments and gorgeous animation.

Armageddon (1998)
No binge of overblown ’90s action movies would be complete without a sampling from Michael Bay, and Armageddon is one of his best thanks to its lovable ridiculousness and implausibility. As the other “we have to stop the world-ending meteor” movie of 1998 — it arrived a bit after Deep Impact — this is the one that is packed with some of the biggest names of the decade. Despite some of the actors saying that they only did the movie for the paycheck and Bay himself saying he wishes he could redo the error-filled third act, it has a bloated charm to its mess. This is largely due to Steve Buscemi’s appearance, which was contractually obligated in every movie of the ’90s.

Babe (1995)
An orphaned pig is taken in by a reserved farmer (James Cromwell) and struggles to find family, acceptance, and purpose beyond being another dish on the dinner table in a heartwarming, and tear-inducing film that works for kids and adults alike. Anthropomorphizing animals whose sole purpose is to be our food is naturally going to tread into dark territory, and Babe doesn’t hold back. But it’s the triumphant moments — including a particularly joyous jig from Cromwell — that makes the film a classic.

Forrest Gump (1994)
Just a year after winning Best Actor for Philadelphia, Tom Hanks took home his second Oscar for the larger-than-life role of Forrest Gump, a kind man with more heart than smarts who just so happens to be present for or active in some of the biggest events of the 20th century. It’s a sweeping story of love, war, and ping-pong that’s inspired both affection and debate in the years since its release.

Schindler’s List (1993)
It took decades in the industry for Steven Spielberg to finally earn an Oscar for one of his movies, but his win for Schindler’s List is well deserved. The film focuses on wealthy businessman Oskar Schindler, who spends his fortune and risks his his life to save the lives of 1,100 Jewish men and women after taking in the horrors of WWII and the concentration camps. Between the three hour running time, the cold, unrelenting cruelty of Ralph Fiennes’ portrayal of Amon Goeth, and its realistic style, it’s a bleak film. But there’s hope to be found in the grim black and white images. It’s an important story told movingly by a filmmaker at the height of his powers.

Braveheart (1995)
Historical epics need to be taken with a heavy dose of salt. History is messy and usually don’t have any broad stroke “good guys” and “cinematically pleasing battle scenes.” Mel Gibson’s emotional telling of William Wallace definitely takes that to heart and it’s caught a lot of flak over the years for its emphasis on story over fact. That doesn’t take away from the impact of its message behind Scotland’s larger-than-life hero. After losing his wife to the English, Wallace leads his countrymen to push the occupiers out of Scotland and back into their own land. The film is at times savagely brutal, and Gibson trimmed down some of the graphicness to bring an NC-17 down to an R rating, but that didn’t keep Oscar voters from giving it Best Picture and Best Director.

10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
When the ’90s weren’t trying to maim and terrorize teens by way of slashers, they were trying to get them to hook up with bets and deception. And 1999 was a busy year for this, thanks to She’s All That, American Pie, Drive Me Crazy, and 10 Things I Hate About You, to name a few. The latter stands the test of time especially well, thanks to memorable early performances of Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Julia Stiles. A modernization of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, 10 Things involves a new kid (Gordon-Levitt) trying to sic the school bad boy (Ledger) on the misunderstood girl (Stiles) in the hopes of dating her undatable sister.

Quiz Show (1995)
Millions of families were captivated by the boom of quiz shows during TV’s golden age in the 1950s, completely unaware that they were being duped for the sake of ratings. Contestants were often coached to win or lose, and even though it wasn’t illegal, that fix coming to light was enough to change the medium forever. Robert Redford’s Oscar-nominated drama focuses on how this scam unraveled. When ousted Twenty One winner Herbie Stempel (John Turturro) attempts to tell the world about being forced to take a dive, a lawyer investigates the show and its shiny new champion Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes). Wonderfully directed, Quiz Show highlights a scandalous time in television that anticipates our own creatively edited and outright fabricated reality programming.

Cool Runnings (1993)
A group made up of runners, a loud-mouthed pushcart driver, and a disgraced coach attempt the impossible: bring the first ever Olympic bobsled team to Jamaica. It’s become an touchstone movie for millennials because it delivers the usual Disney-fied underdog story while still supplying lots of hilarious, quotable lines. In one of his final performances John Candy drives the comedy, but there isn’t a weak link in the bunch. Obviously, the historical accuracy of the real Jamaican bobsled team is not the film’s emphasis. But it’s got plenty of strengths that keep it from becoming a forgotten VHS on your childhood shelf.

The Sixth Sense (1999)
Hijinks-y teen movies and all, 1999 was an impressive year for movies. Magnolia, Fight Club, The Green Mile, Being John Malkovich, The Matrix… The list goes on and on. Among those entries is M. Night Shyamalan’s first big release, and one of his best (behind Unbreakable, of course). This was a simpler time, before seeing his name in trailers garnered skepticism. Centered on a boy who can’t separate the dead from the living and his child psychologist with issues of his own, The Sixth Sense remains one of four horror movies to ever be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. It’s endlessly tense, driven by strong performances from the two leads over jump scares. It’s held up well, even if it’s established a tough hurdle for the director’s future efforts to clear.

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Adapted by David Mamet from his own play, Glengarry Glen Ross offers up one memorable line after another in a drama filled with screen legends playing desperate men working to survive at a real estate office. Alec Baldwin’s famous monologue gets most of the attention, but it’s the rest of the tense, commanding performances — particularly Al Pacino’s and Jack Lemmon’s — that really seal this as a classic. The plot is seemingly simple, which just makes it more gripping. Glengarry Glen Ross‘ accuracy in capturing this slice of life has made it a how-to for training salesman for decades (although it seems like it would deter most people considering the field).

Barton Fink (1991)
When the average writer hits any sort of creative slump, they end up with a lot of tossed out, mediocre ideas and a headache. When writer’s block strikes Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, on the other hand, they end up with Barton Fink. Dreamed up during a lag in the making of Miller’s Crossing, Fink‘s titular character is a nervous playwright who leaves his acclaim in New York to make the big pictures in LA. Revolving mainly around Fink’s struggles to find his footing and live next to one of John Goodman’s finest fast-talking characters, the story is a very slow-moving and deliberate. The sweaty desperation in the protagonist’s hotel room is palpable. The late ’90s were an important time for the Coens, bringing about their arguably most well known features, but any fan of theirs needs to make time for their earlier work.

Basic Instinct (1992)
Netflix’s Love had it right: they really don’t make that certain brand of erotic thrillers from the ’80s and ’90s anymore. But there isn’t a finer example of the sub-genre in its heyday than Basic Instinct. The film isn’t known for much more than its infamous wardrobe malfunction, but beyond that we’re left with Paul Verhoeven crafting a glitzy pulp story of a brutal detective and the femme fatale who’s got him wrapped around her finger. From its over-the-top product placement to its sleazy, seductive tone, Basic Instinct is like a relic from another time, in the best possible sense.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Jack Skellington, local hero and king of scare in Halloween Town, gets bored of scaring kids year after year and decided to steal a different holiday after stumbling into Christmas Town. And it goes about as well as you’d imagine a Christmas brought to you by a ghosts, ghouls, and a guy with an ax in his head. It’s a dark yet jovial tale in an intricately designed world, but it’s the memorable songs that bring the stop-motion animation to life. It’s a Halloween/Christmas favorite that could really only be done justice by Tim Burton.