The 1990s movies Keanu Reeves personally recommends
There are few actors in the world of Hollywood that are quite as beloved as Keanu Reeves. A star capable of powerful dramatic performances and comedic ones, too, Reeves stormed to success in the 1990s alongside other industry starlets, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp, working with directors such as Kathryn Bigelow, Gus Van Sant and Francis Ford Coppola.
A star of TV in the early 1980s, Reeves grew in fame towards the end of the decade, appearing in the Stephen Frears period drama Dangerous Liaisons in 1988 before taking on the iconic comedy Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure just one year later. By the time the ‘90s came around, Reeves was in the perfect position to thrive in Hollywood, with the actor grabbing the industry by the horns as a result.
Becoming one of the most definitive names of the ‘90s, Reeves helped to make cinema as vibrant as it was throughout the decade, elevating such celebrated movies as Point Break, Speed and, of course, the seminal sci-fi masterpiece The Matrix in 1999. Starring alongside Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving, and Carrie-Anne Moss, Reeves’ distinctive style throughout the film would go on to inform fashion at the turn of the new millennium.
Being one of the many icons of the ‘90s, Reeves is in an excellent position to recommend some of the best movies of the decade, doing just this when he listed 18 films he personally suggested his followers watch.
He starts with one of the most influential independent movies of the 1990s, the stoner comedy The Big Lebowski by the Coen brothers. Starring the likes of Jeff Bridges, John Goodman and Steve Buscemi, the film tells the story of a man who seeks compensation for a ruined rug, only for his efforts to take him on a mad journey that involves his eccentric bowling friends.
Elsewhere, Reeves also suggests two flicks from the French filmmaker Luc Besson. The first is the 1990 action La Femme Nikita, an action film following a convict who is transformed into a secret agent, and the second is perhaps the director’s most influential piece of cinema, 1994’s Leon: The Professional. Although known as a classic in and of itself, it is also well-recognised for being the very first film starring American actor Natalie Portman.
The final movie he references is certainly the most unknown, recommending the 1990 Tom Stoppard film Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. Featuring Gary Oldman, Tim Roth and Richard Dreyfuss, the film tells the story of two supporting characters of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, who experience their scripted lives despite their wish to deviate from them.
Take a look at Reeves’ full list below.
Keanu Reeves’ favourite 1990s movies:
- The Big Lebowski (the Coen brothers, 1998)
- La Femme Nikita (Luc Besson, 1990)
- Leon: The Professional (Luc Besson, 1994)
- Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (Tom Stoppard, 1990)
