Braveheart
Mel Gibson in blue face paint screaming "FREEDOM!" — the 1995 Scottish-rebellion epic that won five Oscars, launched a thousand sleepover viewings, and rewrote medieval history with total confidence.
#Oscar Winner
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Good Will Hunting
A janitor at MIT solves the blackboard problem, and two unknown actors from Cambridge win an Oscar for writing it. Robin Williams on a park bench, Elliott Smith on the soundtrack, and "It's not your fault."
Goodfellas
"Funny how? Do I amuse you?" Martin Scorsese's 1990 life of mob associate Henry Hill: the Copacabana tracking shot, Joe Pesci's Oscar, and the fastest two and a half hours in gangster movies. The film that taught a generation how wiseguys talked, and the one that inspired The Sopranos.
Nicolas Cage
Oscar winner one year, action god the next — Nicolas Cage followed Leaving Las Vegas with The Rock, Con Air, and Face/Off, then spent the 2000s as the franchise guy in everything. Total commitment to every premise, no matter how preposterous.
![Video thumbnail — The Last of the Mohicans (1992) Original Trailer [HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/c9TED2yeoRo/maxresdefault.jpg)
The Last of the Mohicans
Michael Mann's 1992 frontier epic: Daniel Day-Lewis sprinting through the forest, the waterfall vow — "I will find you" — and the theme everyone knows without knowing its name. Two composers, a Scottish folk tune turned orchestral juggernaut, and the only Oscar a film directed by Michael Mann has ever won.
The Silence of the Lambs
Clarice Starling, Hannibal Lecter behind the glass, fava beans and a nice Chianti. Jonathan Demme's 1991 thriller opened on Valentine's Day, swept the top five Oscars, and remains the only horror film ever to win Best Picture. Lecter is still the AFI's number-one movie villain.
WALL-E
A trash-compacting robot alone on a garbage planet, a cockroach for a pet, a tape of Hello, Dolly! watched on repeat and a sleek white probe named EVE. Pixar's 2008 film barely speaks for its first act, cost a then-record $180 million, won the animated-feature Oscar and was called the best film of the decade by Time's critic.