The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
The Moment: Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, stumbles upon Christmas Town. "What's this? What's this? There's colour everywhere! What's this? There's white things in the air!"
Only In The '90s: Tim Burton was so renowned he could lend his name to the title of a film he didn't even direct.
If It Was Made Today: It'd fit right into an animation landscape ruled by the ghouls of Hotel Transylvania , ParaNorman and Burton's own Frankenweenie .
Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
The Moment: Martin Blank (John Cusack)'s worlds collide when old flame Debi Newberry (Minnie Drive) catches him killing rival hitman Felix LaPoubelle (Benny Urquidez) at the high school reunion.
Only In The '90s: The vogue for street-smart genre clashes was matched by a star in John Cusack who could convincingly do rom-com and kickboxing.
If It Was Made Today: The ten-year reunion premise would be riffing on Mean Girls, and Lindsay Lohan would play Blank.
Rushmore (1998)
The Moment: Wes Anderson outlines the extra-curricular credentials of Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) in a montage full of the director's soon-to-be-trademark symmetrical compositions and the Futura Bold font.
Only In The '90s: College-kid hipster whimsy could become a genre. See also: the films of Whit Stillman.
If It Was Made Today: It would be exactly the same - Anderson simply doesn't listen to the prevailing wind of fashion.
Groundhog Day (1993)
The Moment: Trapped-on-February-2nd Phil Connors (Bill Murray) demonstrates the perks of having time on his hands by executing the perfect security van heist.
Only In The '90s: High-concept rom-com whimsy could push the envelope in terms of misanthropic amorality.
If It Was Made Today: Phil Connors would be played by Adam Sandler, and this scene would be replaced with a fart gag.
Boogie Nights (1997)
The Moment: Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg) makes his on-screen debut as 'Dirk Diggler,' prompting cast and crew's eyebrows to raise when they see the size of his manhood.
Only In The '90s: The appetite for precocious, talented young directors allowed Paul Thomas Anderson to channel Scorsese and Altman into a career-making classic.
If It Was Made Today: Dirk would be doing his thing on a webcam.
Beauty And The Beast (1991)
The Moment: Elegant, romantic and entirely unencumbered by comedic sidekicks, the show-stopping dance sequence between Belle and the Beast underlined Disney's resurgence.
Only In The '90s: An Oscar nomination for Best Film, and half a chance of actually winning it.
If It Was Made Today: A shoo-in for Best Animated Film, but isn't that why they created the category?
Con Air (1997)
The Moment: Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) loses his shit when Billy Bedlam (Nick Chinlund) discovers the stuffed toy he's trying to take to his daughter - "put the bunny back in the box."
Only In The '90s: Nic Cage was the decade's renaissance man, effortlessly flipping between Oscar-winning art-house and blockbuster.
If It Was Made Today: It'd be just one of many, many Cage action thrillers released every year.
Run Lola Run (1998)
The Moment: Lola (Franka Potente) runs - and if she doesn't get what she wants, no problem. Rewind the story and let her run again.
Only In The '90s: Video game logic starts to seep into movie narrative, with characters like red-bobbed Lola looking like console icons.
If It Was Made Today: It would look like Tom Tykwer was ripping off everybody else.
Falling Down (1993)
The Moment: Stuck in traffic, on the hottest day of the year, having been made redundant, pissed-off D-Fens (Michael Douglas) has had enough, and leaves his car on a crazy war against political correctness.
Only In The '90s: Hollywood dares to make a controversial, hot-button thriller that gets society talking about some tough issues.
If It Was Made Today: Strictly on a micro-budget, Sundance-friendly footing.
Hard Boiled (1992)
The Moment: The hospital's on fire, triad agents are everywhere and there's a baby trapped in the maternity ward. No sweat for Officer Tequila (Chow Yun-Fat), who stuffs cotton wool in the baby's ears, kills all the bad guys and then swings out of the building using a cable, baby under his coat.
Only In The '90s: John Woo could crack a gag about the baby pissing out the fire on Tequila's trousers and cut to a dangerous stunt.
If It Was Made Today: CGI fire. CGI actor. CGI baby, probably.
