The Big Picture · Draft

The 1990 Movie Draft

April 15, 2025/ 101 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins · Chris Ryan

Sean Fennessey, Amanda Dobbins, and Chris Ryan run a three-person snake draft of the movies of 1990, filling a seven-slot roster each across drama, comedy, action/horror/thriller, Oscar nominee, sequel, blockbuster, and wild card.

21 films across 1 segment.

AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.

The teams drafting the movies of 1990

Chris Ryan

Drama

Miller's Crossing 1990

The Coen brothers' Prohibition noir; four days out of seven, Chris's favorite film of theirs.

Comedy

House Party 1990

Reginald Hudlin's Kid 'n Play comedy; Chris's Dazed and Confused before Dazed and Confused.

Action / Horror / Thriller

King of New York 1990

Abel Ferrara's crime story, drafted as a thriller; peak Christopher Walken.

Oscar Nominee

Goodfellas 1990

First pick of the draft: Scorsese's mob epic, 'righting a historical wrong' for the film that lost Best Picture to Dances with Wolves.

Sequel

The Exorcist III 1990

William Peter Blatty directs, George C. Scott stars; the hallway jump scare Chris won't spoil.

Blockbuster

Days of Thunder 1990

Tony Scott's Top Gun with stock cars; Cruise and Kidman first meet on screen. $82 million, just over the wire.

Wild Card

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover 1989

Peter Greenaway, Michael Nyman score; Chris's second Greenaway draft pick, after 1982's The Draughtsman's Contract.

Amanda Dobbins

Drama

Postcards from the Edge 1990

Mike Nichols directs Carrie Fisher's script; Streep and Shirley MacLaine as a Hollywood mother and daughter.

Comedy

Metropolitan 1990

Whit Stillman's debut; Amanda's favorite of the trilogy.

Action / Horror / Thriller

The Hunt for Red October 1990

The only submarine Amanda would board; Alec Baldwin's one turn as Jack Ryan.

Oscar Nominee

Pretty Woman 1990

Amanda's near-No.-2 rom-com; Julia Roberts breaks out.

Sequel

Die Hard 2 1990

The airport one; taken partly to avoid drafting Look Who's Talking Too.

Blockbuster

Presumed Innocent 1990

Harrison Ford legal thriller from the Scott Turow novel; better than the Apple remake's ending.

Wild Card

Mermaids 1990

Cher, Winona Ryder, and Christina Ricci; a movie Amanda remembers being taken to at five or six.

Sean Fennessey

Drama

Wild at Heart 1990

Lynch's Palme d'Or road movie; Cage in snakeskin, Laura Dern, Diane Ladd.

Comedy

Home Alone 1990

Sean's Casablanca as an eight-year-old.

Action / Horror / Thriller

Misery 1990

Rob Reiner's Stephen King adaptation, William Goldman script; Kathy Bates and James Caan.

Oscar Nominee

Ghost 1990

Part romance, part grief drama, part supernatural thriller; Swayze, Demi Moore, an Oscar for Whoopi Goldberg.

Sequel

Gremlins 2: The New Batch 1990

Joe Dante's batshit sequel set in an everything-skyscraper, with John Glover's benevolent Trump stand-in.

Blockbuster

Total Recall 1990

Verhoeven sci-fi satire; a strong case for Schwarzenegger's best. $119 million.

Wild Card

Mo' Better Blues 1990

Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing follow-up; Denzel Washington as a jazz musician.

On the board, undrafted honorable mentions

Dances with Wolves The Godfather Part III The Two Jakes Texasville Predator 2 RoboCop 2 Another 48 Hrs.Young Guns II Rocky V 3 Men and a Little Lady Look Who's Talking Too Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III

Also mentioned raised along the way

Wild-card honorable mentions Tremors Navy Seals Pump Up the Volume Frankenhooker Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles State of Grace Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!Darkman Flatliners My Blue Heaven Arachnophobia To Sleep with Anger The Grifters Blue Steel Backtrack The Hot Spot Life Is Sweet Hidden Agenda Cry-Baby Cinema Paradiso Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael Miami Blues

In passing The Odyssey Eddington Locked Down The Silence of the Lambs A Woman Under the Influence Glengarry Glen Ross Do the Right Thing Driving Miss Daisy A Minecraft Movie When Harry Met Sally...The Last Temptation of Christ The King of Comedy Oppenheimer Valentine's Day Basic Instinct The Terminator Clear and Present Danger Patriot Games The Sum of All Fears Beetlejuice Married to the Mob Working Girl Great Balls of Fire The Marrying Man Malice Days of Heaven Heat Kicking and Screaming The Last Days of Disco Barcelona Class Act The Notebook The Iron Claw It Ends with Us The Substance One Battle After Another Aftersun Crimson Tide Moonstruck The Witches of Eastwick Made in America Edward Scissorhands Sixteen Candles Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken This Is Spinal Tap The Ninth Configuration The Exorcist The Last Picture Show Chinatown Sinners Love Actually Boomerang Dazed and Confused Inland Empire Magnolia Top Gun The Wife Casablanca The Wizard of Oz Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 The Mambo Kings Babygirl Hard Truths

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV Jack RyanHappy DaysLaverne & ShirleyGilmore GirlsThe Fresh Prince of Bel-AirKey & PeeleSaturday Night Live

Podcasts The RewatchablesJam SessionBlank Check

Ads CarvanaThe Zach Lowe ShowRay-Ban Meta glassesStarbucks Frappuccino