Through the Decades 10 Film Collection: 1990s DVD review

Apr 05, 2022- Permalink

Mill Creek’s Through the Decades 10 Film Collection: 1990s DVD set presents a sampling of ten films released between 1990 and 1999. Spread over four discs, these movies cover the spectrum from comedies and thrillers to dramas. The ten included films (with synopses from Mill Creek) are:

Housesitter (1992) – After a one night stand, Gwen (Goldie Hawn) moves into Newton Davis’ (Steve Martin) empty home outside the city without telling him. When the neighbours start to ask questions, Gwen tells them that she’s Newton’s new wife.
The Matchmaker (1997) – Marcy (Janeane Garofalo), a senator’s aide, arrives in Ireland to trace her boss’s Irish roots and happens to arrive in a quaint country village just in time for its annual matchmaking festival. A young, single woman kicks local matchmakers into a frenzy.
White Palace (1990) – Young ad executive and widower Max Baron (James Spader) is still picking up the pieces after the death of his wife. One night, he meets 43-year-old waitress Nora Baker, (Susan Sarandon) and the two soon begin a heated love affair despite their obvious differences.
One True Thing (1998) – A career-driven New York woman (Renée Zellweger) is forced to leave behind the big city life to take care of her seriously ill mother. While back home, she learns more about her parents’ (Meryl Streep and William Hurt) lives as people apart from her.
Donnie Brasco (1997) -FBI agent Joe Pistone (Johnny Depp) infiltrates the New York City mafia and forms an unlikely bond with mobster Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino). Before long, Pistone begins to question where his loyalties lie.
The Devil’s Own (1997) -Police officer Tom O’Meara (Harrison Ford) begins to uncover his house-guest’s (Brad Pitt) true identity as an IRA hitman/gunrunner, a secret that puts his family in mortal danger.
The Freshman (1990) – A first-year film student (Matthew Broderock) starts working with a New York mobster (Marlon Brando) who resembles a famous movie mafioso and is soon swept up a world of crime and fine dining.
Anaconda (1997) – A film crew in the Amazon rainforest gets caught up in a game of cat-and-mouse between a crazed hunter and the jungle’s deadliest predator. It stars Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Jonathan Hyde and Owen Wilson.
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) – Four teenagers (Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prinze Jr.) are stalked by a hook-wielding killer with knowledge of their terrible secret.
The Deep End of the Ocean (1999) – The family of a kidnapped child is shocked when nearly a decade later, the child resurfaces as the “adopted” son of their new neighbour. It stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Treat Williams, Jonathan Jackson, John Kapelos, and Whoopi Goldberg.

Mill Creek’s 1990s collection’s ten movies are contained on just four DVD discs, so if you’re interested in purchasing go in knowing that a) the movies won’t have the clarity and detail of a Blu-ray and b) will have some compression artifacts as a result of fitting that many movies on four discs. Still, if you accept these conditions knowing that you’ve paid a low price for a sample of the 1990s, this is a good intro to the films that may lead you to upgrade some of them.

On the audio side, the movies come with Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks. Subtitles are available in English. Again, because of the quantity of films, these are not lossless tracks but they get the job done. Obviously as stereo tracks, your subwoofer and surrounds will have the night off and can probably work on a puzzle together while you watch the movies.

The collection does not come with a digital code or bonus materials.

As I said, the Through the Decades 10 Film Collection: 1990s DVD set is a good sampler plate of movies from the 1990s, especially if you haven’t seen many of the titles before. Covering multiple genres, Mill Creek’s collections give you a chance to check out some movies from the decade at a very reasonable price per film.