30 From 99: My Favorite Films From 1999

Growing up with the first three Star Wars movies that made up the original Trilogy, I, of course, was not the biggest fan of the later films. But, I was still able to enjoy the visuals of these new millennium flix, particularly, the diversity of kick-ass looking aliens and otherworldy creatures (my favorite aspect of the franchise, actually). Now don't get me wrong...
I don't think that it makes up for the wooden acting, mess of a plot and more importantly, for the whole Jar-Jar Binks debacle. But the diversity of the creatures and their landscapes is expansive enough to make this sci-fi junkie put Phantom Menace on this list.

Y'know what? Forget the caper, Sean Connery and just about everything else in this film. I mean, my god, Catherine Zeta Jones looks finer than any human should be allowed to look like, not just in this movie, but anywhere else. Heck, Pauly Shore or Larry The Cable Guy could've played the main role of the picture, and it still would've made Entrapment qualify to be on this list. Jus' based solely on Catherine Zeta Jones' high standard o' fineness.
I mean, seriously.
Damn.

A lightweight Taraninoesuque film, that doesn't have the depth or style of other more quality films of the genre, but still, just the effort of trying comes off as satisfying. At least enough to provide some escape from the typical big budgeted same-ol' same-ol' that the decades of the nineties kept crankin' out.

When it comes to favorite directors, Stanley Kubrick definitely ranks somewhere in my top five.
Therefore, with Eyes Wide Shut being the last film he directed before he died, I was hoping for a piece of work that would help to end his lifetime career with a bang (and considering the nature of the plot, if there's any kind of pun in there, I can honestly assure you that it is truly unintentional).
However, despite the driving force of 90's blockbusting couple, Nicole Kidman and then hubby Tom Cruise, Eyes, while not exactly a whimper, was still not the kind of cinematic piece that allowed even the most avid of auteurs to walk away with a feeling of high artistic satisfaction.
The visual dynamics and the dense, twisting story-line most associated with Kubrick's films are here, including the interesting subject matter.
However, the methodically slow pace of the story dampens the effect the film's impact to the point that, unless you're a die-hard Kubrick fan (which I am since this movie is on this list), can make Eyes Wide Shut a struggling exercise in keeping the average viewer's eyes wide open.

What if the the first alien life-forms to make contact with us happen to be the kind that watch too much television? Or even worse, what if they're Trekkies?
Galaxy-Quest starts out as a parody of the Star Trek franchie, but then, with just the right amount of heart, wry humor and even some satirical intelligence, it's a story which then evolves into a sci-fi adventure film with a premise that is alot of fun, on point and with a story that, despite it's quest as a parody, ends up standing distinctively on it's own.

I stated this before, that I am not that big of a fan of Disneys animated movies. Especially from the stuff they put out during the 70's, 80's and most of the 90's.
Not until they began getting more three dimensional with their graphics did I find myself seeing the three dimensional quality in their stories. And when it comes to computer generated films, I obviously prefer Pixar over Disney.
However, I do enjoy some of Uncle Walt's very early efforts in the area of cartoon cinema, including the original Fantasia from the year 1940.



The first film successfully integrated classical music with animation in eight featurettes with each medium complimenting the other. The power of the music was enhanced by the visuals of each short (with various degrees of success of course) while at the same time, the hand crafted artwork of each cell seemed to be powered by the notes and melodies of each time tested arrangement.
Almost sixty years later, Disney released this follow-up, which follows the same format of the original with the same amount of varying degree of success of each feature. Although, TBH, personally, I wouldn't have minded if they could've found a way to rev up the stylings of both music and visuals in way that would have better demonstrated the progress made in each field. But in the end, F2000 still manages to entertain and delight in the same manner that Uncle Walt had envisioned when he first dreamed up this moused-eared manner of movie magic.

As a self professed comicbook nerd, one would think that, naturally, I'd be a fan of fellow comicbook nerd, Kevin Smith. And as that sentence implicates, I'm not.
I enjoy watching and listening to his various convention & college speaking tours, but his movies, while not bad,
I don't think their humor and storylines are as solid as his stories that he likes to relay whenever he's in auditorium full of his fans.
Whenever I listen to one of his scripts, I tend to hear him talking more than I hear the characters conversing with each other.
Dogma is no exception to this,
the difference being that in this movie, I do enjoy listening to the points he brings about religion & the stigmas that result or tend to grow out it.
So, despite some stiff monolithically-centered writing, in the end, I still found it to be fun and pretty interesting on a biblical level.

Y'know how when you try to wake up your foot after it's fallen asleep and it then feels like there are a hundred thin needles piercing thru the flesh? Raise the level of that feeling from uncomfortable to horrific,
add a little razor-wire and an angelic smile,
and there you go.
You've got this movie.
Rarely does the face of horror look so beautiful and hurt so torturously bad at the same time.

The family that loves together stays together.
Or, if taken too far,
just completely crumbles together.
A grey, sodden story of family disorder that's as bleak as the subject matter can be,
and provides for some really good acting (particularly Lara Belmont), not to mention an excellent directorial debut by Tim Roth.

An anthological effort by P.T. Anderson,
following several story-lines of several different people,
centering on the various forms that the six degrees of separation take in connecting humans inhabiting a shared vicinity.
Forms that include things like common human insecurities, minor and major coincidences, or my favorite of them all, anomalical weather patterns of almost biblical(!) proportions.

Hey, have you ever wondered what it would be like to be John Malkovich, award-winning star of stage & screen?
Well then, watch this movie, foo.
Because in it, anyone who wants to, can become John Malkovich.
And let's be honest here,
anyone who can become John Malkovich has got it made in the shade.

To be honest, at first glance, The Limey doesn't seem like it was too far off from just being a typical crime film of this variety.
However, with Steve Soderbergh in the director's chair, Terence Stamp in the zone as the lead and Peter Fonda who plays the antagonist with an evil that shows itself on the surface as only as a laser-like sliver,
there's is enough in this movie to raise it just above the heap of the average revenge thriller.
An recently freed exconvict from across the pond travels out to La-La-Land to investigate the passing of his only daughter. A combination of circumstances which proves that when it comes to an angry Englishman looking to avenge the death of his "little girl", you don't mess with the limey bastard.

A couple of Irish hood brothers go on a divine mission of vigilantism.
And Willian Dafoe is the FBI detective assigned to stopping 'em.
That is, until he starts to find their actions kind of agreeable. And then finds himself dressing up like a woman.
Which I don't find agreeable at all.
Good solid crime flick that was entertaining to watch.
Though I do still kinda wish I could unwatch the Dafoe in a dress part.



BTW, I know that the pic above is from the second film, but it''s such a cool image, I couldn't resist using it here (especially since I wasn't that big of a fan of the sequel, so I'll probably never end up using it again...).

In this movie, Harvey Keitel's character first gets exposed to a full frontal nudity by a super-sexy Kate Winslet and then, he gets to sleep with her.....
Lord, I so wish I became an actor....
And why I don't have this movie listed at #1, I honestly couldn't tell ya.....



Lemme just say that
when I first saw that particular scene,
I can promise you, the words that I came outta my mouth definitely were not Holy Smoke.
Holy sh#t was more like it.
Then I just spent the next thirty minutes touching and retouching the rewind button. And I don't mean the one on the VCR (*rimshot*).

Tom Ripley is a crime novel character whom I never heard of until this 1999 film adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley. After hearing that there was series of books based on this guy, I looked up the movie versions to give 'em a looksee. And I gotta say, the final installment of the cinematic series, Ripley's Game, starring John Malkovich is definitely my favorite of the bunch.
However, that's not to take away Matt Damon's impressive portrayal of the con artist from the crime novels.
Labeled as a "dapper sociopath", Tom is a man who enjoys his creature comforts and does not mind attaining them through the use of dangerous scams and even murder. In this, the first chapter of his story, he begins the process which will eventually amass him enough of a body count to earn the title of a serial killer and that of a man of lavish leisure.

The 90's was a time in which climbing the corporate ladder was the biggest career choice of those who were entering into the job market out of college. As that decade wore on, it became evidently clear that the politicking required in the field was more than most could handle. Or at least bear. So it's no surprise that by 1999, a movie was made satirizing the kind of wide spread disillusionment and frustration that was resulting from working late inside of a cubicle.



Peter Gibbons, a demotivated programmer who spends his weekdays staring at his desk soon finds his apathetic nature as a possible promotion at the IT company he works for, Initech.
Which isn't really all that much of a stepping stone considering that this is a company in which downsizing, outsourcing, paycheck glitches, smashing malfunctioning printers, infecting the company's accounting system in a money laundering scheme and holding onto one's precious Swingline stapler are all just part of another day at the office.

While I really like the style that Burton has to his movies, for my money, they usually seem to lack the substance to back up the strength of the uniqueness of their look. Sleepy Hollow is the exception. The idea of this movie wasn't one that had any real appeal for me, but in the end, I found it to have more in terms of story and character than I would've initially expected. I think Mr. Burton's work, though still considered somewhat as visually "avante garde" (I mean, y'know... as far as a mainstream director is concerned...), would be held in much higher regard if he could flesh out his stories, as well as he did for Sleepy Hollow.

An excellently & stylistically shot story involving three soldiers in the Persian Gulf war, out to steal a cadre of Saddam Hussein's treasure that is specifically made up of gold bullions.
And as this movie explains, when they say bullions,
they don't mean like the soup.

.... but when they're directed by a woman, they do. Especially if the boy is really a girl.



I think that had Boys Don't Cry been released any other year, it would've easily have made it either to the top spot or close to it.
The fact that for 1999, it's only at number ten shows that this was an exceptionally good year for high quality films.
It was really hard for me to rank the all these films in the top ten in the order that I did. If it were possible to list the number one spot for this year ten times over, to include this & the next nine movies, I would.

Have you ever wondered what was the story behind the making of the short fright film Coven, pronounced with a long "o" instead of the standard short "o" most associated with the word?
Well, if you're like most fans of films from the early 2000's, the answer is most likely "No". Followed up by another question "What the hell is Coven?".



Rather than explaining what "Coven" is and why the long "o" that has become attached to it, it might just easier to direct you toward this particular move. It's an american movie called "American Movie" and it will clear any and all confusion that might have surfaced after reading this entry.

.... is a bitch. Especially when it's for $130,000.
Oh, wait....
I meant $70,000.
I gotta be careful....
As this movie shows, getting those kind of numbers mixed up is liable to get someone killed.

Woody and the Gang are back.
Actually, they never left. They're still in the same ol' toybox they've always been, its just that it took four years for Pixar, the groundbreakers of highly advanced computer animation, to make the sequel that continues the saga of these toys and their story.



The first Toy Story was a computer generated movie that showed how sophisticated graphics can be integrated into a really top quality and well defined story.
One whose visuals matched it's plot in emphasizing the vibrant third dimensional warmth and color that was starting to become more and more "faded" in the tired 2-D animated family films that movie producers had seemed to be wearily cranking out at the time.
The sequel not only managed to continue this tricky balancing trick, but also when you compare the stride in advancement between the first TS and this one, it's pretty obvious that it has even surpassed it.
The succession in quality for this film series was so consistent, that by the time we get to the third installment, we end up with one of the most successful, critically and financially, animated film franchise series of all time.

I'd post a comment here about this movie, but the first rule about Fight Club is that you don't talk about Fight Club.

First of all, I couldn't care less how over-hyped this movie was. Anyone's whose opinion of this movie was as an adverse effect from this, it's their fault for giving it any attention in the first place. No hype, no matter how well-founded, should ever be believed.
Secondly, as kid, sure, but as an adult, I really can't get scared from movies anymore. Especially, if there's a monster or a Jason/Freddy/Michael Myers involved. The minute I see any of these guys on the screen wearing some kind of fright-enhancing mask or wielding a sharp object with a screaming Abercrombie & Fitch-looking teenager's name all over it, I am instantly reminded that I'm watching a movie, & thereby negating any chance of suspending my belief enough to being frightened anymore. However, Blair Witch tried to bring the horror of cinema as close to the real world as any fright flick could since Night Of The Living Dead (IMO, that is), thus making it seem like this situation could actually happen in this frame of reality. Plus, a major part of the fear-factor for this story's premise is that the lead characters, or even the viewers themselves, never actually get to see the witch in question. And as it has been stated many times over centuries, "The unknown is one the greatest fears to the human mindset".



So while it still didn't scare me, TBWP probably came as close as it possibly can come to at this point in my life. As far as I can remember, I've never had any real inclination to go out on a camping trip of any sort.
But now, because of this film, sleeping under a tent overnight in the middle of the woods, is a situation that I can definitely say that I will never expect to try & initiate.
Ever.
And for me, The Blair Witch Project earns a couple of extra points just for that.

Even though all the follow-ups, videos and merchandising would take the next cyber-evolutionary step in visually out-doing the one that started it all,
the story in this first chapter of Neo & Co. was still fresh and not yet over-wrought with complicated ideas and all walks of philosophical influences that tended to bog down what originally started out as a really cool concept with monumental possibilities.
You are now entering the Matrix.

Just when I thought that my hairy pimp-ass had finally reached a point in life that was hardcore enough that even the idea that I could get misty over a movie-ending was, for me, about as far on the otherside of the street, that it was in anudder 'hood, dawg.
Then comes along the Iron Giant, and proves me wrong.
And it's not just that it's a movie,
but even worse, it's an animated movie.
A cartoon.



Whenever I watch the scene with the line " ....Superman.",
I always find it quite difficult to refrain from repeatingly dabbing at that "something in my eye" that starts to become annoyingly persistent.
Damn.
Watching a movie makes life hard to be a hardcore gangsta pimp.

Personally, I think that this is a movie that tries to remind us that we have the ability to keep life in perspective, but usually don't. I think that what AB tries to say with it's message, especially at the end is much bigger than most of us realize. This is a film that I hope I can remember to watch every 4 or 5 yrs of my life, just as a reminder to "something" that I genuinely believe we all already know, but hardly ever allow it's awareness to surface during the course of our lives.
Or maybe I'm just looking at things bigger than what they really are in this movie.
Which could easily just be a side effect of the one-too-many times that I kept pressing the pause button during Thora Birch's naked breasts scene.

Russell Crowe is the insider trying to expose the truth of the mega-business of tabacco and Al Pacino is the outsider who finds himself involunteerily pitted against the corporate politicks of the media which both men were counting on to help in the cause. Watching both actors on screen is an example of the kind of movie chemistry that can result from the combination of solid acting abilities along with the directing and writing prowess of Mr. Mann. And all this without the need of any special effects or CGI, and yet a film that still provides a level of entertainment on par with that of any big budget blockbuster.

What do you get when you put a true tale of a man who unconventionally travels on a unconventional journey, with an unconventional director?
You get an unconventionally "conventional" yet moving film by David Lynch, in which he simply goes about telling you The Straight Story.



In other words,
Eraserhead, this ain't.

Okay,
saying that this is M. Knight Shyamalan's best film (by far) may sound overly obvious (by far),
but,
it is (by far).



A very good from-the-beyond-yarn that starts out by depicting the debilitating effects that may result from being able to percieve ghosts. Then, almost completely, turns it around to show how this paranormal ability can be more of a help than a hindrance, if we just gave the spooky spectres a chance.
Maybe seeing dead people ain't so bad.
Though when I think about it,
if I had to deal with any kind of communication with lost spirits,
I'd rather just stick to commiserating online with all of my fellow "Listalolites" here on this site.