Let's discuss the year 1999 in film!

[zorbonaut]

I was creating a list that contains a film for each year of my life (1976-2015) and when I came to 1999 I realized that my task was near impossible. I ended up going with Magnolia but it could have been one of several films in the top spot (Magnolia, American Beauty, The Hurricane, Fight Club, The Matrix, The Road Home, The Insider).

There were so many great films in 1999 and others that were either the launch of prequel (Star Wars) or the start of new filming techniques that would be copied for years (The Matrix). There were new directors making their debut film and old respected directors making their last. So many respected filmmakers released a film in 1999.

I thought I would put together a list of all of my top films in 1999 along with a list of others films that either received good critical response, viewer response, or have become cult classics.

Lets discuss 1999 in film! A year that I consider the best year ever for cinema.


My favorites of 1999 (in no particular order)

Magnolia
Fight Club
American Beauty
The Hurricane
The Matrix
The Sixth Sense
Shower
The Insider
Office Space
The Story of Us
Being John Malkovich
Notting Hill
The Road Home
EDtv
Eyes Wide Shut
Runaway Bride
Brokedown Palace
The Iron Giant
Wonderland
The Cider House Rules
Run Lola Run (1999 U.S. release)
Toy Story 2
Bicentennial Man
Stuart Little


Other films to consider (in no particular order)
Films I enjoyed in bold:


Girl, Interrupted
Cookie's Fortune
The Muse
Bowfinger
The Legend of 1900
Any Given Sunday
The Best Man
Go
October Sky
Bringing Out the Dead
The Big Kahuna
The Boondock Saints
Eye of the Beholder
The Mod Squad
eXistenZ
Boys Don't Cry
The Winslow Boy
Buena Vista Social Club
The Thomas Crown Affair
The Limey
The Straight Story
Memento Mori
Stir of Echoes
For Love of the Game
Ride with the Devil
Sunshine
Life
Twin Falls Idaho
Stigmata
Dogma
Jakob the Liar
Galaxy Quest
Holy Smoke!
In Dreams
The Green Mile
Double Jeopardy
Flawless
Liberty Heights
Sleepy Hollow
The World Is Not Enough
End of Days
Mansfield Park
Analyze This
Anna and the King
Love Stinks
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc
Music of the Heart
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
The General's Daughter
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Random Hearts
The Bone Collector
True Crime
The Out-of-Towners
Mystery, Alaska
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Three Kings
Arlington Road
Instinct
The King and I
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Pushing Tin
American Pie
Summer of Sam
The Thirteenth Floor
Tarzan
200 Cigarettes
The Other Sister
Dick
Big Daddy
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Angela's Ashes
Drop Dead Gorgeous
The Blair Witch Project
10 Things I Hate About You
The 13th Warrior
Fantasia 2000
Election
A Walk on the Moon
Payback
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
The Mummy
Entrapment
Man on the Moon
8mm
All About My Mother
Mystery Men
Jawbreaker
Gloria
Never Been Kissed

Highest-grossing films of 1999


1. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
2. The Sixth Sense
3. Toy Story 2
4. The Matrix
5. Tarzan
6. The Mummy
7. Notting Hill
8. The World Is Not Enough
9. American Beauty
10. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

[imsounoriginal]

2007 > 1999. 2002 is also close. But yeah, all three are excellent years, easily the best of my lifetime.

My 1999 Top 5 would be: American Beauty, The Insider, Fight Club, The Matrix, and Toy Story 2.

[chris_sc77]

Definitely the best year in film history .
Not even debatable.
My favorite film of all time is Magnolia . fight club is another top favorite.
Other excellent films I love : The Insider, Titus, Three kings, Matrix , Dogma, Summer of Sam, Any Given Sunday , Ravenous, south park, Sleepy Hollow, Rushmore, and the Green Mile.
This was the year that truly made me love and appreciate cinema.

[Nuck Horris]

1999 was pretty weak... A bunch of those movies you listed were from 98.

My favorites from that year:

Fight Club
Eyes Wide Shut
The Ninth Gate
Existenz
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Titus
Sleepy Hollow
Being John Malkovich

[Iamspartacus]

This was a good year for sure. I'll say:

1. American Beauty
2. Magnolia
3. Office Space
4. Eyes Wide Shut
5. Go

[imsounoriginal]

There's an embarrassing number of movies listed in the OP that I still haven't seen

[Mrdamron]

1. Fight Club
2. Magnolia
3. American Beauty
4. Rushmore
5. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
6. Three Kings
7. Being John Malkovich
8. The Cider House Rules
9. The Thin Red Line
10. Payback
11. Office Space
12. Galaxy Quest
13. Girl, Interrupted
14. 10 Things I Hate About You
15. Boys Don't Cry
16. Notting Hill
17. The Talented Mr. Ripley
18. The Hurricane
19. The Sixth Sense
20. The Matrix

[MrBlonde]

Originally Posted by chris_sc77

My favorite film of all time is Magnolia.

We share the same favorite...how did I not know this?

[zorbonaut]

Originally Posted by Nuck Horris

1999 was pretty weak... A bunch of those movies you listed were from 98.

My favorites from that year:

Fight Club
Eyes Wide Shut
The Ninth Gate
Existenz
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Titus
Sleepy Hollow
Being John Malkovich

What films did you see from 1998 so I can remove. I pulled list from imdb list of films released in U.S. 1999 and cross referenced on Wikipedia with release dates.

[cinemaphile]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

2007 > 1999. 2002 is also close. But yeah, all three are excellent years, easily the best of my lifetime.

really? I had a hard time even coming up with a Top 10 for 2007 or 2002. Pretty weak years for movies, IMO. A few greats and a lot of mediocrity.

But again, that's just from my personal opinion. Different tastes, I guess.

As for 1999, definitely one of the best, along with 1995 (and several 80's years), My exact list is constantly in flux, but looks something like this:

1. Fight Club
2. Matrix
3. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut
4. Thomas Crown Affair
5. Office Space
6. Go
7. American Pie
8. American Beauty
9. Cruel Intentions
10. Toy Story 2
11. Three Kings
12. Iron Giant
13. Galaxy Quest
14. Tarzan (Disney)

[chris_sc77]

Originally Posted by zorbonaut

What films did you see from 1998 so I can remove. I pulled list from imdb list of films released in U.S. 1999 and cross referenced on Wikipedia with release dates.

thin red line is 98

[zorbonaut]

Originally Posted by chris_sc77

thin red line is 98

Wide release on 15 January 1999

Will pull because it technically was released limited in late Dec 1998- Thanks

[MrBlonde]

My favorites of 1999 (somewhat ordered)

Magnolia
Eyes Wide Shut
Being John Malkovich
The Virgin Suicides
Boys Don't Cry
South Park
Go

[Britbuffguy]

That was a pretty magical year....the year I got a job AT a movie theater!!!

Blair Witch and Sixth Sense were huge that summer. Star Wars was a let down. Matrix was huge. I remember despite Austin Powers being more a dud, the 2nd one was a huge hit.

Galaxy Quest.

A many good teen films that year like She's All That, 10 Things I Hate About You, Cruel Intentions, Election, American Pie, Never Been Kissed, Varsity Blues, Drive Me Crazy, Detroit Rock City, Teaching Mrs. Tingle

Green Mile and Magnolia and the super underrated Deuce Bigalow!!!

[MrBlonde]

Rushmore is from 1998 as well.

[zorbonaut]

Originally Posted by MrBlonde

Rushmore is from 1998 as well.

Thank you- had release date of USA 19 February 1999 but was released in NY only in Dec of 1998. Will remove from my list.

[CZAR]

I dont think 99 was the best year for films but my top 10 personally:

1. Life
2. The Sixth Sense
3. The Green Mile
4. Double Jeopardy
5. American Beauty
6. American Pie
7. Fight Club
8. The Wood
9. Entrapment
10. Blue Streak

It was actually a pretty damn good year when looking back. Got Em!!

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

I hadn't realized 1999 was so good. I absolutely love some of the movies listed like Life, Galaxy Quest, Fight Club, 10 Things I Hate About You. Very good year when thinking about it.

[zorbonaut]

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

I hadn't realized 1999 was so good. I absolutely love some of the movies listed like Life, Galaxy Quest, Fight Club, 10 Things I Hate About You. Very good year when thinking about it.

Here is an interesting article about the year (excerpt):

So many influential titles came out in 1999: Fight Club, The Matrix, American Beauty, Run Lola Run (1999 us release), Go, Boys Don't Cry, The Sixth Sense, American Pie, Three Kings, Election, Being John Malkovich, Magnolia, The Blair Witch Project, and Office Space, to name a handful. What all these films have in common is the craftsmanship of fresh, talented directors who left traditional filmmaking behind to tinker with newfangled narratives and effects.

In November of 1999, Entertainment Weekly published an article by Jeff Gordinier stating, "Someday, 1999 will be etched on a microchip as the first real year of 21st-century filmmaking. The year when all the old, boring rules about cinema started to crumble." Boy, was he right.

Tom Tykwer, the director of German film Run Lola Run, says in the piece, "You are seeing films that are so perfect you don't even connect to them anymore. A film like Malkovich is an invitation to do something completely different. Even The Matrix, because it still serves all of our traditional desires in cinema, but it plays with your mind in a very strange way. Ten years ago, I don't think people would have even been ready for it."

We are in many ways worse off now than we were 15 years ago as a culture. We seem to have run out of original ideas. On the list of top-grossing 1999 films in the U.S., there isn't a single superhero film, and most of the films are from original scripts, not established source material. The Matrix, which created "bullet time" special effects, influenced films like Inception, and rebooted existential sci-fi films, was made from a completely original script, not a comic book. The Sixth Sense, the second-highest grossing film of 1999, was an authentic concept that gave a new life to twist endings.

Of all the filmmakers who made ripples in the Class of '99, only Malkovich's Spike Jonze still really makes avant-garde-ish films. Her won him a Best Screenplay Oscar this year for its spot-on depiction of how lonely our lives have become. That's not to say there's been a complete dearth of originality in the past decade, but most films, at least studio films, don't speak to our current state like the films of 1999 did.

Full article below:

http://www.esquire.com/entertainment...3/1999-movies/

[jbloggs]

1. The Matrix
2. Galaxy Quest
3. Toy Story 2
4. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
5. Austin Powers
6. The Iron Giant
7. Green Mile
8. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut
9. The Sixth Sense
10. The Mummy