A look back on 1999
Jul 24 '05
The Bottom Line One of the most memorable years for movies, I miss every minute of it.
Chad’z 1999 Year-in-review thing
Oh great, another year has expired already. This should have been the best year for me and my web page, but it really wasn’t. I started out the year without writing much reviews, until about May. That’s because I was already on something of a hiatus since October of 1998 when I started getting swamped with work at my job as a newspaper reporter. Not surprisingly, when I got fired from there in May the reviews started flowing again.
I’m not going to write some really long essay about the most memorable moments of the year - read Entertainment Weekly for that stuff. Instead, I’ll just give you a quick run-down on 1999 as I saw it.... and of course my best and worst lists for the year.
And just a short disclaimer here, most of what I’m talking about in this essay is about movies I saw, not movies in general. There was a lot of big deal films I didn’t see this year (and/or saw but didn’t review... we’ll get to that later).
I reviewed a whopping 19 movies this year - a new low for me I think. The average rating came out to be about 2.94 stars - that’s definitely a good ranking, a winning season if you will (a list of all the films I reviewed and rated follows this essay).
And now, what you’ve all been waiting for....
The Best of 1999
1. Go
Every year I always pick an unusual film for my best of the year winner and 1999 was no exception. To me, “Go” wins the triple crown: best movie of the year, best soundtrack of the year and best DVD of the year.
Oh yes, I mean every single word I’ve said so far, let’s analyze it shall we? It’s been over five years since the release of “Pulp Fiction” and no one has been able to come close, let alone match its originality, intensity, excitement and just the sheer fun of going to the movies as “Go” has. Of course many cynics called it a “PF” rip-off but I don’t see it as being such. What separates this film from the other copycats is its charm. It has something to it that I can’t put my finger on. Is it the ultra-hipness to it? The adrenaline-pumping directing and cinematography? The wickedly smart and clever screenplay that plays tricks on you and makes you laugh? The outstanding acting to make it all work?
The answer is D) All of the above.
“Go” also gets a lot of credit in my book for its killer soundtrack, a mixture of some great rave/techno/hip-hop/modern rock, all wrapped up in a nice package with a ton of energy... and bass. I’ve played this CD in my car all summer and never got sick of it. My personal favorite song is “Good To Be Alive” by D.J. Rap. That should have been the title to the film (maybe it was and they shortened it to just the first two letters of the sentence?)
And special mention goes to the people behind the “Go” DVD who did a tremendous job in translating it to the small screen. My copy is crystal clear, bristling with color and doesn’t sell the sound short either. The extras are way cool too: three music videos from the soundtrack, 14 outtakes, a running commentary by director Doug Liman and his editor.
I didn’t think Liman would be able to top “Swingers,” one of my favorite films of all time, so I can only imagine what levels he’ll ascend to with his next project.
2. The Blair Witch Project
I THOUGHT I’d seen some scary movies before, but then came “Blair Witch” to just totally blow my mind and change my whole concept of what fear really is.
This movie, it success and the whole impact it has had on the movie industry is really nothing short of miraculous. But the fact remains that “TBWP” isn’t just a good movie under the circumstances it was made, it’s one of the most novel ideas in film history.
Firstly, it exploits the fact that we’ve become complete voyeurs throughout the 1990s thanks to all those TV shows about “totally real! totally shocking!” home videos (and the funny ones too). Would this movie have worked at all had it been shot on film with big-name actors reciting lines?
Secondly, it’s not just a bunch of kids putting together a b-movie for the hell of it, their hearts are totally committed to this project. You can hear the fear in their voices as things go from bad to worse. You can relate to being lost in the woods because they go through the same human suffering any of us would. Wouldn’t you start to lose it after being without food and communications for eight days? Starving to death in the middle of the woods is much more relatable than being eaten by a big slimy monster.
And lastly, the movie plays to the fear that all of us have in common: fear of the unknown. What you can’t see, what you don’t know about, what you can’t stop from happening is a subconscious fear we all have - it’s part of our human nature. And in just 82 short minutes that fear, the one we never want to deal with, is exorcised.
3. The Matrix
Alright! It’s about time Hollywood gave us a cool sci-fi, action movie that we can have fun with!
What makes “The Matrix” such a success is its basic story - a retelling of the Bible! That someone would have the gall to try to pull this one off, let alone make an amazingly fun and interesting movie without blasphemy, is incredible.
The film has everything a good movie should - a deep backstory with echoes to the real world and a healthy dose of action and special effects that complement the screenplay, not overshadow it.
The DVD release of the film is also a gem, probably one of the best discs released to date.
4. American Pie
I didn’t want to see this movie for fear of being another teenage b-movie that uses crude jokes and rampant sex to somehow create a story to last for 90 minutes. To my amazement “American Pie” pretty much fit that definition to a T, but had a quaint charm to it that makes it almost an anthem of sorts for GenX and GenY-ers.
Yes, a lot of kids do have sex in this film, but for once, there’s actually a story behind it all. Unlike all those other teen flicks and TV shows about make-out parties (that aren’t unlike the orgy scene in “Eyes Wide Shut”), this one has some sense of reality to it. The kids aren’t just doing it with random partners, they have boyfriends and girlfriends. Even the popular jock is a virgin and wants to have a relationship more than he wants to get some. All the high school cliques play a role here, and of course a lot of it is through cliches and Hollywood-style catering to the audience, and there’s no serious issues to deal with like STDs or pregnancy. But I didn’t care, it just focused on the lighter side of the issue and has fun with it. We can see all the serious and negative aspects on “Ricki Lake” and 㦀/20.”
5. Dogma
Okay, I didn’t write a review of this film, but I admit I should have. In fact, without a review to back me up, it’s going to be hard to explain in just a few sentences why I think Dogma was such a triumph.
For starters, as much as the Catholic League and every other right-wing religious group will say that this film is another Hollywood blasphemy fest of their religious beliefs, I can honestly tell you it is not. True Hollywood blasphemy is depicting every priest and minister on TV and in the movies as a child-molester or a con artist who puts on a show for “the mindless sheep.”
“Dogma” has none of these qualities. It’s not so much about telling a story about people and their religious beliefs as it is the religion and its doctrine itself. It dares to wonder aloud some of the things we’ve probably thought about in regards to the Bible and the whole Judeo-Christian doctrine.
Kevin Smith, one of my favorite directors, pitches his question through a vastly-detailed, elaborate plot involving two banished angels who think they can get back into Heaven through a loophole in theology. What ensues is a funny romp of Smith’s trademark comedy of so-vulgar-you-don’t-notice-it and an old fashioned fantasy/mythology story involving characters inspired by the J-C doctrine.
6. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
It was wacky, it was zany, it was short on story and big, REALLY BIG, on laughs. I saw five times, laughed every time. And despite what those idiots at Entertainment Weekly said, it’s still as good on video as it was in the theaters. The DVD is also excellent with the extra goodies it contains. If you don’t have a DVD player, this may be the single disc that will make you want one immediately.
Other good stuff worth mentioning:
“Election” had its moments of fun and sass, a bit too cruel though. “Eyes Wide Shut” was shocking and boring at the same time. Not one of Kubrick’s best, but worth seeing.... “Drop Dead Gorgeous” was the funniest bad movie I’ve seen in a long time. On par with “UHF” for stupid, over-the-top campy humor.... And some movie called “The Phantom Menace” was alright, but not nearly as good as the originals it follows, err, precedes, err, whatever.
The worst...
Well, there really wasn’t anything so godawful this year that I feel the need to make a list to go over them individually. I will say that the worst film I saw all year had to be “Varsity Blues.” Ugh, a crappy b-movie aimed at teens about jocks who excel in football and hate their coach, have girl problems, and basically get to do whatever the hell they want. To think that Jon Voight was even in this is a shame. This movie is offensive.... “The Story Of Us” was equally bad, just about two straight hours of Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfieffer arguing with each other. I wanted them to get their divorce ten minutes in to the show. In my own defense, I have to say that I didn’t want to see either of these films, but saw them because there was nothing else playing at the time and I was with a girl.
“Wild Wild West” was so bad it was really bad. I gave it a respectable two stars, but after thinking about it more, it probably deserves one at the most. I’m sure this is on every other critic’s worst of 1999 list so I’ll move on... Adam Sandler’s latest “Big Daddy” was the first of his films I actually didn’t like. I’m a secret Sandler fan from back in the days of “Billy Madison,” but here he has nothing to work with. His zany antics just don’t work when he’s being hampered by a little kid.
Most over-rated movies of the year:
1. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut
Love the show, didn’t love the movie. There’s a limit every fan of humor to the extreme can take and this film crosses that limit by leaps and bounds. Obscenity can be funny, but this was good for a few chuckles here and there and then just became exhausting. Don’t kid yourself, this isn’t a smart political satire, it’s just two guys giving the finger to the MPAA.
2. American Beauty
Umm... no. That’s the reaction I had after seeing this movie. No, life in American suburbs is nothing like this, and if it was, we’d be blowing each other’s heads off every day.
The film is melodramatic, unrealistic and unbelievable. Its first mistake is to tell you right from the beginning that the main character dies in the end. There goes any sense of mystery it might have had. But basically, the film fails for trying to cram so many plotlines and major events into just one story. There’s enough material here for an entire run of a TV drama, where this would have worked well (check out “Get Real” on Fox for a good example of this), here it’s just overloaded. Not a bad movie, just not a good one.
Movies I saw but didn’t write reviews for:
Payback, Entrapment, Varsity Blues, Life Is Beautiful, Elizabeth, The Thin Red Line, Trekkies, Shakespeare In Love, Big Daddy, Mystery Men, Bowfinger, The Sixth Sense, The Muse, Stir Of Echoes, Mystery Alaska, Three Kings, American Beauty, Dogma, Toy Story 2, The World Is Not Enough, Being John Malkovich. To see what I would’ve rated these movies, e-mail me.
Movies I wanted to see, but didn’t:
Man On The Moon, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Fight Club, Boys Don’t Cry, Topsy-Turvy, The Insider, Bringing Out The Dead, The Bone Collector, Sleepy Hollow, End Of Days, The Green Mile.
In conclusion:
Last year I wrote a big long rant on my predictions for the film business and the good and bad trends I saw. This year I’m not going to do that because I’m pretty much quitting the film critic business. I’ve already resigned from the OFCS. And despite the fact most people who voted on my online poll said they were in favor of me still writing reviews, I feel I can no longer do it in any sort of timely manner. I don’t have the time, the means nor the sheer willpower to see movies and write critical reviews of them. Is it laziness? Maybe. Is it burnout? Possibly. Is this all just a phase? I hope so.
I’ve already listed many reasons on my web page why I thought about quitting the web page and being a film critic, so I’m not going to repeat them here. But just to sum it all up, I’m too busy with my job to go to the movies, and too stressed out to concentrate on writing thoughtful reviews. I’d rather not write reviews at all than write poor-quality reviews (I think this whole essay is a good example of that).
I’ve had a lot of fun at this and I hope to be able to get back into again someday, but that could be a ways off.
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Chad9976
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Member: Chad Polenz
Location: Albany, New York
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