1999 was such a formative year for many. I was sixteen and experiencing new hobbies, and learning to love movies. And the internet was still in its infancy, transforming in to a fascinating but still mysterious technology. 1999 had much to offer in the way of the film world with studios releasing so many interesting and great films. With the 25 year marked in 2024, I spotlighted five of the best films I saw in 1999.
5. Eyes Wide Shut
Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick’s final film has remained a constant source of fascination for me since it was initially released in theaters. Without all the tabloid hullabaloo, “Eyes Wide Shut” is a great dramatic thriller filled with so many inexplicable set pieces and an array of solid performances. Tom Cruise on a night out involves close calls with various women, one of whom is later revealed to have a terminal sexual disease, another is an underage escort, and the other a masked woman in a top secret sex club. “Eyes Wide Shut” is beautifully filmed, and tops off with a final scene that I still am enamored with to this day.
4. The Matrix
Directed by: The Wachowskis
Once upon a time “The Matrix” was an aspect of pop culture that was everywhere. It dominated the cultural landscape and about two years of the early internet age. Everyone at one time had a screensaver, wallpaper, font, or fan picture of “The Matrix” floating numbers and black and green scheme. The film still holds up as a remarkable, exciting, and unique hybrid of complex existential and philosophical ideas, and wonderful action and martial arts. It’s science fiction, it is action, it is a dystopian apocalypse, and it’s a perfect time capsule that captured a big shift from the twentieth to the twenty first century. It hit at just the right time and was never quite capable of reclaiming the same momentum ever again.
3. Office Space
Directed by: Mike Judge
Mike Judge is brilliant in tapping In to what makes humans tick and satirizing the minutiae of everyday life to comedic proportions. Judge perfected cringe comedy by amplifying human quirks, and he is brilliant in his madness. While creating “Beavis and Butthead” he brought the hilarious, clever, often intelligent office place comedy. Starring Ron Livingston, “Office Space” remains a timeless satire in spite of the period it was released. It teeming with top tier comedy performances, some excellent writing and so many quotable scenes that it’s impossible to pick a favorite.
2. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
Directed by: George Lucas
The long anticipated, eagerly awaited origin of Darth Vader was an event film for the ages. Everything “Star Wars” touched turned to gold, and “The Phantom Menace” is an elaborate movie sometimes too concerned with propping up future events. Nevertheless, it still a fun return to the universe packed with some fun action sequences, dynamic new characters, a great sense of adventure, and arguably the greatest lightsaber fight put to film. Arguably. Many fans continue to argue this concept to this day and it’s hard to disagree with them once Darth Maul enters the film.
1. The Iron Giant
Directed by: Brad Bird
Written By: Brad Bird
Starring: Vin Diesel, Harry Connick Jr., Christopher McDonald, Jennifer Aniston
Warner Bros. Pictures
Director Brad Bird’s animated adventure is an accomplishment and a marvel of a film. Mixing computer animation and traditional animation, “The Iron Giant” is teeming with talent. From the style, to the aesthetic, to the writing, right down to the wonderful voice cast. I originally this when it debuted on the classic huge clam shell VHS, and it kept me glued to the screen from beginning to end.
“The Iron Giant” is a Cold War era fantasy in the tradition of Amblin where a lonely child and a strange visitor manage to build a huge friendship, as well as learn something from each other. While that kind of premise seems ripe to fail out the gate, but director Bird allows everything to feel fresh and new. Bird packs in a great cast, all of whom supply a collective of flawless performances including Harry Connick Jr., Christopher McDonald, and Vin Diesel, respectively. It’s not only a flawless kids film but a flawless example of the capabilities of the animated medium.