This is hardly an original idea on my part - KC's post over at Stale Popcorn about 2001's cinema, which he calls "probably [his] favourite film year ever (albeit, of [his] limited experience)" got me thinking about it - but just what is my favorite year at the movies? At least, of the few that I've lived through and experienced?
It's really no contest.
1999 was an amazing year at the movies where at least 13 (and probably more that I just can't think of right now) movies were released that are amongst my all-time faves, or at least one's I revisit often.
I remember EW having an issue dedicated soley to the cinema of this year with a headline of something like - a bit premature in retrospect - The Year That Changed Movies (here's a take on the article here by critic David Poland... ooh, and here's the article from EW itself!)
Indeed, I made my own list of 13 movies that stood out looking through IMDb's list of 1999 movies that in some way were at the very least interesting to me, and at most beloved until the day I die.
It's really no contest.
1999 was an amazing year at the movies where at least 13 (and probably more that I just can't think of right now) movies were released that are amongst my all-time faves, or at least one's I revisit often.
I remember EW having an issue dedicated soley to the cinema of this year with a headline of something like - a bit premature in retrospect - The Year That Changed Movies (here's a take on the article here by critic David Poland... ooh, and here's the article from EW itself!)
Indeed, I made my own list of 13 movies that stood out looking through IMDb's list of 1999 movies that in some way were at the very least interesting to me, and at most beloved until the day I die.
So for the next couple of days I'll be firing up the time machine and seeing what 1999 had in store. I'll probably run through a couple movies a day, maybe more if I'm feeling up to it.
1999 really was such an awesome year for movies that there's no way I could arrange several of them in order of which I love more. In fact, of the 13 movies I want to mention, a full 8 of them are all-time faves.
So these first 3 parts will be, in no specific order, the 8 movies from 1999 that will always hold a cherished place in this film-geek's heart and mind. After that there will be 5 more movies that I appreciate in varying levels.
So I'd been on the David Fincher love-train since Se7en and The Game, and I'm not going to be one of those scary guys who say that Fight Club changed their life or anything, but it's one hell of a mind-fuck, a funny, strange, sick little beast that claws its way into the meat of your cerebrum and doesn't let go til that fucked-up, fuck-the-man-but-wait-no-you're-crazy ending. A heart-stoppingly beautifully-shot murk of a movie with a completely muddled purpose by the end, we all feel a little dirtier by the time Brad Pitt's offering us a Rubbermaid-dishwashing-glove clad hand for us to join in the depravity.
But man, such depravity. Helena Bonham Carter's terrific as the loose-screw faux-femme-fatale ("I haven't been fucked like that since grade school."), and it's one of the few times I really enjoyed Edward Norton onscreen (American History X quite possibly being the only other time). And Brad Pitt's just spectacularly entertaining here.
Plus, Brad AND Jared Leto shirtless (though not together, unfortunately), sweaty, bloodied and hot. I still have trouble believing David Fincher's a straight man.
Another mind-fuck of a movie, this one of a slightly less (only slightly) nihilistic bent, that introduced those of us not watching MTV to one of today's most interesting directors and to possibly the greatest living screenwriter - put them together and you've got cinematic magic (Really! They've managed it twice!).
With a cast that's just having a ball (not to mention a role that finally gave the brilliant Catherine Keener some attention), BJM is storytelling wizardry told with the lightest of touches, so it takes a little bit of time for you to even realize what a weird world you've entered.
This is, obviously, one of those movies that either works for you or it doesn't. I know plenty of people that can't watch it just because they get motion-sick from the camera-work, and plenty of others who find it silly and not scary in the slightest.
It has always worked for me. It's one of the few movies I can remember vividly the aftermath of seeing it for the first time (Se7en is also one of these) - there was a torrential summer storm pouring down, thunder and lightning and the whole deal, and I was terrified the lights would go out and I'd look across my room and see someone standing in the corner facing away.
Much has been said about all aspects of the film, especially the fact that you don't ever see anything especially horrific - no blood, no real violence - just some twigs and a lot of darkness and screaming. But the claustrophobia of it gets me every time; the way the darkness slowly closes in on the three "filmmakers", the sweaty walls inside their tent, their panting and gasping runs through the nighttime woods, and those horrible children's handprints on the walls of the house at the end. I revisit the film every couple of years and it never stops scaring the shit out of me.
COMING UP NEXT: Two films that give me Ecstacy-flashbacks
(hey, I was a Junior in college in '99) every time I watch them.
///
So these first 3 parts will be, in no specific order, the 8 movies from 1999 that will always hold a cherished place in this film-geek's heart and mind. After that there will be 5 more movies that I appreciate in varying levels.
------
So I'd been on the David Fincher love-train since Se7en and The Game, and I'm not going to be one of those scary guys who say that Fight Club changed their life or anything, but it's one hell of a mind-fuck, a funny, strange, sick little beast that claws its way into the meat of your cerebrum and doesn't let go til that fucked-up, fuck-the-man-but-wait-no-you're-crazy ending. A heart-stoppingly beautifully-shot murk of a movie with a completely muddled purpose by the end, we all feel a little dirtier by the time Brad Pitt's offering us a Rubbermaid-dishwashing-glove clad hand for us to join in the depravity.
But man, such depravity. Helena Bonham Carter's terrific as the loose-screw faux-femme-fatale ("I haven't been fucked like that since grade school."), and it's one of the few times I really enjoyed Edward Norton onscreen (American History X quite possibly being the only other time). And Brad Pitt's just spectacularly entertaining here.
Plus, Brad AND Jared Leto shirtless (though not together, unfortunately), sweaty, bloodied and hot. I still have trouble believing David Fincher's a straight man.
------
Another mind-fuck of a movie, this one of a slightly less (only slightly) nihilistic bent, that introduced those of us not watching MTV to one of today's most interesting directors and to possibly the greatest living screenwriter - put them together and you've got cinematic magic (Really! They've managed it twice!).
With a cast that's just having a ball (not to mention a role that finally gave the brilliant Catherine Keener some attention), BJM is storytelling wizardry told with the lightest of touches, so it takes a little bit of time for you to even realize what a weird world you've entered.
------
This is, obviously, one of those movies that either works for you or it doesn't. I know plenty of people that can't watch it just because they get motion-sick from the camera-work, and plenty of others who find it silly and not scary in the slightest.
It has always worked for me. It's one of the few movies I can remember vividly the aftermath of seeing it for the first time (Se7en is also one of these) - there was a torrential summer storm pouring down, thunder and lightning and the whole deal, and I was terrified the lights would go out and I'd look across my room and see someone standing in the corner facing away.
Much has been said about all aspects of the film, especially the fact that you don't ever see anything especially horrific - no blood, no real violence - just some twigs and a lot of darkness and screaming. But the claustrophobia of it gets me every time; the way the darkness slowly closes in on the three "filmmakers", the sweaty walls inside their tent, their panting and gasping runs through the nighttime woods, and those horrible children's handprints on the walls of the house at the end. I revisit the film every couple of years and it never stops scaring the shit out of me.
------
COMING UP NEXT: Two films that give me Ecstacy-flashbacks
(hey, I was a Junior in college in '99) every time I watch them.
Posts
2 comments:
1. I sort've really don't like Fight Club at all. Mostly because everyone loved it and then I saw it and I didn't understand what was so great (same goes for Almost Famous - I link those two films all the time. WHAT. IS. SO. GREAT. ???) Well, you just said what you liked, but whatever.
2. Being John Malkovich is such a great ingenius film. Repeat - Charlie Kaufman is a genius.
3. Simply put, in my mind, The Blair Witch Project is the scariest movie I have ever seen. Scenes from that movie haunt me, no kidding. Every single time I watch it (more than I care to admit, actually) it just continues to scare me. And that ending is definitely one of the greatest ever, non?
I've heard of you people who don't like Fight Club... the first rule of Fight Club is you like Fight Club!
Kidding, kidding, I can understand not liking the movie, it's all ugly surface, not a lot of substance, it pretends to be profound but it's actually pretty dumb... but I still love it. Love what everyone's doing, love how it looks, sounds, every note it hits... I don't buy it has a clue what it's saying, really, but I just love the ride anyway.
And I'm glad I've found another Blair Witch defender. I got so tired of people dissing it because it made so much money and seemed to swallow all entertainment for a summer. That's a damned scary small flick. Lightning in a bottle.
Post a Comment