1999 Year in Review

I wouldn't have the audacity to try and do a decade in review, only because my foray into deep interest in movies was so relatively recent (1995); but certainly the events of 1999 are worthy of summarizing! But what a strange year, after such an Oscar race last year.

What I notice most, going back over my list from 1999, is how many "important" films were just plain boring or unwatchable or underwhelming, while many lighter, more entertaining films (the kinds that never get nominated for Oscars) were just plain old better. There are exceptions on both sides of the fence - American Beauty is both important and awesome; Episode One was neither. But unlike say, last year, which pitted Shakespeare in Love against Life is Beautiful against Saving Private Ryan against Elizabeth against Gods and Monsters - whew! This year, the Oscar contenders are so few, they have had to eliminate a category due to insufficient number of nominees! Oddly enough, the few foreign films aren't heavy, important movies either - the most widely recognizable one of these is Run Lola Run - not a drama, not about the Holocaust or the Plagues or the British/Irish war or anything remotely more serious than $100,000. And it's great!

Some of my favorite movies of 1999 were movies that didn't take themselves seriously at all - and because of it, they eased up on the promotion, eased up on the LIKE THIS MOVIE OR ELSE approach that so many studios have been embracing lately. For example: Lake Placid. Not a brilliant movie, not a fabulous movie, but an extremely entertaining one (like Deep Rising) - silly and not afraid to be so, and therefore much more fun to watch than a laugh-track-deficient Austin Powers sequel or two or three more heinous SNL spinoffs. Movies that were fun for fun's sake, besides silly little Lake Placid, were Muppets From Space, Galaxy Quest (which is layered and hilarious), Never Been Kissed, Mystery Men, Sleepy Hollow, The Best Man, and American Pie. Some of these deserve better mention than just "fun because they didn't take themselves seriously," but I'll get to that.

In contrast, Phantom Menace, Eyes Wide Shut, Wild Wild West, Austin Powers II, The World is Not Enough - unpleasant, terrible films at worst, crashing bores at least, all insulting the audience's intelligence while shoving gags down your throat like it was the Gluttony scene from Seven. Kubrick is dead, long live Kubrick - so since he's dead, you *have* to like this movie, because otherwise you would have wasted a beautiful day in the sunshine. Phantom Menace: It's Star Wars, so it has to be good. The World is Not Enough: It's James Bond, so it has to be good. Austin Powers Redux: It's the exact same jokes you laughed at on video, so it has to be good. Come on! So, while Deuce Bigalow did not qualify for a mention as a pleasant piece of fluff, it at least didn't make me angry - it's only crime was stinking.

The forgotten movies: Happy, Texas. Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human (now available on video). Mansfield Park. Rushmore. Go. Did no one see these movies? It's a shame - I had a great time at all of them. I am amazed Rushmore vanished like it did - too early in the year, I suppose. It's the best of the forgotten movies.

Muppets from Space is great for you Muppet fans out there who felt betrayed by the Muppet Christmas Carol and never came back - give it a shot, it's out on video. Mystery Men - very funny, very silly - amazing cast. American Pie - most of you have probably seen this by now, but if you haven't - run don't walk! Find out why your coworkers keep talking about one time in band camp. The Best Man - great ensemble work, great story, where did this movie go? I loved it! I nominated it for several things in the OFCS nominations. Galaxy Quest - super duper - and the more you know and love the fans who are the Real Fans, the more you will get it and the more you will laugh. It laughs at and loves so many things, and it even turns a fake hero into a real one. Can't lose.

Then of course, are the Really Good Movies (and the ones that are Very Good but Could Have Been Less Off-Putting). Obviously, American Beauty is one. I feel that Sixth Sense is another, as is The Iron Giant and Toy Story 2. How about The Matrix? For my dollar, these movies not only gave me all I could ask for in entertainment, but I want to see them again and again - they have good stories, good characters (OK, the Matrix has OK characters), good tension and buildup, good design, great watching. All but the Matrix give you something to think about without hitting you on the head. The Matrix gave you adreno-thinking but was its own little watershed in terms of what can be done in film. This assessment may shock you.

The Off-Putting Ones are Fight Club, Being John Malkovich, Magnolia, and Man in the Moon for the most part - they were well made, interesting, fascinating, but something was missing. Was it a sense of peace, as in Fight Club or Magnolia? Was it a sense of who the pivotal character is, as in Being John Malkovich or Man in the Moon? Or was it just a need for something less innovative and different? God forbid, right? All worthy of note, and I will be curious to see how these hold up in a year or two.

Cinematographers take note: A lot of movies depended on and/or benefited heavily from fantastic locations, cinematography, and production design, but left audiences feeling left out: Anna and the King (which I liked), Talented Mr. Ripley (which I loathed), The Messenger, 13th Warrior, The Haunting, Wild Wild West and Phantom Menace, In Dreams. Some of these I enjoyed for what they were (such as the 13th Warrior) and some I could not forgive for sucking so badly (I think I have mentioned the ones I mean already). But by Grabthar's hammer, they all looked amazing. Except Ripley was out of focus a lot - what's up with that?

And what about the Blair Witch Project? Certainly it was significant! And it was. Blair Witch did what every student filmmaker dreams of - took an inexpensive little foray into creativity and made it a Hollywood Player. That's been done, of course, before BWP, with El Mariachi and others since then. What BWP did was more insidious and brilliant - the first exclusively web-driven publicity campaign, banking on word of mouth and a creepy Quicktime preview to pack the houses far more effectively than Phantom Menace. So it made a higher per-screen average than the biggest blockbuster film of 1999. So what? It's just box office numbers - how was the movie? BWP was not totally satisfying, it made a lot of people motion sick (I read that), and it was not even all that scary. But you know what? It was **brilliantly** executed, totally committed to its "cinema verit," and it cost, like, ten bucks to make. The Blair Witch has opened doors for the amateurs in ways El Mariachi could not - and whether or not you think about per-screen average, you can bet Hollywood does. And hopefully my dream of the box office actually starting to reward studios for good work or punish them for bad will come true!

Oh and I would like to mention that I saw Galaxy Quest for the second time last night and I laughed at the whole movie all over again, possibly more than I did the first time. It's clear that some mildly objectionable material was cut and dubbed over (a la a TV broadcast of a movie with cursing) so I hope someday to have a chance to see the scenes that were cut.

1999 may have been a thin year for the Oscars, but it was a great year for just pure fun. Which is really all we should ever ask - make me laugh, make me cry, make me think, make me sigh. And don't call me stupid.

Last but not least, my own website, http://www.cinerina.com will be up soon, so keep an eye out for that. I appreciate all my subscribers and I thank you guys for sending me to your friends and coworkers...thank you for your support!

Karina

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These reviews (c) 1999 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to forward but just credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks. (cinerina@flash.net) Check out previous reviews at:
http://www.ofcs.org - the Online Film Critics Society
http://www.hsbr.org/buzz/reviewer/index.html
http://pages.prodigy.net/half/celluloid/index.htm
http://www.capitol-city.com