Top Fifteen: Movies of 1999

I graduated in 1999 and I swear some of the best movies came out that year. This list is my favorite movies from that year, not the movies that I think are the best from a film perspective.

You will notice two very odd omissions to this list: Toy Story 2 and The Iron Giant. Honestly, I think I saw The Iron Giant, but I am not certain. If I did, I do not remember it, aside from what I have read or clips I have seen later in life. I also just watched Toy Story 2 in the past year or so. When I watched it with Payton, I realized I never actually saw it. Great movie, but I just cannot count it in this list. 

We shall start with some honorable mentions…

Blast From the Past
I love this movie. Brendan Frasier is a guy who lived his entire life in a bomb shelter with his mom and dad. He comes to Los Angeles to find there was no nuclear war and he meets Alicia Silverstone. I love fish-out-of-water comedies and this one has some great scenes (everyone being so shocked by Adam’s polite manners). It is a silly premise, but an enjoyable movie. And, Alicia Silverstone was one of those celebrity crushes for me in the late 90s. 

Cruel Intentions
We all know this movie. I have seen it probably fifty times. I wonder if it holds up now? This was the movie that if you had a girlfriend, she was totally making you watch it and it would not disappoint because you get Sarah Michelle Gellar in a very hot, completely not Buffy role. I always enjoy the love story between Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon (was this one of her big breakout roles?). 

15. The Mummy
Another Brendan Frasier movie! This has to be one of the most fun mummy movies ever made. The effects were decent for the time and Frasier is funny and still convincing as an action hero. This movie also has one of the funniest scenes ever…

14. Galaxy Quest
This movie looks like it should be stupid, but it ends up being a pretty funny and actually good sci-fi movie. The premise is that the cast of a sci-fi TV show is picked up by real aliens to save them from another group of aliens. It looks like it could be mocking Star Trek, but it actually does a great job of paying homage, while at the same time being a parody.

13. Magnolia
If I was doing a list of the best movies of 1999, this Paul Thomas Anderson movie would have to be in the top five. I love how all of these random characters and stories end up being tied together. And the performances of the entire cast is top notch. Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly, Julianne Moore, and so many others are just fantastic. 

12. American Beauty
I know we are all supposed to hate Kevin Spacey now and probably shit on this movie, but whatever…I still enjoy it. It is funny that so many of the movies from 1999 had a theme about leading a meaningful life. 

11. 10 Things I Hate About You
Yes, this movie is just a teen retelling of The Taming of the Shrew, but I do not care. It is such a good movie. I love Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles and her little speech at the end always brings a tear to my eye.

10. Varsity Blues
Is there a better movie about Texas high school football? I mention this movie, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Puke ‘n rally? Whip cream bikini? Crazy high school party where players steal a cop car? Teacher stripping? Making a coach quit at halftime? I mean seriously, this movie has it all. And it has Dawson!

9. Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Are you ready for a crazy fact? I saw this in the theater thirteen times. I loved it when it came out. I was blinded to any of the faults because I was a complete Star Wars fanboy. It was not until about a year later when I finally saw it again on DVD and I was like “ughhh, so much of this is stupid.” However, the fight scene at the end is one of the greatest in the Star Wars cinematic universe (I have spoken before about my love of “Duel of the Fates”) and the podrace is still exciting. Jar Jar Binks still sucks.

8. Go
This movie is fantastic. Seriously, it is like the Pulp Fiction of teen drug movies. It has a disjointed narrative, which centers around a few characters and how they want to get drugs for a rave (or go to Vegas for a quick trip with their friends). Also, it has Timothy Olyphant as a drug dealer who makes out with Katie Holmes.

7. Dogma
The Kevin Smith film that takes on the Catholic Church. So many great characters: Chris Rock as Rufus the Black Apostle, George Carlin as a Cardinal, Alan Rickman as Metatron, Jason Lee as a fuckin’ demon, Salma Hayak, as well as Ben Affleck & Matt Damon as angels. Oh, and naturally Jay & Silent Bob. Oh and it gets better…Alanis Morrisette is God. 

6. Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
Okay, technically the Guy Ritchie film was released in 1998, but I think it was late in the year and probably reached here in 1999 (Rotten Tomatoes counts it as a 1999 film, so cool). There are so many twists and turns in this heist story, but it is so much fun. 

5. The Green Mile
This movie always gets me. John Coffey’s death hits pretty hard. I think what gets me even more is Tom Hanks explaining to the woman at the end that maybe his long life is punishment. And then later when we see him at her funeral and he is wondering how much longer he has to go…ugh, the curse of immortality. 

4. The Sixth Sense
“I see dead people.” Yeah, we all make fun of the line and use it as a meme, but do you remember when this came out? It blew everyone’s mind. It was something people talked about with random strangers “hey, have you seen Sixth Sense? What did you think? Crazy, right???” I feel like it had to be one a movie with the most immediate rewatches. People watched it, then wanted to watch it again to see if they could find mistakes or clues. 

3. Office Space
This has to be one of my most often quoted films. Any Milton lines are gold (I like to use the “the  ratio of people to cake is to big” whenever I get a chance), the O-Face, the Bobs “well just a second there professor, we fixed the glitch”, “I deal with the god damn customers…” I mean seriously, everything about the movie is perfect. 

2. The Matrix
A quick story about the first time I watched this movie. I was home from college and I think my brother and I rented it. We started it really late and we were both dozing off at the beginning, then came the scene where Neo is offered the pill and we see him leaving the Matrix (the sound of the old modem was enough to jar to full attention) and we actually decided to start the movie over because we both missed a few parts. From there on we were wide awake and the next day we watched it again. I think I went to the store immediately after to buy it.

Anyways, this is one of my favorite movies and I think I have written a few times about my love for the entire trilogy. The first one though, it just blows you away. The action scene at the end, storming the building with the guns…probably one of the greatest scenes ever. 

1. Fight Club
This movie is definitely in my top five all-time. Another quick story…I remember seeing the preview for this every time I went to Star Wars. I thought it looked stupid. Adam and I rented it one night and as soon as it was over, we were both like “what????” and we decided to watch it again. Yeah, I think everyone who saw that movie back then was blown away at the reveal that Tyler Durden was a figment of the Narrator’s imagination. After this movie and The Sixth Sense, most of us never trusted a movie again…I watch movies and suspect everything, haha.

I always love how people miss the point of this movie. Aside from the meatheads who think it is all about fighting and being tough, there are also people who think that when Tyler says “you are not your fuckin’ khakis” that he means wearing khakis makes you a loser. He is saying that you should not define yourself by your clothes, your car, your job, etc. I think the more important line he says is “the things you own end up owning you.”

Those are my favorite movies from 1999…how did I do?