I graduated from high school and started college in 1999. In the midst
of my busy year, I managed to see a few movies. I'm surprised at how few
movies from the year I've seen in the decade since, but I think I got
around to seeing most of the ones I was really interested in, and a
couple of my favorites of 1999 would easily make it onto my best of the
decade list.
October Sky - This movie, based on a true
story, introduced me to Jake Gyllenhaal, and it's probably my favorite
of his roles so far. Here, he's earnest young Homer Hickam, who dreams
of building a rocket, despite the disapproval of his no-nonsense dad,
played by Chris Cooper. It's a great family film about overcoming
obstacles to achieve one's dreams.
Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace
- Yes, Jake Lloyd was pretty annoying as mini-Anakin, and some of the
dialogue was just silly. But I felt like a true dyed-in-the-wool Star Wars
geek when I went to the midnight premiere with my dad and brother in
the last month of my senior year, and it sure was fun to see my fellow
geeks crawl out of the woodwork and announce themselves just before we
parted ways. I loved the light-hearted feel of this movie, the gorgeous
seascapes, the exciting pod race, the return of old friends like R2-D2,
C-3PO and Yoda and new faces like the lovely Natalie Portman, brooding
Ewan McGregor and contemplative Liam Neeson. It was a really terrific
movie experience. And Weird Al's fantastic American Pie parody, The Saga Begins, makes me even more favorably inclined toward it.
Tarzan
- One of the few major animated Disney features of my lifetime that I
didn't catch in the theater, this story of a young man raised by
gorillas has elements in common with The Jungle Book, but in this
case the civilized join the jungle instead of the other way around.
Though I find Jane rather irritating, I love her relationship with her
dad, which is reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast.
The animation is great, and while I tend to prefer character-oriented
songs in Disney musicals, the more background-ish songs Phil Collins
provides for the movie are terrific, and I always smile when I hear one
of them on the radio.
Muppets From Space - As Muppet
movies go, this one is a little strange, and somewhat controversial
among fans for the unconventional backstory it creates for Gonzo. There
are a lot of characters and subplots, and there's not much of an
opportunity for the Muppets to demonstrate their musical genius. But
it's always fun to hang out with the Muppets, and I know I had a great
time when we saw this in the theater. Along with the established
characters, I loved the crotchety antagonist played by Jeffrey Tambor as
well as the burly bear who serves as his reluctant henchman.
Angela's Ashes
- Somehow, I never did read the Frank McCourt memoir upon which this
movie is based, but after finally seeing the film a couple years ago, I
was reassured that I really need to do that sometime. The movie tells
the gritty but inspiring tale of the author's impoverished youth in
Ireland and how he escaped his dire circumstances to pursue a teaching
career in America. We watched it on St. Patrick's Day, but it's
definitely worth a look any time of year.
Pokemon: The First Movie
- It's not exactly superior cinema, but I recall this one fondly as an
icon of my time with my brother Nathan that year. I was a bit befuddled
when he first became obsessed with the Japanese series that was taking
America by storm, but he soon got me hooked, and we spent many an
afternoon watching the cartoon together. Eventually, he and our neighbor
also taught me how to play the rather involved card game, which led to
me spending way too much money on supplementary packs whenever we went
to the mall. I was a full-fledged fan by the time the two of us saw the
movie in the theater, and I reveled in both the cheesiness of the
dialogue, especially on the part of demi-villains Jesse, James and
Meowth, and the touching message of brotherhood that it espoused. And
adorable, electrically charged Pikachu. Sooo much Pikachu...
Toy Story 2
- I tend to be a little suspicious of sequels, especially those put out
by Disney. A lot of them aren't really up to snuff. But this fantastic
film by Pixar was every bit as good as the first buddy flick that so
dramatically introduced computer animation to much of the populace. The
first was about two very different characters overcoming jealousy and
learning to work together. The second has more to do with the fear of
obsolescence and dealing with the changes that come with the passing of
time. It's both darker and funnier than the first, and the animation
quality is even better.
Galaxy Quest - As a lifelong Star Trek
enthusiast, I just loved this film that spoofs everything about the
show and especially its fandom. Tim Allen is hilarious as the
egotistical actor who played the captain on the Trek-like show a number
of years earlier. He and his castmates now subject themselves to
conventions and other rather degrading events, since they can't find
work anywhere else. Though they're all sick of these roles, they find
themselves having to do the acting jobs of their lives when a group of
peaceful extraterrestrials welcomes them aboard their ship, seeking aid
from the heroes whose adventures they have studied so carefully,
believing them to be "historical documents." There's a constant battery
of jokes aimed at those who have grown up with Star Trek, so it's
ideal for Trekkies who don't take themselves too seriously. Great
performances all around, especially the fantastically dry Alan Rickman
as the world-weary Shakespearean actor who hates being reduced to a
catch-phrase.
The Green Mile
- One of my two favorite films of the year. I wanted to see it when it
first came out, but it took me a couple of years, in part because the
length and Stephen King scared me off. I've come to consider myself
quite a fan of King, but I usually can't stomach his stories; I don't do
horror as a rule, and King is king in that genre. But The Green Mile
hardly qualifies. Yes, there are elements of both the violent and the
supernatural here, but mostly it's a contemplative and deeply moral
film. Tom Hanks stars as the warden of death row in a southern prison.
He and his fellow guards are calm and fair, treating their prisoners
with dignity, with the result that they have few problems among their
prisoners. But the arrival of a psychopathic prisoner, a sadistic guard
and a meek alleged murderer named John Coffee who, despite his enormous
size, doesn't seem capable of harming a fly, mark a season of great
change for these guards. Moving and thought-provoking with an excellent
cast, it's an outstanding film, and after reading the book, I can say
that it's one of the most faithful adaptations of a novel that I've
seen.
The Sixth Sense - As much as I loved The Green Mile,
I wasn't entirely surprised; I'd heard that it wasn't really a horror
movie, and I knew that King had written things before that weren't
entirely terrifying. But all I had to go on with The Sixth Sense
at the time I saw it were trailers that were designed to make it look as
creepy as possible. I watched it under duress, planning to bury my head
behind my popcorn for most of the movie. But gradually, I found myself
drawn in, and by the end of the movie I realized that this hadn't been a
horror movie at all. A thriller, yes, but that's an important
distinction. I loved the twist ending, the compassionate solution to
Cole's problem, the touching relationship between Cole and his mother.
But mostly, I loved Haley Joel Osment. I'd seen him before, in Forrest Gump,
but I didn't realize it at the time, and anyway his part in that movie
was too small to make much of an impression on me. But boy, is he
amazing in this movie! With this film, he hooked me for life. Which
makes it very distressing that he hasn't been in a movie in several
years...
One of these days I'll rent a batch of movies from 1999
and see if my list needs to change a little, but for now, I'm quite
content with these selections, especially the last two, which haven't
lost any of their luster in the past decade.
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