Movies: How good were 1999 films in hindsight?

[Elvis P]

How good were 1999 films in hindsight?

American Beauty
Blair Witch Project
Boys Don't Cry
Cider House Rules
Election
Eyes Wide Shut
Fight Club
Green Mile
Magnolia
Matrix
Office Space
Phantom Menace
Sixth Sense
Straight Story
Talented Mr. Ripley
Ten Things I Hate About You
The Virgin Suicides

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[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Pretty good.

 

[Satans Hockey]

I hated Blair Witch then and I think it aged even more poorly. Awful, overrated garbage movie that led to a whole genre of really bad found footage movies.

 

[kook10]

I hated Blair Witch then and I think it aged even more poorly. Awful, overrated garbage movie that led to a whole genre of really bad found footage movies.

Did you know it's secret/conceit when you saw it? Not knowing made a big difference in the experience. I was able to get an early screener and thought it was pretty scary. Plus I saw it on a TV and didn't get motion sickness like a lot of people allegedly did in the theater with the shaky-cam style.

 

[kihei]

Blair Witch Project and The Sixth Sense were basically good one trick ponies. Fight Club and Being John Malkovich were somewhat overrated. But The Matrix and American Beauty remain very good movies.

 

[deleted user]

The Sixth Sense was pretty incredible.

 

[zombie kopitar]

#2 is my all time favorite movie; 1, 5, 6 are all iconic classics that have held up, haven't seen 3 & 4

 

[Satans Hockey]

Did you know it's secret/conceit when you saw it? Not knowing made a big difference in the experience. I was able to get an early screener and thought it was pretty scary. Plus I saw it on a TV and didn't get motion sickness like a lot of people allegedly did in the theater with the shaky-cam style.

I didn't even have the internet when I saw it so knew nothing going into it besides hearing people talk about it. I remember a lot of people being annoyed leaving, I saw it in a packed theater and people just thought it was a dumb waste of time. I don't think it's remotely scary but everyone's going to have different feelings on that aspect.

 

[Shareefruck]

I'd say #2 has held up the best and is the only one I'd still consider great without any caveats, #1 has held up moderately well and can still be fun, #5/#6 hasn't held up and I wouldn't consider them very good (not that they bother me or anything), and #3/#4 actively annoy me and I would consider bad/nonsensical movies (I generally hate the term pretentious, particularly when dismissing inaccessible artsy movies, but American Beauty fits that label, for me), personally.

As a kid I liked them all besides Blair Witch.

 

[Osprey]

I disliked or even hated most of those in 1999. The only one that I liked and still like is The Sixth Sense. For me, 1999 was a big disappointment and the start of my cynicism towards Hollywood.

 

[Elvis P]

I disliked or even hated most of those in 1999. The only one that I liked and still like is The Sixth Sense. For me, 1999 was a big disappointment and the start of my disillusionment with Hollywood.

If Hollywood is so woke why are gay characters always effeminate and why did they give Will Smith a standing ovation after he hit Chris Rock? I thought violence is wrong.

 

[frisco]

American Beauty is the best of the lot. Great film. The Matrix was OK as a one off but the massive amount of sequels was not justified. The other four I didn't like at all and find them terribly overrated. Especially Sixth Sense.

My top five from that year: Eyes Wide Shut, The Insider, Magnolia, Office Space, American Beauty.

My Best-Carey

 

[LeafalCrusader]

Didn't like any of them except the sixth sense. I never got the hype for The Matrix and Fight Club.

 

[johnjm22]

I watched The Blair Witch project when it came out, but I can't remember a single thing in it.

I actually respect it because of how well it was marketed. I enjoyed the mystery leading up to the "film."

250M at the box office on a 200K production budget.

 

[DaaaaB's]

I loved Fight Club when I was in high school but can't stand it now. I liked Being John Malkovich but haven't seen it in 20 years. I still like American Beauty and The Matrix though, good but not great films. Haven't seen the other two since they came out and don't remember liking them.

 

[Satans Hockey]

I watched The Blair Witch project when it came out, but I can't remember a single thing in it.

I actually respect it because of how well it was marketed. I enjoyed the mystery leading up to the "film."

250M at the box office on a 200K production budget.

Absolutely have to give them credit for their marketing. To get that many people interested in something like this is insane. Even more so when something wasn't able to go viral as easily as today too.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Sixth Sense and Matrix were the only ones I watched again. The rest except for the Blair Witch Project were ok.

 

[johnjm22]

Absolutely have to give them credit for their marketing. To get that many people interested in something like this is insane. Even more so when something wasn't able to go viral as easily as today too.

Agree on the first part, but I might argue is was much easier to go viral back then.

The internet was still new-ish. There was less content online competing for your attention. The Blair Witch Project was one of the first examples of viral marketing that I can remember.

They took advantage of marketing on a new platform before others did.

I loved Fight Club when I was in high school but can't stand it now. I liked Being John Malkovich but haven't seen it in 20 years. I still like American Beauty and The Matrix though, good but not great films. Haven't seen the other two since they came out and don't remember liking them.

Why do you dislike it now? Just curious.

I wonder sometimes how the movie would be perceived if it came out today.

 

[reckoning]

Love Being John Malkovich and American Beauty. Never saw Fight Club. Saw Blair Witch Project when it came out and was underwhelmed by it, but my expectations may have been inflated by the insane amount of word-of-mouth hype it had generated. The Matrix was tolerable as far as turn-off-your-brain action movies go, but I never felt compelled to watch it again or check out the sequels.

I thought The Sixth Sense was the worst of the bunch. It wasn't even the best movie about a little kid seeing dead people that came out in 1999.

 

[Roo Returns]

I hated Blair Witch then and I think it aged even more poorly. Awful, overrated garbage movie that led to a whole genre of really bad found footage movies.

Blair Witch is in the top three most boring movies I've ever seen. Terrible pacing, terrible acting, a total snooze fest. I saw it on campus as a freebie with a very rowdy college crowd and one woman screamed out towards the end "I'm so happy I didn't pay any money to see this" which got the loudest reaction of the night.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

My top five from that year: Eyes Wide Shut, The Insider, Magnolia, Office Space, American Beauty.

Eyes Wide Shut, for sure one of the better films of that year. I also have Romance, Julien Dunkey-Boy, Le temps retrouvé, and Rien sur Robert as upper tier from 99, but I'm certainly missing a lot.

As for the films listed (*there was only 6 when I posted this). In order for me:

- American Beauty
- Being John Malkovich
(always liked these two)
- The Matrix
- Fight Club
(I was a big Baudrillard nerd at the time, and I hated The Matrix when it came out because it dumbs down and denatures the ideas it openly takes from him, and I thought Fight Club did a much better job at communicating them - I'd rate them really close to one another today, I think The Matrix got somewhat more relevant with time, and Fight Club probably less)
-
-
- The 6th Sense
- The Blair Witch Project
(never cared for these last two, I got the 6th Sense punch at the intro so the film felt very lame, and I always felt that the scary branches and piles of rocks of Blair Witch were the dumbest thing ever, it also borrows from two of my favorite horror films, so I was not impressed)

 

[Byron Bitz]

The Sixth Sense is my favourite of those films. It’s on Disney+ so I recently rewatched it for the first time in a while and it’s better than I remember it. The screenplay is fantastic, almost seems like it was written by Aaron Sorkin

 

[Roo Returns]

I think 1999 was actually a comeback of sorts for Hollywood. The past 24-36 months deal with a lot of bloated sequels, and some real failures. Plus the Asteroid Summer of Deep Impact vs. Armageddon was pretty terrible.

One by one summary of what was vs. how they're looked back on.

1. Fight Club-At the time this was a generational counter culture movie for the people who were the last/youngest of Gen X and missed movies like Singles, Reality Bites, etc. It was extremely popular and the "twist" was very innovative. It's still revered but not looked back as fondly by Gen Zers due to some people misinterpreting the premise and tone as a combination of toxic masculinity and privilege.


2. Being John Malkovich-Very clever break the fourth wall indie film that was a must see back then and frequently owned on DVD. It's not as remembered now mostly because Malkovich isn't doing movies as much and has slowed down (apparently he's doing a NetFlix show the last few years Space Farce as his primary role).

3. American Beauty-Another movie that was at the time generational due to questions of "the American Dream" and midlife crisis. It's basically unofficially banned/a non-factor due to Kevin Spacey nowadays. Mera Survani was such a big star back then. She never truly reached the peak of her peers.


4. The Blair Witch Project-See my comments above. I hate it and to from the 1999 and 2000 era that and Gladiator are the two most overrated films. But to most of the public, it's still very endearing all these years later and is seen as loved and an innovative film....for some odd reason.

5. The Sixth Sense-Probably the hottest movie at the time of release. Like Fight Club, the "twist" was seen as innovative, original, and unique. It's still very loved. Shyamalan's had his hits and misses over the years, but this was during his hot streak and anytime he comes back (Split=very good, Old=meh) it will give a bump to this film.

6. The Matrix-Personally I don't really like this film however it's an all time great that is still loved and recommended to this day. Even with terrible sequels and that new one which is better off left not talking about.

 

[johnjm22]

I never understood why it took people so long to come around on Eyes Wide Shut. First time I saw it I loved it, and as the years have gone by it's only become richer.

I was under the impression opinions on American Beauty had shifted negative. That doesn't appear to be the case in this thread at least. I'm still fond of it.

Quite a few notable movies from 1999 that haven't been mentioned:

American Movie (Popular in indie filmmaker circles)
The Boondock Saints
Boys Don't Cry
Dogma
Galaxy Quest (Probably one of the better parodies ever made)
The Green Mile
The Mummy
South Park
Star Wars The Phantom Menace
The Straight Story (David Lynch)
Toy Story 2
The World is Not Enough
The Insider

 

[NyQuil]

What I remember was the bloodbath that was the Best Supporting Actor category:
-Jude Law - Talented Mr. Ripley
-Michael Clarke Duncan - Green Mile
-Michael Caine - Cider House Rules
-Tom Cruise - Magnolia
-Haley Joel Osment - Sixth Sense

All five did very well with their roles that year.

I saw a lot of films in the theatre that year with Mrs_NyQuil, including all of the best picture nominees.

The Insider was my favourite acting performance, but Crowe would later win for the inferior Gladiator performance. I liked Spacey and American Beauty but I felt that he was playing one of his usual typecast sarcastic asshole roles.

Annette Benning's slow but methodical deterioration into a complete middle-aged psychological breakdown was much more compelling - I thought she was the real star of the film.

I thought it was a real bumper year for quality film IMO.