Good movies often affect people deeply. For example, the New Hollywood of the 1970s can be considered to have given rise to many modern classics that have informed the cultural sensibilities of the past half century.
Take a look at the list of 1975 Best Picture Oscar nominees. The Godfather Part II, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, conversation, nashville, dog day afternoon, jawsBAllie Lyndonand chinatown.
These thoughts can be depressing. Who would want to play that game in the pandemic year of 2020, or any year this century? We didn’t think so.
But let’s not get too gloomy just yet. Just a generation before him, we were able to get the cinematic bounty of his 1999 film, but that may have to feed us a little longer. Read on for our list of the best American movies of this memorable year.
1. Election (1999)
Alexander Payne announced the best movie electionMatthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon star in this timeless tale of the culture wars between overachievers and slackers that pervade American life. Set in a Midwestern high school, Witherspoon plays Tracy Frick, a woman who strives relentlessly to win the position of student body president. The excruciating ending tests the ethical commitment of Broderick, who plays the teacher overseeing the process. The characters in this film will be instantly recognizable to anyone who has gone through the educational system.
2. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Stanley Kubrick’s last film Eyes Wide Shut, has grown in stature in the decades since its release. Although set in New York, the film was shot in England because Kubrick hated flying, and the unconvincing Manhattan street sets add a dreamlike quality to the film. The story revolves around a married couple, played by Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman (who were married at the time), who become mired in jealousy and mistrust amidst intrigue and upper-class intrigue. The film tries to be a thriller throughout, but it never becomes one, and the creepiness reaches insane heights. Kubrick’s daughter said that he considered this work to be his masterpiece.
3. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
The talented Mr. RipleyOne of the great understated thrillers of recent decades, it takes Patricia Highsmith’s classic crime novel from the 1950s and embellishes it with a cast of bright young stars from the turn of the millennium. Matt Damon stars as Tom Ripley, a ruthless, upwardly mobile con man who leaves New York for Italy to court the son of a rich man, Dickie Greenleaf, played by Jude Law. Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett also appear, and the late Philip Seymour-Hoffman steals every scene. Please watch the movie and then read the novel.
4. Magnolia (1999)
This is the third film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. magnolia, this surreal tale features a web of plotlines that all come together with a real-life frog storm. Tom Cruise plays a character who previews the manosphere before it becomes a reality, and William H. Macy plays the role of a young genius who drifts ashore, unable to understand his life as a former genius. Aimee Mann’s acoustic soundtrack adds resonance throughout, and Julianne Moore and Philip Seymour-Hoffman give strong, if unmemorable, performances. Many consider this film to be Anderson’s best work.
5. Fight Club (1999)
David Fincher’s film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s novel fight club In the end, it ended up being one of those rare movies that was much better than the book. The story is about Edward Norton, an insomniac office worker who begins attending a support group for his own entertainment during sleepless nights. This leads him to meet Tyler Durden. He is perhaps Brad Pitt’s most iconic character, a cult leader and squatter who hosts bare-knuckle boxing matches in underground venues. The film cemented Fincher’s gritty style and utilized state-of-the-art visual effects, using many of his unfamiliar CGI camera operations. The fourth wall is broken over and over again, and with its blend of postmodern cool and macho sensibilities, this movie has long been a favorite in college dorm rooms.
6. The Matrix (1999)
matrix It has had more influence than any other science fiction film in the past quarter century. Released in the summer of 1999, it stands out as a major film event of that spring. Keanu Reeves plays Neo, a programmer who discovers that the reality he is waking up to, a simulated world created by robots, serves only to enslave humanity. After escaping to the far less hospitable real world, he works to liberate the masses with a band of outsiders who sneak through the planet’s tunnels while dodging jellyfish drones. The film’s central metaphor has proven highly adaptable over the years, permeating its language as a universally understood concept. If you’ve just come out of a cave of several decades, check this out right away.
7. Being John Malkovich (1999)
Directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman, this surreal comedy follows Craig Schwartz, a failed puppeteer played by John Cusack, who stumbles upon a portal to the mind of actor John Malkovich, played by John Cusack. do. Schwartz has problems at home with his wife, Lotte (Cameron Diaz), who is raising a chimpanzee, but what Lotte goes through inside Malkovich’s head expands his sexual desire, leading to a complicated love triangle. You’ll get caught up in it. Very few movies from 1999 had an original premise, and very few even now successfully execute that premise. Being John Malkovich.
8. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
Jim Jarmusch wrote and directed a film that infuses a meditative Buddhist atmosphere into harsh urban violence. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samuraiis a surrealist crime drama starring Forest Whitaker as a pigeon-handling bushido warrior in the tri-state area. The cryptic poster may lead you to believe that the film is some kind of dissimilar kung fu movie. ghost dog I feel like he’s like the David Lynch of swordsmanship. This work deserves more fans than ever before.
9. Office Space (1999)
Most comedies become less funny around the middle of the second act, and the humor hits rock bottom around the climax, only to pick up slightly in the grand denouement.mike judge office spaceA hit that no one expected at the time, it remains one of the funniest American movies ever made, with not enough downbeats to make room for drama. In a time when mainstream comedies everywhere tend to fail to entertain audiences, upping this classic feels like an obligation. Although overlooked at the time of its release, a considerable cult following and critical reappraisal led to the film being recognized as one of his best films of 1999.
10. Go (1999)
Screenwriter John August is a legendary figure among aspiring screenwriters. scriptnotes podcastand wrote his first feature film goDirected by Doug Liman. swinger praise. This non-linear story, woven around a group of young Angelenos whose lives intertwine over the course of one night, takes major cues from: pulp fiction But it has an edgier teen comedy tone to it.
The story begins with a supermarket clerk who decides to work in the drug trade on a whim for one night. The cast includes many big names, including Katie Holmes, Jay Mohr, Timothy Olyphant, and even Melissa McCarthy in her first lead role.
11. Any Given Sunday (1999)
Many team sports movies hit the same beats: underdog teams coming together, emotional pep talks, and important locker room scenes.Oliver Stone’s works given sunday You won’t miss these beats themselves. Just nail it with twice the intensity and four times the sarcasm and somehow it works. This approach extends to the match scenes, where the hit songs are choreographed with visually and aurally spectacular violence, and no one will want their child to play soccer after watching this movie. You won’t want to.
12. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
blair witch project It innovated in a way that not many movies can. It was originally shot on a budget of less than $60,000, with post-production editing raising the budget slightly. The film uses found footage and guerilla filmmaking techniques to tell a ghost story set in the woods of Maryland. The documentary-style effect achieved with handheld cameras and natural light may seem commonplace now, but it won both fear and admiration from moviegoers of the time.
13. American Beauty (1999)
Screenwriter Alan Ball has written a drama layered with themes of suburban ennui and unrequited love that mixes more ideas than most films, yet manages to hold them together reasonably well. american beauty While tackling the pathological conformism that lies beneath the surface of a prosperous middle-class world, he also finds time to mix themes of Buddhism and gay identity.
Wes Bentley got his big break as a lonely teenager, but then disappeared from the scene for many years, and Kevin Spacey plays his disillusioned father. Both characters look at the world from an oblique angle, looking at the hypocrisy and piety of their time.
14. The Sixth Sense (1999)
sixth senseDirected by M. Night Shyamalan, this film takes full advantage of the famous twisting technique, which has been used in many other films. The movie tells the story of Cole, a boy played by Haley Joel Osment who, as the movie’s boring quote goes, can see dead people. Cole travels back and forth from his childhood in Philadelphia, until the end of the film when a restless ghost haunts him and he deals with his unfinished business. Shyamalan’s career-defining plot twist drives the story deep into viewers’ memories.
15. Sam’s Summer (1999)
In the summer of 1977, New York City found itself at the mercy of a sinister man named David Berkowitz. He emerged from the attic at night and claimed the lives of young people, often while idling in parked cars. Berkowitz was given the nickname “Son of Sam” because he tried to convince the jury that he committed the murders at the behest of his neighbor’s dog “Sam” in order to escape the worst sections of the penal system. .
Spike Lee, a lifelong New Yorker, addressed this subject in a film. sam’s summer, which nevertheless plays like a Scorsese knockoff, despite having most of the goods. With a stellar cast including Adrien Brody, John Leguizamo, and Mira Sorvino, this disco-flavored crime thriller is sure to impress.