#1999cinema

[felicereviews]

Titus (1999)

To celebrate 1999 and its contribution to film (I know that sounds weird but hear me out) I re-watched - or watched for the first time - a collection of films released in that year.  I don’t know how to present them other than alphabetically.  My brain works best when there is some order.

Happy New Year everybody!  This is my final installment in the 1999 series.  There were a lot (and I mean A LOT) of movies that I did not cover.  American Pie, Austin Powers, Fight Club, Payback, Ravenous, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, and Toy Story 2 just to name a few!

But Titus is a great way to end the year.  This may be my favourite film adaptation of a Shakespeare play.  The director, Julie Taymor, had directed the play for the stage but the only cross-over cast member she had for the film was the Moor.  All the rest of the cast had to learn the Shakespeare dialog and the dark nature of Titus.  Taymor had them meet for a number of months for rehearsals and they were all grateful for that.

Anthony Hopkins plays the lead role, as a powerful man coming home from war who gratefully cedes the rule of Rome to Alan Cumming.  You can tell by looking at him that is not going to go well.  The queen of the Goths, played by the captivating Jessica Lange, is up to no good, with her immediate goal being pleasure and her ultimate goal, the demise of all things Titus.

You’ve got Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Matthew Rhys playing the Goth princes.  And Harry Lennix gracefully playing the despicable Moor.

Taymor combines old and new elements in the film.  With cars in the colosseum and pinball machines in the palace.  It suits the feeling of the Titus, which is wild and untamed.

The story is dark - and that’s just the way of it.  Taymor makes no effort to soften the blows this story strikes.  When I watched this back in 1999 I was left with an indelible memory of the film as a whole, which doesn’t happen very often.  Watching this again in 2019 and then watching the special features about the making of the film, I like it even more than I did 20 years ago.

Happy 20th Birthday Titus!

[felicereviews]

Bicentennial Man, Bowfinger, But I’m A Cheerleader (1999)

To celebrate 1999 and its contribution to film (I know that sounds weird but hear me out) I re-watched - or watched for the first time - a collection of films released in that year.  I don’t know how to present them other than alphabetically.  My brain works best when there is some order.

I had only seen But I’m A Cheerleader back in the day.  i am an O.G. Natasha Lyonne fan and I thought the premise was hilarious.  And while the Dr. Seussian sets still please me, in 2019, the story is dated and the movie is slow.

I watched Bicentennial Man because I read Robin (the biography of Robin Williams) earlier this year and wanted to try to see all of his movies, even the bad ones.  This is not a good movie and I hardly enjoyed it at all.  I found the story kind of stupid and if not for Robin and Oliver Platt would have chucked it.  But - it’s so interesting to see Robin work.  He had two movies released in 1999 - the other was Jakob the Liar which I am afraid I will not get to this round.  Just not enough time. Stupid work getting in the way of my free time.  Robin Williams is so good, I’ll even watch his bad movies.

Bowfinger was my favourite of the three.  How could it not be funny with Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy as the leads?  And yes - Eddie is hilarious.  I thought he played outside his box while Steve Martin sort of stayed inside his box.  I felt the movie wasn’t as good as it might have been if Martin had played it a little grander.  That’s just my opinion being a huge Steve Martin fan and if I ever meet him I hope he hasn’t read this.  But if he does read this, big smooch and the banjo is cool.

Which of these three have you seen?  Which is your favourite?  Your least faourite?  Would you rewatch any?

Happy 20th Birthday to Bicentennial Man, Bowfinger, and But I’m a Cheerleader!

[felicereviews]

Aimee & Jaguar (1999)

To celebrate 1999 and its contribution to film (I know that sounds weird but hear me out) I re-watched - or watched for the first time - a collection of films released in that year.  I don’t know how to present them other than alphabetically.  My brain works best when there is some order.

So - I’m starting with Aimee & Jaguar.  I saw this film on video back in the 00′s.  At that time, I was watching anything Blockbuster had that was foreign, and that wasn’t much.  I was so pleased with this film I named my cat and later my blog after the main character, Felice.

Aimee & Jaguar is a lesbian film, yes.  But it’s more.  There are four Jewish girls hiding out in Berlin waiting for papers so they can leave.  One works for a nazi propaganda paper.  One cares for the children of the wife of a nazi soldier.  These four women are passing as non-Jews.  If you are a Jew in Berlin you are dead.  Everyone blames the Jews for the bombing and the ills of the world.

In the meantime, Lilly, the wife of the nazi soldier, is having affairs with various men and the Jewish girls do their best to survive and try to have a little fun also.

Once Felice (Jaguar) meets Lilly (Aimee) things get sticky.  They do fall in love and it is one thing to be a lesbian in 1940′s Berlin but it is entirely unacceptable to be a Jew.

20 years ago I saw this movie and did not know it was a true story.  I watched the special features on the DVD and it had an interview with Lilly, the real Lilly, who talked about how much she loved Felice.  It was extraordinary.

So a film about Jews in WWII, in German no less, and you may think - meh - I’ll pass.  But then there’s the style of the cinema.  It’s got a wretched burned up and blown up city, with people who don’t have enough food, and yet Berlin has a style and an edge that is unmistakable.  Plus the sex scenes are powerful.

I was telling my 32-year-old son about the film and said, ‘you probably don’t want to watch it since it’s in German’.  He said he wasn’t concerned about what they were saying.  I think I’ll get it for him for Christmas.

Happy 20th Birthday Aimee & Jaguar

[felicereviews]

Mystery Men (1999)

To celebrate 1999 and its contribution to film (I know that sounds weird but hear me out) I re-watched - or watched for the first time - a collection of films released in that year.  I don’t know how to present them other than alphabetically.  My brain works best when there is some order.

A delightful surprise in the year 2000 when my sons and I rented a cabin in Sugar Loaf and found this movie in the entertainment center.  It’s the story of second-rate super heroes in a world where one particular super hero gets all of the credit.

Ben Stiller stars as the ineffective, Furious.  William H. Macy is the Shoveler and Hank Azaria is the Blue Raja, who uses silverware as a weapon.

They go on a quest to find a bigger team of super heroes when a villain, Cassanova Frankenstein, played by Geoffrey Rush, gets paroled.

They find Janeane Garofalo, the Bowler.  Her father’s skull is in a bowling ball and she argues with it and fights the bad guys with it.

And don’t forget Paul Reubens as the Spleen.  Who has super farts.

It’s ridiculous but totally funny.  A must see!

Happy 20th Birthday Mystery Men!

[felicereviews]

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)

To celebrate 1999 and its contribution to film (I know that sounds weird but hear me out) I re-watched - or watched for the first time - a collection of films released in that year.  I don’t know how to present them other than alphabetically.  My brain works best when there is some order.

Made it to the S’s!  South Park was not a show I watched on TV.  Much like Jackass, I considered it a show for boys.  And I still haven’t watched very many episodes of either series but I have seen the movies.

The South Park movie is hilarious.  The kids go to see a movie they’re not supposed to see and start cussing everyone out.  Cartman says, ‘How would you like to suck my balls?’ to his teacher.  They get in trouble and one of their mothers starts an organization to protest what’s happened to the children and they decide to ‘blame Canada’.  The song, ‘Blame Canada’ was nominated for an Oscar.

The song that wasn’t nominated, ‘Shut Your Fucking Face Uncle Fucker’.  Shoulda been nominated.  It’s a way better song.

If you can handle an hour and 21 minutes of cussing and potty humor - watch this movie right now.  And if you can’t ... well then you must be like Kyle’s mom.

[felicereviews]

Being John Malkovich (1999)

To celebrate 1999 and its contribution to film (I know that sounds weird but hear me out) I re-watched - or watched for the first time - a collection of films released in that year.  I don’t know how to present them other than alphabetically.  My brain works best when there is some order.

Voted Felice’s Most Unusual film of 1999, Being John Malkovich is excellent.  

Even before you get to the John Malkovich part there is a wild story.  You have an out-of-work puppeteer (John Cusack) and his animal-lover girlfriend (Cameron Diaz) who kisses her pet chimp on the mouth.  She bugs Cusack to get a job so he interviews on the 7-1/2 floor where everyone is crouched down.  There he meets Catherine Keener and he starts acting like an idiot so she tells him, “Here’s the thing - if you ever got me, you wouldn’t have a clue what to do with me.”  So he makes a puppet of her and acts out encounters with his puppet and her puppet.  Got it?  OK.  So then there’s more.

One day at work, Cusack drops a file behind the cabinet - moves the cabinet - and finds a door into … John Malkovich’s head.

Once you go through that chute you are reading the Wall Street Journal with Malkovich’s eyes and having toast with Malkovich’s mouth and after 10 or 12 minutes you get ejected on the side of the road near a freeway.

I love this story.  Written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze - both were nominated for Oscars but lost to American Beauty.  For sure, Malkovich is too edgy of a film to win Oscars but it is such a fun movie and unlike anything that had been done before including making Cameron Diaz homely.

When I saw this movie 20 years ago, I did not know who John Malkovich was.  Sure I had heard his name.  I am a movie person and that name sticks out.  But I couldn’t have told you what movies he was in or what he looked like.  Then I saw this movie and thought, ‘him?’  But it works so well.  It works because I didn’t know what John Malkovich would be doing or eating or reading or who his friends would be.  So when I got to see it through the eyes of someone who slipped through the chute I thought, OK!  I am interested in this story what is going to happen!  And then I found out John Malkovich is a really respected actor who does quality work and this film is full of jabs at him and his celebrity which makes it fucking hilarious.  Animals everywhere, Cusack with an ugly ponytail, unrecognizable Cameron Diaz.  So good.  Watch this one.

Happy 20th Birthday Being John Malkovich!

[felicereviews]

Summer of Sam (1999)

To celebrate 1999 and its contribution to film (I know that sounds weird but hear me out) I re-watched - or watched for the first time - a collection of films released in that year.  I don’t know how to present them other than alphabetically.  My brain works best when there is some order.

There were a lot of great movies released in 1999 and this is one of them.

I saw this in theaters and loved it. It’s a great story with great actors that takes place in the 70′s.  And it’s a Spike Lee film. 

It is this writer’s opinion that while Spike Lee has a definite style - his films don’t all look the same.  His movies are beautiful but I could not tell this was a Spike Lee film by looking at it until he showed up as the newscaster.

So - Son of Sam was a murderer on the loose during the steaming hot New York summer of 1977.  People were scared but also hot and were afraid to leave their windows open.  

John Leguizamo and Mira Sorvino are a married couple from the neighborhood and they are looking hot HOT HOT.  Leguizamo fucks all kinds of girls besides his wife - fucks them so hard.  During one of these encounters - the car next to them gets all shot up by the Son of Sam.  Leguizamo gets all disoriented and goes back to his wife smelling like badoosy.

The film follows a group of Italian-American friends from the neighborhood - some of whom are growing apart.  Adrien Brody is a punk rocker in 1977 when most people are doing disco.  His friends don’t understand him and start getting suspicious.

At one point Mira and Leguizamo have a fight that is so real it brings tears to my eyes.  And the one junkie friend in their group is nodding out in a scene and I can hardly look at him it’s so real.  Spike did a great job with the storytelling.  Son of Sam is in the background with this group of friends and their troubles in the foreground.

The continuity problems happen with Brody saying The Who is punk rock and Brody wears a spiked collar with long spikes.  Punk rockers wore short spikes.  

But who cares?  This movie is fantastic!  I think I’ll start my Spike Lee collection - starting with this film.  It has a poor rating on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes and it was not nominated for any major awards.  But this movie is great.  From me to you - dear reader.  Summer of Sam kicks ass.  Watch this!  It’s sexy and creepy and dirty and real.  Great film!  Thank you Spike Lee!

Happy 20th Birthday Summer of Sam!

[felicereviews]

The Iron Giant (1999)

To celebrate 1999 and its contribution to film (I know that sounds weird but hear me out) I re-watched - or watched for the first time - a collection of films released in that year.  I don’t know how to present them other than alphabetically.  My brain works best when there is some order.

Not too many kids movies in 1999 - in fact, this is the only actual movie made for children on my list.

We went as a family to see this in theaters and we all enjoyed it.  Parent, step-parent, and children of different ages.  I re-watched this for my blog series and, guess what?  It’s still good.

A boy befriends a mysterious giant robot and tries to keep him hidden.  

You could get this at your local library today and enjoy watching it with your family even if you don’t have kids.