Tuesday, May 29, 2007

1999


"They say two thousand zero zero party over
Oops out of time
So tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999"
"1999" - Prince

If the world was gonna end in 1999, it was gonna go with a shitload of awesome movies. If, for the rest of my life, I could only watch movies from one specific year, it would most certainly be 1999. Why? Let me take you back...

In January, I went with a couple friends to see Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino in "At First Sight". He played a blind man who undergoes surgery to get some of his sight back. It was good. Some other movies I saw in the early part of the year included Mel in "Payback", Bill Murray in "Rushmore", the cult classic "Office Space"


"The Other Sister", Nicolas in "8MM", "Analyze This", "Cruel Intentions", a sneak preview of "EdTV", David Spade in "Lost & Found", Connery in "Entrapment", "A Bug's Life" (meh), "Go" (an awesome flick), Drew in "Never Been Kissed", Reese in "Election" (fantastic satire), and two movies that dealt with the nature of reality, "Existenz" (great movie) and "The Matrix" (I was impressed, but definitely not blown away as some people were).

Summertime came and the movies came fast and hard. Did you read what I just wrote? Anyway, the big kahuna for the summer of '99 was "Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace"



but first came "The Mummy" and Julia in "Notting Hill". There was a special midnight screening of "Ep I" at the Barclay Square 6, but I would've had to wait in line for hours to see it. So I waited until the following day and went to a late afternoon matinee. Quite a few people there, I have to say. I had to settle for an aisle seat rather than sitting in the middle as usual. I did enjoy the movie. It didn't blow me away like "Empire" did as a child, but I applauded over the credits like everyone else, happy that Star Wars was back again. An older guy in front of me said it was the 3rd time he had seen the movie that day (what a freak!). I went to the movie 3 more times that summer. It ended up being the top-grossing movie of 1999. "Star Wars" was done, but there was plenty more fun to be had.

Next came "Austin Powervich 2". I loved the sequel and went to it 3 times. But an even funnier movie came along a few weeks later, "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" (a sexual euphemism, innit). I loved the TV show and went to the "SP" movie 3 days in a row. "SP", for me, was the funniest movie of the year.

Adam Sandler was good (not great) in "Big Daddy", and "American Pie" was jolly good fun, lewd and crude. I found Cruise and Kidman to be quite solid in "Eyes Wide Shut" while Liam Neeson and Catherine Zeta-Jones were crap in "The Haunting".

During this time (July of '99), "The Blair Witch Project" was generating a lot of buzz. It was being rolled out very slowly. I noticed on the internet that it was playing in Inver Grove Heights (a suburb of the Twin Cities). It wouldn't be coming to Rochester for two more weeks. I couldn't resist, so drove up there that weekend. I ate at McDonalds in Inver Grove before heading over to the theatre. When I went up to the lady to get my ticket, I said, "I'll take one to the "Blair Bitch Project". Like "Star Wars" earlier in the summer, the screening was super packed. Now I knew what I was getting into (I had a subscription to Entertainment Weekly). I knew that the movie was a faux documentary shot very low budget, definitely not a conventional scary movie. I was quite satisfied with it, while some others actually booed as the credits rolled (they must have been expecting something more "Hollywood"). I headed home, happy to have seen it. A few months later, a friend said she had seen the movie with a couple of her friends. She said it was sad that the 3 college students had disappeared (she was actually under the impression that the movie was totally genuine). Holy shit! I couldn't believe that she bought it! I told her that the kids in the movie were alive and well. I'm sure it was much more scary, though, watching it believing that what you were seeing was totally real.

I'm gonna have to continue this entry in the next few days. 1999 was just too memorable to write about in one sitting.

7 comments:

Mags said...

You know...I think you're absolutly right. 1999 did have some great movies. As I was reading I was thinking, yeah, I like that one...and kept doing that the whole time.

Good post.

the Book of Keira said...

I agree with you and Mags... now that you have listed them, it seems I have some good ones to rewatch...lol.

You guys wanna come over for a 1999 movie night?

Mags can bring snacks and I can supply the booze... Thomas, you can just come naked.

Mags said...

You don't want me to come naked?

8(

I'm hurt.

But I'm down with brining the snacks! I'll bring something warm and oozy and we can smear it all over Tommy.

LOL.

Thomas said...

Actually, girls, there are several more excellent movies that came out in 1999 (I just went over my favorites from the first 7 months of the year).

As far as the '99 movie night, sounds great! I'm not sure, though, which of you I'll do first.

the Book of Keira said...

Well, as I am sure Mags will remind us... I am married and so she should be first...lol.

Besides, I've had a lot of cervical exams lately and this is quite a bit of action.

But, have we even considered that no one need go fist? Whatever happened to the good old fashioned threesome??

Thomas said...

Kyra, you're right. A threesome would kick ass! But just so I know what I'm in for, what are your favorite sexual positions and how long do you typically like to engage in each? Mags, your input on this point would also be appreciated.

Nikki Neurotic said...

I liked the concept of B.W.P. but I didn't enjoy sitting there (with my parents no less) hearing all those "fucks".

Now, I've been known to utter the word on many an occassion and normally it doesn't bother me when someone says it...but when it's every other word uttered it really gets on my nerves.

I really like Office Space, The Matrix and Rushmore though. I had to write a paper on The Matrix for a Jewish Mysticism class...it's quite deep once you look past the special effects and such. The other two parts in the trilogy ruined that though.