MC Yearly Consensus - 1999

[Eleven]

Submit your five favorite films from this year and in a week I will give you a top ten. IMDb dates will be used.

The point system is as follows

1st Place-5 points
2nd Place-4 points
3rd Place-3.5 points
4th Place-3 points
5th Place-2.5 points

There will be no restrictions on short films. A minimum of three films must be listed. You may edit your post freely up until the time that the thread is locked, which will be in about a week. I will give at least 24 hours warning before tallying votes.

You may begin now.

IMDB power search (http://www.imdb.com/list)

[Mysterious Dude]

1. Fight Club
2. Boys Don't Cry
3. Topsy-Turvy
4. The Straight Story
5. The Matrix

[Eleven]

1. Being John Malkovich
2. American Movie
3. The Sixth Sense
4. Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter
5. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

[Boner M]

1. Beau Travail
2. Being John Malkovich
3. The Straight Story
4. Rosetta
5. Ratcatcher

[origami_mustache]

1. Magnolia
2. Ratcatcher
3. Peppermint Candy
4. All About My Mother
5. Being John Malkovich

6. Gemini
7. Eyes Wide Shut
8. American Beauty
9. Fight Club
10. Election

[Ivan Drago]

1. Magnolia
2. Being John Malkovich
3. Fight Club
4. Toy Story 2
5. The Iron Giant

[Russ]

1. The Straight Story
2. American Movie
3. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut
4. Bringing Out the Dead
5. My Best Fiend

[ledfloyd]

1. ghost dog
2. the straight story
3. eyes wide shut
4. being john malkovich
5. three kings

[Grouchy]

1. Eyes Wide Shut
2. Fight Club
3. The Insider
4. Audition
5. Magnolia

[Spinal]

1. Boys Don't Cry
2. The Straight Story
3. The Road Home
4. The Iron Giant
5. Holy Smoke
-----------------------------------
6. Three Kings
7. Titus
8. The Loss of Sexual Innocence
9. The Sixth Sense
10. The Blair Witch Project

[EyesWideOpen]

1. Eyes Wide Shut
2. Fight Club
3. The Matrix
4. Audition
5. South Park: BLU

[dreamdead]

1. Ratcatcher
2. Beau Travail
3. Toy Story 2
4. The Matrix
5. Titus

I should use this as incentive to watch Topsy-Turvy...

[Raiders]

1. Ratcatcher
2. Election
3. The War Zone
4. The Iron Giant
5. Titus

[Philosophe_rouge]

1. The Virgin Suicides
2. But I'm a Cheerleader
3. Audition
4. Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.
5. Election

[koji]

1. Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze)
2. My Best Fiend – Klaus Kinski (Warner Herzog)
3. Arlington Road (Pellington)
4. Analyze This (Harold Ramis)
5. Audition (Miike)

6. Boys Don’t Cry (Pierce)
7. The Emperor and the Assassin (Kaige Chen)
8. The Muse (Albert Brooks)
9. The Ninth Gate (Polanski)
10. Election (Alexander Payne)

To me, this is a poor year. Nothing that would make my top 100.

[MacGuffin]

1. Fight Club (David Fincher)
2. The Limey (Steven Soderbergh)
3. julien donkey-boy (Harmony Korine)
4. Beau travail (Claire Denis)
5. Three Kings (David O. Russell)

[Derek]

An outstanding year.

1. Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2. Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)
3. Fight Club (David Fincher)
4. Rosetta (Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne)
5. The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami)
______________________________ _

6. The Straight Story (David Lynch)
7. The Insider (Michael Mann)
8. Three Kings (David O. Russell)
9. Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze)
10. Outer Space (Peter Tscherkassky)

[Yxklyx]

1. Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2. Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze)
3. The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez)
4. Boys Don't Cry (Kimberly Peirce)
5. Fight Club (David Fincher)

[MacGuffin]

There are no fans of Harmony Korine here?

[origami_mustache]

There are no fans of Harmony Korine here?

I've only seen Gummo...meant to see Julien Donkey-Boy but forgot about it haha.

[Rowland]

Lots to see, and lots to see again.

1. Fight Club
2. Magnolia
3. Eyes Wide Shut
4. Election
5. Audition
______________________________ _

6. The Blair Witch Project
7. The Virgin Suicides
8. Bringing Out the Dead
9. Being John Malkovich
10. South Park: BLU

Runners-up: The Sixth Sense, Barren Illusion, Ravenous

[kamran]

1. Being John Malkovich [Spike Jonze]
2. All About My Mother [Pedro Almodovar]
3. The Talented Mr. Ripley [Anthony Minghella]
4. Eyes Wide Shut [Stanley Kubrick]
5. The Blair Witch Project [Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez]

[chrisnu]

1. Being John Malkovich
2. The Straight Story
3. Limbo
4. Eyes Wide Shut
5. Fight Club

[Lazlo]

1. The Insider
2. Election
3. Eyes Wide Shut
4. Magnolia
5. Three Kings

[Stay Puft]

1. Kikujiro
2. All About My Mother
3. Eyes Wide Shut
4. South Park: BLU
5. The Straight Story

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

1. Kikujiro
2. Magnolia
3. My Best Fiend: Klaus Kinski
4. Being John Malkovich
5. Peppermint Candy
-----------------------------
6. The Limey
7. The Straight Story
8. Bootleg Film
9. Fight Club
10. Eyes Wide Shut

Very strong year

[Stay Puft]

2. Kikujiro

Forgot that was 99! Stealth edit!

[MacGuffin]

1. Magnolia
2. Kikujiro
3. Rushmore
4. Being John Malkovich
5. The Limey

So, I basically forgot that my favorite movie was made in 1999. That's bad.

[Derek]

So, I basically forgot that my favorite movie was made in 1999. That's bad.

Don't worry, it's a '98 film.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

sorry! it says 1999 in the back of Rosenbaum's book, my mistake. fixed.

Kikujiro is definitely '99 and it needs MORE love!

[Weeping_Guitar]

1. Election
2. Toy Story 2
3. American Beauty
4. The Matrix
5. Eyes Wide Shut

[MadMan]

Wahoo, a thread where I've seen more than enough films to vote!

1. Three Kings
2. Toy Story 2
3. Office Space
4. Galaxy Quest
5. Sleepy Hollow

[Sycophant]

WHERE IS THE KIKUJIRO LOVE?!

1. Kikujiro
2. My Nieghbors the Yamadas
3. The Iron Giant
4. Audition
5. Dead or Alive

6. Election
7. King of Comedy
8. Toy Story 2
9. The Mission
10. Being John Malkovich

Damn, this year was good.

[soitgoes...]

1. American Beauty (Sam Mendes)
2. Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson)
3. Limbo (John Sayles)
4. Titus (Julie Taymor)
5. The Matrix (Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski)
-------------------------------------------------------
6. Three Kings (David O. Russell)
7. Fight Club (David Fincher)
8. The Iron Giant (Brad Bird)
9. Rosetta (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne)
10. The Road Home (Zhang Yimou)

[Velocipedist]

1. Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze)
2. Topsy-Turvy (Mike Leigh)
3. Titus (Julie Taymor)
4. Rosetta (Jean-Luc and Pierre Dardenne)
5. 8 1/2 Women (Peter Greenaway)

[Gizmo]

1. Fight Club
2. Magnolia
3. The War Zone
4. American Beauty
5. Eyes Wide Shut


and I actually feel bad about not including a few.

[Kurosawa Fan]

This year was really tough.


1. Ratcatcher
2. The Straight Story
3. Election
4. Being John Malkovich
5. Kikujiro

[Ezee E]

Amazing year. My 15-20 could probably make a top 5 for certain years.

1. Eyes Wide Shut
2. Fight Club
3. Magnolia
4. Three Kings
5. Boys Don't Cry

With a shout out to Bowfinger as well.

[Llopin]

1. Peppermint Candy (Lee)
2. Kikujiro (Kitano)
3. The Wind Will Carry Us (Kiarostami)
4. Ley Lines (Miike)
5. Being John Malkovich (Jonze)
---------
6. Election (Payne)
7. Rosetta (Dardenne)
8. My Best Fiend (Herzog)
9. My Neighbors the Yamadas (Takahata)
10. The Power of Kangwon Province (Hong)

guddamit.

[Rowland]

10. License to LiveKurosawa? That's '98.

[Sycophant]

Kurosawa? That's '98.Oh, so it is. I had it in my viewing log as 1999 for some reason. Thanks.

[Rowland]

Oh, so it is. I had it in my viewing log as 1999 for some reason. Thanks.Yeah, I just noticed because if it was a '99 release, it would have been on my list as well. Besides Barren Illusions (which I think you'd like), he released Charisma that year, which I didn't much like.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

1. Peppermint Candy (Lee)


great film. forgot about that one.

[Eleven]

great film. forgot about that one.

For anybody, if you edit your ballots, let me know what's replacing what.

[Sycophant]

Yeah, I just noticed because if it was a '99 release, it would have been on my list as well. Besides Barren Illusions (which I think you'd like), he released Charisma that year, which I didn't much like.I do like Charisma a good deal, though it is weaker than most his work, and thought it was actually going to end up being on this list, until I remembered that every good film made in the last decade was made in 1999.

Is Barren Illusions the one I couldn't find subtitles for? I can't remember...

[Rowland]

Is Barren Illusions the one I couldn't find subtitles for? I can't remember...I downloaded the movie off KG, and I had to get the subtitles from some website suggested in the comments section on the movie's KG page.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

For anybody, if you edit your ballots, let me know what's replacing what.

Peppermint Candy replaced The Limey at #5 spot. Also after some deep thought, Kikujiro is now #1 and Magnolia #2 (swapped them).

[Eleven]

Peppermint Candy replaced The Limey at #5 spot. Also after some deep thought, Kikujiro is now #1 and Magnolia #2 (swapped them).

Thanks much.

[Melville]

1. Magnolia
2. Boys Don't Cry
3. Eyes Wide Shut
4. Being John Malkovich
5. Beau Travail

[mindstream]

1. Ghost Dog
2. Time Regained
3. Beau Travail
4. Rosetta
5. Topsy-Turvy
---
6. The Wind Will Carry Us (need to rewatch)

[monolith94]

1. Being John Malkovich
2. Three Kings
3. The Iron Giant
4. The Ninth Gate
5. Fight Club

[origami_mustache]

great film. forgot about that one.

wow so did I...edited

[baby doll]

1. Beau travail (Claire Denis)
2. Summer of Sam (Spike Lee)
3. L'Humanite (Bruno Dumont)
4. The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami)
5. The Dead Weight of a Quarrel Hangs (Walid Raad) [video]
6. Outer Space (Peter Tscherkassky)
7. Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)
8. Rosetta (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
9. Three Kings (David O. Russell)
10. Topsy-Turvy (Mike Leigh)

[mindstream]

2. Summer of Sam (Spike Lee)

Darn. Completely forgot about this one. Somehow I thought it came out earlier - circa mid 90's or something. Oh well.

[Spinal]

Top 10 songs of 1999:

1. "Believe" Cher
2. "No Scrubs" TLC
3. "Angel Of Mine" Monica
4. "Heartbreak Hotel" Whitney Houston
5. "...Baby One More Time" Britney Spears
6. "Kiss Me" Sixpence None The Richer
7. "Genie In A Bottle" Christina Aguilera
8. "Every Morning" Sugar Ray
9. "Nobody's Supposed To Be Here" Deborah Cox
10. "Livin' La Vida Loca" Ricky Martin

source: musicoutfitters.com

[ledfloyd]

yeesh, how did i survive that year without killing myself?

[MadMan]

yeesh, how did i survive that year without killing myself?I survived by listening to lots and lots of classic rock and hard rock. 90s pop was a highly mixed bag and at times really sucked, but 90s alternative and 90s rock was pretty damn good for the most part.

[Sycophant]

iosos, I need you to vote in this one.

[Eleven]

Top 10 songs of 1999:

Yeah, I didn't want to have to be the one to bring back these memories.

[dreamdead]

Well... the TLC song isn't that bad, folks. All ten could suck horribly.

[MadMan]

Well... the TLC song isn't that bad, folks. All ten could suck horribly."Scrubs" was actually one of the few decent songs TLC ever made. That and "Waterfalls."

[Watashi]

1. The Insider
2. The Iron Giant
3. Toy Story 2
4. Eyes Wide Shut
5. The Green Mile

[Captainsteve]

1. The Insider
2. Boy's Don't Cry
3. Fight Club
4. The War Zone
5. All about my Mother

[Spinal]

The following TV shows premiered in 1999:

The Sopranos
Family Guy
Queer as Folk (UK)
Tenacious D
Futurama
SpongeBob SquarePants
Big Brother (Netherlands)
The West Wing
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

The #1 show of 1999 in the Nielsen ratings:

ER

[Yum-Yum]

Freaks and Geeks premiered in 1999.

1. Election
2. Top of the Food Chain
3. Titus
4. The Blair Witch Project
5. Topsy-Turvy

Other Movies I am Mentioning: Never Been Kissed, But I'm a Cheerleader, Go, Dick, Drive Me Crazy.

[Spinal]

Never Been Kissed, But I'm a Cheerleader, Go, Dick, Drive Me Crazy.

:lol:

[Benny Profane]

Never Been Kissed and Mean Girls are almost the exact same movie.

[Benny Profane]

1. Ratcatcher
2. Magnolia
3. Sweet and Lowdown
4. The Insider
5. The Sixth Sense

[MadMan]

The following TV shows premiered in 1999:

The Sopranos
Family Guy
Queer as Folk (UK)
Tenacious D
Futurama
SpongeBob SquarePants
Big Brother (Netherlands)
The West Wing
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

The #1 show of 1999 in the Nielsen ratings:

ERWell even though it was a crappy year for pop music it was a damn good year for TV. Maybe even great.

[Spinal]

Time Magazine's Person of the Year for 1999:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/1101991227_400.jpg

Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com

[MadMan]

Hey I remember that issue. I think I recycled it a couple years later. Funny how we mocked the guy for thinking Amazon.com would become profitable, and then "Presto!" it actually turned a profit after many losses. I actually visit the site regularly although I have yet to buy anything from it.

My second batch of five for 1999:

6. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut
7. The Matrix
8. The Sixth Sense
9. Detroit Rock City
10. Payback

[Sycophant]

Hey I remember that issue. I think I recycled it a couple years later. Funny how we mocked the guy for thinking Amazon.com would become profitable, and then "Presto!" it actually turned a profit after many losses. I actually visit the site regularly although I have yet to buy anything from it. We mocked the guy? We did? I've been buying from Amazon for about a decade now and spend hundreds of dollars there a year. When I started, I and everyone else I knew realized that this was, like, actually a really big thing that was gonna make Bezos rich.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Yeah, Madman I'm pretty sure you were alone in that mocking. I've been using Amazon since I was in high school.

[Melville]

I've spent thousands at Amazon. I try to support local used bookstores as much as possible, but you just can't beat Amazon's selection.

[Winston*]

I've spent upwards of 14 US dollars at Amazon.

[MadMan]

Yeah, Madman I'm pretty sure you were alone in that mocking. I've been using Amazon since I was in high school.


We mocked the guy? We did? I've been buying from Amazon for about a decade now and spend hundreds of dollars there a year. When I started, I and everyone else I knew realized that this was, like, actually a really big thing that was gonna make Bezos rich.I'm not saying we did. Business analysts back then were skeptical that his plan was going to work, and when Amazon started going into the red many doubters emerged. There are none now (I'm was never one of them) since the company is successful, but I'm not crazy or making this up. Perhaps I shouldn't have used "We" but rather some/many instead, but I get lazy sometimes.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

speaking of business, I'm surprised no one mentioned this film for this year:

Alex Cox's THREE BUSINESSMAN

it is pretty damn good.

[koji]

Regarding Amazon, the problem was that the stock price went very high, while at the same time Amazon was showing losses. Some of the stock gurus made outlandish claims about the value of its stock, and that landed him on Time. There was a backlash regarding those claims, and, indeed, subsequently the stock price tumbled. I don't know the current financials, but I'm sure that many people lost money buying its stock at its absurd high prices. (There's no reason to think that was Bezos' fault.)

I use Amazon now, and it seems well run and easy to use.

[MadMan]

Regarding Amazon, the problem was that the stock price went very high, while at the same time Amazon was showing losses. Some of the stock gurus made outlandish claims about the value of it's stock, and that landed him on Time. There was a backlash regarding those claims, and, indeed, subsequently the stock price tumbled. I don't know the current financials, but I'm sure that many people lost money buying it's stock at it's absurd high prices. (There's no reason to think that was Bezos' fault.)

I use Amazon now, and it seems well run and easy to use.That's somewhat along the lines of what I was saying. I think I will eventually start buying stuff off of Amazon as there are some CDs/movies that are hard to find storewise.

[Thirdmango]

1. Kikujiro
2. Being John Malkovich
3. Office Space
4. Election
5. South Park

[Eleven]

Okay, voting over. I may or may not have time this weekend to organize the results, so this may get done post-Oscars.

[Eleven]

#10

http://bp0.blogger.com/_txmWZ3zUUD0/R8M_XlilyYI/AAAAAAAAADM/LK3H3JIze_4/s400/boysdontcry.jpg

Boys Don't Cry

Director: Kimberly Peirce

Country: USA

The story of the life of Brandon Teena, a transgendered teen who preferred life in a male identity until it was discovered he was born biologically female.

Won Academy Award for Best Actress. When Hilary Swank was living as a man to prepare for the role of Brandon Teena, she was so convincing that her neighbors believed that the young man coming and going from Swank's home (Swank in male character) was a visiting brother of hers. Diane Keaton originally considered directing with Drew Barrymore in the lead.

“That the people with whom Brandon feels most at home would kill him if they knew his true gender is the movie's most tragic irony--and the one that lifts it out of the realm of gay-martyr hagiography and into something more complex and irreducible: a meditation on the irrelevance of gender.” -- David Edelstein

[dreamdead]

I worry that BDC will get lost with time, yet it's not a film I feel very attached to. Very conflicting emotions, but the former sentiment does win out presently.

[Eleven]

#9

http://bp1.blogger.com/_txmWZ3zUUD0/R8NDu1ilyZI/AAAAAAAAADU/y9-d0pvmvTw/s400/beautravail.jpg

Beau Travail

Director: Claire Denis

Country: France

Based loosely on Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, the film focuses on ex-Foreign Legion officer Galoup as he recalls his once glorious life, leading troops in the Gulf of Djibouti. His existence there was happy, strict and regimented, but the arrival of a promising young recruit, Sentain, plants the seeds of jealousy in Galoup's mind. He feels compelled to stop him from coming to the attention of the commandant who he admires, but who ignores him. Ultimately, his jealousy leads to the destruction of both Sentain and himself.

The title could be idiomatically translated as “Beautiful Work,” “Good Work,” or “Fine Craftsmanship.” Stephen Holden of the New York Times and Philip French of the Guardian Unlimited (UK) named the film one of the 10 best films of 2000; the Village Voice and Film Comment named it the best film of the year.

“Beau Travail…is a movie so tactile in its cinematography, inventive in its camera placement, and sensuous in its editing that the purposefully oblique and languid narrative is all but eclipsed.” -- J. Hoberman

[Spinal]

Diane Keaton originally considered directing with Drew Barrymore in the lead.

Dear God.

[Eleven]

Dear God.

It would have jumped up 10 spaces with that lineup, guaranteed.

[Eleven]

#7 (tie)

http://bp2.blogger.com/_txmWZ3zUUD0/R8NEbFilyeI/AAAAAAAAAD8/whF1a74eQnE/s400/kikujiro.jpg

Kikujiro

Director: Takeshi Kitano

Country: Japan

Brash, loudmouthed and opportunistic, Kikujiro hardly seems the ideal companion for little Masao who is determined to travel long distances to see the mother he has never met. Their excursion to the cycle races is the first of a series of adventures for the unlikely pair which soon turns out to be a whimsical journey of laughter and tears with a wide array of surprises and odd ball characters to meet along the way.

Nominated for the Palm d’Or at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. Quoth Takeshi: “After Fireworks, I couldn’t help feeling that my films were being stereotyped: `gangster, violence, life and death.’ It became difficult for me to identify with them. So I decided to try and make a film no one would expect from me…I decided to make this film because it would be a challenge for me to cope with this ordinary story and try to make it my very own through my direction, and I tried a lot of experiments with imagery. I think it ended up being a very strange film with my trademark all over it. I hope to continue upsetting people’s expectations in a positive way.”

“Yet, Kikujiro is of a piece with the yakuza classics that have made his name in the West. The lyrical force of his art is enhanced here in no small measure by the unabashed romanticism of Mr. Kitano's house composer, Joe Hisaishi, whose score invests every walking and running step of Masao's childhood quest with the gravity of an emotional adventure shared by all children as they seek the unknown.” -- Andrew Sarris

[Sycophant]

Yes! Kikujiro made it! If it hadn't, I was preparing to neg rep everyone who didn't vote for it.

[Eleven]

#7 (tie)

http://bp0.blogger.com/_txmWZ3zUUD0/R8NEblilygI/AAAAAAAAAEM/PR-Feke69Cs/s400/ratcatcher.jpg

Ratcatcher

Director: Lynne Ramsay

Country: UK

The slice-of-life, coming-of-age story follows James, an Irish lad living with his often-drunk da, his ma, and sisters who live in hope of moving to newly-built council flats, as he tags along with the older lads; has a friendship with his quirky wee rodent-loving neighbor, Kenny; spends time with Margaret Anne, myopic, slightly older, the local sexual punching bag; and, has a moment or two of joy.

At the 2000 Riga International Film Forum Arsenals, Ramsay won the FIPRESCI Prize “for a fresh and truthful debut showing how a young boy's soul matures in a harsh world.” Although this film is in English, the US release has English subtitles because all the characters speak in a very heavy Scottish accent.

“Although Ratcatcher flirts with misery, and its palette is principally a series of glum earth tones with an occasional vivid splash of color, the immensely talented Ms. Ramsay provides an intimacy that is completely mesmerizing. Rarely has physical wretchedness been rendered with such delicacy.” -- Elvis Mitchell

[Kurosawa Fan]

2-lo

[dreamdead]

Ratcatcher was one of the best first viewings I had last year. Instantly memorable, instantly transcendent. It took the childhood innocence-to-maturity formula and layered it with minute details masterfully.

[Eleven]

#5 (tie)

http://bp0.blogger.com/_txmWZ3zUUD0/R8NEblilyhI/AAAAAAAAAEU/mnJA73GA4Dw/s400/thestraightstory.jpg

The Straight Story

Director: David Lynch

Country: USA

Alvin Straight is a very old man with a quiet life in a small country town. When his brother gets seriously sick, he decides to put away their differences and visit him after many, many years. So, alone, he begins a long journey through hundreds of miles, just to see again his brother, even if it's the last thing he will ever do...

Nominated for the Palm d’Or at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, and for Best Actor at the Academy Awards. John Hurt and Gregory Peck were offered the lead. Filmed in sequence. This was the first of Lynch's films in which his parents appeared.

“Anyone ignorant of Lynch who sees The Straight Story will need an extra mite of patience to allow its beauty to unfold; others will be curious from the start about why this unconventional filmmaker chose this material, and that curiosity will speed up the unfolding.” -- Stanley Kauffmann

[Eleven]

#5 (tie)

http://bp3.blogger.com/_txmWZ3zUUD0/R8NDvVilybI/AAAAAAAAADk/sbcXZW2YF7k/s400/election.jpg

Election

Director: Alexander Payne

Country: USA

Tracy Flick is running unopposed for this year's high school student election. But school civics teacher Jim McAllister has a different plan. Partly to establish a more democratic election, and partly to satisfy some deep personal anger toward Tracy, Jim talks popular varsity football player Paul Metzler to run for president as well. Chaos ensues.

Won Best Adapted Screenplay award from the Writers Guild of America. The source novel by Tom Perrotta is a reworking of Budd Schulberg's 1941 novel What Makes Sammy Run? In the text of a newspaper article in the film: "If you've paused the film in order to read this entire article, your time would be better spent renting Citizen Ruth from your local video store. Do you know how hard it is to write these fake few stories for newspaper movie props? I've got better things to do."

“This story might have lent itself to pratfalls and broad gags, but Mr. Payne keeps it chillier. He sees the frailties of all the film's characters, even if its plot is supposedly about winners and losers. And for all its nicely malevolent humor this is a story that ultimately leads to disillusionment. As in Citizen Ruth, Mr. Payne has trouble resolving real issues with a simple ending. But the sentiment voiced by McAllister is ‘It just makes me sad.’” -- Janet Maslin

[Eleven]

#4

http://bp0.blogger.com/_txmWZ3zUUD0/R8NDvlilydI/AAAAAAAAAD0/9DqQ8pxjYqg/s400/fightclub.jpg

Fight Club

Director: David Fincher

Country: USA

A lonely, isolated thirty-something young professional seeks an escape from his mundane existence with the help of a devious soap salesman. They find their release from the prison of reality through underground fight clubs, where men can be what the world now denies them. Their boxing matches and harmless pranks soon lead to an out-of-control spiral towards oblivion.

Was nominated for Best Fight at the MTV Movie Awards. Author Chuck Palahniuk actually found the modified ending in the film to be better than the one he had written in the novel. In the press packages released for the movie, which came in the form of Ikea-esque catalogues, Edward Norton's character is referred to as "Jack." In the closed captioning, whenever the Narrator speaks and is not seen, the closed caption begins with "Rupert." Also, they’re the same guy, dude.

“It's the rawest, most hot-blooded, provocatively audacious, dangerous movie to come of out Hollywood this year, serving as both a supercharged spectacle and a scorching, though problematic screed against materialism, consumption and vanity. The film has one of the most enthrallingly told first halves you'll see, brought to you by a band of subversives on both sides of the camera who are at the vanguard of their crafts, with a particularly inventive and mind-blowing performance by Norton.” -- Wesley Morris

[Melville]

a particularly inventive and mind-blowing performance by Norton.” -- Wesley Morris
If there was anything mind-blowing in Fight Club, I didn't see it.

[Mysterious Dude]

If there was anything mind-blowing in Fight Club, I didn't see it.
It totally blew my mind! Though I was sixteen at the time, and easily blown.

[Eleven]

If there was anything mind-blowing in Fight Club, I didn't see it.


Also, they’re the same guy, dude.

Buh. Lown.

[Eleven]

#3

http://bp3.blogger.com/_txmWZ3zUUD0/R8NDvVilycI/AAAAAAAAADs/p-1S02L14iY/s400/eyeswideshut.jpg
Average Scientology luncheon.

Eyes Wide Shut

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Countries: UK / USA

A New York City doctor, who is married to an art curator, pushes himself on a harrowing and dangerous night-long odyssey of sexual and moral discovery after his wife admits that she once almost cheated on him.

Won the Filmcritica "Bastone Bianco" Award at the Venice Film Festival. One of the patients who Tom Cruise cancels is called Kaminsky, the name of one of the hibernating crew that HAL kills in 2001: A Space Odyssey. A VHS copy Rain Man is seen in Alice and Bill's bedroom on top of their entertainment stand during their marijuana-enhanced argument.

“Part of its sleaziness can be attributed to its grainy, seedy cinematography and abundant sexual content, but the film's primal, almost religious intensity and power is primarily derived from its multifaceted realization that disobeying the dictates of society and your conscience can be both terrifying and exhilarating. Like all good fairy tales, Eyes Wide Shut doesn't underestimate the power of evil: The film's depiction of sexual depravity and amorality could easily venture into the realm of camp in the hands of a lesser filmmaker, but Kubrick depicts primal evil in a way that somehow makes it seem both new and deeply terrifying.” -- Nathan Rabin

[Eleven]

#2

http://bp3.blogger.com/_txmWZ3zUUD0/R8NEbVilyfI/AAAAAAAAAEE/NKfpH2YlsAU/s400/magnolia.jpg

Magnolia

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Country: USA

Two parallel and intercut stories dramatize men about to die: both are estranged from a grown child, both want to make contact, and neither child wants anything to do with dad. Earl Partridge's son is a charismatic misogynist; Jimmy Gator's daughter is a cokehead and waif. A mild and caring nurse intercedes for Earl, reaching the son; a prayerful and upright beat cop meets the daughter, is attracted to her, and leads her toward a new calm. Meanwhile, guilt consumes Earl's young wife, while two whiz kids, one grown and a loser and the other young and pressured, face their situations. The weather, too, is quirky.

Won Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival. Paul Thomas Anderson wrote the bulk of the script during two weeks he spent at William H. Macy's Vermont cabin - afraid to go outside because he'd seen a snake. One of Stanley Spector's books on the table in the library is Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women written by Ricky Jay, who narrates and stars in the film. The word "fuck" is used 190 times.

"Magnolia is the kind of film I instinctively respond to. Leave logic at the door. Do not expect subdued taste and restraint, but instead a kind of operatic ecstasy. At three hours it is even operatic in length, as its themes unfold, its characters strive against the dying of the light, and the great wheel of chance rolls on toward them." -- Roger Ebert

[Eleven]

Went back and edited some of the numbers to reflect ties.

[Eleven]

#1

http://bp1.blogger.com/_txmWZ3zUUD0/R8NDu1ilyaI/AAAAAAAAADc/RAG1XJu7BjE/s400/beingjohnmalkovich.jpg

Being John Malkovich

Director: Spike Jonze

Country: USA

A puppeteer discovers a door in his office that allows him to enter the mind and life of John Malkovich for 15 minutes. It gets weirder from there.

Won a FIPRESCI Prize at the Venice Film Festival for being "an ingeniously written absurdist satire on the fascination of fame directed with great flair." Charlie Kaufman sent the screenplay to Francis Ford Coppola after he wrote it; Coppola liked it very much and showed it to his daughter's husband, Spike Jonze. David Fincher appears as Christopher Bing, when Craig is watching television through Malkovich toward the end of the film. The 1990 Steppenwolf Theatre building in Chicago (Malkovich was one of the first members of Steppenwolf, and remains one today) includes a half-floor used for storage.

"If character is fate, what will a split personality get you? Perhaps a map of the 21st century. It's no accident that Being John Malkovich is opening in the same year as American Beauty and Fight Club -- movies that trace the messy boundaries between dreaming and being, between one person and another. These hyperbolic, cartoonish wonders map a moment in history when our minds are so overloaded with images and information that one can easily grow addicted to channel-surfing an infinity of other selves and lives." -- F.X. Feeney

[Kurosawa Fan]

Wow. That's a pleasant surprise.

[Sycophant]

Yeah, wow. I don't know what I was expecting to win, but it wasn't that. Keen gear.

[Eleven]

Results:

1. Being John Malkovich (63)
2. Magnolia (54)
3. Eyes Wide Shut (50.5)
4. Fight Club (50)
5. (tie) Election (30)
5. (tie) The Straight Story (30)
7. (tie) Ratcatcher (26.5)
7. (tie) Kikujiro (26.5)
9. Beau Travail (23)
10. Boys Don't Cry (22.5)

Almost there:
The Insider (21.5)
Three Kings (19.5)
Toy Story 2 (18)
Audition (17.5)

[Watashi]

Match Cut really hates their animated films.

[ledfloyd]

glad BJM, EWS and Straight Story got good representation. not a fan of magnolia and fight club is severely overrated. and no ghost dog!

[Spinal]

Match Cut really hates their animated films.

What happened to The Iron Giant? :confused:

[ledfloyd]

What happened to The Iron Giant? :confused:
it went the way of the ghost dog apparently. to heaven? do all ghost dogs go to heaven?

i haven't seen iron giant, i should've made an effort to see it before voting ended.

[Eleven]

What happened to The Iron Giant? :confused:

It got 6 mentions, I think. It's right below the runners-up, which are films that could have jumped into the Top Ten with one more mention.

[Yxklyx]

Never even heard of Beau Travail. Good list though - especially 3 of the top 4.

[transmogrifier]

Poor #1, but #2 and #4 make up for it.

[MadMan]

Yes! Kikujiro made it! If it hadn't, I was preparing to neg rep everyone who didn't vote for it.But I haven't seen it! I actually forget that it existed after reading it in Newsweek back in 1999. I wouldn't deserve it :P

I was blown away by Fight Club after I saw it last year. But hey I'm 21 so what the hell do I know? ;) I wrote a messy review of it in December, one that actually focused more on the fact that I feel the film also has something to say about terrorism, something perhaps more interesting than its other themes.

[Sycophant]

But I haven't seen it! I actually forget that it existed after reading it in Newsweek back in 1999. I wouldn't deserve it :P Yes you would.

[MadMan]

Yes you would.I'd have to use Netflix to get it and I don't watch enough films to justify having the service.

[Grouchy]

I knew a lot of Fight Club haters would pop up, since I was fully expecting it to win. These are surprising results. Cool.

And I haven't seen Being John Malkovich. Go figure.

[Melville]

Also, they’re the same guy, dude.Buh. Lown.
:lol:

[monolith94]

Very surprised that the Iron Giant didn't make it.

[Sycophant]

I'm not only surprised by Iron Giant not making it, I'm a bit ashamed and guilty.

[Velocipedist]

My #1 is #1 yay let's have a party etc etc.