Movies of 1999 Bracket Game

https://lebeauleblog.com/2019/02/04/movies-of-1999-bracket-game/

It was the year of Y2K and a million apocalyptic expectations. Or as Prince put it, “they say two thousand zero zero party over, oops out of time.” If the world really had ended twenty years ago, 1999 would have taken us out on a high note cinematically. The Phantom Menace not withstanding, it was a solid year for movies. Let’s look back two decades and pick our favorite features.

The most anticipated movie of 1999 had to be The Phantom Menace. The return of Star Wars was a massive event. There was almost no way George Lucas could deliver a movie that would meet fans’ expectations. And yet, few could have anticipated the disappointment of Jar Jar Binks.

Meanwhile, no one expected anything from Universal’s Mummy movie starring that goofy guy from Encino Man. Personally, I never cared for Stephen Sommers’ The Mummy, but a lot of people still enjoy the cheesy blend of turn-of-the-century CGI, high camp and old fashioned adventure.

To represent the horror genre, I picked two movies that shocked and surprised audiences. The Sixth Sense made write-director M. Knight Shyamalan a household name with a twist ending few saw coming (no matter what they may try to tell you now). The Blair Witch Project essentially created the “found footage” genre.

For science-fiction (Star Wars is science-fantasy), we have two very different movies. The Wachowskis melded Hong Kong wire-fu with bullet time effects and a mind-bending plot (with a dash of Terminator sprinkled in) to create The Matrix. The Star Trek satire, Galaxy Quest wasn’t nearly as influential as The Matrix, but it probably holds up better today. Plus, Alan Rickman.

I have paired up some comedies that were popular back in the day. Not all of them are good, but audiences seemed to enjoy them nonetheless. Harold Ramis’ mob comedy, Analyze This, faces off against the Happy Madison production, Big Daddy.

Several actors had a productive year in 1999 with multiple releases. So we have a few brackets in which both movies share an actor. Honestly, not all of these movies were originally paired with that in mind, but I will let you guys try to figure out which ones were happy accidents.

First up we have Pierce Brosnan in his third outing as James Bond in The World is Not Enough. Brosnan also costarred opposite Rene Russo in a Bond-adjacent remake of The Thomas Crown Affair.

The Heather Graham bracket includes Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Frank Oz’s showbiz comedy, Bowfinger. American Beauty and American Pie share more than just similar titles. Their casts also include Mena Suvari.

Julia Roberts got matched with Hugh Grant in the rom-com Notting Hill and also reunited with Richard Gere for Runaway Bride. And Tom Cruise chose two unlikely vehicles in Stanley Kubrick’s final movie, Eyes Wide Shut and Paul Thomas Anderson’s polarizing drama, Magnolia.

There was a big youth boom in 1999 which is represented by coming-of-age movies, 10 Things I Hate About You and Election. It was also a decent year for animation with Disney’s Tarzan, Pixar’s first sequel, Toy Story 2 and the cultish Iron Giant. South Park also spawned a movie which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song (It lost to Tarzan because… Disney).

The Cider House Rules and The Green Mile were both literary adaptations. As were Girl, Interrupted, Fight Club, The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Insider. While American Beauty cleaned up at the Oscars in 1999, these movies had a lot of awards buzz. Supporting players Michael Caine and Angelina Jolie managed to take home trophies.

That leaves us with our two biopics; Boys Don’t Cry (for which Hilary Swank won her first of two Oscars) and Man on the Moon (which Jim Carrey probably hoped would earn him some Oscar love).

Even with 32 choices, there were still some movies I couldn’t find room for. Examples include Cruel Intentions, Wild, Wild West, Lake Placid, Three Kings, The Hurricane, Any Given Sunday and Sleepy Hollow. If anyone has a favorite movie from 1999 that just didn’t make the cut, I apologize in advance.

With introductions out of the way, it’s time to start voting. Polls close Friday at noon EST. Then come back next week to vote in round two.