1999: The Podcast

Chris Smith and Sarah Price's heartfelt, quirky, and utterly original documentary American Movie was not one of 1999's major blockbuster hits. And of the 200 movies listed in Box Office Mojo's list of film grosses from that year, American Movie comes in at number 200. But it has gone on to become of the most critically successful and beloved documentaries ever made. The story of filmmaker Mark Bor...

It's the Sarah Rose Cosmetics Mount Rose American Teen Princess Round 3 Review Show. One year and 27 movies later, we're wrapping up round 3 and previewing our fourth round - this time, it's hosts' choice, as John and Joey each pick 4 movies and one they decided on together. But before that, they are joined by their friend and #1 fan Tyler Birth to take a look back at the highs and lows of our req...

"Dusk! With a creepy, tingling sensation, you hear the fluttering of leathery wing! BATS!" Bats. So, not every 1999 movie was a paradigm-shifting landmark. Some of them were unabashedly absurd b-movie creature features about bats. Like Bats. 1999’s 127th-highest grossing movie, Bats opened at #9 just in time for Halloween, on the weekend of October 29th. But it nearly earned back its budget in its...

The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc was...big in France? Actually, The Messenger was indeed touted as "Oscar bait" prior to its release in November of 1999. Luc Besson was fresh off of his most commercially successful hit The Fifth Element, and so reteaming with Fifth Element star Milla Jovovich (who at the time was married to Besson) for a big, epic, gritty retelling of the Joan of Arc story...

It's our first anniversary, and so we invited fellow 1999-podcaster Dahlia Balcazar to talk about her podcast, 1999 FOREVER, and her hand-picked 1999 movie: The Haunting! Dahlia tells us why she decided to make an audio essay about the year of all years, and we touch on what was going on in other areas of culture outside of the movie theater, like Y2K and The Sopranos. Dahlia's requested movie was...

Disney’s Tarzan was, as the 6th-highest grossing movie of the year, a big hit. But it also had a giant budget. Made for $130 million, it grossed $171 million domestically and $448 million worldwide.  Tarzan did well with critics, as well. It was nominated for more than 2 dozen different awards, and won the Oscar and Golden Globe for best original song, Phil Collins’ “You’ll Be in My Heart”.  It ho...

A modest success, Deep Blue Sea was the 29th-highest grossing movie of the year, putting it close the likes of Any Given Sunday, Galaxy Quest, and The Thomas Crown Affair, earning $74 million at the domestic box office on an $80ish million budget but going on to take in $165 million worldwide. Opening on July 30, Deep Blue Sea debuted in 3rd place behind the #1 opening of Runaway Bride and a still...

John and Joey talk to "Drop Dead Gorgeous" director and founding member of "The State" Michael Patrick Jann. Jann shares his thoughts on the film's journey from critical and commercial dud to beloved cult classic, and shares what he's been up to lately (spoiler, his second feature film is due out this year!)

A critical and commercial failure upon its release, Drop Dead Gorgeous was the 125th-highest grossing movie of 1999. Filmed in the then still novel mockumentary style, the movie about a beauty pageant in Mount Rose, Minnesota was written by a former beauty pageant contestant from Rosemount, Minnesota, Lona Williams (also known as 1985’s Minnesota Junior Miss) and directed by former member of The S...

1999's 180th-highest grossing film, Antonia Bird's Ravenous never finished higher than 18th at the domestic box office, earning just over 2 millions dollars on a 12 million dollar budget. And it was never released theatrically outside North America. Ravenous was also the recipient of decidedly (often wildly) mixed critics' reviews, all of whom seem to agree that the movie shifts tones so often and...

Our second Round 3 film, Jawbreaker, was requested by our friend and Office Space guest Jenn Tisdale. Jawbreaker was released in theatres on February 19th, making it one of the earliest 1999 films we’ve covered to date. The sophomore feature from writer Darren Stein, Jawbreaker is a John Waters-esque psychedelic high school satire. The 171st-highest grossing movie of the year, it earned 3.1 millio...

The Talented Mr. Ripley is one of a few movies that just barely didn't make our first 18, so we were delighted to learn the talented Bridget Todd wanted to give it a shout-out. The second motion picture adaptation of the novel by Patricia Highsmith, Ripley was released just under the wire on December 25th, going on to earn $127 million on a $40 million budget. The film stars Matt Damon, a pre-Goop...

Merry Christmas! In the spirit of the season, John and Joey asked their friend (and friend of the network) Juhi Khemani to spend 45 minutes watching the 1999 animated Christmas TV special Olive the Other Reindeer. Olive the Other Reindeer is based on the children's book of the same name by artist J. Otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh. With its unique style, an all-star voice cast, and Michael Stipe, Ol...

We have reached the end of Round 2, completed our list of the 18 essential movies of 1999, and it's time for a (Woody's) Roundup last nine episodes. This round saw a lot more comedies, a lot more animation, and some pretty stellar guests. We take a moment to look back at it all, discuss some of what surprised us both, offer ideas on which movies might be ready for a sequel or two, and take preview...

Toy Story 2 is our final film of round 2 and our final pick for the 18 essential movies of 1999. Originally conceived as a direct-to-video sequel, much in line with Disney's strategy of releasing its other sequels to blockbuster animated films like The Return of Jafar and The Lion King 2, it soon became clear that Pixar's vision for Toy Story 2 was far too big and too bold not to grace the big scr...

South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut is...very funny. It's also absurd, obscene, and one of the best movie musicals not called Moulin Rouge of the last few decades. The humor of the show and the movie, though, has always been too things - edgy (bordering on shocking) and timely. South Park the series has produced some of the smartest, most incisive satire anywhere in its 25 years of existence, bu...

Run Lola Run only technically meets the criteria of our podcast, but no discussion of the revolutionary, groundbreaking films of 1999 could really be complete without it. Because while it was released in 1998 in its native Germany, its US theatrical release came in June 18, 1999. Starring Franke Potente and Moritz Bleibtreu, Run Lola Run was the breakout feature from writer-director-composer Tom T...

Of the 18 movies that made our first two rounds, Office Space was far and away the most abject failure. Released in the frigid box office month of February and featuring an advertising and marketing campaign that was so bad classes should be taught about it, Office Space went on to become the year's 134th-highest grossing movie, falling short of the box office hauls for beloved, critically-acclaim...

What better time than this, the intersection of Spooky Season and our cultural Brenaissance, to talk about the beloved Brendan Fraser vehicle, The Mummy?! The 8th-highest grossing movie of 1999, The Mummy is - there's no other way to say it - weird on a lot of levels. It feels completely out of place among its peers, embracing both state-of-the-art digital effects and very old school practical eff...

When Election premiered on April 23rd, audiences, it is safe to say, did not Pick Flick. Election was a pretty giant dud. With a reported $25 million price tag, the film earned just $15 million at the box office, making it the 98th-highest grossing movie of the year. And that's despite near universal critical acclaim and a number of major awards nominations. What went wrong? A lot, including a ver...

Being John Malkovich may well be the 1999est movie we have yet covered on the show. And the only reason it didn’t make it into the first nine (and just barely) is that 1) it really took some time to fully sink in to the culture, sort of like Fight Club, and 2) unlike Fight Club, it has largely been marginalized in recent years, due in no small part to the successive work of both Jonze and Kaufman,...

The fact that American Pie was the twentieth-highest-grossing movie of 1999 wouldn't suggest that film was a mammoth hit, but it was. American Pie made back its tiny 11 million dollar budget and then some in its opening weekend. And it went on to gross more than 100 million domestically and 235 million worldwide, making it one of the most profitable movies of the year (an honor obviously belonging...

10 Things I Hate About You has become a generational favorite, joining the ranks of The Breakfast Club and Fast Times at Ridgemont High among the teen movie pantheon. Filmed on a $13 million budget, it made $38 million at the domestic box office, making it the 53rd top grossing movie of the year (one ahead of Fight Club). It would go on to break $60 million worldwide. But while it boasted a very i...

In this end--of-round recap mini episode, Joey and John share their thoughts on the first nine movies, pick a "winner" from round one, and preview what's up ahead in the second round: The Back Nine. Thanks to Brian Raftery, Chris Kluwe, Brian Silliman, Matt Romano, Lila Shapiro, Chelsey Weber-Smith, Stephanie Gagnon, Aislinn and Tobin Addington, Amanda Moore, Logan Kisner, and Tyler Huckabee for s...

Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia was just his third feature film. It remains both his most beloved and most divisive. Released at the very end of 1999, Magnolia was largely lauded by critics, received a number of year-end awards and nominations, and mostly overlooked by audiences. But like Fight Club before it, it found second life on DVD and quickly found an adoring audience, in addition to the so...