Awesome Movie Year

In this epilogue to our season on the awesome movie year of 1999, we talk about alternate movies we considered including in all of our different categories this season, and read suggestions from some listeners about which movies they hoped we would cover. Please like, share, rate and comment on the show and this episode, and tune in soon for the premiere of our tenth season, a special bonus season...

The finale of our season on the awesome movie year of 1999 features our audience choice pick, Alexander Payne’s Election . Directed and co-written by Alexander Payne (adapted from the novel by Tom Perrotta) and starring Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein and Jessica Campbell, Election prevailed over 11 other movies in our audience choice teen movie tournament. The contemporary revie...

The twelfth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1999 features our future cult classic pick, Troy Duffy’s The Boondock Saints . Written and directed by Troy Duffy and starring Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, Willem Dafoe and David Della Rocco, The Boondock Saints was barely released in theaters but built a cult following on home video. The contemporary reviews quoted in this epi...

The eleventh episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1999 features our producer David Rosen’s pick, Mike Judge’s Office Space . Written and directed by Mike Judge and starring Ron Livingston, David Herman, Jennifer Aniston, Gary Cole, Diedrich Bader and Ajay Naidu, Office Space was Judge’s first live-action film. The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Roger Ebert ( ht...

The tenth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1999 features the Academy Awards Best Picture winner, Sam Mendes’ American Beauty . Directed by Sam Mendes from a script by Alan Ball and starring Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari and Chris Cooper, American Beauty was nominated for eight Oscars and won five, including Best Picture. The contemporary revi...

The ninth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1999 features the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner, Chris Smith’s American Movie . Directed by Chris Smith and featuring Mark Borchardt, American Movie won the Grand Jury Prize for documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Roger Ebert ( https://www.rogerebert.c...

The eighth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1999 features Jason’s personal pick, Wes Anderson’s Rushmore. Directed and co-written (with Owen Wilson) by Wes Anderson and starring Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Olivia Williams and Mason Gamble, Rushmore premiered at the 1998 Toronto International Film Festival before going into wide release in February 1999. The contemporary revie...

This special Halloween episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1999 features Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez’s found footage horror movie The Blair Witch Project. Written and directed by Myrick and Sanchez and starring Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams and Joshua Leonard, The Blair Witch Project premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival and went on to become one of the most succ...

The seventh episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1999 features our foreign film pick, Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run . Written and directed by Tom Tykwer and starring Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu and Herbert Knaup, Run Lola Run won the audience award for world cinema at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Roger Ebert ( https://www...

The sixth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1999 features Josh’s personal pick, David Fincher’s Fight Club . Directed by David Fincher from a screenplay by Jim Uhls (based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk) and starring Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter and Meat Loaf, Fight Club was a commercial and critical disappointment but has since become a cult classic. The contem...

The fifth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1999 features our documentary pick, Wim Wenders’ Buena Vista Social Club . Directed by Wim Wenders and featuring a group of legendary Cuban musicians, Buena Vista Social Club was nominated for the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Roger Ebert ( https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews...

The fourth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1999 features the Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner, the Dardenne brothers’ Rosetta . Written and directed by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne and starring Émilie Dequenne, Fabrizio Rongione, Olivier Gourmet and Anne Yernaux, Rosetta won the Palme d’Or and Best Actress awards at Cannes. The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode c...

The third episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1999 features the year’s biggest flop, Barry Sonnenfeld’s Wild Wild West . Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, based on the 1960s TV series The Wild Wild West and starring Will Smith, Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh and Salma Hayek, Wild Wild West was a box-office failure and was nominated for nine Razzies. The contemporary reviews quoted in this...

The second episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1999 features our pick for a notable filmmaking debut, Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides . Written and directed by Sofia Coppola (based on the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides) and starring Kirsten Dunst, Kathleen Turner, James Woods, Josh Hartnett and Jonathan Tucker, The Virgin Suicides premiered at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. The cont...

The first episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1999 features the second-highest-grossing film at the box office, M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense . Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette and Olivia Williams, The Sixth Sense grossed $672.8 million worldwide and was nominated for six Oscars. The contemporary reviews qu...

In this special bonus episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 2003, we’re talking about South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy . Directed and co-written by Park Chan-wook (based on the comic book series by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi) and starring Choi Min-sik, Kang Hye-jung and Yoo Ji-tae, Oldboy is the middle film in Park’s so-called “vengeance trilogy.” The contempor...

In this epilogue to our season on the awesome movie year of 1967, we talk about alternate movies we considered including in all of our different categories this season, and read suggestions from some listeners about which movies they hoped we would cover. Please like, share, rate and comment on the show and this episode, and tune in soon for the premiere of our ninth season, covering the awesome m...

The finale of our season on the awesome movie year of 1967 features our audience choice pick, David Swift’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying . Written and directed by David Swift (adapted from the hit Broadway musical) and starring Robert Morse, Rudy Vallee, Michelle Lee, Anthony Teague and Maureen Arthur, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying prevailed over Barefoot in...

The twelfth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1967 features our future cult classic pick, Roger Corman’s The Trip . Directed by Roger Corman from a script by Jack Nicholson and starring Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Susan Strasberg and Dennis Hopper, The Trip was a hit that capitalized on the counterculture zeitgeist. The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Bosley Cro...

The eleventh episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1967 features our producer David Rosen’s pick, Mel Brooks’ The Producers . Written and directed by Mel Brooks and starring Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Kenneth Mars, Dick Shawn and Christopher Hewett, The Producers was Brooks’ debut feature as a director. The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Time Magazine ( http://co...

The tenth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1967 features the Academy Awards Best Picture winner, Norman Jewison’s In the Heat of the Night . Directed by Norman Jewison from a script by Stirling Silliphant (based on the novel by John Ball) and starring Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates and Lee Grant, In the Heat of the Night was nominated for seven Oscars and won five, inc...

The ninth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1967 features the Venice Film Festival Golden Lion winner, Luis Buñuel’s Belle de Jour . Directed and co-written by Luis Buñuel (based on the novel by Joseph Kessel) and starring Catherine Deneuve, Michel Piccoli, Jean Sorel, Genevieve Page and Pierre Clementi, Belle de Jour won the Golden Lion and the Pasinetti Award at the 1967 Venice...

The eighth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1967 features Jason’s personal pick, Stuart Rosenberg’s Cool Hand Luke. Directed by Stuart Rosenberg from a script by Donn Pearce and Frank R. Pierson (based on Pearce’s novel) and starring Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, Morgan Woodward and Clifton James, Cool Hand Luke was nominated for four Oscars and won one. The conte...

The seventh episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1967 features our foreign film pick, Jean-Luc Godard’s Weekend . Written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard and starring Mireille Darc and Jean Yanne, Weekend is one of three movies Godard released in 1967. The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Roger Ebert ( https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/weekend-1968 ), Pauline Ka...

The sixth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1967 features Josh’s personal pick, John Boorman’s Point Blank . Directed by John Boorman from a screenplay by Alexander Jacobs, David Newhouse and Rafe Newhouse and starring Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn, Carroll O’Connor and Michael Strong, Point Blank is based on Donald Westlake’s novel The Hunter . The contemporary reviews...