Look at This Gif

I assume that some of you might be young enough to have not experienced in real time the sex-quake that resulted from this shot of Brad Pitt in Fight Club in 1999 --  the walls of every movie theater across the land shook with the revelation of this ab-splosion! It was a glorious moment in male exploitation, lemme tell ya. Anyway David Fincher has slowly been remastering his movies in 4K as of late and now it's Fight Club's turn and I don't know about you but I definitely feel the need to re-experience this moment in cinematic history in glorious 4K -- you can pre-order the disc here. It's out on May 12th. I actually haven't re-watched Fight Club in years but it's been on a mind a whole lot what with anarchic thoughts of fucking the system up becoming an every-minute-occurance in 2026, so I look forward to this revisit. It won't just be about the abs this time. But the abs help. They're a great delivery system. 

Kubrick Knew All About the Burden of Dreams

The October slate of Criterion releases is always my favorite bunch of the year because they always drop lots of horror for Halloween-time -- we discussed those a month ago right here -- but the November batch is always great too because they're gearing up for holiday shopping and wanna entice those of us who're still smartly on the physical media train. And so you get a wham-bam drop like this first one here -- Stanley Kubrick's final masterpiece Eyes Wide Shut from 1999 hitting 4K huzzah! Correct me if I'm wrong (it happens often) but I don't think EWS even got much of a blu-ray release, so this is a huge step forward for a movie that was woefully misunderstood and under-appreciated at the time of its release but which I think most sane folks have come around on. I've always loved it even if my ability to take Tom Cruise has vacillated wildly over the years -- he's used perfectly by Kubrick, and Kidman is per usual brilliant, and I fucking love this movie. One of 1999's many many many masterpieces. And yeah okay Kubrick died before it was finished so calling it "his" movie always has an asterisk beside it, but it sure as hell feels like a Kubrick movie to me so I allow it. As an aside I finally got the soundtrack on vinyl recently with a re-release as well and I really recommend that shit too. Brilliance. 

Next on the list of November Must Haves are Luis Buñuel’s 1963 romantic thriller Él, which is a Buñuel I don't believe I've ever seen? My Buñuel viewings have been all over the place over the years -- we watched a lot of him in film school and obviously I've seen lots since, but there are still plenty of titles I've missed and this is one of them. Which is wild because it sounds right up my alley since Criterion calls it "perverse and unsettling" aka "my alley." And then there's Les Blank's brilliant doc Burden of Dreams, which follows Werner Herzog's deranged quest to make a movie about a deranged quest, Fitzcarraldo. One of the greatest docs about movie-making -- if not the greatest. Not to be missed.

At the absolute opposite end of the cinematic spectrum they're dropping the 1990 Kid 'n Play comedy House Party, which is delightful -- meaning the comedy itself and the fact that House Party is now in the Criterion Collection. To be honest I haven't seen this since the 90s but I look forward to a revisit -- I remember digging it back in the day. 1990 was a pretty formative year in my movie obsession and I probably saw this a dozen times on video. Oh and my favorite John Hughes movie The Breakfast Club is  getting a 4K upgrade as well. No it maybe doesn't have the magnificence of JAKE RYAN to stare at, but it also doesn't have Sixteen Candles' horrific racism and sexism either so you work with what you can!

Gazillionaire turned moviemaker turned reclusive pee-hoarding maniac Howard Hughes' legendary 1930 WWI fighter-pilot epic Hell's Angels is getting a 4K drop on November 18th (love the cover art) -- I have never seen it (save some of the flying sequences that are rightly acclaimed for their place in action filmmaking) so all I really know about this movie I learned from Martin Scorsese's film The Aviator. It'll be good to finally check it off. And then finally to finish November off we've got the reawakening of Criterion's wonderful "Eclipse" series of box-sets, which gather together collections of more obscure works by world-class filmmakers -- this time out it's the genius Abbas Kiarostami's "Early Shorts and Features" which really appears to be absolutely stacked with content I cannot wait to dig into. I admit Kiarostami is a filmmaker I've got a lot of catching up to do with but I've deeply loved everything I have seen to date. In summation, "Fuck."

Hello, Criterion's August 2025 Batch

The August 2025 releases from Criterion have been announced today and this might be the most Cirterioniest batch of Criterion titles I've ever had to post about -- meaning they straight up went and made me feel like a failure at what I do by releasing a bunch of movies (save a couple) that I've never even heard of before! But that's part of the fun of Criterion -- they are very good at digging up International and Classic treasures that even self-anointed cineastes have to date missed out on. The one that grabbed me the hardest was the 2004's queer rom-com Saving Face from filmmaker Alice Wu, which co-stars Joan Chen and therefore immediately made us think of Andrew Ahn's recent queer rom-com The Wedding Banquet, which also co-starred Joan Chen. (As an aside I hope Criterion is thinking about getting some of Ahn's films into the Collection -- fancy 4K editions of Driveways or Spa Night would be wonderful!)

Next up we've got a double-feature of Edward Yang movies from the 90s with A Confucian Confusion and Mahjong, a pair of Taiwanese satires that the filmmaker dropped in between his better-known films A Brighter Summer Day and Yi-Yi (both of which I believe Criterion has already released before). I haven't seen either of these but they sound great -- any fans? And then there's Egyptian director Youssef Chahine's 1958 classic Cairo Station, which they call one of the most influential films in all of Arab cinema -- blending neo-realism and melodrama it stars director himself as a man obsessed with a woman played by Hind Rostom (aka "the Marilyn Monroe of Arabia") which leads to tragedy.

And then there's a pair of WWII-era dramas from Japanese director Kon Ichikawa with The Burmese Harp (1956) and Fires on the Plain (1959) -- I've heard people speak rapturosously of these two before but never seen either. It''s weird they're releasing these separately -- seems like a pair that could've gotten the double-feature treatment, especially with the very similar artwork. Maybe they'll eventually work their way up to a box-set of Ichikawa. 

The final pair of August drops (this is a crowded month!) is director Zeinabu Irene Davis' 1999 film Compensation which has the same actors playing two different couples of deaf African-Americans, one at the start and one at the end of the 20th Century. This sounds fascinating -- anyone seen it? Or heard of it even? Don't know how this'd completely slipped my radar, especially with all the talk of and lists about 1999 being a great year for great movies. And finally the final film is Vittoria De Sica's classic neorealist drama Shoeshine, which I mayyybe saw in film school but not since. I had an echo of a visceral reaction to the cover, as if the story is hella depressing and it left a mark on my brain that I still haven't recovered from. Hooray for the movies!

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Being John Malkovich (1999)

Craig: There is truth, and there are lies, and 

art always tells the truth. Even when it's lying.

Happy 25 to one of the many many 1999 masterpieces, and one of Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman's many masterpieces. Doesn't that single line from the film feel like a nice distillation of Charlie Kaufman's ethos? He's always uncovering the deepest truths about humanity through artifice and deception, boxes within boxes, pulling back the telescopic lens on us again and again until he spirals our brains into something like Herzog's ecstatic truth. And this movie is where our journey with that genius began (no The Dana Carvey Show does not count) and I haven't regretted a single second since. Anyway did you see the news that Jonze had apparently been working on a big sci-fi series for Netflix that's just been shelved? Boo, I say -- we need Spike back already! It's been ages and ages. Come back to us! On camera, too -- I like to look at you.

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

The Sixth Sense (1999)

Stanley Cunningham: Philadelphia is one of the oldest cities in this country. A lot of generations have lived here and died here. Almost any place you go in this city has a history and a story behind it. Even this school and the grounds it sits on. Can anyone guess what this building was used for a hundred years ago, before you went to this school, before I went to this school? Yes, Cole?

Cole: They used to hang people here.

Stanley Cunningham: No, uh, that, mm-mm, that's not correct. Uh, where'd you hear that?

Cole: They'd pull the people in, crying and kissing their families 'bye. People watching would spit at them.

Stanley Cunningham: Uh, Cole, this, this building was a legal courthouse. Laws were passed here. Some of the very first laws of this country. This whole building was full of, uh, lawyers, uh, lawmakers.

Cole: They were the ones that hanged everybody.

Happy 25 to M. Night Shyamalan's horror classic! For some reason I resisted loving this movie for a long time, but I have given up that ghost (ha) for awhile now. I think I used to just see it as its twist and nothing more? I don't really even remember now. But Shyamalan's second act as a filmmaker, which I mentioned in my review of Trap yesterday, has me appreciating him more than ever. 

Happy 25 to Toni Collette proving how she can make entire generations of people start sobbing uncontrollably in one minute flat pic.twitter.com/w9MzZZynlY

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) August 6, 2024

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from: 

Run Lola Run (1999) 

Herr Schuster: The ball is round, 

a game lasts 90 minutes, 

everything else is pure theory. Off we go!

A happy 59 to writer-director-bi-hunk Tom Tykwer today! 

It wasn't worth me doing an entire post on it the other week but also congrats to him on becoming the head of the production company X Filme earlier this month -- hopefully this doesn't keep him from writering-directoring, though. I do see that he's got a new movie in the can, at least -- it's called The Light and it stars the great Lars Eidinger, we love that sexy weirdo! Here is how IMDb describes the movie: "A family faces collapse as they deal with modern issues, searching for new beginnings in a troubled world." Well that's fucking vague. There is a little bit more info on the movie at Variety, which also shared this first image from the film:

Tykwer has been busy with his series Babylon Berlin for the past few years -- and if you haven't yet watched that, do. It's terrific. Back to Run Lola Run though -- that movie is of course one of the millions of matserpieces that dropped in that most legendary year of 1999, meaning it is turning 25 this year. Soon actually! On June 18th! And Sony's not doing nothing about it, either -- the film has gotten a fancy 4K restoration and it will be screening across the country! They're dropping it on June 7th, and below is the trailer. Seeing this movie in a theater is a religious experience y'all, you should definitely go if it's playing anywhere near you.

Who's Hungry For More

There are a gigantic heap of incredible movies turning 25 this year, this being 25 years since the amazing year of 1999, and I am hoping to write about several of them. But high high high up my list was Antonia Bird's cannibal comic masterpiece Ravenous, and I got to do just that today -- click on over to Pajiba to read some thoughts from me on the movie, which was released in theaters 25 years ago this very day. Love love love this movie.

Don't Let It Go Away

Let's not talk about how old this makes me feel, and instead just celebrate the fact that it's the 25th anniversary of Doug Liman's masterpiece Go next year -- sidenote: it's the 25th anniversary of a humungous pile of masterpieces next year, given the famed 1999 output -- and the film's soundtrack (which is a stone-cold banger) is getting a re-release on vinyl in February! Pre-order it here. I'm hoping that the soundtrack's not the only thing from this movie that gets attention -- gimme a 4K re-release please! Perfect, perfect movie.

Great Moments in Movie Shelves #200

It's out 200th "Great Moments in Movie Shelves" post! So why not celebrate with something we all love -- namely Wes Bentley standing butt naked in front of some bookshelves in American Beauty. I know the love affair with this film has crumbled over the past two decades but I think we can all still agree that Wes Bentley could get it. Even if he wanted to ramble about the existential thrill of plastic bags or what-the-fuck-ever. That infamous plastic bag speech was actually what got this movie onto my brain this week -- I re-watched Todd Solondz' movie Storytelling a few days ago and that movie has a great joke at that speech's expense that I got a chuckle out of. Timely stuff! Anyway in summation you should re-watch Storytelling because it rules and you should hit the jump to see Wes Bentley's butt because it also rules...

5 Off My Head: Siri Says 1999

Well the day has finally arrived! The day I have dreaded among all my "Siri Says" series days! Today when I asked my telephone to give me a number between 1 and 100 she responded with the number "99" meaning I've finally got to dive face-first into my favorites from The Movies of 1999, aka the greatest year of filmmaking probably any of us will see in our lifetimes. (Also can I just say that it's super weird to me to think this was 22 years ago now and there are people on this here internet who weren't actually even alive to see it? WTF)

Anyway we knew pretty fast that 1999 was an insane year, quality-wise -- the first big series I did here on MNPP was about how incredible 1999 was, in 2006. Or anyway I knew. I gots my finger on the pulse, yo! Ahem. Anyway 1999 has been talked to death by this point, I don't have a lot to say about it besides, "Wowza!" But before I get to my immense list -- I am naming my 20 favorites because the year demands it -- there's one other piece of business (because this post wasn't already enough work). Whenever I finish an entire decade for our Siri Series I link to all ten years therein. (See also the 1970s, aka the only other decade I have finished.) Well with today's post I've just finished the 1990s! Here's links:

Here are my favorite movies of 1990

Here are my favorite movies of 1991

Here are my favorite movies of 1992

Here are my favorite movies of 1993

Here are my favorite movies of 1994

Here are my favorite movies of 1995

Here are my favorite movies of 1996

Here are my favorite movies of 1997

Here are my favorite movies of 1998

And now without further blathering I give you...

My Favorite Movies of 1999

Go

(dir. Doug Liman)

-- released on April 9th 1999 -- 

Being John Malkovich

(dir. Spike Jonze)

-- released on December 3rd 1999 -- 

The Blair Witch Project

(dir. Myrick & Sánchez)

-- released on July 30th 1999 -- 

The Talented Mr. Ripley

(dir. Anthony Minghella)

-- released on December 25th 1999 -- 

Magnolia

(dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)

-- released on December 17th 1999 -- 

Fight Club

(dir. David Fincher)

-- released on October 15th 1999 -- 

Election

(dir. Alexander Payne)

-- released on May 7th 1999 -- 

Run Lola Run

(dir. Tom Tykwer)

-- released on June 18th 1999 -- 

Galaxy Quest

(dir. Dean Parisot)

-- released on December 25th 1999 -- 

The Matrix

(dir. The Wachowskis)

-- released on March 31st 1999 -- 

The Virgin Suicides

(dir. Sofia Coppola)

-- released on May 19th 1999 -- 

Ravenous

(dir. Antonia Bird)

-- released on March 19th 1999 -- 

All About My Mother

(dir. Pedro Almodovar)

-- released on November 24th 1999 -- 

eXistenZ

(dir. David Cronenberg)

-- released on April 23rd 1999 -- 

Eyes Wide Shut

(dir. Stanley Kubrick)

-- released on July 16th 1999 -- 

Dick

(dir. Andrew Fleming)

-- released on August 4th 1999 -- 

The Straight Story

(dir. David Lynch)

-- released on October 15th 1999 -- 

The Limey

(dir. Steven Soderbergh)

-- released on October 8th 1999 -- 

Sleepy Hollow

(dir. Tim Burton)

-- released on November 19th 1999 -- 

Audition

(dir. Takashi Miike)

-- released on  October 2nd 1999 -- 

-----------------------------------------

Runners-up: The Sixth Sense (dir. M. Night Shyamalan), Toy Story 2 (dir. John Lasseter), Three Kings (dir. David O. Russell), October Sky (dir.), South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut (dir. Trey Parker), Girl Interrupted (dir. James Mangold), The End of the Affair (dir. Neil Jordan), In Dreams (dir.Neil Jordan), Splendor (dir. Gregg Araki), Cruel Intentions (dir. Roger Kumble)...

... Jawbreaker (dir. Darren Stein), Office Space (dir. Mike Judge), A Walk on the Moon (dir. Tony Goldwyn), Notting Hill (dir. Mike Newell), Summer of Sam (dir. Spike Lee), Lake Placid (dir. Steve Miner), Drop Dead Gorgeous (dir. Michael Patrick Jann), Trick (dir. Jim Fall), Deep Blue Sea (dir. Renny Harlin)...

... The Iron Giant (dir. Brad Bird), Stir of Echoes (dir. David Koepp), House on Haunted Hill (dir. William Malone), Topsy Turvy (dir. Mike Leigh), Ride With the Devil (dir. Ang Lee), Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (dir. Shusuke Kaneko), The Mummy (dir. Stephen Sommers), But I'm a Cheerleader (dir. Jamie Babbit)

Never Seen: Mansfield Park (dir. Patricia Rozema), For the Love of the Game (dir. Sam Raimi), Man on the Moon (dir. Milos Forman), She's All That (dir. Robert iscove), 10 Things I Hate About You (dir. Gil Junger), Tarzan (dir. Chris Buck), Tumbleweeds (dir. Gavin O'Connor), The Insider (dir. Michael Mann), Never Been Kissed (dir. Raja Gosnell), An Ideal Husband (dir. Oliver Parker)...

... Buena Vista Social Club (dir. Wim Wenders), Music of the Heart (dir. Wes Craven), Bowfinger (dir. Frank Oz), Flawless (dir. Joel Schumacher), Titus (dir. Julie Taymor), Jesus' Son (dir. Alison Maclean), Ratcatcher (dir. Lynne Ramsey), Analyze This (dir. Harold Ramis), Payback (dir. Brian Helgeland), American Movie (dir. Chris Smith)

-----------------------------------------

What are your favorite movies of 1999?

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from: 

All About My Mother (1999) 

Manuela: Women will do anything to avoid being alone.
Sister María: Women are more tolerant, but that's good.
Manuela: We're assholes. And a bit lesbo.

Two weeks ago I found myself re-watching this movie -- on the brand new Criterion disc, which is finally out in stores today! -- and this was the exchange I couldn't help but tweet out from amid my extreme laughter. For a movie about so much death and grief Pedro sure does inject a dozen's lives worth of life into it all, but then what else would one expect? That's why he's Pedro. 

In all seriousness this is one of Almodovar's absolute greatest films -- not to mention that in the great year that is 1999 this is maybe the greatest movie of all? -- full of joyousness and pain and beauty and women having conversations, and you know how I feel about women having conversations in Almodovar movies...

.

Heaven is women having conversations in Almodovar movies pic.twitter.com/zl3CUPlfj1

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) January 17, 2020