Tag Archives: 1999

The Ninth Gate (1999).

Tell you what, this wasn’t bad at all and I usually can’t stand Depp. 

He is on a short leash here, and Frank Langella gives perhaps the best creepy phone performance (mostly) ever. 

It’s got this low-key, slow-burning atmosphere that is bizarrely twinned, somehow to effect, with intentional comedy deriving from awkward social and professional interactions, and I know all about those for they happen every hour. Despite the supernatural elements, they are cloaked in a story that works as a basic thriller.

And the score by Wojciech Kilar. Listen to this and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) for a double bill. 

Further reading:

https://www.looper.com/842473/the-ending-of-the-ninth-gate-explained/#:~:text=Encased%20in%20a%20ring%20of,him%20out%20of%20his%20misery.

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Go (1999).

This is a who’s who of 1999 – Sarah Polley, Jay Mohr, Scott Wolf, and the loon film buff from Scream 2 (1997).

It’s a wee bit annoying that the characters don’t appear to be affected much by anything that happens but then the movie does exist in this enclosed Tarantino-World with its own parameters. I’ve also never even heard of supermarket employees living such ridiculous adventures. And it’s good to once again have a movie that reveals Las Vegas for what it is – a pointless mess of a city consisting of predators and losers. 

Revelation: I never knew William Fichtner could do comedy. He’s understatedly very amusing, his “ulterior motive” confession capping off the most awkward Christmas dinner ever.

Like all Doug Liman films, it’s a brisk affair, unpredictable and with a purposeful style that never wavers. 

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The Haunting (1999) gave me nightmares. Not because it’s scary but because it’s shit.

It is not scary in any way; I’ve found the state of one of my jobbies to me more terrifying. What often puzzles me upon the viewing of atrocious movies is, did they realise they were making utter rubbish or were they under the impression that a masterpiece was in the works? The lunacy of the script aside, the ‘acting’ here is hysterically bad, with Owen Wilson giving perhaps the worst ‘performance’ of 1999. One does, however, feel some sympathy for the lad given that his dialogue is from the bargain bin.

So badly shot and edited, but hilarious in unintended ways, I would recommended this to film students. We could maybe have a module: ‘This is how not to make a movie.’

Just … wow.

Even the trailer is laughable.

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If you designed the perfect blockbuster The Mummy (1999) would be it.

There’s a deep and thoughtful longing – which I very much approve of – at the moment for the return of Brendan Fraser, and it appears to have been massively aided by this GQ article, the piece a rarity of this sort in how well written and insightful it is. The lad is captivating, refreshingly honest, and an actor who was simply great in everything – believable, relatable, but with an edge. He always gave me the impression that he had been parachuted into the film and we were there to follow him on his journey. A stoic naïveté was strong with this one. Is that not what a reluctant hero is?

The Mummy (1999) is awesome, Fraser pulling off the Indiana Jones role with aplomb. It was awesome at the time but now it has been elevated. I’d sum the never-boring riot as good old-fashioned popcorn entertainment which uses CGI in a productive way, i.e., you can see the point of its use. It works and without it the movie wouldn’t succeed to the extent that it does. A fine juggling act is mastered between live action, the digital effects, pacing, and characterisation. It is a silly affair but a good silly.

Even John Hannah isn’t that annoying. And he annoys me in everything. Aside from this, where he is only slightly annoying. Special mention to Kevin J. O’Connor whose Beni Gabor steals the show, an apparent weasel of greed, self-interest, and opportunism, yet somehow in the most underwritten role he squeezes out the comedy and, dare I say it, the pathos. Almost everything he does, I’d do the same in his shoes.

I would recommend this movie to just about anyone.

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The Phantom Menace (1999) two decades on.

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I recall the incident well – HMV, Princes Street came to a standstill as the trailer was broadcast on a Sunday afternoon. “Jesus fucking Christ, this looks epic,” I said to myself. The matter is, I did indeed think it was a belter of a movie, viewing it four times that summer of ’99.

The overwhelmingly negative reaction to the movie is perhaps the first case of fanboys going ape, sending shockwaves through an industry a bit slow to catch on to the power of the internet with its bloggers and keyboard warriors.

It’s 2019 and I legit believe it’s not a bad film, and some moments in it are up there with the first two movies: the pod race, Anakin’s farewell to his mother, the climactic Darth Maul brawl, cracking scenes underpinned by substantive character development. You take out Jar Jar and it’s immeasurably better. And I don’t get why fans were complaining about this childish Binks cretin yet conversely whinged on the detail dedicated to taxation and trade wars, an adult domain buttressing the magic and the wonder.

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I treasure it as a nostalgia piece, a cinematic madeleine cake taking me back to a time when my standards were low and I was easily amused.

Further reading:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/may/23/the-phantom-menace-at-20-star-wars

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