1999: The Podcast
John Brooks and Julia Sirmons argue that 1999 might be the best year in movie history. With special guests, they work through the year's films one at a time, discussing what makes them memorable. They also ask guests to share personal memories of 1999 and the movies that made it unforgettable. The podcast is described as something you have to hear for yourself.
Episodes
THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR - with Nitish Pahwa
Appropriately the 113th-highest grossing movie of 1999, The Thirteenth Floor opened on May 28th in 4th place behind The Phantom Menace, Notting Hill, and The Mummy
It was the third Cartesian nature of reality philosophy movie set against computer simulation realities in three months, following The Matrix in March and Existenz in April.
The Thirteenth Floor was just the 2nd English language
(Rerelease) OCTOBER SKY - with Amanda Jane Stern
No new episode this week, but please enjoy this rerelease from a year ago, about a movie with a lot of connections to our last episode, The Iron Giant:
October Sky was the 63rd-highest grossing movie of the year, just behind The 13th Warrior.
Opening on February 19th with just shy of $6 million, it went on to gross $34.7 million worldwide on a $25 million budget.
October Sky was adapted
THE IRON GIANT - with Sam Summers
Our episodes on robots and animation have finally led us here: The Iron Giant, one of 1999's most notorious duds, and also one of its most beloved films.
The Iron Giant was the feature directorial debut of Brad Bird, who would go on to direct landmark Pixar films The Incredibles and Ratatouille and now serves in Pixar’s senior creative team. Unfortunately released in the
See Also: A.I. - ARTICIAL INTELLIGENCE (2001) and DISCLOSURE DAY (2026)
Following up on our discussion of Bicentennial Man,
we discuss two movies, starting with the 28th highest-grossing movie
of 2001, Steven Spielberg's A.I. - Artificial Intelligence.
A.I. has a lot of connections to 1999, since it was originally meant to be directed by Stanley Kubrick, who died in 1999, and starred two of 1999's Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominees, Haley Joel Osment and Jude Law
BICENTENNIAL MAN
Bicentennial Man was the 40th highest grossing movie of 1999, opening December 17th in 4th place and taking in $87 million dollars worldwide on an almost literally unbelievable $100 million dollar budget.
It's also the one movie of the year to star the late Sam Neill.
Directed by Chris Columbus with script by Elia Kazan’s son Nicholas Kazan, based on the short story “The Bicentennial Man” AND th
TOY STORY 2 (Revisited)
This summer's Toy Story 5 is unique among Toy Story movies in that it's a direct continuation of the story of Toy Story 2, so we decided it was a great time to take a second look at Toy Story 2!
Originally conceived as a direct-to-video sequel, Toy Story 2 opened November 19, 1999, bringing in $487 million worldwide and going on to become the 3rd-highest gr
(Rerelease from 6/25) - AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME - with Siri Dahl
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me was the 4th-highest grossing movie of 1999, behind Toy Story 2, The Sixth Sense, and The Phantom Menace, opening on June 11 and taking in $55 million that weekend, going on to make $206 million at the domestic box office on a $33 million budget.
Directed by Jay Roach and written by Mike Myers and Michael McCullers, The Spy Who Shagged Me saw Heather Graham st
See Also: HARDBALL (2001) - with Jacki Krestel
VARSITY BLUES director Brian Robbins follow-up was another inspirational, somewhat edgy sports movie HARDBALL - this time about baseball and set in Chicago.
1999 icon Keanu Reeves plays down-on-his-luck sports gambler Conor O'Neill who finds himself the head coach of an inner-city Chicago youth baseball team. Somehow, he makes the team better. Somehow, the team makes him better. Diane Lane is als
VARSITY BLUES - with Jacki Krestel
We sadly lost 1990s icon James Van Der Beek in February, so we decided it was time to look at his most prominent non-Dawson's Creek role - the teen comedy-drama sports movie Varsity Blues.
Released very early in the year on January 15th, Varsity Blues was the 45th highest grossing movie of the year. Opening as a surprise number, it made back most of its 16 million dollar budget in its debut weeke
See Also: PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE (2002)
Last time we looked at Paul Thomas Anderson's 1999 film Magnolia, so we decided to take a look at his follow-up, 2002's Adam Sandler-led absurdist romantic dramedy Punch-Drunk Love.
Anderson's shortest and most overlooked film, Punch-Drunk Love is now considered by many to be among his best. At 95 minutes, the film never faulters and drags, and its balance of performance, direction, and musical s
MAGNOLIA (Revisited) - with Holly Brown
We last talked about Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia nearly four years ago, so given Anderson recently (finally) won an Oscar for One Battle After Another, what better time than now for a revisit?
Magnolia was a modest commercial success at the time but was lauded by critics, became something of a cult hit, and eventually worked its way into the cultural zeitgeist, in no so small part due to Tom
See Also: WAG THE DOG (1998)
A president faking a war to distract from a political scandal?? WHAT???
We’re doing a new See Also this week, related to some of the
recent movies we’ve discussed.
The 57th highest-grossing movie of 1997 and the 46th highest-grossing of 1998.
Released limited on Christmas Day 1997 and wide on January 4th
1998 where it finished 4th behind Titanic, Good Will Hunting, and As
Good As It Gets, it w
EDtv - with Will Weldon
EDtv opened in third place on March 26th right behind our last movie, Analyze This in 2nd and Forces of Nature in 1st, going on to gross $35 million worldwide on a budget of $80 million.
Directed by Ron Howard, it is a remake of the 1994 Quebecois film Louis 19, King of the Airwaves, with a script adapted by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, it stars Matthew McConaughey, Jenna Elfman, Woody Harrels
![[RERELEASE]: FOR LOVE OF THE GAME: - with Jacki Krestel](https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/1b84a786-277c-11f1-8947-bf3ef200e1ee/image/f9fd4da752a27b1d9df67eea88153812.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress)
[RERELEASE]: FOR LOVE OF THE GAME: - with Jacki Krestel
57th on the 1999 box office chart, For Love of the Game marked director Raimi’s first foray into big-budget, mass-market filmmaking (which would ultimately pave the way for being handed the enormous task of finally bringing Spiderman to the screen in 2002)
But love and baseball was very different territory for Raimi, and his inexperience in the realm of pop movie making (as well as in directing r
OSCARS SPECIAL 2026
It's Oscars Weekend!
1999 was a weird year in Oscar history, as the awards held that year saw one of the most controversial Best Picture wins ever (SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE) and the awards held the following year honoring the awards of 1999 gave the Best Picture Oscar to a film that, well, has not aged well at all (AMERICAN BEAUTY)
So to mark the weekend, we took some time to discuss those two films
ANALYZE THIS - with Chase Mitchell
Analyze This was the 18th-highest grossing movie of 1999, opening on at #1 March 5th – the same day as Cruel Intentions, which opened number 2 - and taking in $177 million worldwide on an $80 million budget.
Analyze This gave us the unlikely comedy duo of Billy Crystal and (a then new to comedy) Robert DeNiro, alongside Lisa Kudrow, Chazz Palminteri, and Joe Viterelli
Directed by the late great
See Also: WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (1989) - with Dan Colón
It's Valentine's Day, so we're taking one last look at the non-1999 landscape before we return to 1999 next week with the movie that reset the standard for romantic comedies, Rob Reiner's When Harry Met Sally.
Joining us is returning friend of the pod Dan Colón, co-host of our podcast network's very own The Monsters that Made Us.
We talk Crystal, Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Barry Sonnenfeld, and if we'
See Also: FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER (2025)
This week, Julia reports back from the screening she attended of "Father Mother Sister Brother", the latest from "Ghost Dog" writer/director Jim Jarmusch.
"Father Mother Sister Brother" is an anthology dramedy starring Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Sarah Greene, Indya Moore, and Luka Sabbat.
Julia and John discuss the film and take anoth
THE STORY OF US/In Memory of Rob Reiner (1947-2025) - with Nitish Pahwa
In honor of the late Rob Reiner we are looking at The Story of Us, the 74th highest-grossing movie of the year, finishing just ahead of earlier entry Blast from the Past. Opening #2 behind Fight Club on October 15th and going on to gross $59 million worldwide on a $50 million dollar budget.
Starring Bruce Willis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Reiner himself, Rita Wilson, Julie Hagerty, Paul Reiser, and Tim
See Also: A VERY ALTERNATIVE CHRISTMAS
Merry Christmas and happy every other holiday!
In this episode, John and Julia each recommend five of their favorite "alternative" Christmas movies. The like of It's a Wonderful Life, Home Alone, Love Actually, Miracle on 34th Street, and, yes, even Die Hard are off-limits.
Instead, we present 10 movies that are maybe not in your annual Christmas rotation but ought to be! Enjoy!
Julia's picks
GHOST DOG: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI - with Sean Malin
It's Christmas time, so we're looking at a movie that tells the story of a mysterious man who spends a lot of time on the roof with his animal friends and has the ability to sneak into your house undetected as if by magic: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai!
Ghost Dog appears nowhere on the 1999 box office charts because it technically didn’t have a major theatrical release in the US until March o
See Also: SHATTERED GLASS (2003)
The first of what will be a series of smaller episodes where we take a look at a movie that is somehow related to our most recent subject.
This time, our See Also recommendation for The Insider is Billy Ray's superb 2003 docudrama/thriller Shattered Glass.
Featuring incredible performances from a uniformly excellent cast, especially Hayden Christensen as the title character and Peter Sarsgaar
THE INSIDER - with Lindsay Beyerstein
Michael Mann's The Insider is easily the most glaring omission from the our initial 18, universally regarded as one of the best – if not THE best – movie of 1999.
Finishing in 69th place, sandwiched between two previous entries, Girl Interrupted at 70th and Mystery Men at 68th, The Insider stars Russell Crowe, in an Oscar-nominated performance, and Al Pacino alongside an incredibly deep supportin
TRUE CRIME (1999) and JUROR #2 (2024) - with Aaron from HIT FACTORY
True Crime was the 94th-highest grossing movie of 1999, grossing just $17 million on a $50 million budget with a fairly limited release.
Starring and directed by Clint Eastwood, True Crime was largely forgotten and remains overlooked most likely due to its release at what can be described as Eastwood’s most prolonged artistic lull in the mid 1990s, starting with 1997’s Absolute Power and Midnight
THE SIXTH SENSE (Julia's Version) - with Sooz Kempner
The Sixth Sense was one of the biggest movies of the year, second only to The Phantom Menace. And since it's Halloween and Julia had never seen it before, we thought it was time to take a second look.
A movie best remembered for its plot twist (and the meticulous build up to it), The Sixth Sense is nonetheless at its core a drama about grief. Once you know the ending, the experience of the movie
OCTOBER SKY - with Amanda Jane Stern
October Sky was the 63rd-highest grossing movie of the year, just behind The 13th Warrior.
Opening on February 19th with just shy of $6 million, it went on to gross $34.7 million worldwide on a $25 million budget.
October Sky was adapted from the memoir Rocket Boys (an anagram of "October Sky") by NASA engineer Homer Hickman and directed by Joe Johnston, beautifully shot by journeyman cinematogr
ENTRAPMENT - with Jason Christian
Despite its reputation as giant bomb, Entrapment was the 24th-highest grossing movie of 1999, coming in just behind another movie starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, The Haunting.
Entrapment opened on April 30th at number 1 with an impressive $20 million debut, dethroning The Matrix at the top box office spot, going on to gross $212 million worldwide.
It has since gone on to be synonymous with "high
THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR - with Sarah D. Bunting
The Thomas Crown Affair was the 31st-highest grossing movie of 1999, coming in one slot below another entry, Galaxy Quest, opening August 6th at number 3 at the box office behind the debut of the juggernaut The Sixth Sense at number one and Runaway Bride at number 2.
The first of two 1999 film besides (besides The 13th Warrior, which we also recently discussed) from Die Hard director John McTiern
1999 REWIND - Woodstock 99
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 7/24/24:
Today marks the 26th anniversary of one of the true low points of 1999 and pop culture in general - the human rights disaster that was Woodstock 99.
Dan Colón, of CageClub's very own The Monsters That Made Us podcast, joined John to talk about the greed, mayhem, and madness that defined Woodstock 99.
The Woodstock that was just so great that it convinced everybody
MUPPETS FROM SPACE - with Ethan Warren
Muppets From Space was the 95th-highest grossing movie of 1999, opening in 4th place behind juggernauts American Pie, Wild Wild West, and The Phantom Menace.
Directed by Tim Hill, the co-developer and longtime director of Spongebob Squarepants (which debuted 3 days later!) and written by longtime Muppet writer Jerry Juhl alongside Joey Mazzarino and Ken Kaufman, Muppets From Space was the third o
GALAXY QUEST - with Annie Berke
Galaxy Quest was one of the great summer movies of 1999. Except it was released, for some reason, at Christmas.
Lovingly sending up television sci-fi of a certain era - and heavily grounded in Star Trek - Galaxy Quest was a modest success as 30th highest grossing movie of 1999
The second feature film, both overall and in as many years following the Vince Gilligan-penned Home Fries with Drew Barr
THE 13th WARRIOR - with Peter Raleigh
August 1999's The 13th Warrior was (mostly) directed by legendary Predator and Die Hard director – and occasional felon – John McTiernan, and released just three weeks after his other (far more successful) 1999 film The Thomas Crown Affair.
Based on the 1976 novel "Eaters of the Dead" by Michael Crichton (who also took over to direct several scenes), The 13th Warrior stars Antonio Banderas, Vladi
AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME - with Siri Dahl
We are kicking off the summer by returning to the box office top 10 for the first time since Runaway Bride with one of the 1999’s big summer blockbusters, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me!
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me was the 4th-highest grossing movie of 1999, behind Toy Story 2, The Sixth Sense, and The Phantom Menace, opening on June 11 and taking in $55 million that weekend, goi
JOE THE KING - with Zaki Hasan
Joe the King was the directorial debut of long-time career supporting actor and occasional indie leading man Frank Whaley, who also wrote the script based partly on his own life.
It stars Noah Fleiss in the title role, Karen Young, John Leguizamo, Whaley’s friend and frequent collaborator Ethan Hawke, Camryn Manheim, Max Ligosh, a very young Kate Mara, and Whaley’s The Doors co-star, the late Val
THE LIMEY: "Bang" - with Devan Scott
The Limey was 170th highest grossing movie of 1999, finishing just one spot ahead of cult favorite Jawbreaker
Released October 8th in just 17 theaters and going on to make $3.2 million on a $10 million budget, The Limey was directed by Steven Soderbergh, just on the verge of his first major commercial successes (Erin Brokovich and Traffic, both released on opposite ends of 2000) and following ano
VAL KILMER: 1959-2025
Actor Val Kilmer died on April 1st of this year, after a long battle with throat cancer. He was 65.
Kilmer's film career began in the 1980s with iconic turns in the likes of Top Gun and Real Genius, but it was in the 1990s where be became an icon in a decade known primarily one dominated by iconoclasts, starting with his portrayal of Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's The Doors, and including memorabl
SWEET AND LOWDOWN: "All That Jazz" - with Liz Whitmere
Sweet and Lowdown opened on December 3rd in just 3 theaters and taking in an impressive 31,562 dollar per screen average
Written and directed by Woody Allen, it stars Sean Penn as fictional jazz guitar legend Emmet Ray alongside Samantha Morton and Uma Thurman, Brad Garrett, John Waters, Anthony LaPaglia, and Brian Markinson, among others.
Sweet and Lowdown was a welcome end to what many saw as a
FOR LOVE OF THE GAME: "Baseball" - with Jacki Krestel
57th on the 1999 box office chart, For Love of the Game marked director Raimi’s first foray into big-budget, mass-market filmmaking (which would ultimately pave the way for being handed the enormous task of finally bringing Spiderman to the screen in 2002)
But love and baseball was very different territory for Raimi, and his inexperience in the realm of pop movie making (as well as in directing ro
TWILIGHT (1998) - Gene Hackman Special
There were no movies starring the late Gene Hackman that were released in the US in 1999, but two of his films released in the US in 1998 – Tony Scott’s Enemy of the State and Robert Benton’s Twilight – were released in Europe in 1999.
So because plenty has been said about the former, we are taking a look today at the latter.
Directed by Kramer and Kramer writer and director Robert Benton and writ
THE END OF THE AFFAIR: "Lots of Rain" - with Kristin Battestella
The End of the Affair was released on Dec 3, 1999 in just 7 theaters so that it could bait some Oscars and then going wide on January 21. It would ultimately bring in just shy of 11 million dollars on 23 million dollar budget, though it did open with an astonishing $28,000 per screen average, so maybe a wider initial release would have been wise.
The End of the Affair was the second 1999 film in 1
BEYOND THE MAT: "The Wrestlers" - with Ross Benes
Beyond the Mat is a movie that appears NOWHERE in the 1999 box office charts, mainly because it only screened once in 1999 in Los Angeles on October 22, thanks in no small part to Vince McMahon fuckery (though it did get a limited release in March of 2000).
Beyond the Mat was directed by Barry Blaustein, an accomplished comedy screenwriter, and it features the real-life stories of wrestling legend
DICK: "Tricky" - with Alex Steed
The 145th highest-grossing movie of the year, Dick was released on August 3rd and going on take 12th place at the box office. Through no fault of its own, it was thrown into a death slot, as the films that outgrossed it included juggernauts like The Phantom Menace, American Pie, Runaway Bride, The Blair Witch Project, and a little movie that opened at the same time and took #1, The Sixth Sense,
De
Bonus Features - WATERGATE MEDIA
We present to you our very first Bonus Features episode, where we do a little contextual research for an upcoming episode.
To start - for absolutely no reason at all, what are you even talking about? - we take a look at some of the more interesting media concerning the former Worst President of the Last 100 Years and the famous thing he did that used to pass for a scandal until *waves hands aroun
New Year's Eve Special - 200 CIGARETTES
Opening CONFUSINGLY on February 26th on less than a thousand screens, 200 Cigarettes was the 143rd-highest grossing movie of the year, going on to make just shy of 7 million dollars on a 6 million dollar budget.
Directed by first-time director and accomplished casting director Risa Bramon Garcia, written by first-and-only time screenwriter Shana Larsen, and produced by first-time producer Betsy Be
Christmas Special - ONE SPECIAL NIGHT: "Happy Hallmarky" with Audrey Fox
It's our third Christmas special, and once again we turn to the small screen for Christmas with Hallmark Hallo of Fame's One Special Night.
Airing Sunday, November 28th, 1999 on CBS, One Special Night stars James Garner and Julie Andrews, alongside Patricia Charbonneau, Stewart Bick ,Stacy Grant, and Danniel Magder.
Written by the highly prolific Christmas TV movie scribe Nancey Silvers and direc
TITUS: "There Shalt Be Blood" - with Carmen Paddock
Released December 25th, Christmas Day, Julie Taymor's debut feature Titus was 187th-highest grossing movie of the year, going on to gross just about three million dollars worldwide on an 18 million dollar budget.
Titus, adapted from the Shakespeare (or possibly not Shakespeare) play came on the heels of Taymor hitting the cultural spotlight with her enormous Broadway success The Lion King. Titus m
GIRL, INTERRUPTED: "Interrupted" with Jane Altoids
Girl, Interrupted was the 70th-highest grossing movie of 1999, released in a very limited run just before Christmas to make it eligible for awards season. It would ultimately go on to earn $48 million worldwide on a $40 million budget.
Directed and co-written by Copland director James Mangold from the memoir "Girl, Interrupted" by Susanna Kaysen, the film was a longtime dream project for star Wino
MAN ON THE MOON : "Andy" with Sean Malin
If there was a surprise critical and commercial failure for the year, it was Forman’s highly anticipated, Oscar-baiting Andy Kauffman biopic, Man on the Moon.
Among other things, Man on the Moon was touted as a second chance for Carrey to nab a best actor Oscar, following what had roundly been seen as an epic snub for his denial of the award for The Truman Show.
It had a lot going for it - an e
PAYBACK: "Mel" - with Jim Woods
Payback was something of a surprise - and largely forgotten - minor hit, riding mostly on the coattails of Mel Gibson at the height of his popularity and box office appeal, having come off a string of hits, including 1994’s Maverick, 1995’s Oscar-winning Braveheart, 1996’s Ransom, and 1997’s Conspiracy Theory, as well as the prestige of Brian Helgeland, who had just won an avalanche awards, includ
SUMMER OF SAM: "S.O.S." - with Julia Sirmons
Spike Lee's Summer of Sam should have been the perfect 1999 movie.
After Lee’s breakthrough 1989 film Do the Right Thing, he was on a roll in the 90s, giving us 1990s’ Mo Better Blues, 1991’s Jungle Fever, 1992’s Malcolm X, 1994’s Crooklyn, 1995’s Clockers, 1996’s Get on the Bus, and 1998’s He Got Game.
And so a gritty, Scorsese-esque New York crime like Summer of Sam headlined by the rising sta
THE EMPTY CINEMA - A Special Summer Episode
John and Jenn take a crack at explaining the baffling summer 2024 box office. Why did PLANER OF THE APES and FURIOSA fail where INSIDE OUT 2 succeeded? Is the summer movie season a thing of the past? And why do people seem less inclined to go to the movie theater for just ANYTHING?
Covid? Prices? Capitalism? All of the above?
Find out what we have to say in this special summer episode about Amer
ARLINGTON ROAD: "Boom" - with Matt Belenky
Arlington Road was 77th highest grossing movie of 1999, released 25 years ago last week on July 9th, unfortunately crowded out by some other big releases, namely American Pie, released the same day, as well as Wild Wild West, Tarzan, and The General's Daughter, all in their second weeks.
Directed by acclaimed music video director Mark Pellington (Pearl Jam's "Jeremy"), with a script from future Os
SOUTH PARK - Summer Rerelease! - with George Freitag
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
TARZAN - Summer Rerelease! - with Heather Antos
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
THREE TO TANGO: "No La Tango" - with R. Lee Fleming Jr.
Three to Tango was the 126th-highest grossing movie of 1999, sandwiched between two movies we have covered already, Drop Dead Gorgeous at 125, and Bats at 127.
It opened in 8th place (behind Bats, which it would ultimately outgross) on the very not rom-com season of October the 22nd, going on to gross 10 and a half million dollars worldwide on a 20 million dollar budget.
Three to Tango - which, w
NEVER BEEN KISSED: "Grosie" - with Trae Crowder and Corey Ryan Forrester
Never Been Kissed was the 43-rd highest grossing movie of the year, just edging out last week's Forces of Nature (though proving far more profitable) at the box office.
Never Been Kissed opened April 9th, pitting it against The Matrix in its second week, but still managed to post an impressive second place finish for the week, taking in 14 million dollars. This is largely thanks to the overwhelmin
FORCES OF NATURE: "Planes, Trains, and Geo Metros" - with Julia Sirmons
Forces of Nature was the 44th highest-grossing movie of 1999, opening at #1 at the box office on March 19th and taking in 17 million dollars in its first week, going on to make 94 million worldwide on a budget of (somehow) 75 million dollars.
Starring Sandra Bullock and Ben Affleck at a time when both actors' stars were at a high point and one of just a few features directed by accomplished televi
PHANTOM MENACE @ 25 - A Special Anniversary Release
Four special guests share their fond memories of the movie that (re)started it all: Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace.
This is followed by a rerelease of our Phantom Menace episode, the second in the podcast's history, with Brian Silliman and Matt Romano from the podcast RETURN OF THE POD: A Star Wars Podcast.
Enjoy. And may the Force be with you, always.
BLAST FROM THE PAST: "Adam & Eve" - with Samm Levine
Blast from the Past was 75th highest-grossing movie of 1999, opening at #4 at the box office on Valentine’s Day weekend and going on to take in $40 million worldwide on a $35 million budget.
The first of two 1999 collaborations between director Hugh Wilson and star Brendan Fraser, Blast from the Past included a stellar supporting cast, including Alicia Silverstone, Christopher Walken, Sissy Spacek
PUSHING TIN: "Control" - with Joe Kwaczala
Pushing Tin was the 135th-highest grossing film of the year, grossing 8.4 million dollars on a 33 million dollar budget, opening April the 23rd, 1999 as the #4 movie at the Box Office behind The Matrix, Life, and Never Been Kissed.
Directed by Four Weddings and a Funeral and Donnie Brasco director Mike Newell and written by Cheers co-creators Les and Glen Charles, Pushing Tin felt like a sure thin
QUIET ON SET - A Very Special Episode
We take a quick detour to discuss the 1999-adjacent Investigation Discovery series QUIET ON THE SET, which looks into the toxic, harmful atmosphere at Nickelodeon in the 90s and 2000s under showrunner Dan Schneider, as well as the subsequent instances of child sex abuse as detailed by DRAKE AND JOSH star Drake Bell.
You can find Jenn's coverage of the documentary and some of its fallout on Distrac
SHE'S ALL THAT: "Kiss Me" - with Chase Mitchell
This week, we take a look at one of 1999’s biggest surprise hits, the 38th-highest grossing movie, which took in a very impressive $103 million on a budget of just $10 million, She's All That.
She's All That opened at #1 on January 29, boosted by being nicely timed around Valentine’s Day and by coming out in one of the least-competitive box office periods of the year. Directed by Robert Iscove and
RUNAWAY BRIDE: "Eggs & Lamps" - with Greg Pilgrim
Runaway Bride, the other 1999 Julia Roberts rom-com, was the 9th-highes grossing movie of the year, sandwiched between The Mummy at 8th and The Blair Witch Project at 10th.
And while Runaway Bride did far worse with the critics to the vastly superior Notting Hill, its box office performance was likely boosted by two factors: unlike Notting Hill, it didn't open against Star Wars, and - more importa
NOTTING HILL: "Just A Girl" - with Courtney Brooks
Notting Hill was the 16th-highest grossing movie of 1999, opening Memorial Day Weekend, May 28th, and in 2nd place earning $27.7 million (behind #1, The Phantom Menace, which, then in its second weekend, earned $67 million).
It would go on to make $116 million domestically and $364 million worldwide on a $42 million budget.
Notting Hill was the second of several successful ventures between Grant a
AUDITION and WE SOLD OUR SOULS FOR ROCK 'N ROLL - "Ozzdition"
Audition does not rank anywhere in the 1999 box office. This is largely because it had no theatrical release in 1999.
Rather, Audition played a single screening at the Toronto International Film Festival that year, and would only go on to make a few hundred thousand dollars worldwide during its run.
But it developed an enormous cult following since, and has become one of the most revered horror fi
IDLE HANDS: "American Idle" - with John-Michael Bond
A dismal critical and commercial failure that has gone on to be a genuine cult classic, Idle Hands came in at 162nd at the box office, earning less than $2 million on a $25 million budget.
It probably didn't help that it was released 10 days after Columbine, and audiences maybe weren't in the mood for a high school-set slasher film.
Or maybe it's that Idle Hands is a bafflingly, deliriously confus
HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL: "The (Other) Haunting" - with Stephanie Gagnon
House on Haunted Hill was a huge failure with critics, but at 50th in the 1999 box office, and having made back its budget, it was a reasonable commercial success. It opened number one during Halloween weekend, likely finding an audience in moviegoers eager for anything spooky (and it is pretty spooky...)
A remake of William Castle’s 1959 film starring Vincent Price, this House on Haunted Hill was
A CHRISTMAS CAROL: "You Will Be Visited By Three Hosts - A Very Special 1999: The Podcast Christmas" with Alex Steed
Charles Dickens' 1846 A Christmas Carol is one of the most adapted works of all time. And his protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge, has been portrayed by the likes of Jim Carrey to Bill Murray, George C. Scott to Mr. Magoo, Alastair Sim to Scrooge McDuck, and Michael Caine to Will Ferrell.
And spins on A Christmas Carol have appeared in everything from Beavis and Butthead to Doctor Who.
But rarely have t
SLEEPY HOLLOW: "Hollow" - with Dan Colón and guest go-host Becky Ellis
Sleepy Hollow qualifies as one of the biggest movies of the year, and it was certainly one of the most anticipated - an expected return to form from a slumping Tim Burton.
But it didn't quite work out that way.
Released on November the 19th of 1999, Sleepy Hollow was one of the most expensive movies ever made at the time, with a budget of $100 million, and while it wasn't a flop, it only barely br
THE RAGE: CARRIE 2: "All The Rage" - with Paul Haynes
The Rage: Carrie 2 was not a box office success, but it wasn't the disaster a lot of people remember either. Finishing at #91 for the year, just ahead of Go and (somehow) just behind the Melissa Joan Hart/Adrian Grenier vehicle Drive Me Crazy, The Rage: Carrie 2 opened in late March at an impressive #2 behind the 1999 comedy hit Analyze This.
But it didn't quite make back its budget, and it as sin
STIGMATA: "St. Frankie" - with Kelly Baker
Stigmata was, impressively, the 49th-highest grossing movie of 1999, finishing just ahead of House on Haunted Hill at 50th (which is upcoming in this round!)
It made $50 million domestically and just shy of $90 million worldwide on a $29 million budget.
Opening at #1 on September the 10th at over $18 million on a spooky box office weekend that saw The Sixth Sense take second with $16 million and A
EXISTENZ: "Pod People" - with Julia Sirmons and Jess Collins
At 174th place at the box office, eXistenZ was not one of the big hits of 1999, though the it has some proud company in the 170s, including The Limey, Cradle Will Rock, Princess Mononoke, and Jawbreaker
It’s not clear that it ever had the makings of a runaway hit, but it can’t have helped that another heady sci-fi thriller about people who aren’t sure if the reality they exist in is real (and it i
STIR OF ECHOES: "Paint it Black" - with Mary Beth McAndrews
Stir of Echoes was David Koepp's second directorial venture following the success of his 1996 thriller The Trigger Effect. Adapted from a lesser-known work by genre legend Richard Matheson, the film hit at a weird and perhaps unfortunate time.
Just 6 years off his massive breakthrough penning Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (a film he wrote when he was not yet 30 years old), Koepp was riding high
A VERY SPECIAL ROUND FOUR RECAP EPISODE - With A Very Special Guest
It's time for our Round Four recap and it's a very special one!
After 40 episodes and 36 movies, and two specials...big changes are coming to 1999: The Podcast. Is it our very own Y2K?? Are we pivoting to video??? Will we both be replaced by cheaper AI alternatives?????
No.
But find out what IS coming following a look back a the nine movies from the round. We'll recap our favorites, our biggest su
TOPSY-TURVY: "Stan Leigh" - with Shreds
Topsy-Turvy, writer-director Mike Leigh's ambitious period musical about the creation of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado", was not a commercial hit, losing about $14 million of its $20 million budget.
But like almost all of Leigh's work, it was a critical smash, remaining one of his best-reviewed movies and the recipient of a number of awards, including two Oscars, and landing on a number of ye
MYSTERY MEN: "The Spleen" - with Becky Ellis
Mystery Men was 1999's 68th-highest grossing movie, and an overall money loser.
It arrived at a strange but opportune time, as it both lampooned and heralded the rebirth of the superhero genre. The early stages of its production date to the mid 1990s, when movies like 1998’s Blade, often cited as the birthplace of the modern superhero film, began preproduction.
Based on the comic book series by Bo
THE STRAIGHT STORY: "Mt. Zion" - with Julia Sirmons
The Straight Story was that other 1999 movie about someone trying to get to a place called Zion.
In all seriousness, the beloved film about a man at the end of his life driving his lawnmower across the Midwest to visit his estranged brother is notable for a number of reasons.
It's a rare G-rated non-aminated movie (though the rating itself is a source of some controversy). It comes from legendary
SIMON SEZ: "The Worm" - with Matt Stuertz
At the 1999 box office, the Dennis Rodman action vehicle Simon Sez came in at...
Well, actually, we don't know, because Box Office Mojo's rankings end at #200, which was American Movie, which made $1,165,795.
Simon Sez made $292,152 (somehow) on a budget of...well, quite a bit more than that, probably.
You've probably never heard of Simon Sez, and we hadn't either, until Joey came upon it accident
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM: "Ye Woodes" - with Steven Sabel
Michael Hoffman's adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream came at the end of a big decade for Shakespeare adaptations in general.
Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet starring Mel Gibson was released in 1990, and other hit adaptations would follow - notably Kenneth Branagh’s celebrated Much Ado About Nothing in 1993, Oliver Parker’s Othello, starring Branagh and Laurence Fishburne, in 1995, and Baz Luhrman’
WILD WILD WEST: "Wicky Wicky" - with Mike Manzi and Dan Cólon
It is late 1998, Wild Wild West is well into its production, and things are not going well. The film has gone through a stunning roster of would-be stars - Tom Cruise, George Clooney, and Mel Gibson among them - before landing on Will Smith, who turned down the lead role in an obscure sci-fi picture called The Matrix from a couple of fringe indy filmmakers named the Wachowski siblings in order to
