1999's Best Movies: 25 Years Later

I would vote Office Space if available, but I'll go with Being John Malkovich.

I guess you like movies about offices

xxp Rosetta is my favorite Dardennes film. Incredibly powerful, and also a great example of how well the Dardennes understand the effect socioeconomic forces can have on morality - not in broad, simplistic terms but what happens when it's inextricably tied to one's survival in an unforgiving and uncaring society. I think the first retrospective I attended here in NYC was for their films - what a run they had, from 1996's La Promesse through 2014's Two Days, One Night. The revelation was how they changed their entire approach to filmmaking with La Promesse - if you didn't know the credits, their earlier films are unrecognizable as their work. They haven't had the same reception in recent years, but even if their later films aren't on the same level, they can be still be fairly potent, particularly the last one Tori and Lokita.

pretty sure i voted for malkovich which completely blew my mind when i was 14 or so

Going with Beau Travail but that was a film I encountered years later, and have still never seen on the big screen... but holy shit, Blair Witch Project sure made an impression in the theater, in those innocent days before found footage became the budget horror filmmakers' crutch

I thought Beau Travail was interesting but inconsequential when I first saw it, but it has really grown in my estimation, and it is interesting now to see it in the light of all of Denis' other films

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Voted Outer Space over Eyes Wide Shut. American Beauty is the worst one.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

American Beauty voter, step forward!--I've got your back. (Thought about it, but think I went with The Virgin Suicides in the end.)

Most of those films feel like 25 years ago for me, but I had to check Mr. Ripley... I honestly thought it was more recent that '99, like 2006 or something

and I'm sorry to see that Ratcatcher attracted no votes, including my own

The Sixth Sense was probably the highest grossing of the poll choices, yeah? I mean The Matrix ended up becoming a huge film in afterlife, but that movie was huge at the time

the worst is definitely american beauty

Three Kings, the last good David O Russell movie

If I'd known Malkovich was going to win I would've voted for Election.

jesus, awful result that

not sure whether the 12 votes for that or the 1 for american beauty is the worse

how is it worse

im not sure i said

make yr case!

Interested to hear the case that Being John Malkovich is not a significantly better film than American Beauty, on any level.

haven't seen them in 25 years, neither of them are films I would have picked out as great, but I'm interested in rewatching both of them

No judgement but the fact that one person on this board voted for amer. beauty and no one voted for 6th sense is interesting to me

Ratcatcher's the real one that got robbed here.

not sure whether the 12 votes for that or the 1 for american beauty is the worse

― close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Tuesday, May 14, 2024 7:21 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

lol, see how those two in an isolated poll turn out

It’s not in the same league as the best films in the poll, but I still like it - very likely my favorite Spike Jonze feature-length film.

Interested to hear the case that Being John Malkovich is not a significantly better film than American Beauty, on any level.

― chap,

bizarre reading tbh

I missed this poll, really wouldn't have expected Being John Malkovitch to win, but can't really think of any good argument against it, I remember being amazed by it when I saw first (and possibly the only time?) saw it in a packed theater. It has a kind of wackiness which is generally confined to TV these days, which is a shame because seeing something like it in a crowd is a lot of fun.

I like that it is kind of melancholy and utterly ridiculous at the same time

Yeah, its balancing act has a higher degree of difficulty than I think it's generally given credit for these days

I picked up the BJM Criterion when it came out and showed it to a friend who hadn't seen it before (I myself hadn't seen it since the VHS days); we were both knocked sideways by how dark it was, particularly all the Cusack-Diaz marriage breakdown stuff (the cage, my god).

And the least optimistic (read: grossest) reincarnation scenario imaginable

Topsy-Turvy a lot of fun but I wonder how it would feel to someone who's indifferent to its subject matter.

That's me and I love it.

― Chris L, Tuesday, April 23

Same, largely for the reasons omar posted upthread - its very immersive in a way that makes you really feel like you're watching people & events in another time, which is a tough trick to pull off.

I dont really care about Gilbert & Sullivan one way or the other, but when it comes to movies about artists, particularly with music, I usually could care less about whether I like the actual art being created in the story - if the movie's good that should be totally beside the point imo. If thats all I was looking for, I would watch an actual concert film or something.

I usually laugh at #eureka moments in movies but Gilbert's here works.