1999 – Stream On Demand

‘Toy Story 2’ – back to the toy store on Disney+

!Featured, Academy Award nominee, Animation, Blu-ray, childhood, Comedy, Disney+, DVD, family friendly, Kid Stuff, SVOD 04/21/2022 Sean Axmaker

The first sequel from animation powerhouse Pixar is actually livelier and funnier than the superb original.

‘Being John Malkovich’ on Peacock

!Featured, Academy Award nominee, American Independent Cinema, Blu-ray, Comedy, Criterion, drama, DVD, Film Independent Spirit Awards, Have You Seen...?, Peacock, satire, Streaming Movies, SVOD 03/03/2022 Sean Axmaker

Spike Jonze directs this devastatingly funny portrait of unhappiness, desperation, desire, and the vicious things we do for love.

Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Larry Fishburne in 'The Matrix'

‘The Matrix’ trilogy – take the red pill on HBO Max

!Featured, Academy Award, Action, Blu-ray, Cult Movies, DVD, Essential Viewing, HBO Max, National Film Registry, Science Fiction, Streaming Movies, SVOD 01/15/2022 Sean Axmaker

The original ‘The Matrix’ has become such a touchstone of American pop culture—referenced, copied, parodied, and parroted)—that it’s hard to remember just how new and different and distinctive it was when it debuted in 1999.

Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy just want to put on a picture show in the affectionate Hollywood lampoon written by Martin and directed by Frank Oz.

Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy in ‘Bowfinger’ on Peacock

!Featured, Blu-ray, Comedy, DVD, Have You Seen...?, movies about movies, Peacock, satire, Streaming Movies, SVOD 01/13/2022 Sean Axmaker

Steve Martin’s tribute to shoestring filmmaking and big-screen dreams is a loving lampoon that gamely straddles the chasm between cynical con-artistry and benign innocence.

Richard Farnsworth and Sissy Spacek star in the G-rated drama by David Lynch

David Lynch’s ‘The Straight Story’ on Disney+

!Featured, Academy Award nominee, based on a true story, Disney+, drama, DVD, family friendly, Film Independent Spirit Awards, Have You Seen...?, road movie, Streaming Movies, SVOD 09/27/2021 Sean Axmaker

The true story of a man who drove a riding mower across to two state becomes a sweet celebration of small town values a G-rated, family friendly tale from America’s most subversive filmmaker.

Brad Bird directs the animated feature based on the Ted Hughes book

‘The Iron Giant’ – A boy and his robot buddy – free on Hoopla

!Featured, Animation, based on a novel, Blu-ray, DVD, Essential Viewing, family friendly, fantasy, Free, giant monsters, HBO Max, Hoopla, literary adaptation, Science Fiction, Streaming Movies, SVOD 07/25/2021 Sean Axmaker 1 Comment

BThe giddiest moments of The Iron Giant (1999), a delightful throwback to the classic era of hand-drawn animated movies, deliver the most amazing little boy wish fulfillment fantasies. But there’s much more to Brad Bird’s cartoon fable in science fiction clothing and fairy tale trappings is a delightful throwback to the classic era of hand-drawn animated movies.

‘Topsy-Turvy’ – Gilbert and Sullivan reborn on Criterion Channel

!Featured, Academy Award, art and artists, based on a true story, biographical, Criterion Channel, drama, DVD, Have You Seen...?, historical, movies about theater, Streaming Movies, SVOD 06/01/2021 Sean Axmaker

Set in the world of London theater in the mid-1880s, Topsy-Turvy (1999) tackles the creative partnership between W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, the reigning kings of light operetta, at a turning in their career. Their work has become repetitive, their latest show a disappointment, and the partnership is under strain as composer Sullivan (Allan […]

‘The Limey’ – Terence Stamp’s revenge on Amazon Prime

!Featured, Amazon Prime Video, American Independent Cinema, Blu-ray, Crime, DVD, film noir, Have You Seen...?, neo-noir, Streaming Movies, SVOD, thriller 04/08/2021 Sean Axmaker

Director Steven Soderbergh followed his sexy and stylish ‘Out of Sight’ with this cool, hard-edged revenge thriller that straddles the sixties and the nineties.

Reese Witherspoon in Alexander Payne's satire 'Election' with Matthew Broderick

‘Election’ – Vote Tracy Flick on Hulu and Paramount+

!Featured, Academy Award nominee, Blu-ray, Comedy, Criterion Channel, DVD, Election Special, Film Independent Spirit Awards, Have You Seen...?, HBO Max, high school, Hulu, Politics, satire, Streaming Movies, SVOD 11/01/2020 Sean Axmaker

Alexander Payne’s wicked satire of power and (social) politics set in the overheated incubator of a high school student body election is as sharp and perceptive now as it was in 1999.

Johnny Depp and Frank Langella in the 1999 thriller directed by Roman Polanski

Johnny Depp searches for ‘The Ninth Gate’ on Amazon Prime Video

!Featured, Amazon Prime Video, Blu-ray, DVD, literary adaptation, Streaming Movies, suspense, SVOD, thriller 06/13/2020 Sean Axmaker

The horror of Roman Polanski is not about spectacle and shock, but a goose-pimply sense of something evil lurking just outside the frame and hidden behind the faces of its slightly unsettling characters. At times The Ninth Gate (1999), adapted from the novel The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte, recaptures the beautiful uneasiness of such […]