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.
Majid Majidi’s tender and sweet 1999 story of young siblings whose loyalty to each other and joyous embrace of life help overcome their impoverished lives became the first Iranian film to earn an Oscar nomination.
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.
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.
What begins as a gentle romance based on a lie turns into a disturbed and disturbing psycho-horror nightmare that rockets into the Twilight Zone of obsession, sadism, and mutilation.
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 and delivers the most amazing little boy wish fulfillment fantasies.
