20. The Matrix
(sci-fi, action)This beat the pants off the tired action movie genre and made it put on tight black leather. Uh, it's better than that makes it sound.
19. The Iron Giant
(animated)Brad Bird's riveting examination of mankind's psyche in the face of alien contact, just with Jennifer Anniston in the Jodie Foster
role. Being a Warner Brothers cartoon, it's not exactly stingy with the Superman references.18. Election
(comedy)I'm waiting for the version of this with the gender roles reversed. I think the plotline with the little sister stealing the counter culture vote got turned into an episode of Veronica Mars
.17. The Insider
(drama)None of this would have happened if Proctor & Gamble had just employed Oompa Loompas. I guess Mike Wallace would still have ridden around Beirut with a bag on his head.
16. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
(action)Before Idi Amin turned into a complete psychopath, he had a code of honor. Or, I might be confusing a couple of movies. That's the risk you run when a film messes with anachronisms.
15. Three Kings
(action)When will we Americans learn that instead of protecting the weak and dispossessed, we should just steal their stuff and move on. If it weren't for George Clooney's liberal bleeding heart, he'd have gotten away with a lot of gold in this movie, just like the Huns of old.
14. Galaxy Quest
(comedy)If I were William Shatner or Leonard Nimoy, I would feel like this movie loved me wholeheartedly and unreservedly. Then again, if I were William Shatner, I'd put that Fight Club punk Ed Norton in his place.
13. The Talented Mr. Ripley
(drama)I like to think of it as Head Wound, starring Jude Law. This may be an Anthony Minghella film, but it's no English Patient
. That's why it's good.12. Titus
(drama)We already knew Shakespeare was adaptable, but Julie Taymor shows us just how violent he can be. Vividly. Jeez. He was dead by the time of Jack the Ripper, right?
11. Go
(crime)Probably the only Pulp Fiction
clone that succeeded in being good, mostly because it's awash in charisma. Also mentioned the Achaemenid emperor Xerxes before 300
turned him into a transvestite ogre.10. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut
(animated, comedy)The only strike against this suitably epic big screen adaptation is that it came out before Butters became a major character on the show. Should've won the Oscar for best song.
9. Cookie's Fortune
(drama)For a movie set in Mississippi, this actually isn't condescending. It's kind of sweet, even when the old lady shoots herself in the face.
8. Run Lola Run
(foreign, action)I could watch Franka Potente running for ninety minutes. In point of fact, I've watched it several times.
7. Princess Mononoke
(animated, adventure)The bit where Ashitaka fires an arrow that severs both of a bandit's arms at the elbow literally changed my life. I wish I was kidding.
6. Office Space
(comedy)Probably the second best comedy of the decade. As a celebration of laziness and mediocrity, I found it personally fulfilling.
5. Being John Malkovich
(comedy)This movie reiterates what Ronald Reagan
and so many others have learned to be an objective truth: everything is better with a monkey in it.4. Magnolia
(drama)Dude gets hit in the face with a frog. Surprisingly, this is not a comedy. Plus, it's got a better child actor than The Sixth Sense
, and he even wets his pants. Again, not a comedy.3. Eyes Wide Shut
(drama)When the creep in the mask commands Tom Cruise to take his clothes off, I felt deeply uncomfortable in a way few movies have ever achieved. You would, too. Plus, awesome last line of dialogue.
2. American Beauty
(drama)Watching this, you really get the sense that all the characters are at the center of their own stories, rather than being supporting characters for Kevin Spacey. Well, except the drug dealer's mom. She doesn't do much.
1. Fight Club
(n/a)If you're a guy and you didn't love this movie, then you probably thought Notting Hill
was the best film of '99.Honorable mention: Bowfinger
, Dick
, Toy Story 2
, ...Notting Hill.
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