Party Like It's 1999 Even With The Phantom Menace: Episode 6 There is No Spoon

"The Matrix" had a preview during the Super Bowl in 1999. At this point, we've seen Keanu Reeves in a few great movies and we've seen him in a bunch of duds. This movie looked really good but it could be the next “Star Wars” or it could be the next “Johnny Mnemonic.”

"Your men are already dead." When that line was spoken right before Trinity took out a couple of policeman and leaped from rooftop to rooftop, you knew something was there. Everyone in the theater was locked and loaded for an awesome action movie at this point. Little did we know, we were being given an action film plus a great script. It took robots killing us to a whole new level. Our whole world was fake? It wasn't just Arnold after you. Everyone was hooked into the machines. Are we so far from that now? The bullet time effects stole Phantom Menace’s thunder. The Matrix had Neo and bullet time while Menace had annoying Anakin Skywalker and Jarjar. It was a bold film that satisfied in every way. It made you believe in Neo.

This was going to be the Star Wars of the 21st century. If you thought that, you were right. The Matrix sequels had the same fate as the Star Wars prequels as colossal disappointments. You had an unlimited budget, the first film worked. At this point, the studios should've backed off. Was it the Wachowski brothers themselves who cracked at this shot of greatness. The sequels were too self serious and like Star Wars 1-3, a strain that each line of dialogue had to tell you the meaning of life. The Matrix Reloaded got a pass because the third one would complete the puzzle. It didn't. The Matrix trilogy fizzled. Scratch that. Fizzle would make it a moderate disappointment. The Matrix Trilogy was like when they blow up an old hotel in Las Vegas. That’s the kind of disappointment it was. If anyone knows what happened in this production, post a comment.

Party Like It's 1999 Even With The Phantom Menace: Episode 5 Not Another Teen Movies

The 80s had their immortalized John Hughes films and after Kevin Williamson and "Scream", studios started ramping up the production of teen films. While we had "I Know What You Did Last Summer" starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar and their cleavage, we also got a ridiculous amount of horror teen resurgence. The WB launched "Dawson's Creek" and "Buffy The Vampire Slayer." Most of these films were trying to recapture the John Hughes touch with poor results. "Varsity Blues" with Dawson as quarterback was a huge hit in January of 1999. The studios cranked out a ton of teen genre films in 1999. Jawbreaker, 200 Cigarettes, The Mod Squad, 10 Things I Hate About You, Teaching Mrs. Tingel, Drive Me Crazy just to name a few. Luckily, some studios released films like "Rushmore" that put a new spin on the teen angst film.

Alexander Payne's "Election" keeps Matthew Broderick from his 80s Ferris Bueller status and leaves him in his 90s adult loser status. In "Election", he's a boring Civics teacher and Student Council Sponsor. Reese Witherspoon who forgoed the Scream knockoffs and status quo teen fare.....oh yeah, she did do "Cruel Intentions". Anyways, this time she picked a script over cleavage playing Tracy Flick and giving us an original film about the overachiever syndrome. Flick is a girl who will stop at nothing to win the student election even if it means resorting to tactics Karl Rove would endorse. This has a completely original feel. It isn't nerd loves cheerleader, Ryan loves loser girl. Tracy Flick would destroy Samantha Baker and then spit on her for longing for some hunk while there are much bigger things to do like winning class president. This way you can add it to your resume, go to a good college so you can get a good internship so when you graduate you can dominate the world.

This gives us something we haven't seen on film before. We have an outcast nerdy girl who has all of this power and determination for her own agenda. Maybe the closest we've seen to this is "Carrie" but that's different. Flick didn't kill anybody. Director Alexander Payne took the momentum from this film to release Oscar darlings "About Schmidt" and "Sideways", two films about being on the road and finding yourself. "Election" is a teen film of the 90s that will hold up long past it turns 20.

In the summer of '99, we were shown "American Pie", putting R-Rated films about getting action on the landscape. It wasn't hinting at anything. It was bold and actually showed Jason Biggs humping a warm apple pie. It was so shocking. This is where Porkys and all those loser loses virginity of the 80s movies didn't venture. This had a certain element of raunch to it. In some ways Judd Apatow's success can be paved with this film making over 100 million dollars.

Party Like It's 1999 Even With The Phantom Menace: Episode 4: Rushmore and Not Another Teen Movies

Wes Anderson's "Rushmore" brought Bill Murray back into films we could love him in again. "Rushmore" starred Jason Schwartzman as Max Fischer, a boy in love with his prepschool Rushmore and then he's expelled. He befriends Herman Blume (Murray)and they end up falling for the same woman, Ms. Cross, a teacher at Rushmore. The script and the characters are what brings this film to life. What I love about "Rushmore" and all of Wes Anderson's characters, whether they're eccentric, weird, nerdy, geeky, it really isn't an underdog story in the classic sense. All of his characters know who they are and what they want and believe they're the smartest, coolest people they know. Max Fischer puts on plays with realism and explosions. He opens up an aquarium for his love. He's doing these balls out things taht would never be considered in the teen genre nor any other genre. Wes Anderson brought us back Bill Murray who would go on to do "Lost in Translation" among others. Anderson also had to have worked out some daddy issues by releasing "The Royal Tenenbaums", "The Life Aquatic", and "The Darjeeling Limited." While many adore "Botle Rocket", I feel without "Rushmore" in 1999, we would not have seen the other films we have had the luxury of seeing.

Party Like It's 1999 Even with The Phantom Menace: Episode 3

P.T. Anderson had a critical success with his 70s fictitious porn industry flim about a young guy named Dirk Diggler. "Boogie Nights" wasn't a huge commercial success but people in Hollywood were impressed. He could do anything for his next film, something a director might get one shot at his entire career if at all. In much the same way Zack Snyder followed "300" with the guts to go after "Watchmen", P.T. Anderson went bold and made "Magnolia", a symphony of characters all connected in the San Vernando Valley. Coincidence? Fate? A trophy wife addicted to prescription drugs. A home nurse trying to reunite a dying man with his estranged son who has grown up selling search and destroy seduction techniques. A policeman looking for love. At its least, it's what "Crash" was knocking off, at its most, it was dangerous daring filmmaking, all with everyone singing an Aimee Mann song. While the film does have its flaws, it showed us Tom Cruise can get an Oscar nomination, a preview of what we would get from Phillip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly among other things. "Magnolia" proves it's worth it to sometimes risk going too far to see how far you can go.

While P.T. Anderson was given a budget, a great cast and Tom Cruise, another Anderson was about to resurrect a star we had forgotten how good they were.

Party Like It's 1999 Even With The Phantom Menace: Episode Two

Martin Scorsese released "Bringing Out The Dead" in the fall of 1999, a story about an ambulance driver wrestling with his job, his life and his soul. Nic Cage played the ambulance driver, one of his last dramatic roles before becoming an action caricature. A few years off from his Oscar winning performance in "Leaving Las Vegas", this had an idea, a director and a star that could phone in greatness. It just didn't work as a film. It was slow and not haunting. I remember reading an article at the time about how Scorsese had lost it. Though 1999 wasn't his year, this pivotal moment led to him filming "Gangs of New York", something he had wanted to do for over twenty years. With Robert DeNiro older and in comedies, who would be Scorsese's muse? He found it in Leonardo DiCaprio who at the time hadn't done much film since Cameron's "Titanic." They needed each other. Dicaprio to keep Scorsese's touch intact and Scorsese to transition Dicaprio from boy wonder to manhood taking his films to the next level. In an interview, Dicaprio said he had the chance to do P.T. Anderson's "Boogie Nights" or "Titanic" and given the chance to do it all over, he would've chosen "Boogie Nights." Who knows where his career would’ve gone but hard to bet against P.T. Anderson.

"Party Like It's 1999 Even With The Phantom Menace" Episode One

1999 was a year dominated by the world wide release of the second coming of film, "The Phantom Menace," and while Menace ranks as one of the biggest cinematic disappointments of all time, I wouldn't trade a worthy Star Wars prequel for the incredible depth of filmmaking we got in 1999. While former Hollywood greats would stumble, a changing of the guard invaded overnight as if in a wooden horse. In this year we had bold dangerous filmmaking. We had films that rebelled against corporate America and the American dream. We had teen films not shaped out of the cookie cutter John Hughes mold. We had films that traded lightsabers for bullet time. We had comedy that dealt with religion and cancer. We saw twists and turns that were so brilliant, they’ve became just another Hollywood scripting device. It seems this flood of talent and brass filmmaking gave us some of the best films and performances of a ton of actors and directors. Unfortunately for Lucas, the force was not with him in 1999.

A new trilogy starring Trainspotting's Ewan McGregor as Obi Won Kenobi and how Anakin Skywalker turned to the dark side to become Darth Vader was poised to be all anyone could talk about. We were all expecting George Lucas to be like Michael Jordan after winning three consecutive championships, retired for a few years and then laced them up for three more championships. George Lucas was returning to the ring to prove he still had it. Every level of Star Wars fan had been waiting for this from lukewarm fans to die hard Star Wars geeks. Pepsi and KFC were locked up for merchandising deals. The toys hit stores and kids meals were sold. That trailer was a religious experience? What could go wrong?

I was 18 years old and about to graduate high school when I saw "The Phantom Menace." Expectations had been dashed on some films but in the end, I liked most sequels or at least tried to. I never said officially I liked, "Weekend at Bernie's 2" but I didn't hate it either.

A crowd full of Star Wars fans were ready to be mesmerized when the title cards hit the screen and then.........nothing. Lucas didn't even hesitate to pull the lightsabers out early. I wasn't loving it but still had hope. Then Jarjar showed up. Then that boy who played Anakin showed up. There was something so unlikable about the character. This boy is going to be a Jedi Master? This boy is going to try to kill Obi Won and join the Sith. Many things ruin "The Phantom Menace" and I have many films to get to but Anakin Skywalker and Jarjar are in the top five.


It was a pure loss of innocence. I walked out of the film verbally telling people, "It kinda sucked." I always had the biggest expectations for films and even if they didn't live up to them, I still enjoyed them. The viewing of "The Phantom Menace" is definitely a coming of age tale. George Lucas jaded me. Since then, I never have had elevated expectations only to have in the back of my mind, "Remember The Phantom Menace?"

While everyone was stuck with their Darth Maul toys, there would be a treasure of films released that year, some of them box office smashes, others Oscar winners, some under the radar gems that would blossom into cult classics.1999 proved to be a pivotal moment for films and filmmakers. With success or failure, 1999 predicated the next move.