Groovy Movies

1999: Cinema's best year, ever?

• Lily Austin and James Brailsford • Season 4 • Episode 11

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You honestly wouldn’t believe how many great films came out in 1999. The Matrix, Fight Club, The Blair Witch Project, The Talented Mr Ripley, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, The Sixth Sense, Notting Hill, The Mummy, Cruel Intentions, 10 Things I Hate About You. We could go on…

It’s the 25th anniversary of this auspicious year and cinemas are getting in on the action, with 1999 seasons playing at many theatres. So we’re following suit. We discuss our favourites from this particularly good year, with special attention paid to Trainspotting - not only an excellent film but one that really captured the zeitgeist of the time here in the UK - whilst we try to figure out 1999’s special formula for brilliant cinema.

References
Everything you need to know about the Wilhelm Scream, No Film School on YouTube
Brian Raftery, Best Movie Year Ever: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen (2019)
Danny Boyle being interviewed about Trainspotting in 1999, YouTube
Amy Nicholson’s article on 1999

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Edited and produced by Lily Austin and James Brailsford
Original music by James Brailsford

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S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Oh my gosh, what has this podcast done to you? You're being reduced to watching films on your phone. Welcome to Groovy Movies. My name is Lily Austin.

James:

And my name's James Brailsford. Hello.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Hey James, how you doing?

James:

I'm doing all right. You know, doing all right. It's been a funny one researching, the film for today's kind of general topic, because it's been such a lovely day outdoors. And, uh, I was traveling by tram, which is the nicest way to travel around Manchester. And I was watching train spotting on my phone.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Oh my gosh, what has this podcast done to you? You're being reduced to watching films on your phone. That is not the Brailsford way.

James:

you know what, it's so because I was traveling into work at the BIM film school and the course leader was like, you watched a film on your phone, James? Even they were like, they couldn't quite believe it.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Your reputation precedes you.

James:

It clearly does.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Um, I have a question for you before we dive in.

James:

Ooh.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Have you heard of the Wilhelm scream?

James:

I have, yes, I am very familiar with the, uh, the history and the broad usage of it.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Okay, I had, I had literally no idea, I'd never heard of it, and someone at work today mentioned it and sent me a link like, oh my god, why don't you know about this? And I felt very embarrassed with us having this film podcast, so what is it?

James:

It's a very interesting piece of, like, Hollywood in joke, um, that I only heard about recently via YouTube. So maybe I've known about it for six or seven years on a YouTube video. it's not something that's going to change your appreciation of film history, but it's just an interesting little side note. The Wilhelm scream is a sound effect of somebody screaming it's like a death scream, that was recorded. for an action scene, I think from a 1950s Western. It's just a very distinctive, Sound effect. Now, I don't know when it started getting inserted into films subsequently after this one use of it. But I do know that certainly in the 70s, when we had the next wave of directors coming through, I'm thinking like George Lucas has a Wilhelm scream in every Star Wars film, I'm pretty sure. And so it became an in joke with a lot of the American, new wave of directors to insert this Wilhelm scream wherever they could in their films, just for one time. slip it in there. So all that them and their filmmaker mates can like tee hee hee. I slipped a Vilhelm scream in there. and there's also obviously for, for the people who are really into Vilhelm screams. There's also Ben Burtt, the sound effects, editor of star wars, the guy who made the sound effects of R2D2 or the lightsaber sounds the blaster noises, that guy, Ben Burtt, he has a cameo in return of the Jedi and he plays an Imperial officer and he gets shot and he has a Vilhelm scream. But it's not the sound effect. It's Ben Burtt doing an impression of the Wilhelm screen.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Okay, well, let's insert it here so our listeners know what the hell we're talking about. and I can confirm that it was Distant Drums of 1951 was the OG usage, but then it was used in, the 50s, The Change of Feather River, A Star is Born in 1951, Land of the Pharaohs 1955, but then yes, brought back in the 70s, I guess, as a kind of an in joke, like you say. 1968 it was being used from time to time and then, oh, it says here that, okay, this is Wikipedia, but these days we can trust it, right? It does say that they found the original Wilhelm scream and inserted it when a stormtrooper falls off a ledge.

James:

Yeah. It's a bit like, where's Wally? Like, where is the Vilhelm scream?

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Well, now that our listeners have heard it, we can all be listening out for it. I'm not going to read out the other movies. Or should I, so you know to listen out? Maybe I should. No?

James:

Well, there's a good, a, there's a, there's going to be a lot and B why spoil the surprise? You know,

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

It's not actually as many as you might think. I mean, maybe this isn't an exhaustive list, in fairness. I'll just give you a couple to whet your appetite. Um, Anchorman, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Gremlins. Okay?

James:

can I just ask, is, uh, Howard the duck on there?

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

It's not mentioned here, but

James:

Hmm. Okay. Just curious. Because it's a Lucas films. It's a George Lucas produced movie, isn't it? So I wondered if you'd be there like, Hey, come on, let's

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Yes. And so apparently it was Ben Burtt's signature. So after he found it and added it to that first Star Wars film. From then on, every movie that he worked on, basically, he'd sneak it in somewhere.

James:

really?

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

What a fun guy.

James:

Ben, oh, Ben Burtt's fascinating guy. Yeah.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Okay, so we got a bit off track. That is not, this is not what the episode is about. It's not about screams and cinema, but that could be a topic for another day. This week we are talking about the greatest year in cinema history, 1999, as mentioned a couple of episodes ago when we were talking about the mummy, because I'm, I have to say, I'm very, very proud of this. It was almost a thing in passing that I thought, Hmm, we've done a lot of movies. came out in 1999. It's obviously a very good year, for cinema. And then it turns out that I'm definitely not alone in thinking that, because there are so many articles about it online, and it was even, there was even a book published on this subject by a cultural writer called Brian Raftery called Best Movie Year Ever, How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen. Don't you love it when that happens, when you have a thought and then it turns out not original at all but every, like, it's kind of correct

James:

you're plugged into the zeitgeist, Lily. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's interesting. I can't remember when it came onto my, horizon that 1999 was a classic year. I think it was only recently perhaps.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

that we're making this podcast maybe? Or do you think longer ago than that?

James:

Oh, longer ago, longer ago, like a couple of, a couple of years ish, you know, But, until researching for this particular episode, I hadn't sat down and gone through the list. I'm like, holy shit, so many great films. Films that are certainly in my top 50, without a doubt, and also, I saw a lot of those at the cinema. What a great time for going to the cinema, you know, so.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

exactly.

James:

That time in my life, I mean, 98, 98, 99, that was my final year at university. So I graduated in 99 and then I was working in the industry for the rest of 99. So in my head mixed together is like my early career, which is very vivid, but also going to see a lot of these great, I can even remember which, Cinemas I went to see them in and that's like, quite specific, even for me. I can even remember going to see, um, Blair Witch Project in, Spa. Yeah. So, so lots of, lots of very vivid memories.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Amazing. Okay. Well, that's great. So you can take us back to that time. Give us the context.

James:

Oh my God.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

I definitely saw Toy Story 2 in the cinema that year, an iconic, fabulous film, like one of the great better sequels arguably, or as good sequels but other than that, what else, what other

James:

Well, can I just say, I saw Toy Story 2, but I hadn't seen Toy Story 1, so I saw Toy Story 2 for the first time at the cinema. And also, I've just realized, on a similar theme, I saw Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me, the Austin Powers sequel, also out in 99. I saw that before I saw International Man of Mystery, so there was something about me in 99 which was, I saw the sequels before I ever saw the originals.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Well, I guess just because if you're in your final year of film school, you're very much plugged into film. So so this was the year to be going to see them, maybe.

James:

Maybe, maybe, but

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Maybe the years they came out, you, well, Toy Story, there was quite a big gap between the first and second, right? Anyway, that's, that's irrelevant. Let's stick with 1999. There were other great years too but this is, this I do think is the best one. and you guys might have noticed if you're good at maths, it's the 25th year anniversary this year.

James:

Which I certainly didn't know until I was looking at the cinema listings. I was like, oh shit, yeah, it is, it is, uh, 25 years ago. Because what I've noticed, because I like to every week look in the Cineworld and the View listings, they always do this anyway, but it's especially pronounced this year because there's not enough films being made by Hollywood to put in the cinemas.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Right, because of the strikes.

James:

Yeah, yeah, the knock on effect of the strikes, meaning that the production shut down, so we're kind of, we're in that period right now, and it's very noticeable that there's a limit, but it's a great time if you want to see classic films at the cinema, so both Cineworld and VIEW are theming them as like 1999 seasons, so train spotting's on, the Mummy's got a new 4K version that's gonna be in the IMAX, you know, there's lots of, uh, good classic films from that era but getting a reshowing.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

it's a good time. So we'll run you through, We can only really do a handful because there are so many, but we'll talk you through some of the best and then you guys can check it to see if they're in a cinema near you. So tell me James, which, to your mind are the strongest ones of this year, this

James:

Yeah, to my mind. Thank you. I would, I would say The Sixth Sense, American Beauty, not an absolute banger, but I did enjoy Man on the Moon, uh, Magnolia, and I gotta say The Matrix. That was probably for me, the definitive film from 1999.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

For me, Magnolia, definitely. That's, I'm always changing what my favorite Paul Thomas Hansen film is, but that's definitely up there. and this was the year of Sofia Coppola's film debut with The Virgin Suicides. And that film, I remember watching that as a teenager, and I think for, what Fight Club did to many guys in their teen years, The Virgin Suicides did for me. I think it, there are things in common actually with these films, and actually that's something that, that's definitely a genre that I clocked when looking at this list, um, that we'll get into later, of kind of Disaffected youth and, and cynicism perhaps that um, that kind of connects those two. But um, also I love The Talented Mr. Ripley, great

James:

Same. I mean, again, I saw The Talented Mr. Ripley at the cinema, which was amazing. But yeah, it's funny you should mention, uh, Fight Club, because that was a film that I just didn't see at the time, because it was the classic case of everyone told me I'd love it. And what happens when people say that? It means I'm immediately not going to watch it. Don't tell me I'm going to love it. You don't know what I do and don't like, and I'm going to prove my point by not watching it. That's literally what's, I don't want to be like this. It's just something triggers in my brain. So

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

I know James, but we love you for that.

James:

I didn't watch it for a bit. And I think I watched it like three years later,

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

The thing is, it's good to have a bit of distance and then come to it with your own views. So did you, did you love it when you saw it finally?

James:

didn't love it. I thought it was good. I'm not going to slag it off, but I just, I've rewatched it recently and I still didn't love it, but I liked it a bit more, you know, certainly there's loads more films from 1999 that I love. Fight Club isn't one of the ones that I really love, but it's a good film.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

I think Fight Club is a notable film. I think part of the thing that was great about 1999 was that there were a lot of films that were coming out, that were kind of mid or low budget and following disaffected audiences. Men mostly, I would say, who feel a lot of nihilism and cynicism about kind of late stage capitalism, basically, you know, it's like the hangover or the come down after the 80s. And that kind of, money, money, money, we can all be successful. And then what kind of comes Later after all that and we realize that oh, what and also kind of it's nice. I shine y2k Fever panic is around so I feel like they're kind of moving this idea of like Fear and cynicism about the future and what the future holds I think a lot of that trickled into the films that were being made around this time and Fight Club is definitely one of them and American Beauty as well And I'm transporting that we're going to talk about, I think, you know, I'm being John Malkovich as well. Like a lot of these movies about like trying to change yourself or change your life. I think Brian Raftery talks about that in his book, not that I've read it, but I read an article about the book. And, um, and I, for me, it's, it's less about like changing to become someone else and to like, and being independent to solve the problem. But I think there's definitely something about being cynical and disaffected. But that comes through in a lot of these movies and that I think is really strong.

James:

I think that is definitely a strand that runs through a lot of these films. There's another strand that sometimes intersects and weaves through some of these films as well, which I think The Matrix is the most obvious one, but being John Malkovich, or, you know, Class into that, the sixth sense even. Which is this idea that the world around you is not as it seems, and that actually you've been living some form of a lie. I do think there's a lot of questioning of reality or what we think is reality running through a lot of these films as well. I mean, even Eyes Wide Shut, I mean, that's Stanley Kubrick's take on the exact kind of thing. And it's interesting is that these were all came out in this particular year. something about the nineties inspired a lot of writers and directors to make films about questioning reality.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

But also on a lighter note, it was a great year for mid budget rom coms. We had Notting Hill and Runaway Bride, two of my favorites, both Julia Roberts vehicles. She'd had a tough few years with her various romantic, dramas. We won't go into now because we're a highbrow podcast, but And she came out swinging with these brilliant films.

James:

Yeah. I haven't seen Runaway Bride, but I've seen Notting Hill.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

you've not seen Runaway Bride. Well, it is great, I'm I could talk a lot about it, but I'm not sure I'm not sure if you would love it to be honest, which maybe that's a good thing to say to you. That might make you watch it more than if I said, Oh, James, it's so for you, let's do

James:

See, look, you see you wrote your first psychology is already working.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Okay. Good. Good. Honestly, it's great. It's, it's Julie Roberts being reunited with Richard Gere, you know, from off of,

James:

Off of Pretty Woman.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

thank you, off of Pretty Woman and,

James:

Get some, let's get the gang back together.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Exactly, exactly. It's the same team, basically the same cast, same director. It's fantastic. But anyway, I

James:

Notting Hill is a bit like it's the same team as Four Weddings, isn't it? Really? That's how I saw

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Yes. Different American dark haired woman, but everything

James:

uh, it's the same. How in, yeah, I hadn't made that connection there. So that's another thing, kind of rom com, not sequels, but kind of

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Yeah. Yes. Oh,

James:

I had such a great year for going to the movies, but, um, the other thing I had two definitely big moments, one, which was a positive one, which was going to see the Matrix. in the cinema for the first time, and just seeing the kind of revolutionary visual effects and the storytelling. And then just, just, it was a genuinely probably the last time I really felt like I had this mind blowing experience at the cinema. but then, then the opposite of that was almost just feeling like, I was at a funeral for something that I really loved, which was going to see Star Wars episode one, the Phantom Menace at Leicester Square Ion on the second weekend of release because I couldn't get tickets for the first weekend and I was, I had to see, I had to see at Leicester Square, Ian,'cause they were the only cinema in the UK that had 7.1 surround sound installed, especially for the Phantom Menace. And so I went there and, and just, I remember after 15 minutes, once Jar Jar Binks joins the film, it was like the entire audience just, like, exhaled this sigh. I remember I felt the air go out of the just, our souls, our souls just left the cinema, and there was silence for the next two hours, and the film ended and there was no elation, no jubilation. We were just silent. And

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

very jealous that I wasn't cognizant enough of the importance of that year to be going to the cinema. Funnily enough, I do have a clear memory of seeing, The Star Wars, the trailer to that Star Wars, on a particular videotape that I had, I forget what it was, because I remember seeing that and being curious about it, unaware that it was a heartbreak movie that had let, you know, reams of fans down, because they, because it had been like however many years since the

James:

Oh god,

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

came out.

James:

16 years I think

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Wow.

James:

It was hugely anticipated, but what was interesting is the original wave of fans, which I would say, you know, I was around in the late seventies and eighties, so I was like an original fan. We all were just like, this is the worst thing ever. And we kind of like, we're quite sad about it, but it did land with a lot of. The younger audience who now love it. So when I chat to that, a lot of the 18 and 20 year old students I work with, um, a teach, sorry, is, uh, they all love the prequels. So, you know, it did find a new audience. It just wasn't me. It chucked one audience off the, off a cliff and as it welcomed a new one.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

And now I wonder if the same is being done with these films. The most recent stable of Star Wars movies. Something tells me no.

James:

Well, yeah, and there's actually a very kind of clear way of reading that because Star Wars, unlike a lot of other films, it has huge merchandise sales. You can judge the popularity of the characters by how many kids, by how well the toys are selling. And the thing is, Rey, who was a central character of the new Star Wars films, Nobody's buying the toys and they're heavily discounted.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Right, gotcha. And that was obviously, that was infamously what George Lucas, made a point of having in his contract when he created Star Wars originally, it was that he would get the profits from any, uh, merchandise sales. Yeah. That's just right. he knew he's a, he's a businessman and we love that for him. So, okay. Star Wars was a big plot, but the other thing that I feel like it comes through when you look at this list of all the great films and I said nine, it's just the fact that there was so many. groundbreaking movies, to use a very broad term, like you've already mentioned The Matrix, I mean, it's amazing that you saw that in the cinema when it first came out, because I can only imagine what that must have felt like, but yeah, a very a movie. mind bending kind of topic and the way it was filmed and everything, but then also alongside that, like the Blair Witch Project completely changed how we make horror movies because it was basically the first found footage horror movie. The first one that was super popular.

James:

And also probably it doesn't seem to have been remembered, kind of forgotten to the mists of time. But at the time, it was a big deal with the Blair Witch because it was the first film that really built up its hype and got people in the cinemas via internet marketing. There was a website for The Blair Witch and the thing is the website lent into this whole idea of it being found footage. The website was treating it like these filmmakers had gone missing and they found the footage so it was playing into all of that. So, you know, it was building up anticipation for like, oh my God, and there was lots of like clues on the website. You know, I have to say. Late nineties, early noughties websites for promoting indie films are so good. Like the Donnie Darko website at the time was amazing. It's so good. It's like, it's part of the narrative. So anyway, that's one thing that I remember from that was it was the first film where the internet was kind of given, was given the recognition for promoting it.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

And that's the thing. I think it is an interesting year because It's at the precipice of the internet becoming what it is today, you know, it's at the beginning of the internet, but not so early, like, far enough along that, film marketers are getting to grips with it and, you know, even though it's early stages, it can be used in this way as a marketing tool and, yeah, it's very interesting.

James:

Not only we're on a precipice of the internet, but on the adoption, the wide scale adoption of computer graphics and digital filmmaking, it wasn't. really there quite yet in 99. Like films didn't just have loads of CGI all over them. some would, but they would also have a lot of practical film, make a lot of modeling. So it was, it was before CGI and this way of just shooting everything blue screen and kind of putting lots of it is before that took a hold. So there's a certain, I think this, this, these films, they're on a threshold of like they're, they're quite cutting edge and modern, yet they were still embracing a lot of older filmmaking techniques. So when you look at them now, they hold up very well. You know, I think they hold up a lot better than films made 10, 15 years ago.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

yeah, I think that's so, so true. Okay, well, we wanted to talk about train spotting. we wanted to pick out one movie, from the year that, that we both love and is really important. just before we do that, the other thing I wanted to clock genre wise from this year that's particularly strong is the fact that there were so many incredible teen movies at this time. And not just great, but movies for teenagers, but like they had this certain tone of kind of, they were portraying teenagers in this intelligent way. They're funny, they're witty and they're cynical as well. So I watched Cruel Intentions last night to give myself a refresher and it still holds up and it's incredibly intelligent and, very sexy, in a way that, I think in the years after you just didn't really see. I feel like it is coming back this year a little bit with films like Challenges, but the kind of camp, fun that that movie has with its sexiness is great. But yeah, the sort of, intelligence that they had with the humor. I think it's the same with 10 Things I Hate About You and like films like Jawbreaker. There were, All these films that came out that year that just really like respected a teen audience and portrayed teenagers in this way that kind of elevated them. and I just love that. I feel like it's quite rare. Election as well. That came out that year. Brilliant, brilliant movie and drop dead gorgeous. Very funny, very kind of satirical movie about, modeling.

James:

these are definitely not the kind of films that I watched at the time. I think watched 10 Things I Hate About You for the podcast and I watched Cruel Intentions quite a while ago, but I, Dogma, which is, on the list, that's the only Kevin Smith film that I will watch.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Oh my God. Okay. Yeah, that shouldn't be in the teenage bit.

James:

yeah, I was wondering.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

that should be in the cynicism Y2K section, but I bloody love that movie. I remember my sister got it on DVD at some point when we were teenagers and I just became, we became obsessed with it. I've watched it so many times.

James:

It's the only Kevin Smith film I've watched. Oh no wait, I've watched Clerks once, but it's the only Kevin Smith film that I enjoy. How

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Okay, fine. Yeah, you know what? I still haven't watched Clerks. but I mean, look, a movie where Alanis Morissette plays God, it's unbeatable. Okay, but anyway, let's move on to Trainspotting. it was actually you, James, who suggested we watch this one. Um, what made you choose it?

James:

It's because when I think of 1999, it's just the first thing that is like sledgehammered into my consciousness when I think about films of 1999, it's Trainspotting. It was, it was the film of the moment. UK, specifically if you were a student, not even a film school student, but just if you were a student, you will definitely have seen Trainspotting. You will probably have loved it. So it was the film, you know, the sound and the soundtrack was everywhere. That soundtrack CD was like a huge smash. It was just everywhere. Of course, because everyone else went to see it, I didn't see it in 1999. I refused to see it. Of course I did, Lily. I didn't see it for about five years.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

But instead you were watching Toy Story 2.

James:

Yeah, because all the students weren't going, Toy Story 2 is the best film ever. so yeah, so it took me a while to watch it. And then I watched it and it was one of those things where I was like, Oh yeah, maybe you should have just watched it at the time and stopped being a dickhead. Because it was a very good film and, uh,

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Well I'm glad you chose it because it was actually, as a teenager it was my favorite film. Thank you. You're welcome.

James:

Really?

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Yeah, I, watching it for this, it did make me laugh. I thought, God, what a pretentious teenager I was. You know, this movie had very little kind of connection to my life whatsoever, but. It just so brilliantly captures group of people that in general in life are generally kind of ignored by society. Right. And I think I just really, really loved a film that portrays what feels. it feels very real. It feels like there is a kind of reality to it, but it's also so beautifully filmed. It's, it's not, it's not that kind of gritty realism that actually is quite boring to watch and a bit depressing. Like even though it is a grim film that it, you know, it doesn't feel depressing. It feels energetic, of course there's all that running in it, but you know, just really electric

James:

in the YouTube summary, the word hyperkinetic is used and, uh, it pretty much leaps off the screen within the first shot, you know, there's a chase scene and you're thrown right into it and the pace doesn't stop. And it's an hour and a half. I was like, when I saw the duration, like a good old hour and a half, you know,

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Yes. Cruel Intentions as well. Great year for films that aren't too long. So many films that are the correct

James:

now these days I'm just resigned to a fact. It's the film, whatever film I'm watching, it's probably going to be two hours and blur in length. And so when you put it on, you're like, Oh, one, one 33. Oh yes, please. I'm in.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

the other thing that I clocked whilst doing this research was the fact that its budget was 1. 5 million. Teeny, teeny budget and with a box office of 48 million, this is in pounds. Don't know what it would be today, but we

James:

that's a

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

a lot more.

James:

that's an excellent return on investment, isn't it? That's the kind of numbers you want to see.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Yeah. Yeah, and apparently a lot to do with the fact that it had this really smart marketing campaign around it. Like they really, especially to the US, they really picture it as this kind of Britain as this kind of exotic oddity almost.

James:

this was peak cool Britannia, which was like, I don't know quite where it came from, but it definitely feel like the labor government at the time. We're kind of pushing it and running with it.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

Yeah, it was Blair coming in and it was Blur and Oasis and apparently Oasis, this is just sidebar, but apparently Noel Gallagher turned down having an Oasis song in the movie because he thought it was a film literally about trainspotting.

James:

which I hope that I hope that is true Cause even if it's not, it's hilarious. so, you know, the same year we had, two very good cultural exports, from the UK as far as being a hit in with American audience, which was lock, stock and two smoking barrels. Which the film, by the way, was essentially bankrolled, by the, Music department of Universal or something. They said, look, let's just fund the budget. Cause we can probably make a really good soundtrack album out of it. So, so it'll almost be like a promotional item for the soundtrack album. And the same thing happened with Trainspotting. It has a great soundtrack and every student bedroom you went in, you would see two things, the poster from Trainspotting and the CD of the soundtrack.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

That was the other thing I was going to say. This was also part of what was so great about the movies coming out this year, is that they had such strong soundtracks. Yeah, Cruel Intentions, again, to bring it back to this movie, has a phenomenal soundtrack. Really, really great. and Ten Things I Hate About You as well. You know, so many of these movies, it was that time still when it made sense to give your, give songs to the films and filmmakers really took care and like having a great soundtrack because it was a great additional kind of thing to sell, right? Transporting brought out two soundtracks in the end after the original release of the songs in the film. And then a second follow up CD of the unused songs and the songs that inspired it, which is fine. That's absolutely genius. That's giving your fans what they want for

James:

Absolutely. Watching it again, I was surprised at just how inventive this film is. I'd forgotten quite how every visual is interesting. Every scene, you know, the, the, there's a an interesting take on the material, which I thought was very exciting.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

yeah, it's a great movie. You've probably watched it, but if you haven't, please do, or if you haven't in a while, give it a re watch. okay, so, we've got to figure this out. So why was this such a good year for cinema? What, what were the conditions that made all these films possible to come out this year?

James:

I have been pondering this the last few days and, uh, you know, it's a bit hazy, but I would say from my lived experience of essentially being, I don't know, 16 years old in the early nineties and, going through my late teens and twenties in the nineties, I can tell you it was a great time to go to the cinema. From the early nineties, no CGI was in any film, really. Yes, I know there was Tron, I know there was a few, but CGI just wasn't commonplace. So, in the space of a decade, the way that films were made changed entirely. Massively, and the innovations in like how films were shown and the sound tracks. There was just a lot of improvements, a lot of exciting developments. And, you know, we were still excited about new visual effects, like seeing those bullet time shots in the matrix. We'd never seen those things before. So there was just a lot of newness, a lot of new ways to tell stories. And I just feel like 99 was the peak of that. We'd had a decade of, Medium to low budget films that were risky and then higher budget films that were taking risks of doing interesting things. And I look at these films as well, and whilst there are a few sequels in, there's Toy Story 2, and I'm not sure there's any other sequels. So that's one thing. The second thing is, there's a fair few original screenplays, and the ones that aren't original screenplays are literary. There's Adaptations. So the, so the source material of these films. So the, the way films would be made is different, but the source material nowadays, there's a lot of sequels of sequels. of reboots and remakes. There's lots of IPs that aren't literary sources like computer games, songs, theme park rides there. Now what stories have been based on. So I just think it was before all that started happening. Once we get past 2000. Suddenly we start getting into the Marvel era in the mid noughties. You know, the franchises start wearing their cogs and that changes everything because then you don't want to put money into small films.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

I think you're totally right, James. Totally. Um, I was thinking a lot about what, what the socioeconomic conditions of Hollywood at this time, what was behind all the things that make this year so great. I was doing a bit of research and I found this very interesting article in The Guardian by a writer called Amy Nicholson. I'll link it in the show notes. And she points out that in 1997, DVD sales began, so there was a lot more cash just sloshing around the studios. because of, because of all these people who were, you know, they'd gone to cinema and then on top of that, they were also buying the film. So they bought the movie twice. so with this windfall, all these studios were really willing to invest in like small upcoming directors and kind of the mid tier directors who had made a few good films, but That's it. You know, hadn't yet gone to that kind of stratosphere level, like, Spike Jonze, Spike Lee, David Fincher, you know, this was the year when all of these directors were being invested in. And so all these great movies came out of it and also had the marketing behind them to, despite not maybe being the most, the biggest budget, but definitely getting their return back because as you said, people were still going to the cinema. Um, so I think the intersection of that. was really important to this year and kind of explains why today we just don't have that, you know, because new young directors aren't being invested in in the same way.

James:

absolutely. And Matt Damon goes into a little bit, a tiny bit more detail about what you've just said, but essentially he reiterated, he reinforced what you've just said, which he, um, it's like on hot, is it hot takes or hot wings where celebrities have to eat very hot chicken wings with hot sauces, which is the new form. Anyway, he's on there. He's on, he's on, he's on that talking about DVD sales affecting the bottom line of the business and how he said that, essentially you had two launches of a film, you have the cinematic release, but the DVD release was a big deal because it brought in a lot of money for, especially for, if your film was a low budget film, then proportionally said the DVD sales could bring in just as much as the box office receipts, if not a bit more. So it was genuinely a good income source. Whereas now, because. Physical media sales have plummeted, even though they're still being bought by collectors because they're still the best quality. And now streaming's taken over, which there's basically streaming doesn't pay much money or you're a studio and you've had to make your own streaming service and you sell your films to yourself. So you're not making any money.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

yeah, I mean it's the, it's actually the exact opposite of today because people aren't buying movies twice, they're not even buying them once, you know, they're either, streaming them illegally or getting them, yeah, from a streaming service where they're just paying a monthly fee. So it's a completely different world for cinema. And so it just means that there isn't the money to invest in. Well, it's partly there is, I mean, there is actually money, but they're choosing not to invest it in these new, they don't want to take risks on new, young directors. I

James:

Yeah, this, this is the other thing I, which I completely agree with is this idea that talent isn't being nurtured in the cinema anymore. I completely agree with you. I mean, the marvelization of blockbuster movies, it used to be that, you know, you'd get an indie director who worked their way up through the Hollywood system making increasingly bigger budget films. Whereas now what's happening is, is Marvel just helicopter in, maybe not the biggest talent, maybe talent who ordinarily 20, 30 years ago, wouldn't have got into making a Marvel film, but they get them in because they can control them because they're very early years in their career. So they're

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

would, I would push back and say that a lot of them are really great talents. but, but, you know, but they're just new directors and new young directors,

James:

Very talented directors, but also kind of sometimes why is Chloé Zhao making a Marvel's movie? Does she

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

But that's why, it's because they don't, they're not being given the money to do anything but that. That's the problem. They're not, they're not allowed to do their own, you know, yeah. It's not Danny Boyle being given the opportunity to make a, you know, remake Irvine Welsh's incredible novel. So,

James:

Cinema used to be the place that, high end directors got nurtured. Whereas now what's happening is, is that's disappeared. So if you are a director who wants to earn money and work and then live in, you work in television. Uh, and so television. Television is a different medium. It's over, it's over a series rather than a 90 minute or two hour film. And you certainly, you're definitely part of a machine as a director. You have much less power. The showrunner of a series has the real vision, has the real power. You are a gun for hire and you have to slot into the scheme of things. And so that's where the new generation of very good directors. I mean, TV is incredible. The quality of it, but that would have ordinarily in the seventies, those directors would have been nurtured through the film system. And so that's. Stopped happening. because studios don't want to take risks and television is now becoming the more dominant form out of the two things that people watch. People watch TV, I think a bit more than they're good at the movies.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

So guys, go to your local cinema, please support your cinema and enjoy the 1999 season if there is one at your, at your cinema because it's a great, this is a great opportunity to see some incredible films that were definitely made to be watched in a cinema.

James:

Absolutely. I think I might even sneak out tonight and go see the matrix in

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

All right Well on that I was trying to turn it around and give it a positive note to end on because yes again We're like, you know, so depressed about the state of cinema. So sorry about that guys. I know it's it's it's a repetitive refrain for us, but it's Be that as it may, thank you very much for listening to another episode of Groovy Movies.

James:

Absolutely. And if you can find your way to leaving us a like or a five star review, it all helps get the podcast out to a bigger audience.

S4 E11 1999_LILY:

It really does. And if you would like to send us a submission to the Film Pharmacy, we would love to hear from you. You can send them to us on our Instagram, it's groovy, at groovymoviespod, or you can email us at groovymoviespod at gmail. com. And we will see you in two weeks time. Bye.

James:

See you. Bye.