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PODCAST

1999: The Podcast

John Brooks and Julia Sirmons

Was 1999 the best year in movie history? We think it might be! John Brooks, Julia Sirmons, and special guests work their way through all the year has to offer, one movie at a time, and we’ll ask special guests to share their memories of this amazing year and the movies that made it unforgettable. Unfortunately, nobody can be told what 1999: The Podcast is… you have to hear it for yourself!

tv & film film history

All Episodes

88:55

THE STORY OF US/In Memory of Rob Reiner (1947-2025) -...

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/12/30

In honor of the late Rob Reiner we are looking at The Story of Us, the 74th highest-grossing movie of the year, finishing just ahead of earlier entry Blast from the Past. Opening #2 behind Fight Club on October 15th and going on to gross $59 million worldwide on a $50 million dollar budget.Starring Bruce Willis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Reiner himself, Rita Wilson, Julie Hagerty, Paul Reiser, and Tim Matheson, The Story of Us is one of Reiner’s worst-reviewed movies, who, after an unbelievable run of

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86:10

See Also: A VERY ALTERNATIVE CHRISTMAS

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/12/24

Merry Christmas and happy every other holiday!In this episode, John and Julia each recommend five of their favorite "alternative" Christmas movies. The like of It's a Wonderful Life, Home Alone, Love Actually, Miracle on 34th Street, and, yes, even Die Hard are off-limits. Instead, we present 10 movies that are maybe not in your annual Christmas rotation but ought to be! Enjoy! Julia's picks: The Ref (1994) Carol (2015) The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941) A Christmas Tale (2008) The Shop

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98:09

GHOST DOG: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI - with Sean Malin

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/12/16

It's Christmas time, so we're looking at a movie that tells the story of a mysterious man who spends a lot of time on the roof with his animal friends and has the ability to sneak into your house undetected as if by magic: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai!Ghost Dog appears nowhere on the 1999 box office charts because it technically didn’t have a major theatrical release in the US until March of 2000 (it did begin its festival run in 1999, starting in May at the Cannes Film Festival where it was

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58:21

See Also: SHATTERED GLASS (2003)

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/11/26

The first of what will be a series of smaller episodes where we take a look at a movie that is somehow related to our most recent subject.This time, our See Also recommendation for The Insider is Billy Ray's superb 2003 docudrama/thriller Shattered Glass. Featuring incredible performances from a uniformly excellent cast, especially Hayden Christensen as the title character and Peter Sarsgaard as New Republic editor Chuck Lane, Shattered Glass deserves it place among the best movies about

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73:49

THE INSIDER - with Lindsay Beyerstein

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/11/18

Michael Mann's The Insider is easily the most glaring omission from the our initial 18, universally regarded as one of the best – if not THE best – movie of 1999.Finishing in 69th place, sandwiched between two previous entries, Girl Interrupted at 70th and Mystery Men at 68th, The Insider stars Russell Crowe, in an Oscar-nominated performance, and Al Pacino alongside an incredibly deep supporting class (including the greatest character actor alive, Stephen Tobolowsky) Directed by Michael Mann and

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110:20

TRUE CRIME (1999) and JUROR #2 (2024) - with Aaron...

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/11/04

True Crime was the 94th-highest grossing movie of 1999, grossing just $17 million on a $50 million budget with a fairly limited release.Starring and directed by Clint Eastwood, True Crime was largely forgotten and remains overlooked most likely due to its release at what can be described as Eastwood’s most prolonged artistic lull in the mid 1990s, starting with 1997’s Absolute Power and Midnight in the Garden of Eden, 2000’s Space Cowboys, and 2002’s Blood Work. That lull would end with 2003’s

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70:28

THE SIXTH SENSE (Julia's Version) - with Sooz Kempner

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/10/21

The Sixth Sense was one of the biggest movies of the year, second only to The Phantom Menace. And since it's Halloween and Julia had never seen it before, we thought it was time to take a second look.A movie best remembered for its plot twist (and the meticulous build up to it), The Sixth Sense is nonetheless at its core a drama about grief. Once you know the ending, the experience of the movie changes. But is it still good? Does M. Night Shyamalan's breakthrough film deserve its status on the

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88:24

OCTOBER SKY - with Amanda Jane Stern

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/10/07

October Sky was the 63rd-highest grossing movie of the year, just behind The 13th Warrior.Opening on February 19th with just shy of $6 million, it went on to gross $34.7 million worldwide on a $25 million budget. October Sky was adapted from the memoir Rocket Boys (an anagram of "October Sky") by NASA engineer Homer Hickman and directed by Joe Johnston, beautifully shot by journeyman cinematographer Fred Murphy with a score by Mark Isham it starred newcomer Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Lauren

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90:33

ENTRAPMENT - with Jason Christian

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/09/23

Despite its reputation as giant bomb, Entrapment was the 24th-highest grossing movie of 1999, coming in just behind another movie starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, The Haunting.Entrapment opened on April 30th at number 1 with an impressive $20 million debut, dethroning The Matrix at the top box office spot, going on to gross $212 million worldwide. It has since gone on to be synonymous with "high profile dud from 1999", but does it really deserve that reputation? Its relative success at the box

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93:01

THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR - with Sarah D. Bunting

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/09/09

The Thomas Crown Affair was the 31st-highest grossing movie of 1999, coming in one slot below another entry, Galaxy Quest, opening August 6th at number 3 at the box office behind the debut of the juggernaut The Sixth Sense at number one and Runaway Bride at number 2.The first of two 1999 film besides (besides The 13th Warrior, which we also recently discussed) from Die Hard director John McTiernan, The Thomas Crown Affair is a remake of the 1968 Steve McQueen-Faye Dunaway caper of the same

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87:27

MUPPETS FROM SPACE - with Ethan Warren

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/07/15

Muppets From Space was the 95th-highest grossing movie of 1999, opening in 4th place behind juggernauts American Pie, Wild Wild West, and The Phantom Menace.Directed by Tim Hill, the co-developer and longtime director of Spongebob Squarepants (which debuted 3 days later!) and written by longtime Muppet writer Jerry Juhl alongside Joey Mazzarino and Ken Kaufman, Muppets From Space was the third of the 1990s cinematic Muppet revival (following Christmas Carol and Treasure Island) Unlike the two

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102:24

GALAXY QUEST - with Annie Berke

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/07/01

Galaxy Quest was one of the great summer movies of 1999. Except it was released, for some reason, at Christmas.Lovingly sending up television sci-fi of a certain era - and heavily grounded in Star Trek - Galaxy Quest was a modest success as 30th highest grossing movie of 1999 The second feature film, both overall and in as many years following the Vince Gilligan-penned Home Fries with Drew Barrymore and Luke Wilson in 1998, from accomplished television director Dean Parisot, and witten by David

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99:29

THE 13th WARRIOR - with Peter Raleigh

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/06/17

August 1999's The 13th Warrior was (mostly) directed by legendary Predator and Die Hard director – and occasional felon – John McTiernan, and released just three weeks after his other (far more successful) 1999 film The Thomas Crown Affair.Based on the 1976 novel "Eaters of the Dead" by Michael Crichton (who also took over to direct several scenes), The 13th Warrior stars Antonio Banderas, Vladimir Kulich, Dennis Storhoi, Diane Venora, Richard Bremmer, Tony Curran, and Omar Sharif It took two

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95:32

AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME - with Siri Dahl

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/06/03

We are kicking off the summer by returning to the box office top 10 for the first time since Runaway Bride with one of the 1999’s big summer blockbusters, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me!Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me was the 4th-highest grossing movie of 1999, behind Toy Story 2, The Sixth Sense, and The Phantom Menace, opening on June 11 and taking in $55 million that weekend, going on to make $206 million at the domestic box office on a $33 million budget. Directed by Jay Roach

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74:15

JOE THE KING - with Zaki Hasan

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/05/21

Joe the King was the directorial debut of long-time career supporting actor and occasional indie leading man Frank Whaley, who also wrote the script based partly on his own life.It stars Noah Fleiss in the title role, Karen Young, John Leguizamo, Whaley’s friend and frequent collaborator Ethan Hawke, Camryn Manheim, Max Ligosh, a very young Kate Mara, and Whaley’s The Doors co-star, the late Val Kilmer. as Joe’s abusive alcoholic father. Critics were kind of all over the place about Joe the King,

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84:33

THE LIMEY: "Bang" - with Devan Scott

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/05/06

The Limey was 170th highest grossing movie of 1999, finishing just one spot ahead of cult favorite JawbreakerReleased October 8th in just 17 theaters and going on to make $3.2 million on a $10 million budget, The Limey was directed by Steven Soderbergh, just on the verge of his first major commercial successes (Erin Brokovich and Traffic, both released on opposite ends of 2000) and following another acclaimed crime caper, 1998’s Elmore Leonard adaptation Out of Sight. Featuring a tour-de-force

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74:00

VAL KILMER: 1959-2025

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/04/22

Actor Val Kilmer died on April 1st of this year, after a long battle with throat cancer. He was 65.Kilmer's film career began in the 1980s with iconic turns in the likes of Top Gun and Real Genius, but it was in the 1990s where be became an icon in a decade known primarily one dominated by iconoclasts, starting with his portrayal of Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's The Doors, and including memorable bit roles in movies like True Romance, replacing Michael Keaton as Batman in Batman Forever, and what

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92:38

SWEET AND LOWDOWN: "All That Jazz" - with Liz Whitmere

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/04/08

Sweet and Lowdown opened on December 3rd in just 3 theaters and taking in an impressive 31,562 dollar per screen averageWritten and directed by Woody Allen, it stars Sean Penn as fictional jazz guitar legend Emmet Ray alongside Samantha Morton and Uma Thurman, Brad Garrett, John Waters, Anthony LaPaglia, and Brian Markinson, among others. Sweet and Lowdown was a welcome end to what many saw as a mid-90s slump for Allen, who had released a string of movies who that had been received with mixed or

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74:32

FOR LOVE OF THE GAME: "Baseball" - with Jack Krestel

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/03/25

57th on the 1999 box office chart, For Love of the Game marked director Raimi’s first foray into big-budget, mass-market filmmaking (which would ultimately pave the way for being handed the enormous task of finally bringing Spiderman to the screen in 2002)But love and baseball was very different territory for Raimi, and his inexperience in the realm of pop movie making (as well as in directing romance) proved to be a hindrance. For Love of the Game is, unofficially, the third and final entry in

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69:10

TWILIGHT (1998) - Gene Hackman Special

1999: The Podcast ·

2025/03/11

There were no movies starring the late Gene Hackman that were released in the US in 1999, but two of his films released in the US in 1998 – Tony Scott’s Enemy of the State and Robert Benton’s Twilight – were released in Europe in 1999.So because plenty has been said about the former, we are taking a look today at the latter. Directed by Kramer and Kramer writer and director Robert Benton and written by Benton and novelist Richard Russo, who also teamed up with star Paul Newman on 1994’s adaptation

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