#yes i know it’s long i’m really passionate about the soundtrack and the proms | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

finnschuesters · 4 years

Text

YOUR EVERLASTING LIGHT

WHO: @leo-mccarthy and finn schuester. WHEN: saturday, sept. 26th. after the dance. WHERE: wmhs parking lot. WHAT: leo and finn share a moment together after homecoming.

FINN: Finn had foolishly believed counting prom court votes with Benji would end in anything but disaster. Their conversation had been productive , and it seemed things would change moving forward. Ultimately it was good, but it didn't make things any less draining. After their discussion, the night seemed to drag along. Finn went through the motions of reporting the results then returning to the table her and Leo had been posted up at all night. She was only slightly surprised to find him gone, but hoped he was out enjoying the dance and having fun. Finn on the other hand, would remain seated, tapping her foot and waiting for the event to swiftly conclude so she could hopefully decompress from the intensity of the Benji incident. When Leo returned, asking if Finn was good to drive, she nodded and issued a soft "Of course." Though, not without going bug eyed and silently panicking for a moment. Truly, she didn't mind. The timing was just poor. Despite having obviously been drinking, Leo miraculously picked up on her hesitation in that fraction of a second which brought them to the present: Back against the windshield, Finn laid on the hood of Leo's car beside him. As students began trickling out of the dance, her gaze remained fixed upward as she puffed on a cigarette that came from the box she had purchased him in lieu of a boutonnière or corsage. Some Student Council President she was. Since Leo had been nice enough to sit and chat with her most of the night, she wasn't stingy with the music that was playing softly from her phone. A mix of Arcade Fire, Springsteen, and The Killers soundtracked Finn's miserable attempt at unwinding, and Leo's seemingly failed efforts to sober up. Taking another drag, she shifted her gaze from upwards to over at Leo. The dance was coming to an end, but Finn wasn't quite sure she was ready to call it a night yet. Figuring she might as well be transparent, she asked, "Um, would it be alright if we maybe don't go to that after party?" Having a feeling the answer would be yes, she added "I'm not ready to go home or anything, I'm fine with hanging out if that's what you wanna do." Finn admitted, bringing the heel of her hand which held the cigarette to wearily rub her forehead. "Just figured I'd check."

LEO: Leo would’ve skipped out on Homecoming entirely if Finn hadn’t asked him to be her date. School dances were famously not his scene. They were performative, dramatic, and they represented everything he hated: social hierarchy, popularity, glamorizing youth, etc. He actively dreaded attending functions like this, but surprisingly, this particular dance hadn’t been that bad. He owed the decent experience to Finn for being on the same wavelength as him. She didn’t seem to mind that he didn’t want to dance or engage in the court or whatever else. She was content to just sit with him at their table and talk, which he actually really enjoyed. However, the second she took off to deal with her student council president responsibilities, Leo’s night took a turn. One spiked bowl of punch later and Leo was drunker than usual sitting on the hood of his car, Finn at his side, as students trickled out of McKinley at the end of the night. Chain smoking wasn’t exactly a common remedy for sobering up...but that didn’t mean it wasn’t worth a try. As he lit his third cigarette (thanks to the fresh pack Finn gifted him), he tilted his chin up to the sky. Leo surely looked a little disheveled with his unkempt curls, flushed cheeks and glassy eyes, but there was a calm and satisfied expression on his face now that they were finally away from the crowd. At Finn’s request, he turned to face her and chuckled softly. “You read my mind,” he stated, playfully nudging her arm with his, “we can just keep doing this.” Even in his drunken state, Leo could practically see the cogs in Finn’s brain turning. What was she overthinking? “Did you have an alright time?” he asked as he brought his cig to his lips and inhaled deeply, letting the smoke sit in his chest for a moment before he exhaled. “I’m no expert at this shit but it looked like people had a lot of fun,” he added with a crooked half smile, “so...hats off to you, madame president. You did a good job..” Summer’s warmth was officially gone and as a gust of autumn wind blew past them, Leo glanced down at Finn’s bare legs and hummed to himself. He let his cigarette briefly dangle in his mouth as he shook himself out of his jacket and tossed it over Finn’s legs. “You need it more than I do,” he explained simply before leaning back against the windshield and letting out sigh.

FINN: As Finn felt the fabric of Leo's jacket slipping over her legs, she glanced over at him with her brow raised, "Thanks." she commented, flashing him a tight lipped smile. She appreciated the gesture, but as she puffed on a cigarette of her own, it was clear her mind was focused elsewhere. She adjusted the jacket so it would cover just above her knees and down to her ankles. "Let me know if you get cold." Finn said, still looking over at Leo. The last thing she wanted to do was quite literally take the clothes off of his back if he needed them. Flicking some ash off onto the ground beside Leo's car, she cleared her throat, "Um, yeah, it was all good." she answered vaguely with a nod. Though the lines on her forehead as she pensively stared through Leo rather than at him betrayed her. "Thanks but this. . ." Finn sighed, maybe a little dramatically, "This was mostly Benji, he's on the dance committee." she explained, before bringing the cigarette to her mouth and inhaling. Unable to hold for very long without coughing, Finn turned her head back upward to the sky and blew out smoke. Eager to turn conversation away from Benji, she settled back to looking at Leo. Her stare no longer bore through him, rather she made an effort to actually focus on his tousled curls, lopsided smile, and flushed cheeks. He looked so effortlessly apathetic for someone she knew could get so passionate about certain things: Tarantino, Arcade Fire, and the uselessness of High School Pep Rallies to name a few. She wished she had brought her camera so she could snap a photo, but wishing wouldn't plant it in her hands. Instead, she tried to memorize how he looked in the moment. With a more genuine smile and slightly more relaxed, she nudged him in turn, "Did you have fun, drunky?" she asked playfully. She felt much better knowing there would be no after party to keep up appearances at, but it still wasn't the perfect antidote to shake events from earlier in the night. "You were missing for a while, what did you get up to?" Finn further inquired. Maybe focusing on his night rather than her own would briefly clear her head. "Other than refilling at the punch bowl, I mean."

LEO: Leo gave Finn a vague nod in lieu of saying ‘you’re welcome’ at the gesture of giving her his jacket. It was the least he could do. He gave a genuine and lazy smile at her follow-up comment, shaking his head as he brought his cigarette back up to his lips and inhaled deeply. “Nah, don’t worry about it,” he assured her, smoke floating out of him as he mindlessly adjusted the jacket to cover a spot on her thigh that she’d missed, “all you.” They didn’t run in the same circles really, but Finn was one of Leo’s constants. She was sturdy, she was reliable, and she was always there when it counted. He wasn’t sure how she did it, how she always seemed to know when she was needed, but her presence always made a difference to him. Always. Leo studied her face as she answered his questions. She was far away somewhere. How could he get her to be here? “I see,” Leo said once she explained the situation, ashing his cigarette before he brought it back up to his lips, “that sucks. I’m sorry you had to deal with that. Feels complicated.” Leo marveled at the way Finn tilted her chin up and blew out the smoke from the cigarette she held gingerly between her fingers. In his drunken state, he found himself staring at her cheek bones and focusing on the way he could see her jaws clenching at her temples whenever she was deep in thought. When she came back down to earth and they locked eyes, a wave of calm washed over him. If his life were a movie, which part would this be? He kept his gaze on her and tried to commit the scene to memory. Here was the student body president, smiling at him, using his jacket as a blanket as the chill Ohio wind gently blew her loose curls out of her face. He answered her question with a “you look really beautiful.” He let out a breathy chuckle following his comment, shaking his head and averting his eyes in slight embarrassment at the surprising display of verbal affection. “But I did have fun,” a pause, “I think?” He chuckled softly again, pinching the bridge of his nose with the hand that loosely held what was left of his cigarette as he tried to recall what he did after Finn left. Nothing came to him. “I don’t remember,” he admitted, dropping his hand and turning to look at her again, “but I do have a confession...” Leo finished smoking his cigarette, put out the butt on the hood of his car and then flicked it on to the ground before leaning closer to Finn. “I spiked the punch bowl,” he whispered into her ear, smiling proudly to himself as he settled back into his spot, “don’t get me in trouble.”

FINN: There was comfort that came when interacting with Leo that was both familiar and foreign to Finn. Familiar in the sense that their friendship was really effortless, like she’d been around Leo just as long as she’d been around Zoe or Eli. But foreign in the way that she had never connected with someone as easily as she did Leo. He had successfully reeled her back to the present as she attempted to commit all his features to memory. Maybe she was being sappy because it was her senior year, but she was pretty confident she’d never meet another Leo McCarthy-- let alone one who would chainsmoke with her in the parking lot after a school event. She didn’t blame herself for wanting to remember the moment and just how everything looked. Just as she was gearing up to take her next mental photo, Leo had boldly told her she looked beautiful. Finn didn’t read too much into it, but it made her cheeks flush pink. While he averted his gaze, she continued staring at him in all his bashful glory. Peeking her foot out from beneath Leo’s jacket turned blanket, she nudged his foot so he’d look back at her. Once he did, Finn wasted no time to smile at him. “You look really beautiful, too.” she told Leo with a soft, genuine quality to her tone. That was the best way to describe him really. At least to Finn. He had a beautiful mind, heart, and looks to match. Although Finn recognized returning the compliment was kind of like playing with fire, she could be a little irresponsible in this private moment. Swiftly, the topics switched and as it was revealed Leo didn’t really remember what he got up to in her absence, Finn laughed softly. Then before she knew it, Leo’s breath was was warm on both her ear and neck. Before she could even process the electricity the sensation sent down her spine, Finn was jolting up at yet another confession from Leo. Though some might expect her to scold him after staring with her mouth agape, she simply scoffed. “You did not” Finn exclaimed in a joyful disbelief. “Oh my god, how did you pull that off?” she asked curiously as she leaned back into the windshield once again. She had unintentionally settled closer to Leo than where she lay before, but oddly enough to proximity didn’t bother her. Instead, Finn continued with the conversation, “I won’t tell.” she assured. After tossing her cigarette off the side of his car and onto the pavement, she found herself once again inching closer to Leo. It was a cold night, the warmth he brought was nice, and not to mention she actually kind of liked being close. Their distance now undeniable, Finn just wanted to be sure she hadn’t made things weird. Trusting Leo to be honest, she simply asked, “Is this alright?”

LEO: Sitting on the hood of his car chainsmoking cigarettes with Finn was unsurprisingly the best part of Leo’s night. The dance itself hadn’t been terrible, but at some point he hit a wall in the gymnasium. He was ready to leave. This though? Hanging out with Finn, listening to music and talking about everything and nothing in particular? Quite frankly he could do it all night. Leo was a bit of a recluse and he knew it. His circle of friends was small by design. Most people got under his skin, but there were a select few people that put him at ease and Finn Schuester had always been at the top of that list. No matter how much time they went without talking, it was always like no time had passed when they eventually reconnected. In a small town filled with cheerleaders, jocks and show choir lunatics, Leo marched to the beat of his own drum and Finn was one of the only people who didn’t make him feel wrong for that. To put it simply: he liked her and he liked having her around. So sitting with her and shooting the shit while all of their peers went to some rich girl’s after party to get wasted and make regrettable decisions? It was kind of perfect. Leo told Finn she was beautiful because she was and also because she deserved to hear it. He got shy after doling our the compliment and only looked back at his date because she nudged him to. Apparently Finn Schuester was the type of girl who called boys beautiful and apparently Leo was the type of boy who got flustered by it. “Me?” he said with a playful scoff, blowing a loose curl out of his eyes through the corner of his mouth, “you sure you haven’t been drinking?” Leo wasn’t a very soft person, but the alcohol in his system paired with the way Finn made him feel weightless led him to believe that maybe he could be gentle and open hearted...even if it was just for tonight. As they joked around about homecoming and how he spiked the punch, Leo found himself subconsciously scooting towards her. “I did,” he confirmed, a little too proudly, “Frankie helped. She stayed on the look out while I dumped a fifth into the bowl.” The act was simultaneously unlike him and painfully on brand. “You gotta promise not to tell though,” Leo joked, drunkenly holding up his pinky as he stared at Finn with a hazy smile, “it’s like sacred or whatever. Come on, humor me.” Once he got Finn to promise in a juvenile but ultimately fun fashion, he dropped their hands and smiled to himself as she inched closer to him. The air around them was undoubtedly getting colder, so he welcomed the warmth she brought as she pressed the side of her body against the side of his. Although the longer they sat there close to each other, the less sure Leo was about the source of the warmth. Was it her body or was it the way his heart was suddenly rattling in his rib cage the longer he looked at her. The question surprised him. Was it alright? Maybe not, depending who you asked, but right now Leo didn’t care about that. “Yeah,” he said quietly, turning his head to look at her openly. Something clicked into place in that moment and Leo realized what part of the movie this was supposed to be. Just kiss her. He wasn’t sure what consequence such an action would bring, but fuck it. Right now there were no other people. Only them and their cigarettes on the hood of his car while ‘everlasting light’ played softly in the background. Fuck it. Leo reached a hand up to Finn’s cheek and turned her head towards him before he crashed his lips into hers and let his hand get lost in her hair.

FINN: Leo’s bashful response to her calling him beautiful stirred some deep feeling within Finn. It came in a sudden, strong wave that spurred an odd sense of urgency to run towards it. Something was churning that was painfully real. This was a type of real that couldn’t be captured on camera or fabricated any old day. While she couldn’t place just what this was, she tried to embrace it rather than shut it out. As Leo tossed out a ’Me?’, Finn verified with a nod and an ’Uh huh.’ as she watched a single curl fly upward than pack on to his forehead. Again, she marveled at how cool and collected he looked even while he was flustered. She smiled to herself as she looked away from Leo for the first time in what felt like hours and swapped him out for the moon. “I called you beautiful because you are. . .” Finn answered, though there was some lingering concern that maybe he thought it was weird. Hence, the lack of eye contact. Though after a moment of quiet, she found herself with her head tilted in his direction once more. Unable to help it, laughter slipped past her own lips in an attempt to soothe her slight concern in having scared him. As their conversation continued, it became more and more apparent that Leo hardly thought anything of it and Finn was falling right back into comfortable communication with him. Seeing him so proud made her smile, even if it was about something as stupid as spiking the punch bowl. From what she gathered over the years, Leo was hard on himself first, satisfied second, and only proud sometimes. It was a nice change of pace. Grinning more noticeably as he held up his pinky, Finn didn’t think twice about locking her pinky around his. ( It did warrant a soft chuckle though. ) “I promise I’m not going to tell.” She verbally confirmed, surprised she didn’t want even this slightest of physical contact to end. Deciding to make another comment about in order to delay the parting of their pinkies, Finn added, “Even if I did, Principal Remington would only be mad it wasn’t one of his star pupils anyhow.” she joked. “You’ve got Presidential immunity, for tonight.” and as her light teasing came to a close, their pinkies dropped. And then the silence settled. Other than the music and the occasional gust of wind, things were quiet as Finn basked in Leo’s warmth and Leo basked in hers. It was mostly cloudy, but the moon was bright enough it made for an interesting mismatch of both star and cloud gazing. There were few people Finn Schuester felt comfortable enough to lay around silently with, and apparently, Leo McCarthy was one of them. It was nice. And even nicer? Just when she least expected it, Leo threw her for another loop with his hand on her cheek and lips against her own. Had it not been the night of their last homecoming, maybe Finn would’ve had half the mind to pull away and suggest they drive home. Instead, she propped herself up with her elbow and leaned into the kiss. With an arm on either side of Leo and her torso hovering over his own, she moved her lips against the taste of spiked punch and cigarettes as ‘Everlasting Light’ faded out along with any inhibitions about the kiss.

END.

#discord para #leo #mentions: benji #mentions: zoe #mentions: eli #mentions: frankie #your everlasting light #//ignore that hoco was fifty years ago <33

3 notes · View notes

d-and-s-are-bord-blog · 5 years

Text

Better Late Than Never: 19 Must-See Movies from 1999

via WordPress ift.tt/2HJ5MjA

From 19 movie lovers to one other, here are some of our favorites from 1999.

We get a lot of emails here at Film School Rniejects, and while most of them are split pretty evenly between people curious if Kieran Fisher is a “real” person and others asking Christopher Campbell, Esq. for nudes, some are actually complimentary enough towards the site to count as fan letters.

One such example came to us recently from a young woman in the UK hoping to celebrate turning 19 years old with a writing project about movies released in 1999. Her plan was to watch or re-watch films from that year and then write about each of them whether she connected with the movie or not. As a fan of FSR and One Perfect Shot she asked if we could offer a few suggestions as to what we consider to be the must-see movies of 1999.

“Hi, I figure this email is a long shot but I’d really love your help. My name is Ellie, I’m 18, a complete film geek and I could not live without Film School Rejects or One Perfect Shot. I’m starting a project that involves me trying to watch new or rewatch 19 films from 1999 by the time I’m 19 on June 2nd and I would really love any suggestions that I can add to my list. I know its small, but this project means a lot to me and I’d love to complete it and write up about all of them, whether I’m passionate about them or whether I detest them. It would mean the world to get some help on this.

Thank you thank you thank you!

Ellie

London, United Kingdom”

The smart, easy, and nice thing to do would have been for one of us to dash off a quick list of 1999’s best films so she’d have it in time for her birthday. Unfortunately, we here at FSR prefer to complicate things and miss deadlines whenever possible, so instead of a short list we’d like to present Ellie with 19 picks from 19 members of our team. Some might seem obvious, others less so, but it’s most definitely a broad spectrum highlighting not only our staff’s eclectic tastes but also the absolute wonder that is cinema’s breadth and scope.

We write about movies because we love movies (and because Disney pays so damn well for positive Marvel coverage, but that’s a bit off topic so forget I even said it), and we’re equally excited by any opportunity to share that love with others. There are so many amazing films out there, and like everyone else, we’re still discovering new favorites every day.

So happy belated birthday Ellie! We apologize for the tardiness of our reply, but hopefully you find something new to appreciate from our picks and that they add to your already growing love for the movies. (And, yes, we did add a bonus pick for an even twenty to get a jump on your 20th birthday…)

10 Things I Hate About You (directed by Gil Junger)

Perhaps the last great teen movie of the 20th century, 10 Things I Hate About You made its debut in 1999. It’s essential viewing for any rom-com fan, but especially for young women. Kat (Julia Stiles) is a badass feminist lead unlike many we see in romantic comedies who accepts an invitation to prom from class mystery man Patrick (Heath Ledger). There’s miscommunication, true love, and a Shakespeare enthusiast. The soundtrack is the perfect time capsule of 1999, but it still rocks today. It’s a fun and adorable movie I adored when I was nineteen! – Emily Kubincanek

All About My Mother (directed by Pedro Almodóvar)

Us film writers have a bad habit of using “melodrama” like it’s a dirty word. The thing is, melodrama is most often used as a crutch—blatant appeals to viewers’ emotions made in an attempt to distract audiences from other shortcomings. It takes a skilled filmmaker to remind us of how wrong we are in conflating melodrama’s potential with the underwhelming contents in which it is most often seen, and Pedro Almodóvar is perhaps the preeminent master of melodrama working today. Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother) is stuffed to the brim with plotting straight from a soap opera, expertly condensing the twists and turns one might expect from an entire television season into less than two hours. Gorgeously vibrant and filled with innovative cinematography that will stick in your brain long afterward, the film is a much-needed reminder that melodrama and great cinema can absolutely be one and the same. And that you should always look both ways before crossing the road. – Ciara Wardlow

Analyze This (directed by Harold Ramis)

What is the best way to understand film genre? Apart from actually sitting down and immersing oneself in its finest examples, the answer is clear: genre parodies! An overlooked classic is Harold Ramis’ Analyze This. One sentence summary: Robert De Niro plays a mob boss and Billy Crystal is his psychiatrist. It’s a ton of fun! Also, it’s a thoughtful satire, one that raises deep questions about our understanding of masculinity, especially in films about Italian-American men. In Goodfellas, De Niro plays a mobster completely devoid of emotion; here, he plays one who struggles to admit he has emotions because he believes doing so would make him weak. It’s well-worth your time, plus, if you like it, there’s a sequel! – Will DiGravio

Audition (directed by Takashi Miike)

By the time you read this, Takashi Miike’s filmography will have surpassed 100 directorial outings and some change. The Japanese maverick is a workaholic who’s willing to make any project he gets offered, though when you look at the eclectic array of titles in his oeuvre, what you see is some of the boldest and most daring cinema of the last 20 years. Audition, which is based on Ryu Murakami’s novel of the same name, is one of his foremost masterworks, as well as an example of J-horror at its smartest and most sadistic. It tells the story of a widower who’s looking to get back into the dating game, but he gets more than he bargained for when he meets a woman with a mysterious past and a willingness to go the extra mile. Part romantic comedy, part stomach-churning nightmare, Audition serves as the perfect introduction to Miike’s demented world, and it’ll either make you want to delve in further or avoid it forever. – Kieran Fisher

The Blair Witch Project (directed by Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez)

Found footage movies get a bad wrap. Look, I get it. After the – ahem – foundational film The Blair Witch Project made its splash debut at Sundance Film Festival, screening at midnight to an unsuspecting crowd, studios every year have attempted to cash in on this low-cost way of filmmaking. But when done right, this POV format elicits a cinema verite quality that we so rarely see in the horror genre. And that’s what makes Blair Witch work so well. It just feels real. And in a time when the internet was just becoming what it is today, it was easy for the studios to really capitalize on that and make audiences believe that it was real. From the website that the filmmakers set up to the Sci-Fi Channel “documentary” The Curse of the Blair Witch that ran the week before the film released, they essentially made not only the first Augmented Reality game but also an immersive experience. Watching the film you feel like you are in the Black Hills Forest with Heather, Mike, and Josh slowly losing your sanity as the claustrophobic woods send chills down your spine. And when the woods finally come alive, the terror feels real. In a decade that was full of glossy excess, the simplistic DIY quality of The Blair Witch Project made it a breath of fresh air. This film didn’t have beautiful 20-somethings, pretending to still be in high school, running away from a hook hand or a ghost mask, this was a fear of the unknown. What’s right behind the door, or down that dark corridor. What we can’t even begin to comprehend, for fear we go mad. Often imitated, but never duplicated: The Blair Witch Project is real old-school horror. – Jacob Trussell

Dick (directed by Andrew Fleming)

After nearly 20 years, I still can’t believe Dick hasn’t become at least a cult classic. This movie has so many hilarious performances from its mix of Kids in the Hall and Saturday Night Live cast members, including Bruce McCullough and a not-yet-famous Will Ferrell as iconic journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. Ryan Reynolds is here pre-fame, as well. The political satire mashed with teen comedy stars Michelle Williams and Kirsten Dunst on the edge of their transitions from child actresses to Oscar and Emmy worthy talents, and that’s a perfect spot for them to be in while they play bubbly girls in the midst, almost Forrest Gump-like, in one of America’s most notorious scandals. It’s a hip, lampooning introduction to the Nixon Administration and Watergate for young audiences with a wonderful portrayal of Tricky Dick by Dan Hedaya, and it’s a light and entertaining take on political corruption and the well-worn story of becoming disappointed with heroes and leaders. – Christopher Campbell

Election (directed by Alexander Payne)

Hear me out: Tracy Flick did nothing wrong. Over the years, Reese Witherspoon’s portrayal of an uncannily chipper, type-A teen who will stop at nothing to become student body president has been hailed as both a cultural icon and monstrous villain – but as a profoundly dorky and overachieving teenage girl who first saw Alexander Payne’s Election when I was Flick’s age, I’ve always felt a deep kinship with her. Matthew Broderick is disarmingly convincing as its (unreliable) protagonist, a beloved teacher who can only see Flick as a vindictive seductress after an affair with his married colleague (a situation we’d recognize today as statutory rape). In retrospect, it seems to occupy a strange in-between era of teen-media canon – its sour, biting portrait of high school politics takes after the pitch-black wit of Heathers, and yet its earnest idiosyncrasy also recalls later, weirder works like the great American Vandal. It’s the rare kind of comedy whose sense of humor is dazzlingly sharp and yet never feels mean-spirited. – Aline Dolinh

Eyes Wide Shut (directed by Stanley Kubrick)

Stanley Kubrick’s final film is a salacious peekaboo exploration of the sexual desires hidden within the minds of our significant other. We recognize the deep, dark secrets that lurk inside our own fantasies, but we dare not ask our partners what delights they crave. What’s the password? You do not want to know. Eyes Wide Shut peels the curtain back on the lust that fuels humanity. The film is made all the more dangerous by casting real-life married couple (at the time anyway) Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in the roles of the husband and wife reeling from the revelations laid bare after one admits their carnal wants. Their bedroom confrontation is an exposed vein that the audience both recoils from and salivates towards. We should not be privy to such horrendous intimacy. Kubrick’s passing and the prudish controversy surrounding the centerpiece orgy marred the initial response to the film. The longer I’ve sat with Eyes Wide Shut, the more time it has wormed its way into my relationships. Don’t wonder what’s going on in your lover’s head. Ask. Or suffer the torment. – Brad Gullickson

Fight Club (directed by David Fincher)

Before it became a stereotypical Film Bro signpost, this fantasia of runaway masculinity was a pulsating, bloody, controversial revelation. An essential entry into the filmographies of Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter, it was also the movie that gave David Fincher his biggest early push toward his current label as a modern auteur filmmaker. Love it or hate it, Fight Club is a pop cultural touchstone, referenced for its quotable dark humor, brutal offhand violence, anti-Capitalist ideology, and above all else, its wildly surprising ending. First and foremost, though, I think Fight Club is an example of what filmmaking can look like at its most technically brilliant. It was the movie that made me fall in love with the aesthetic side of cinema, the technical aspects which separate film from other mediums of storytelling. As with Fincher’s later works, Fight Club makes use of sounds and sights, colors and cuts that flow seamlessly together, fluid and visually dynamic, to create a rich and distinctive moviegoing experience. – Valerie Ettenhofer

Galaxy Quest (directed by Dean Parisot)

1999 was a simpler time on the verge of being more complicated. It undeniably had its eye to the future, but its special effects and grasp of a swiftly changing technological landscape haven’t all aged amazingly. Galaxy Quest actually holds up surprisingly well, but it does make for interesting viewing 19 years later. In 1999 the internet was still a new phenomenon, not yet a place where everyone and their dog had an opinion on your favorite sci-fi show. The film’s main plot, that an alien species have mistaken a tv show for reality, is inherently clever and funny, but seen from 2018, when all-consuming fandom is more visible than ever, it doesn’t feel quite so… otherworldly. That’s what makes it obligatory viewing for the end of the millennium — now officially older than its long-canceled titular show, it offers a prescient view of the world that it almost certainly didn’t intend. It’s a time capsule of accidental speculation. It’s also a fun space adventure with a lot of heart and Alan Rickman, so if you’re not in the mood for reflecting on how the world has changed drastically since your birth, you can still have a great time. – Liz Baessler

Girl, Interrupted (directed by James Mangold)

There truly aren’t many films exploring the motives and psyches of teenage girls, but alongside other 1999 releases such as 10 Things I Hate About You and The Virgin Suicides, Girl, Interrupted furthered the presence and dimensions of young women on-screen. In classic Winona Ryder style, she undertakes the role of an interesting, intellectual, and misunderstood adolescent, namely Susanna Kaysen, an eighteen-year-old who has found herself admitted to a mental institution following an overdose. She finds the women around her (an incredible supporting cast in the form of Brittany Murphy, Elisabeth Moss, and Clea DuVall) both relatable and frightening, revealing the inner prejudices she holds within herself. The real challenge Susanna faces, however, is the charisma and allure of sociopath Lisa Rowe (Angelina Jolie’s Oscar-winner, and an icon on every teen’s Tumblr dashboard circa 2012). Underneath the powerhouse cast and vivid identities, however, is a focus on mental illness and coming-of-age that makes Girl, Interrupted a seminal piece for anyone trying to navigate their place in the world. Susanna is the narrator of the story in place of the audience’s inner monologue, skipping with us through the highs, and tugging us out of the lows. It shows, frankly, that with therapy, recovery is possible. It also emphasizes the importance of friendship and the solidarity of women, providing a depiction of troubled teenage years with an absorbing and truthful force. – Anya Hudson

The Iron Giant (directed by Brad Bird)

When Brad Bird’s directorial debut about a boy and his giant robot from outer space hit theatres on August 6th, 1999, it was a critical success. But Warner Brothers hadn’t had the first idea how to advertise it, and it opened in ninth place at the box office. And in all fairness, The Iron Giant doesn’t exactly fit into a marketable mold. That’s one of the film’s strengths. It’s based off a children’s story that Ted Huges wrote to comfort his children after the suicide of his wife, Sylvia Plath. It’s a Norman Rockwell-inspired political parable about a young boy befriending a metal monster who, despite his programming, doesn’t want to do harm. It had something to say about fear-mongering, violence betting violence, and the cost of peace—and it said all these things without talking down to young viewers. At its core, The Iron Giant is a story of empowerment, not as myth or destiny, but as a choice. You are who you choose to be. You can be gentle, you can defend, and you can be kind. You can be superman. – Meg Shields

Magnolia (directed by Paul Thomas Anderson)

Magnolia is significant in the 1999 canon for several reasons. It is arguably Paul Thomas Anderson’s best film. It has an ensemble cast that rivals some of the best actors and actresses of our time. And frankly, it contains one of the best performances from Tom Cruise. That alone would be a feat, but Magnolia is an untraditional epic that proves that nothing is written in stone. Anderson uses a short story to present audiences to the idea of strange phenomenon. An unsuccessful suicide turns into a murder by the most unlikely circumstances. That is the theme that runs through Magnolia, unlikely circumstances. Donnie Smith (William H. Macy) was a former quiz show winner whose moment of fame passed him by. The man who hosts that show, Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Hall), has his own issues as he is slowly dying from cancer. And these two are connected to other members in the cast through coincidences. Anderson has waned back and forth on whether Magnolia is his masterpiece, but regardless of opinion, there is no denying the power of the film. Add in an iconic score by Aimee Mann — and did I already mention Tom Cruise’s performance? — and you have a movie experience quite unlike any other. – Max Covill

The Matrix (directed by The Wachowskis)

Notice how in almost every action movie there will be a slo-mo fight sequence where the protagonist is dodging bullets left and right? You can thank 1999’s The Matrix for that. Though, admittedly, later films may not exactly do it justice. Moving past those iconic visual effects (known more familiarly as “bullet time”, undeniably made most famous by The Matrix though it can be found in its predecessors) this movie is a wild ride that defined the action genre for years to come. The use of sophisticated fight scenes, heavily featuring a martial arts fighting style as per its Hong Kong cinema influence, along with incredibly complex and unique worldbuilding, The Matrix has firmly secured its spot in pop culture legend. What’s more, Keanu Reeves shines as hacker-turned-rebel against the machines, adding sci-fi badass to his already notable film career. His journey as Neo takes you from sympathizing with his 9 to 5 struggles (a good juxtaposition, as the side gig as a career cyber-criminal was probably less relatable) and seeing apart of yourself in a character going through the gray-tinged motions of a salaryman, to wanting to be him. Who wouldn’t want an alluring, mysterious stranger to plunge you into the realities of a dystopia, introducing you to a cyberpunk cult who gives you the choice to change your perception of the world forever? It seems much more appealing in The Matrix, I promise. The Wachowskis’ most famous achievement, this is a film much better viewed than dissected, particularly at the risk of revealing an amazing semi-plot twist. It’s more than just a pop culture phenomenon, still able to stand tall in 2018 as the perfect combination of action film technique and sci-fi storytelling prowess. While the gothic, cyberpunk look of the costumes and character style may admittedly date itself, the core and general appeal of the movie hold strong. Where else can you find Reeves entering a technological-underworld, filled with the expected futuristic elements coupled with a grungy exterior⎯ while also battling cryptic agents and practicing kung-fu. – Kendall Cromartie

The Mummy (directed by Stephen Sommers)

Two sequels, four Scorpion King spin-offs, and an ill-fated reboot may have diluted the Universal Mummy brand, but Stephen Sommers’ original summer blockbuster is still as ruggedly charming as its lead. Brendan Fraser is at the peak of his dopey charm here, and Sommers rips off Indiana Jones with freewheeling ease, forgoing scares in favor of all manner of swashbuckling adventure, complete with a climactic sword fight with an undead army. There’s no sweaty cinematic universe-building to be found in The Mummy, just good old-fashioned grave-robbing fun. – John DiLillo

Peppermint Candy (directed by Lee Chang-dong)

There are plenty of light and fluffy movies I love, both from the US and elsewhere, but my heart belongs to darkness. (On the screen at least… I’ll stick with light and fluffy in real life.) South Korean cinema is better than most at scratching this particular itch, and Lee Chang-dong’s beautiful but devastating look at his own country’s recent history does it in brilliant fashion. Like the more well-known Irreversible from three years later, Peppermint Candy magnifies the story’s drama and emotional effect by playing out in reverse chronological order. We start with a broken man screaming on a train track as the locomotive rushes toward him, and we work backward through his life to the young idealist he once was. It’s a personal tale of one man’s disappointment, but the events he experiences also tell the story of South Korea’s own growing pains as a young democracy. It’s a smartly crafted punch to the heart, and it’s one of 1999’s best films. – Rob Hunter

Ratcatcher (directed by Lynne Ramsay)

Too often in conversations of a year’s best films are international works forgotten. For this reason, if you’re looking at 1999 in movies, Scottish writer-director Lynne Ramsay’s feature film debut Ratcatcher is a must-see. The film is set in 1973 and tells the story of James, a young boy living with his family in a run-down housing scheme in Glasgow during the city-wide garbage strike, leaving the already dilapidated residential units in worse conditions ever. By exploring the minutiae of the sensitive James’ daily life, Ramsay creates a film that delivers an incredibly thoughtful and powerful meditation on ever-relevant themes of poverty, guilt, secret-keeping and human connection. – Madison Brek

Ravenous (directed by Antonia Bird)

It’s been a slow climb to respectability for Bird’s 19th-century cannibal classic. Universally panned on its release – the film was called a ‘stupid black comedy’ and ‘material that’s often better suited to a Monty Python skit’ – Ravenous has slowly risen in the esteem of horror fans and earned a spot as one of the better horror films of the last 20 years. And for good reason: not only does Ravenous feature the kind of onscreen talent normally reserved for high-profile chamber pieces, it also contains one of the most memorable soundtracks of any decade, a pop-infused cacophony of period instruments and chanting (co-written by Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn). Equal parts black comedy and superhero-horror hybrid, Ravenous is the kind of movie that was meant to get better with time. Here’s to the cavalcade of anniversary pieces already scheduled for next spring. – Matthew Monagle

The Straight Story (directed by David Lynch)

There’s art-damaged David Lynch, there’s network TV David Lynch and even big studio David Lynch, but what if the best David Lynch is the one that Disney randomly bought at Cannes the summer of ’99 and which remains the director’s only G-rated entertainment? Shot along the route that notable Iowan Alvin Straight took by lawnmower to see his brother over in Wisconsin a few years before, The Straight Story tells this tale with the kind of look-in-your-eye sincerity that Lynch had for so long only been able to perform in various tediously ironic costumes. Richard Farnsworth, a stuntman who once played Matthew in Anne of Green Gables, is Straight, exalted here as an ordinary joe stubborn to the progress of time and old wounds. One finally triumphs over the other when Straight decides to reconcile with an estranged brother two states away, who appears, as-who-else but longtime chum Harry Dean Stanton. Because of Straight’s decimated vision, the local Man tells him he can’t drive and god knows no All-American will be caught dead on a bus in those 49 states, so Straight hitches up a lawnmower from the local John Deere affiliate and off he goes, with longtime Lynch collaborator Angelo Badalamenti scoring this to an ambient take on that era’s popular The Oregon Trail 3rd Ed.-music. What follows is an epic Odyssian tale that offers Oscar-nominated real pain and real country patois. It was perfect for the comedown from the summer of Woodstock ’99, and it’s perfect for right now, the clouds gathering and you can see them far-off if you look, before another summer of infinite bleakness. – Andrew Karpan

The Virgin Suicides (directed by Sophia Coppola)

Sofia Coppola is known for her vested interest in girlhood and female experiences, and she’s been committed to this since her debut film in 1999. The film is haunting and achingly beautiful in its depiction of the events that led up to the Lisbon sisters taking their own lives, all before they turned eighteen. It is intimate and empathetic, characteristics that Coppola frequently employs well, but unlike her other films that take the perspectives of her characters as they grapple with loss and disillusionment, The Virgin Suicides never fully breaks through to the Lisbon sisters, leaving them as mysteries without answers, asserting how difficult it is to know each other but how important it is that we try to. Every time I revisit the film I find a new detail that reminds me how much I love Coppola as a filmmaker and how grateful I am for her work. – Anna Swanson

The post Better Late Than Never: 19 Must-See Movies from 1999 appeared first on Film School Rejects.

Better Late Than Never: 19 Must-See Movies from 1999 syndicated from filmstreaminghdvf.wordpress.com/

Posted by DemarioMarks on 2018-06-12 21:59:45

Tagged: , Uncategorized

The post Better Late Than Never: 19 Must-See Movies from 1999 appeared first on Good Info.

0 notes