By Popular Request The FiLM BiTCH Awards are travelling back in time. Now, for those who discovered any of the two early incarnations of this film obsession (either the print zine or the first website -not at this url) 1998 & 1999 were covered but I don't consider anything official until the main endeavor launched @ the film experience.
Disclaimer. This is very much a work in progress... Changes will occur as I rewatch or see things I missed... but based on reader responses over the past few years you'd rather see "in progress" than wait patiently for years.
Awards
Page Index
* OSCAR coverage here
1999 FiLM BiTCH [Retroactive]
Awards
82/83/84/85/86/87/88/89__90/91/92/93/94/95/96/97/98/99
by Nathaniel
R
Erected August 2005 * Still Under Construction
RENT THEM ! What You Should See From 1999 That You Probably Haven't...
You've all seen the Oscar hits. We're assuming you've also caught up with the two most beloved foreign pics of this year (All About My Mother & Run Lola Run). What remains unseen? How about renting The Edge of Seventeen -one of the most sincere and touching gay indies of the 90s. It is totally endearing and has plentiful 80s Nostalgia inside. Holy Smoke! -Jane Campion's provocation is messy but Kate Winslet is spectacular enough to make it worth two hours of your life. Topsy Turvy -Mike Leigh's meticulous Gilbert & Sullivan biopic. See it for the typical brilliance of Leigh's ensemble and the eye candy theatrical spectacle. The Straight Story -As entrancing as any Lynch picture, only simpler and more G rated -isn't that weird? Summer of Sam -Weirdly maligned Spike Lee joint. Uneven but there are great scenes within. At the very least it's a conversation starter.
78 Films I have seen from 1999 (missing any? it's possible)
The 13th Warrior, The 24 Hour Woman, All About My Mother, All The Pretty Horses, American Beauty, American Pie, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Being John Malkovich, Big Daddy,The Blair Witch Project, Bowfinger, Boys Dont Cry, The Cider House Rules, Cookies Fortune, Cradle will Rock, Cruel Intentions, Deep End of the Ocean, Dick, Dogma, The Dreamlife of Angels, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Edge of Seventeen, Election, The End of the Affair, eXistenZ, Eyes Wide Shut, Fight Club, Flawless, Get Real, Girl Interuppted, Go, The Green Mile, Head On, Holy Smoke!, An Ideal Husband, In Dreams, The Insider, The Iron Giant, Jawbreaker, The Loss of Sexual Innocence, Magnolia, Man on the Moon, A Map of the World, The Matrix, Never Been Kissed, Notting Hill, The Other Sister, Princess Mononoke, Relax...It's Just Sex, Romance, Run Lola Run, The School of Flesh, The Sixth Sense, SLCPunk!, Sleepy Hollow, Some Girl, South Park: Bigger Longer Uncut, Summer of Sam, Superstar, Star WarsEpisode 1: The Phantom Menace, The Story of Us, The Straight Story, Stuart Little, Sweet and Lowdown, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tarzan, Tea with Mussolini, Three Kings, Time Regained, Titus, Topsy Turvy, Toy Story 2, Trick, Twin Falls Idaho, Walk on the Moon, Water Drops on Burning Rocks, William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, The World is Not Enough
I did not see:
Anna and the King, Any Given Sunday, Anywhere But Here, Beseiged, Bringing Out the Dead, The Emperor and the Assassin, Hideous Kinky, The Hurricane, The Limey, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Mansfielf Park, The Mummy, The Muse, The Music of the Heart, Office Space, Pushing Tin, Random Hearts, The Red Violin, Ride with the Devil, Rosetta, Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train, Snow Falling on Cedars, Tumbleweeds should I? which one?
| Best
PICTURE |
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Fighting
for Gold & Silver are Pedro Almodovar's melodrama All
About My Mother & the twisty comedy Being
John Malkovich, both of which I really need to see again
before finalizing. Election's satiric brilliance
takes the bronze and is still my favorite film from Alexander
Payne & Jim Taylor work (sorry Sideways -you
came close) Beyond these it gets tricky. The films are always shuffling their order of preference... |
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Second
Tier ... The other films that still regularly vie for my affections from 1999 are as follows: in rough 0rder of preference -but please note I haven't seen any of them in a long long time --Run Lola Run (Twykver) The Iron Giant (Bird), The Straight Story (Lynch), The Insider (Mann), Boys Don't Cry (Pierce), The End of the Affair (Jordan), Three Kings (David O Russell) Magnolia (Anderson) Fight Club (Fincher) The Talented Mr Ripley (Minghella) and Topsy Turvy (Leigh) |
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Best
DIRECTOR |
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Pedro
Almodovar kicked off another stunning run with All About
My Mother & Spike Jonze's gave great surrealist
debut with Being John Malkovich. Both are A grade golden to
me. But beyond that I'm torn.
So many valid choices (alpha order) this year including: Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia), Bad Bird (The Iron Giant) Mike Leigh (Topsy Turvy), David Lynch (The Straight Story), Michael Mann (The Insider), Sam Mendes (American Beauty), David O Russell (Three Kings), Alexander Payne (Election), Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry), Tom Twykver (Run Lola Run) So who to choose? I'm thinking Lynch, Pierce, and...? |
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Best
ACTRESS |
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 Kate Winslet in Holy Smoke! |
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The
hands down most genius performance of 1999 (according to me) is the
one that was ignorantly shunned by EVERY kudos organization come awards
season: Kate Winslet in Holy Smoke! In a
career filled with stellar work, one can argue that it's her all-time
best creation. |
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best
ACTOR |
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| The
two performances that this category can't be without in 1999 are Kevin
Spacey whose star-making turn in American Beauty was
perhaps so unimprovable he had to swandive thereafter and
Jim Broadbent's magnificent portrayal of WS Gilbert in Topsy
Turvy. My choices for the three remaining nominees would probably
be the haunted Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense,
Richard Farnsworth's moving veteran in The Straight
Story, and Russel Crowe's intense character-work
from The Insider. That said my apologies go out to... Jim Carrey for the underappreciated Man in the Moon, and antihero goodness from Ralph Fiennes in The End of the Affair, Sean Penn in Sweet & Lowdown, and Brad Pitt in Fight Club |
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best
SUPPORTING ACTRESS |
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 Catherine
KeenerBeing John Malkovich |
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1999
may have been a weak year for lead actresses but the women were busting
out big time in the supporting ranks with marvelously funny, biting,
and intense work. For the remaining three spots any combination of the following (alpha order) would be OK by me: Cate Blanchett The Talented Mr Ripley, Helena Bonham-Carter Fight Club, Toni Collette The Sixth Sense, Tina Holmes Edge of Seventeen, Angelina Jolie Girl, Interrupted, Lesley Manville Topsy Turvy, and Chlöe Sevigny Boys Don't Cry. Me, I'd probably go with Helena, Toni, and Chlöe if memory of the films serve me correctly. |
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Best
SUPPORTING ACTOR |
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Tom
Cruise gave us an early peak at deeper troubles in his angry
showman routine in Magnolia and Jude Law who
basically owned all as the beautiful object of everyone's attention
and desires in The Talented Mr Ripley.
That's my top two. Beyond them I would choose three from these: Christopher Plummer The Insider, Mark Wahlberg Three Kings, John Malkovich Being John Malkovich, Eddie Murphy Bowfinger, Wes Bentley American Beauty Peter Sarsgaard Boys Dont Cry ... I have to think about it. |
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Cruise
Vs. Law Battle of the manipulative pretty boys. |
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| Other
PRIZES (Oscar Categories) |
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Orig.
Screenplay |
Cinematography |
Costume
Design |
Film
Editing |
Original
Song |
All
About My Mother P. Almodovar Being J Malkovich C. Kauffman Magnolia P.T. Anderson and??? Three Kings O'Russell American Beauty Alan Ball The Sixth Sense M Night Shyamalan South Park: Bigger... T. Parker & M. Stone |
American
Beauty Conrad Hall Eyes Wide Shut Smith & Kubrick Holy Smoke! Dion Beebe The Insider Dante Spinotti Talented Mr Ripley John Seale or??? Run Lola Run Frank Griebe End of the Affair Roger Pratt |
The
End of the Affair Sandy Powell Sleepy Hollow Colleen Atwood Topsy Turvy Lindy Hemmings and ??? Phantom Menace Trisha Biggar Sweet & Lowdown Laura Cunningham Summer of Sam Ruth Carter |
The
Insider Goldenberg, Rubell, & Rosenbloom The Matrix Zach Staenberg Run Lola Run Mathilde Bonnefoy Three Kings Robert K Lambert and??? Election Kevin Tent Blair Witch Project Myrick & Sanchez |
Austin
Powers Beautiful Stranger Magnolia Save Me South Park: Bigger... Blame Canada South Park:... Uncle Fucka and ??? Man on the Moon |
| Adap.
Screenplay |
Art
Direction |
Original
Score |
Sound |
 |
Election Payne & Taylor End of the Affair Neil Jordan Fight Club Jim Uhls The Insider Roth & Mann Talented Mr Ripley Anthony Minghella |
Being
J Malkovich Barret & Andress Sleepy Hollow Rick Heinrichs Topsy Turvy Eve Stewart and??? Summer of Sam Thérese Deprez |
American
Beauty Thomas Newman The End of the Affair Michael Nyman The Insider Gerard & Bourke Talented Mr Ripley Gabriel Yared and???? Magnolia Jon Brion Holy Smoke! Angelo Badalementi |
The
Insider The Matrix and ??? Blair Witch Project The Straight Story ??? |
|
| Sound
f/x |
Visual
Effects |
Makeup |
|
|
| Fight
Club |
The
Matrix |
Fight
Club |
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 And
now... The Extra "FiLM BiTCH Awards Caterogies for 1999.. |
|
Diva |
Sexpot |
Hero |
Villain |
Kiss |
Fight
Club Marla Magnolia Frank TJ Mackey The Matrix Trinity Run Lola Run Satan Tea With Mussolini Elsa |
Eyes
Wide Shut Nicole Kidman Head On Alex Dimitriades Talented Mr Ripley Jude Law ??? |
The
Iron Giant The Iron Giant The Matrix Neo Run Lola Run Lola ??? |
Austin
Powers (2) Dr. Evil Blair Witch Project The Blair Witch Phantom Menace Darth Maul South Park Bigger Satan Titus Aaron the Moor |
Being
John Malkovich Diaz & Keener (thru Malkovich) End of the Affair Fiennes & Moore Eyes Wide Shut Cruise & Kidman (the mirror) Girl Interuppted Jolie & Ryder (joyous peck) and??? An Ideal Husband Everret & Driver |
Poster |
Sex
Scene |
Musical
Moment |
Opening
Sequence |
Ending |
All
About My Mother The Blair Wich Project Election Eyes Wide Shut Girl Interuppted Magnolia (teaser) |
Dreamlife
of Angels |
Magnolia "Wise Up" Summer of Sam Spotlit Sorvino Talented Mr Ripley "Tu Vu Foa..." Tea w/ Mussolini "Smoke Gets In..." Topsy Turvy "Three Little Maids" |
Being
John Malkovich |
Blair
Witch Project Dreamlife of Angels Edg eof Seventeen The Sixth Sense Topsy Turvy |
Ensemble
Cast |
Costumes
(Contemporary) |
Action
Sequence |
Limited
or Cameo Role (Male) |
Limited
or Cameo Role (Female) |
American
Beauty Magnolia Talented Mr Ripley Three Kings Topsy Turvy ??? |
American
Beauty ??? |
???
|
??? |
April
Grace Magnolia ??? |
