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If there was a surprise critical and commercial failure for the year, it was Forman’s highly anticipated, Oscar-baiting Andy Kauffman biopic, Man on the Moon.
Among other things, Man on the Moon was touted as a second chance for Carrey to nab a best actor Oscar, following what had roundly been seen as an epic snub for his denial of the award for The Truman Show.
It had a lot going for it - an exploration of the tragic and mysterious life of an obscure but beloved cultural figure, directed by the Oscar-winning director of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus. Forman had just come off the critical and commercial success of The People Vs. Larry Flynt, written as well by Alexander and Karaszewski, who, with that film and 1994’s Ed Wood had developed a reputation as having cracked the elusive biopic formula, which they described as the “anti-biopic".
Unfortunately, while it did earn his his second consecutive Golden Globe, Man on the Moon was shut out from the Oscars, and the film seemed to find some way to disappoint basically everyone, even those who loved it.
This week, we invited cultural critic and giant Man on the Moon fan Sean Malin to talk about Carrey, Kaufman, and that most uneven of genres, the biopic.
Sean is on Twitter @cinemalins -
Payback was something of a surprise - and largely forgotten - minor hit, riding mostly on the coattails of Mel Gibson at the height of his popularity and box office appeal, having come off a string of hits, including 1994’s Maverick, 1995’s Oscar-winning Braveheart, 1996’s Ransom, and 1997’s Conspiracy Theory, as well as the prestige of Brian Helgeland, who had just won an avalanche awards, including the Oscar, for writing LA Confidential as well as the aforementioned Conspiracy Theory.
But the production of Payback also opened a window to some of the personal and professional issues surrounding Gibson that would become increasingly apparent in the years leading up to his career crash in the mid-2000s.
Unhappy with the direction of the film Helgeland wrote and director, Gibson had Helgeland fired and reworked and reshot much of the movie, adding Kristofferson's character to the story and changing much of the tone and arc of the main character Porter.
As a result, Payback is actually two movies - the theatrically-released Gibson vision released in 1999 and the Helgeland cut, released on Blu-ray 7 years later, officially titled Payback: Straight Up.
We had writer and Payback superfan Jim Woods on to talk about both!
You can find out everything you need to know about Jim on his website: Jim Woods Writes -
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It's a big September 1999 episode, featuring the one and only Dan Colón!
In September, we head into the final quarter of the year and welcome some landmark moments in pop culture, with the arrivals of:
Freaks and Geeks!
The Sega Dreamcast!
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater!
The West Wing!
Chill Factor! (?)
the finale to the Costner Baseball Trilogy!
and music from Guster and The Magnetic Fields!
Plus Chris Cornell, Martin Lawrence, earthquakes, Y2K, and more!
Find Dan on Twitter @DanColon -
Spike Lee's Summer of Sam should have been the perfect 1999 movie.
After Lee’s breakthrough 1989 film Do the Right Thing, he was on a roll in the 90s, giving us 1990s’ Mo Better Blues, 1991’s Jungle Fever, 1992’s Malcolm X, 1994’s Crooklyn, 1995’s Clockers, 1996’s Get on the Bus, and 1998’s He Got Game.
And so a gritty, Scorsese-esque New York crime like Summer of Sam headlined by the rising star Brody and Leguizamo at his most popular seemed like a no-brainer. And maybe because its nearly two and a half hour run time just didn’t appeal to audiences in the middle of summer, for some reason SoS (which served as a near-perfect metaphor for the anxiety of pre-Y2K America) just never caught on with critics or at the box office.
But has our equally volatile (and true crime obsessed) 2024 America made the film newly relevant? And where does it stand in Spike Lee's oeuvre?
To discuss, John welcomed back film and culture writer and frequent guest Julia Sirmons to the show.
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Late August is often called the Dog Days of Summer and...boy, did the end of August 1999 every live up that reputation!
August 16-31 was something of a drag. After a summer filled with huge moments in entertainment, culture, and news, suddenly, for a couple weeks, not much happened.
But not nothing! We still got the requisite end of summer bad movie dump, featuring:
Dudley Do-Right!
In Too Deep!
The Astronaut's Wife!
and Teaching Mrs. Tingle!
Plus chart-topping albums from Christina Aguilera, The (Dixie) Chicks, and Lou Bega! Plus, pop singer Vitamin C drops the album that would give us 2000's graduation anthem "Graduation (Friends Forever)"!
Plus, Regis Philbin for the first time asks America, "Is that your FINAL ANSWER?"
Also...East Timor begins its journey to becoming a new country!
This week, John is joined by good friend of the show Julia Sirmons for the most boring two weeks (but a fun episode of) 99@25! -
For an end-of-summer special, Dan Colón, of CageClub's very own The Monsters That Made Us podcast, joins John to talk about the greed, mayhem, and madness that defined Woodstock 99.
The Woodstock that was just so great that it convinced everybody to never Woodstock again, 1999's 30th anniversary festival (inspired by the relative success of the 25th anniversary Woodstock 94) was...a lot of things. But mostly it was an epic disaster that somehow managed to take bad situations and terrible ideas and make them much worse.
What went wrong?? Well, aside from everything, John and Dan explore some of the specific problems that sent Woodstock 99 into a fiery tailspin, and discuss why this is such and important milestone in how our culture got to where it is today. -
We're nearing the end of summer, and this time we take a look back at a very entertaining first half of August, 1999.
August 1-15 gave us:
KISS!
Prince's Yard Sale!
Two guys named Putin and Netanyahu who have since faded into total obscurity
Dick! The Sixth Sense! Mystery Men!
Wade Boggs!
Mark McGwire jacking dingdongs!
The Dilberito!
And your host turning 20!
This week, John is joined by friend of the show Tyler Birth (with a brief appearance from his new mouse friend!) as they take a look at a little bit of Monica, Jessica, Sandra, Rita, and everything else that mamboed our way in the beginning of August! -
But, to make up for it, we have the delightful and hilarious Jacki Krestel (@zombie_jacki) to join John in a walk down 1999 memory lane!
July 1999 included:
Macy Gray!
Destiny's Child!
Bree Sharp's summer novelty pop hit "David Duchovny"!
The Fenway Park All-Star Game!
Blair Witch, American Pie, Eyes Wide Shut, and Deep Blue Sea!
The death (????) of JFK Jr!
Cheatin' cheater Lance Armstrong!
Terrible ghoul JK Rowling!
Woodstock 99!
And more
Plus, join John and Jenn next week for a more in-depth look at what is universally agreed to be the best Woodstock in another summer special episode. -
John and Jenn take a crack at explaining the baffling summer 2024 box office. Why did PLANER OF THE APES and FURIOSA fail where INSIDE OUT 2 succeeded? Is the summer movie season a thing of the past? And why do people seem less inclined to go to the movie theater for just ANYTHING?
Covid? Prices? Capitalism? All of the above?
Find out what we have to say in this special summer episode about America's increasingly, depressingly empty cinemas. -
Arlington Road was 77th highest grossing movie of 1999, released 25 years ago last week on July 9th, unfortunately crowded out by some other big releases, namely American Pie, released the same day, as well as Wild Wild West, Tarzan, and The General's Daughter, all in their second weeks.
Directed by acclaimed music video director Mark Pellington (Pearl Jam's "Jeremy"), with a script from future Oscar nominee Ehren Kruger. a score by David Lynch’s personal composer Angelo Badalamenti, and starring two of the finest actors of their generation, Jeff Bridges and Tim Robbins, Arlington Road has a lot going for it.
25 years later, it's also turned out to be one of the most prescient and relevant movies of the year. At times unbearably tense, deadly serious, and eye-rollingly goofy, it's ambitious, uneven, and incredibly entertaining.
Lawyer, occasional movie producer, and writer Matt Belenky is probably the world's most biggest Arlington Road fan (prove us wrong!), so John and Jenn invited him on to look back on this very 1990s genre film.
Find Matt on Twitter @JagrWatch68 -
South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut is...very funny.
It's also absurd, obscene, and one of the best movie musicals not called Moulin Rouge of the last few decades.
The humor of the show and the movie, though, has always been too things - edgy (bordering on shocking) and timely. South Park the series has produced some of the smartest, most incisive satire anywhere in its 25 years of existence, but that kind of humor doesn't always age well?
So how does this movie hold up in that regard? We asked someone who loved it at the time - John's friend George Freitag - if he would still rave to strangers about it at Denny's like he did 23 years ago.
Blame Canada, join La Resistance, and save Terrence and Phillip as we talk about South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, a title that refers solely to the the fact that the movie is bigger and longer than an episode of the show and did not have to be edited for television!
Find George on Twitter if it still exists @georgefreitag -
This week, we're covering the second two weeks of June, 1999 (16-30), perhaps the most teenage-boy two weeks of the year.
This week:
Cartoons rule as SOUTH PARK and TARZAN both arrive in cinemas (setting up an epic Best Original Song Oscar duel!)
Adam Sandler's massive hit BIG DADDY is also released.
SMOOTH is released as a single and refuses to go away ever!
Tony Hawk lands a 900 for the first time ever!
Weird Al spoiler-bitches the ENTIRE plot of THE PHANTOM MENACE
Stephen King gets hit by a car
And more!
This week, John is joined by special guest Matt Romano, co-host of RETURN OF THE POD! -
Disney’s Tarzan was, as the 6th-highest grossing movie of the year, a big hit. But it also had a giant budget. Made for $130 million, it grossed $171 million domestically and $448 million worldwide.
Tarzan did well with critics, as well. It was nominated for more than 2 dozen different awards, and won the Oscar and Golden Globe for best original song, Phil Collins’ “You’ll Be in My Heart”.
It holds a an 89 percent Rotten Tomatoes score with more than 100 reviews, and 79 Metacritic score with 27 reviews, putting it right in the middle of the pack of the so-called Disney Renaissance films.
But, oddly, this de facto grand finale of the Disney hand-drawn era just doesn't loom as large as the like of The Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, or even Hercules.
It will, however, always be in the heart (get it?) of our guest, artist and senior editor at IDW, Heather Antos. She joins John and Joey to talk about why Tarzan is great and deserves its seat in the Disney pantheon.
Heather is on Twitter @HeatherAntos -
Meteorological summer has arrived, and it brings the sounds of summer with it! We're covering the first two weeks of June, 1999 (1-15) and what a two weeks it was!
This week:
Things get shaggadelic (baby) as AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME conquers the box office (and THE PHANTOM MENACE)!
People are just UNABLE to stop buying the new Backstreet Boys album!
People are just UNABLE to stop stealing the new Backstreet Boys album as Napster launches!
Dido! J-Lo! Blink-182!
The son of that one president announces his long-shot bid for the presidency!
And more!
This week, John is joined by special guest Pete Abeyta, co-host of MIDDLE CLASS FILM CLASS!
Connect with Pete on Twitter @TheRealPEEEETE -
Three to Tango was the 126th-highest grossing movie of 1999, sandwiched between two movies we have covered already, Drop Dead Gorgeous at 125, and Bats at 127.
It opened in 8th place (behind Bats, which it would ultimately outgross) on the very not rom-com season of October the 22nd, going on to gross 10 and a half million dollars worldwide on a 20 million dollar budget.
Three to Tango - which, we can't stress enough, features no tango or dancing of any kind - was written by Aline Brosch McKenna, who would go on to write romcoms like 27 Dresses and Laws of Attraction in addition to the likes of Morning Glory, Cruella, The Devil Wears Prada, and We Bought a Zoo, along with Rodney Patrick Vaccaro, who did not go on to write those things
Starring Matthew Perry, Neve Campbell, Dylan McDermott, Oliver Platt, John C. McGinley, Bob Balaban, Deborah Rush, Kelly Rowan, and (appropriately) Sue for Swingers Patrick van Horn, Three to Tango has a stellar cast, but it was not one of the highest grossing romcoms of the year.
She's All That, however, was. So we invited the writer of that movie, R. Lee Fleming Jr., to talk to us about Three to Tango.
Lee is on twitter @QualityShorts -
It's the second half of May, 1999 - the 16th through the 31st - and the most anticipated event of the year finally arrives as Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace finally opens on May 19th, taking in $68 million on its opening weekend.
This week:
We'll explain why $68 million is a lot more than it sounds like!
Moby! LEN! The Backstreet Boys!
The end of Home Improvement!
Slobodan Milosevic faces justice!
Susan Lucci!
And more!
This week, John is joined by special guest, the host of Pop Culture Reflections!
Connect with Justin on Twitter @PopCultRefPod -
Never Been Kissed was the 43-rd highest grossing movie of the year, just edging out last week's Forces of Nature (though proving far more profitable) at the box office.
Never Been Kissed opened April 9th, pitting it against The Matrix in its second week, but still managed to post an impressive second place finish for the week, taking in 14 million dollars. This is largely thanks to the overwhelming popularity of star Drew Barrymore, coming off consecutive romantic hits in 1998 with Ever After and The Wedding Singer.
It's a strange movie with an, um, uncomfortable premise. It's part farce, part tragedy, part love story (all of which tends to be true of Shakespeare's plays, from which it draws its narrative template). Never Been Kissed also became a huge home video hit, watched a rewatched by its target demo for years after, as Barrymore's "Josie Grosie" became an Elder Gen-X/Millennial folk hero.
This week, John and Jenn welcome comedians, podcasters, and, as of recently, authors Trae Crowder and Corey Ryan Forrester to talk about high school trauma, inappropriate relationships, the ethics of the 1990s, and Drew.
Trae is on Twitter @traecrowder
Corey is on Twitter @coreyrforrester -
Forces of Nature was the 44th highest-grossing movie of 1999, opening at #1 at the box office on March 19th and taking in 17 million dollars in its first week, going on to make 94 million worldwide on a budget of (somehow) 75 million dollars.
Starring Sandra Bullock and Ben Affleck at a time when both actors' stars were at a high point and one of just a few features directed by accomplished television director Bronwen Hughes, Forces of Nature was the follow-up to her 1996 adaptation of Harriet the Spy, and written by Family Ties writing alum Marc Lawrence, who also wrote 1999’s The Out-of-Towners and would go on to reteam with star Sandra Bullock for Miss Congeniality 1 and 2 as well as Two Weeks Notice with Hugh Grant.
Forces of Nature has a weird and very 1999 visual aesthetic that flies in the face of rom-com tradition, and it dares to at least try something unique and different instead of adhering to genre conventions. It's a stranger, surprising movie. But is it a good one?
You can find Julia and her work on her website, juliasirmons.com -
Four special guests share their fond memories of the movie that (re)started it all: Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace.
This is followed by a rerelease of our Phantom Menace episode, the second in the podcast's history, with Brian Silliman and Matt Romano from the podcast RETURN OF THE POD: A Star Wars Podcast.
Enjoy. And may the Force be with you, always. -
We have hit May 1999! This is one of the biggest months of the year, and we haven't even gotten to its biggest event yet!
But in the first two weeks of May 1999, we got:
Duel of the Fates!
Robbie Williams!
The Mummy!
The premiere of SpongeBob SquarePants on Nickelodeon!
Prestige Star Wars counter-programming!
And more!
This week, John is joined by a special guest - author Chris Morgan, who has written a book about the Nickelodeon 90s that is currently available, and whose next book, 99 Episodes that Defined the 90s will be available soon! (Sooner than September, anyway)
Chris is on Twitter @ChrisXMorgan - Visa fler
