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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!

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24 episodes
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Avg 1 hr 19 min
English

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Friday · 1 hr 8 min
See Also: THIRTEEN GHOSTS (2001) - with Kristin Battestella
Happy Halloween! We're joined by critic and horror maven Kristin Battestella to discuss the 2001 remake of the William Castle horror schlock B-movie Thirteen Ghosts (or, in this case, uh...Thir13en Ghosts) Is it scary? No! But is it fun? Also no! We talk about the difficulty of remaking B-movies, how great practical effects and set design aren't enough, and the weird joy of truly deranged performances when actors have no idea what movie they are actually in! PLUS! We recommend our Halloween go-tos!
Tuesday · 52 min
See Also: TOMORROWLAND (2015)
Brad Bird's second live action film Tomorrowland was released in 2015 to a great deal of hype and high expectations. Bird was flying high on s string of critically acclaimed animated features, including The Iron Giant (which we covered recently), The Incredibles, and Ratatouille, in addition to his hit entry into the Mission: Impossible franchise Ghost Protocol. But Tomorrowland was Bird's dream project and sometimes...that can be a problem. It's a hard movie to hate. But it's also very hard to love. What went wrong? And should Bird stick to animation? We'll talk about it in this week's special SEE ALSO episode.
October 13 · 1 hr 25 min
THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR - with Nitish Pahwa
Appropriately the 113th-highest grossing movie of 1999, The Thirteenth Floor opened on May 28th in 4th place behind The Phantom Menace, Notting Hill, and The Mummy It was the third Cartesian nature of reality philosophy movie set against computer simulation realities in three months, following The Matrix in March and Existenz in April. The Thirteenth Floor was just the 2nd English language feature from German filmmaker Josef Rusnak, it came following his work as 2nd Unit Director for 1998’s Godzilla, directed by Roland Emmerich who serves as a producer here. With production design by Blade and Mystery Men’s Kirk Petrucelli, and starring journeyman actor Craig Bierko alongside then newcomer Gretchen Mol, with Dennis Haysbert, Vincent D’Onofrio, and the great Armin Mueller-Stahl, The Thirteenth Floor is an admirable failure, but it's well worth the price of admission (free, on Tubi). Rejoining us is journalist Nitish Pahwa, with whom we talk musicals, philosophy, and scientology.
September 29 · 1 hr 28 min
(Rerelease) OCTOBER SKY - with Amanda Jane Stern
No new episode this week, but please enjoy this rerelease from a year ago, about a movie with a lot of connections to our last episode, The Iron Giant: 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 Dern, William Lee Scott, Chad Lindberg, Natalie Canderday, Chris Ellis, and in a really wonderful performance, American Pie’s Sherminator himself, Chris Owen. A critical hit and modest commercial success, October Sky was largely forgotten by the time award season rolled around, and it is now a fondly if faintly remembered gem (as well as the breakout film for its young star!) This week, Julia and John welcome actor/writer Amanda Jane Stern from the podcast ⁠Don't Be Crazy⁠ to talk about her new film, Joe Johnston's aggressively earnest style, and boys and their rockets. Amanda is on Bluesky ⁠@amandajanestern.com⁠
September 15 · 1 hr 12 min
THE IRON GIANT - with Sam Summers
Our episodes on robots and animation have finally led us here: The Iron Giant, one of 1999's most notorious duds, and also one of its most beloved films. The Iron Giant was the feature directorial debut of Brad Bird, who would go on to direct landmark Pixar films The Incredibles and Ratatouille and now serves in Pixar’s senior creative team. Unfortunately released in the highly competitive first week of August, coming in at #9 behind the likes of, among others, The Thomas Crown Affair, Runaway Bride, The Blair Witch Project and, also debuting that weekend, the box office behemoth The Sixth Sense, going on to make just $23 million on a budget of $70 million. How and why did such a lovely movie featuring a giant robot (and inspired by the suicide of Sylvia Plath) fail? We discuss that and a lot more with someone who would know: Dr. Sam Summers, co-host of the Disniversity podcast, and a lecturer on Animation History and Theory at Middlesex University in England.
August 25 · 1 hr 43 min
See Also: A.I. - ARTICIAL INTELLIGENCE (2001) and DISCLOSURE DAY (2026)
Following up on our discussion of Bicentennial Man, we discuss two movies, starting with the 28th highest-grossing movie of 2001, Steven Spielberg's A.I. - Artificial Intelligence. A.I. has a lot of connections to 1999, since it was originally meant to be directed by Stanley Kubrick, who died in 1999, and starred two of 1999's Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominees, Haley Joel Osment and Jude Law. It's also proven stunningly prescient and holds up in a way that makes it arguably better now than it was 25 years ago. Spielberg's latest, Disclosure Day, while appearing to share a lot of DNA with A.I., is...less good. And John rants about it a lot.
August 5 · 1 hr 5 min
BICENTENNIAL MAN
Bicentennial Man was the 40th highest grossing movie of 1999, opening December 17th in 4th place and taking in $87 million dollars worldwide on an almost literally unbelievable $100 million dollar budget. It's also the one movie of the year to star the late Sam Neill. Directed by Chris Columbus with script by Elia Kazan’s son Nicholas Kazan, based on the short story “The Bicentennial Man” AND the novel “The Positronic Man” by Isaac Asimov, with perhaps the most phoned-in score James Horner ever wrote, Bicentennial Man stars Robin Williams, Sam Neil, Embeth Davidtz, Wendy Crewson, Oliver Platt, Kiersten Warren, Hallie Eisenberg, John Michael Higgins, Bradley Whitford, Stephen Root, and noted January 6th Capitol Insurrectionist, Jay Johnston. This week, John and Julia talk "family films", uncanny valleys, Williams, and, of course, Sam Neill.
July 21 · 1 hr 19 min
TOY STORY 2 (Revisited)
This summer's Toy Story 5 is unique among Toy Story movies in that it's a direct continuation of the story of Toy Story 2, so we decided it was a great time to take a second look at Toy Story 2! Originally conceived as a direct-to-video sequel, Toy Story 2 opened November 19, 1999, bringing in $487 million worldwide and going on to become the 3rd-highest grossing movie of the year. The film brought back Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Annie Potts, Laurie Metcalf, R. Lee Ermey, Estelle Harris, from the first film, adding Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Wayne Knight, and Ariel the Little Mermaid herself, Jodi Benson as Barbie, and this time Randy Newman brought in Sarah McLachlan to help craft the most famously devastating three minutes in the whole series.
July 7 · 1 hr 35 min
(Rerelease from 6/25) - AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME - with Siri Dahl
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 and written by Mike Myers and Michael McCullers, The Spy Who Shagged Me saw Heather Graham stepping in to the Powers Girl role, replacing Elizabeth Hurley. The hugely anticipated and hyped sequel to the 1997 original, the movie came in with sky high expectations. The results were, well...mixed. But there's no question that Austin Powers was a huge cultural milestone, so we wanted to see how it held up. Helping us get the summer off to the most shagadelic start possible is actor, writer, podcaster, and activist ⁠Siri Dahl!⁠
June 23 · 1 hr 22 min
See Also: HARDBALL (2001) - with Jacki Krestel
VARSITY BLUES director Brian Robbins follow-up was another inspirational, somewhat edgy sports movie HARDBALL - this time about baseball and set in Chicago. 1999 icon Keanu Reeves plays down-on-his-luck sports gambler Conor O'Neill who finds himself the head coach of an inner-city Chicago youth baseball team. Somehow, he makes the team better. Somehow, the team makes him better. Diane Lane is also involved for unclear reasons. Is HARDBALL a good baseball movie? No. But is it a good movie? Also no. But the kids are great, including a very young Michael B. Jordan. Anyway, since it's about baseball and set in Chicago, Jacki Krestel is once again with us to talk about how, if you're going to make a baseball movie, you gotta actually demonstrate that you love baseball!
June 9 · 1 hr 29 min
VARSITY BLUES - with Jacki Krestel
Friend of the show Jacki Krestel joins us to talk sports movies, Van Der Beek, and not wanting your life in "Varsity Blues"
May 28 · 1 hr 6 min
See Also: PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE (2002)
Last time we looked at Paul Thomas Anderson's 1999 film Magnolia, so we decided to take a look at his follow-up, 2002's Adam Sandler-led absurdist romantic dramedy Punch-Drunk Love. Anderson's shortest and most overlooked film, Punch-Drunk Love is now considered by many to be among his best. At 95 minutes, the film never faulters and drags, and its balance of performance, direction, and musical score amount to so much more than the sum of their parts. It also has some interesting connection to 1999, not least because Anderson - a huge Adam Sandler fan - was determined to cast him in his film after seeing 1999's Big Daddy.
May 12 · 1 hr 27 min
MAGNOLIA (Revisited) - with Holly Brown
Comedian and podcaster Holly Brown joins John and Julia for a second look at one of her favorite movies, Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia"
April 21 · 1 hr 9 min
See Also: WAG THE DOG (1998)
A president faking a war to distract from a political scandal?? WHAT??? We’re doing a new See Also this week, related to some of the recent movies we’ve discussed. The 57th highest-grossing movie of 1997 and the 46th highest-grossing of 1998. Released limited on Christmas Day 1997 and wide on January 4th 1998 where it finished 4th behind Titanic, Good Will Hunting, and As Good As It Gets, it went on to gross 64 million dollars on a 15 million dollar budget Directed by Baltimore Barry Levinson and written by Hilary Henkin and David Mamet, and starring Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Anne Heche, Denis Leary, Woody Harrelson, Willie Nelson, Kirsten Dunst, Andrea Martin, John Michael Higgins, Suzanne Cryer, Hollywood’s most famous Albanian Jim Belushi, and William H. Macy, Wag the Dog found itself on several year-end Best Of lists. It is certified fresh on RT with a score of 86 and a strong Metacritic score of 74. It was nominated for 2 Golden Globes – Best Picture Comedy, Best Actor Hoffman, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Henkin and Mamet, along with 2 Oscars -one, for Hoffman and the other for screenplay. Does it hold up? Spoiler alert: Yes.
April 7 · 1 hr 49 min
EDtv - with Will Weldon
"I Hate Bill Maher" creator and host Will Weldon joins us to talk about Ron Howard's deeply frustrating but notable comedy "EDtv" (which Bill Maher is in!)
March 24 · 1 hr 14 min
[RERELEASE]: FOR LOVE OF THE GAME: - with Jacki Krestel
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 Kevin Costner's baseball trilogy, following 1989's Field of Dreams and 1988's Bull Durham. The film tries to balance its dual nature as a romance and a straight sports movie, and while it occasionally hits the mark, most critics agreed: For Love of the Game is pretty great when it's about the game, and not so great when it's about the love. But it's baseball season, and this was by far 1999's biggest baseball-themed movie, so we asked friend of the show - and White Sox diehard - Jacki Krestel to help us call some balls and strikes on this one!
March 14 · 56 min
OSCARS SPECIAL 2026
It's Oscars Weekend! 1999 was a weird year in Oscar history, as the awards held that year saw one of the most controversial Best Picture wins ever (SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE) and the awards held the following year honoring the awards of 1999 gave the Best Picture Oscar to a film that, well, has not aged well at all (AMERICAN BEAUTY) So to mark the weekend, we took some time to discuss those two films and their legacies and discussed our picks for some of the worst Best Picture wins in recent history. We talk FORREST GUMP, BRAVEHEART, ANORA, CRASH, and more!
February 24 · 1 hr 22 min
ANALYZE THIS - with Chase Mitchell
We're rejoined by comedy writer Chase Mitchell to talk about one of the biggest comedies of 1999, "Analyze This"
February 13 · 1 hr 24 min
See Also: WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (1989) - with Dan Colón
It's Valentine's Day, so we're taking one last look at the non-1999 landscape before we return to 1999 next week with the movie that reset the standard for romantic comedies, Rob Reiner's When Harry Met Sally. Joining us is returning friend of the pod Dan Colón, co-host of our podcast network's very own The Monsters that Made Us. We talk Crystal, Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Barry Sonnenfeld, and if we've really seen a romantic comedy since (not called Notting Hill) that has come close to reaching its considerable romcom heights.
January 13 · 57 min
See Also: FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER (2025)
This week, Julia reports back from the screening she attended of "Father Mother Sister Brother", the latest from "Ghost Dog" writer/director Jim Jarmusch. "Father Mother Sister Brother" is an anthology dramedy starring Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Sarah Greene, Indya Moore, and Luka Sabbat. Julia and John discuss the film and take another stab at what makes a Jarmusch film a Jarmusch film, the career of Tom Waits, great casting, and some of their favorite anthology films.

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