Ravenous (1999)

“Ravenous” is as wildly offbeat onscreen as its behind-scenes history (rewrites, cast revolts, multiple directors) indicates. It veers shocker, horror, satire, comedy, drama, fantasty, and all-out Midnight Movie nuts. It is split open dripping guts on the floor. Oh so apt for a blood-soaked cannibal tale set in the 1870s California that marries Cormac McCarthy brooding to Stephen King camp, and featuring Guy Pearce as a haunted soldier and Robert Carlyle as … let’s call him mysterious. Pearce is a faux hero who took a dive in battle and is relegated to a western outpost with other rejects –- bookworms, stoners, drunks, and fundamentalists -– who are visited by man (Carlyle) who spins a tale of escaping a terrifying camp of cannibals. Our soldiers unwisely take action. I’ll stop there. Antonia Bird –- third hired director –- serves up a movie that’s all body parts, none a head, with Carlyle diving in madly with glee, and Pearce scrambling to keep up. The fight scenes are underdone, the comedy crashes into indigenous lore, but not a moment is boring. When a dead character reappears, you could fit a thigh in my mouth. B

The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)

This is rare: A remake smarter and cooler than the original. John McTiernan’s takes on 1968’s “The Thomas Crown Affair” starred Steve McQueen and Faye Dunanway and spun on a bank-robber billionaire. Here, Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo -- at the height of their stardom -– are in the spotlight with an art museum theft as the central plot device. Great change up. Brosnan is a Wall Street master who has grown bored with acquisitions and the back-slapping hoopla of taking other people’s money. But he loves oil and canvas, and a thrill. So he takes a Monet from New York’s Met. In broad daylight. During a giddy fun sideshow to a full-on robbery he orchestrated. Russo is the insurance investigator who care shit about art, but only the chase. She knows Crown did the theft, and he knows that she knows. Is the art the thing here? No. It's two bored powerful people who finally found the one who makes them tick. “Crown” is smart, damn sexy, and funny, with an insider streak that plays on the stars’ wattage, New York ego, and the prior film with Dunaway playing a wink-wink role. Brosnan and Russo are perfectly matched. B+

Dark City (1998) and The Matrix (1999)

Funny how some movies seem separated at birth, perfect soul mates for a perfect double bill. Especially two sci-fi films that deal with a loner hero realizing his existence within a false reality and hunted by men dressed in black. That’s the basic plots behind “Dark City,” and “The Matrix,” the latter of which was filmed on the same sets as the former and released a year apart. Some die-hard conspiracy buffs insist “Matrix” ripped off “Dark City.” No. I see them as two pieces of inspired, similar art that we’re lucky to have.

“City” is from director/writer Alex Proyas, who was following the charcoal-colored theme of his tragic actioner “Crow.” Here, a man (Rufus Sewell) wakes up in a hotel bathtub with no idea where he is or – more vital – who he is. A ribbon-sliced body of a woman lies nearby, but he saves a dying goldfish before fleeing the room. This is a wondrously strange tale exactly modeled after 1950s film noirs with the burg of the title stylized after some ’30s hyper-drugged-out German architectural nightmare. There’s a dame (Jennifer Connelly), a weary detective (William Hurt), and a group of pale men and one boy dressed in black coats with strange powers. These creeps are called “Strangers,” and exist below the city. Did I mention the disfigured mad scientist? He’s here. German indeed. Not to say this is that kind of film. Not Nazis. Further out. Crazy wonderful sinister fun, it's a must watch for artistic candy, sharp story, heavily stylized acting, and the way it gooses with one’s own memory. As the scientist, a creepy Kiefer Sutherland recalls Peter Lorre, whose countless monsters/killers belong to this world. A

“Matrix” is the box office smash that launched a sci-fi subgenre. You know the story: Thomas Anderson, cubicle drone by day and computer hacker by night, is recruited by a Zen-guru resistance leader (Laurence Fishburne) who says the world around them is a mirage, that Anderson lives inside a stream of 1s and 0s. The real world is barren, most of humanity slave power pods to AI robotic overlords. Directed and written by Andy and Larry (now Lana) Wachowski, “Matrix” is a generational hallmark film, the “Star Wars” of our then-dawning 21^st century, with an anti-authority alien tone lit green that is cliché now, but mind-shattering then. Bullet time, people. The fights as Thomas -– now Neo, a Jesus-Christ-by-way-of-William-Gibson-by-way-of-John-Woo savior -- takes on a cop/anti-virus named Smith (Hugo Weaving, hammering the Queen’s English into servitude) still rock. As Neo, Keanu Reeves finally has the perfect arena for his seemingly human blankness, playing the canvas for which all hope will be painted. He’s never been better, more exactly right. The sequels were ponderous, but this remains a thrill of cinema reimagined by two visionaries. Incredible. A+

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

“Sleepy Hollow” is perfect Tim Burton id: Gloriously dark atmosphere spiked with a wicked sense of humor, misfit characters that can only be saved by love, surreal violence, and a god-awful story with stabs of brilliance, but mostly ugly exposition. Burton and screenwriters Andrew Kevin Walker and (un-credited) Tom Stoppard take the Irving story and dump the school teacher for a NYC police constable (Johnny Depp, brilliantly good) advocating science forensics to his detriment in an age -– 1799 -– drunk on religion. Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of lobbed-off heads by a demonic man on a horse, minus his own head, and the latter is no joke, because this is Burton, and magic, evil, and trees of death puking blood abound. Crane’s arrival –- filmed by Emmanuel Lubezki, scored by Danny Elfman, with a set from purgatory –- is marvelous, fused with old Hammer Films and 1931’s classic “Frankenstein.” Brilliant: Depp plays Crane as a heinous wus, using a teenage boy as a human shield. Weak: Huge story errors and a conspiracy-heavy reveal that defies reason. Christopher Walken plays the horseman, growling with devotion to Burton’s majestic dark yearnings. I miss this Burton. B

Toy Story 2 (1999)

“Toy Story 2” may not quite top its predecessor. But it’s pure Pixar joy. Here, after toy owner Andy leaves for summer camp, well-loved Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) finds himself accidentally included in a (horror!) yard sale. Before one can say, “Ride ‘em cowboy!,” this plastic poke is swiped by a fat bastard bent on selling Woody to a museum in Japan. Buzz (Tim Allen) and the gang go to the rescue, with hilarious results. That’s it, basically, for plot. But there’s so much heart to this sequel: The film rests on the fact that children will reject their toys as the former grow up, with no need for the latter. But the toys remain committed nonetheless, knowing time is not on their side. Take it as you will: Rejection of parents by newly independent children, or just a fun, brilliant animated story. Bonus points to the creators for allowing Woody to become a jerk, and a full-rounded character, midway through. Best scene: The old man from the short film “Geri’s Game,” gives Woody a spit and polish. The scene is pure art. A

The Boondock Saints (1999)

In “The Boondock Saints,” two devout Christian brothers (Norman Reedus and Sean Patrick Flanery) believe themselves ordained by God to kill Boston gangsters, pervs and riff-raff. Their guide is a Z-grade ex-gangster stooge (David Della Rocco) who bears an unmistakable resemblance to Jesus. To further clarify, a dead ringer God appears as six-gun-strapped assassin (Billy Connolly). Director/writer Troy Duffy leaves no cross unturned in making his brothers into holy-roller Reservoir Dogs, to borrow from Tarantino. And Duffy does borrow, from Q.T., Scorsese and Woo in the most clichéd ways. Slow-mo jump shooting, anyone?

Vigilantism is an entire cathartic genre onto itself. Everyone has wanted to play Dirty Harry or Batman. It’s human nature. But Duffy’s celebratory right-wing beat off to guns and God is painful. His virulent hatred of gays and women is worse. Willem Dafoe – gagging from scenery chewing -- plays a self-loathing gay detective who prances, preens, cross dresses, and ridicules every homosexual who meets his path or bed. Every woman is a brick-faced lesbian, addict or whore. One woman has “Jesus” stick a gun in her face. Look, I love some mean films where mean people do mean stuff. "Romper Stomper" is one. But the sadism is framed. Not here. This is God's "work."

I’d give this cult hit film an “F,” but Duffy has one major card: The brothers. Reedus and Flanery brim with spark, laughter, anger and utter lifelong devotion; I rechecked the DVD box to see if the actors were brothers. They’re not. Ace actors. Bullocks film. Some part of me hoped it was all a satire of male bravado. But that takes wit. There's no wit here. D-

1999: Best and Worst

1. Being John Malkovich
2. The Matrix
3. The Insider
4. Toy Story 2
5. Following
6. Galaxy Quest
6. The Straight Story
7. Boys Don't Cry
8. The Sixth Sense and Fight Club
10. Three Kings

The Worst
5. Wild, Wild West
4. The Boondock Saints
3. 8 Millimeter
2. Bicentennial Man
1. The Mod Squad