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  • Best. Movie. Year. Ever.

  • How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen
  • By: Brian Raftery
  • Narrated by: George Newbern
  • Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (81 ratings)
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Best. Movie. Year. Ever.

By: Brian Raftery
Narrated by: George Newbern
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Summary

From a veteran culture writer and modern movie expert, a celebration and analysis of the movies of 1999 - arguably the most groundbreaking year in American cinematic history.

In 1999, Hollywood as we know it exploded: Fight Club. The Matrix. Office Space. Election. The Blair Witch Project. The Sixth Sense. Being John Malkovich. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. American Beauty. The Virgin Suicides. Boys Don’t Cry. The Best Man. Three Kings. Magnolia. Those are just some of the landmark titles released in a dizzying movie year, one in which a group of daring filmmakers and performers pushed cinema to new limits - and took audiences along for the ride. Freed from the restraints of budget, technology (or even taste), they produced a slew of classics that took on every topic imaginable, from sex to violence to the end of the world. The result was a highly unruly, deeply influential set of films that would not only change filmmaking, but also give us our first glimpse of the coming 21st century. It was a watershed moment that also produced The Sopranos; Apple’s Airport; Wi-Fi; and Netflix’s unlimited DVD rentals.

Best. Movie. Year. Ever. is the story of not just how these movies were made, but how they remade our own vision of the world. It features more than 130 new and exclusive interviews with such directors and actors as Reese Witherspoon, Steven Soderbergh, Sofia Coppola, David Fincher, Nia Long, Matthew Broderick, Taye Diggs, M. Night Shyamalan, David O. Russell, James Van Der Beek, Kirsten Dunst, the Blair Witch kids, the Office Space dudes, the guy who played Jar-Jar Binks, and dozens more. It’s the definitive account of a culture-conquering movie year none of us saw coming...and that we may never see again. 

©2019 Brian Raftery (P)2019 Simon & Schuster

What listeners say about Best. Movie. Year. Ever.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting

Some interesting stories and theories, read well, but if you have a good knowledge of the year in movies, there will be fewer delights.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Insightful and basically fun

Not quite Biskind, but this was an easy and fun ride through some wonderful movies. And American Beauty.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic 1990s analysis and nostalgia

This is a brilliant overview and analysis of late 1990s cinema, and social/pop culture. Raftery gets great access to film makers and expertly provides detailed context to the movies’ productions. I devoured it.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating Listen

I was out into this book by the chaps at CinemaSins and they did not disappoint. An incredibly interesting listen about a transformative year in the cinema industry.

It’s fairly similar to the Peter Biskind novel Down and Dirty Pictures, though in much less detail.

Well worth your time.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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1999 done.

The best year well documented.
Too many films to fully love it celebrates more so Studio over indie.

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