Top 5 Movies of 1999

5. Sleepy Hollow - Some people may not agree with this one, but Tim Burton's attention to detail and ability to create a genuinely creepy atmosphere deserves props.

4. Office Space - By far the funniest movie of the year.  White collar workplace humor is always the best, especially teamed with the most ghetto, gangsta rap in existence.

3. The Matrix - Redefined the action movie from the brain dead formula that had overcome it in recent years.  Not the greatest thing ever filmed as some would have you believe, but good none the less.

2. The Phantom Menace - Star Wars, ain't nothing wrong with that.  The people that complain about Jar Jar are the same people that haven't seen Return of the Jedi in 16 years.  Remember the Ewoks, enough said.  This movie made me feel like I was 7 years old again, which is always a good thing.

1. Fight Club - Nothing defines the deflated expectations of anyone born between 1968 and 1980 better than Fight Club.  Commercialism is the enemy, as we have become consumed by it, or so the movie says.  You release yourself from society by beating the crap out of your friends, what a great idea.  I'm starting my own in a couple of months, e-mail me if you want to join.
 

Canada

    This has nothing to do with the fact that Canada is kind of like a parallel universe where everything is clean and feels like 1985.  The point is that the Canadian government has recently shot down a bill in it's parliament that would give aid to struggling Canadian hockey franchises that take in Canadian money and pay out in American, i.e. get destroyed by the exchange rate.  The reason for this is that the general Canadian population did not want to give tax breaks and relief of any kind to multimillionaire owners and players.  That's a fine and dandy moral stand and I'm all for not selling out, but the future of their pride and joy, hockey, is at stake.  We're looking at a hockey future with two Canadian teams, Toronto and Montreal.  I guarantee the same people will be crying why when their beloved Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Ottawa Senators, or Vancouver Canucks bolt to the sunny south.

Gladiator

    I'll keep this short.  Gladiator is easily the best movie since Braveheart and beats my #1 from last year, "Fight Club", handily.  Just the right combination of action, character, story, interesting sub-plots, and visual excellence.  I highly recommend it to anyone and it is easily more worthy of your $7.50 than any other movie this summer.  My prohibitive favorite for #2 is X-Men, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Marriage

    My friend Todd got married last weekend.  Something that I really want to do, but at the rate I'm going, you'll be getting your invitations around 2015.  Back to the original topic.  Congratulations to Todd and Andrea.  If you see them, wish them the best.  I never thought he'd be the first, but hey that's coming from a guy still 15 years away from the same situation.