The Golden Age of Cinema?

As we enter a new year, a new century and a new millennium, The L.A. Weekly pays tribute to the cinematic "triumphs" of 1999. Thus shall not be forgotten:

Cruel Intentions

"It's a masterpiece."

--Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News

The Matrix

"A mind-bending pop-art masterpiece."

--Joseph Gelmis, Newsday magazine

"A virtual masterpiece."

--Richard Corliss, Timemagazine

The Dreamlife of Angels

"A masterpiece."

--Steven Rosen, The Denver Post

"Deceptively modest masterpiece."

--Brian D. Johnson, Maclean's

"[Erick Zonca's] first-feature
masterpiece."

--Henry Sheehan, The Orange County Register

The King of Masks

"Wu Tianming's masterpiece."

--Joanna Connors, The Plain Dealer

After Life

"A bona fide masterpiece."

--John Anderson, Newsday magazine

Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace

"[George Lucas'] masterpiece."

--Bill Hoffmann, The New York Post

Besieged

"[An] intimate visual masterpiece."

--John Griffin, The Gazette

Eternity and a Day

"A masterpiece out of time."

--Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

Buena Vista Social Club

"A 140-minute film masterpiece."

--Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner

An Ideal Husband

"An absolute must-see Oscar Wilde
masterpiece."

--Marty Meltz, Portland Press Herald

Tarzan

"Disney's latest animated masterpiece."

--Mike Boon, Calgary Herald

The Blair Witch Project

"The shoestring-budget masterpiece."

--Gary Arnold, The Washington Times

"A visceral masterpiece."

--Michael Atkinson, Film Comment

Eyes Wide Shut

"[Stanley Kubrick's] final masterpiece."

--Richard Schickel, Time magazine

"The final masterpiece from the
man who made Spartacus."

--Brian D. Johnson, Maclean's

The Sixth Sense

"In fact, a masterpiece."

--John Podhoretz, The Weekly Standard

Black Cat, White Cat

"[A] mad comic masterpiece."

--Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

American Beauty

" [An] always hypnotic masterpiece."

--G.T. Melhus, The Des Moines Register

"A flat-out masterpiece."

--Rod Dreher, The New York Post

Three Kings

"Some kind of weird masterpiece."

--Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The Limey

"Steven Soderbergh's masterpiece about crime and punishment."

--Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

Fight Club

"It is a wild, orgiastic masterpiece."

--Bret Easton Ellis, Gear magazine

The Straight Story

"A David Lynch masterpiece."

--Jenniffer Weigel, CBS

Bringing Out the Dead

"A fiery masterpiece."

--Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

Being John Malkovich

"An odd masterpiece."

--Scott Timberg, S.F. Weekly

"A one-of-a-kind masterpiece."

--Tom Carson, Esquire magazine

Princess Mononoke

"Hayao Miyazaki's anime masterpiece."

--Melanie McFarland, The Seattle Times

"The Miyazaki masterpiece."

--Robert Koehler, Variety magazine

The Insider

"Michael Mann and Eric Roth have
written a masterpiece."

--Josh Spiegel, The Buffalo News

The Messenger:
The Story of Joan of Arc

"A masterpiece."

--Bonnie Churchill, National News Syndicate

Ride With the Devil

"Another Ang Lee masterpiece."

--Bill Zwecker, NBC

The End of the Affair

"A masterpiece."

--Jim Svejda, CBS

The Green Mile

"A masterpiece of filmmaking."

--Gary Cogill, ABC