Introducing the Ethels - Revisiting the 1999 Oscars
Looking back and how well the 1999 Oscars aged with its favoured films
Dear Squawkers,
I used to do this thing on my website, cinesnark.com, that I called “the Ethels”. The Ethels were like the Oscars, except after the fact. If we’re being honest, the Oscars should be handed out after a five-year delay, because it’s only with time that we begin to see what truly lasts and what is a flash in the pan, and that was the impetus of the Ethels. My site is now basically a digital business card, though, so I thought I might move the Ethels over here, to The Squawk, and before we exit award season 2023-24 entirely, we can take a look back at a historic film year and judge how the Academy Awards did that year with reflecting the year in film.
The year I would like to look at is 1999, widely regarded as one of the best years in film ever. Here is but a small sample of films that came out in 1999:
Fight Club
The Virgin Suicides
The Insider
Eyes Wide Shut
Boys Don’t Cry
Go
The Green Mile
The Iron Giant
The Matrix
All About My Mother
Drop Dead Gorgeous
The Sixth Sense
Being John Malkovich
The Mummy
Galaxy Quest
10 Things I Hate About You
American Movie
Magnolia
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Office Space
Quick—what won Best Picture for 1999? Without looking do you know?
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Squawk to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.