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The Michigan 'Daily - eekend, etc.Ma
tc 1999 - The Year In New Media
Garners hit the jackpot with Dreamcast r
The 10 Best of 1999
1) Magnolia
2) American Beauty
3) The Sixth Sense
4) Election
5) Boys Don't Cry
6) The Insider
7) Three Kings
8) Toy Story 2s
9) Run Lola Run
10) Being John Malkovich
We, the Daily film staff, racked our
brains, went through our lists and basi-
cally had to weed through much of the
"piss 'n shit" ("Dogma," "The
Haunting," etc.) to get to this stellar list.
Though we were forced to limit our-
selves to 10 films, we had to leave out
such films as David Lynch's tender trac-
tor tale "The Straight Story," Stanley
Kubrick's final farewell, "Eyes Wide
Shut," the Wachowski brothers' special
effects-laden action/noir "The Matrix"
and Martin Scorcese's ambulance jour-
ney "Bringing Out the Dead."
But we love '99. Who'll forget Lester
Burnham, Frank T.J. Mackey, Teena
Brandon, John Malkovich or fiery-
haired Lola? 1999 surely had its bag of
surprises. So what does '00 promise?
We hope a Brian De Palma blockbuster
titled "Mission to Mars" isn't all.
Lasting Lin es
"I did have a tumor, I'd name it Maria."
- Jack (or the narrator), "Fight Club"
"I love shooting this gun."
-'Carolyn Burnham, "American Beauty"
"Respect the cock. And tame the cunt."
- Frank TJ. Mackey, "Magnolia"
"I think there is something very important that we have to do as
soon as possible." "And what would that be?"
"Fuck."
- Alice and Bill Harford, "Eyes Wide Shut"
"I guess you could say I was surprised the day that Lisa Flanagan
asked me for a ride home and ended up blowing me."
Paul Metzler, "Election"
"Anakin Skywalker, meet Obi-Wan Kenobi."
- Qui-Gon Jinn, "Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace"
"Look at me. Jerking off in the shower. This will be the highlight of
my day. it all goes downhill from here."
--Lester Burnham, "American Beauty"
"The book says we might be through with the past but the past
ain't through with us."
Jimmy Gator, "Magnolia"
From left to right: "The Sixth Sense," courtesy of Buena Vista; "Being John
Malkovich," courtesy of Gramercy; "Election," courtesy of Paramount; "Toy Story
2," courtesy of Disney; and "American Beauty," courtesy of Dreamworks SKG.
By Ted Watts
Daily Arts Writer
The music of 1999 might be dis-
tilled down to Latin men and blonde
girls. 1999's movies might be ren-
dered as ghost stories and violent
banality. The big trends in
videogames in 1999 can be simply
summed up as sequels and the
Dreamcast.
Sequels aren't anything new to
video games, but they really domi-
nated the shelf space of most console
game sellers last year. There were
precious few big titles in the last year
that weren't in furtherance of an
existing franchise. Umiammer
Lammv, Pac Man World 20th
Anniversary, Final Fantasy ViII,
Metal Gear Solid VR Missions,
Donkey Kong 64, Resident Evil 3
and Wipeout 3 were all big sellers
and were all spawned by previously
successful titles.
Some important releases were just
re-releases of games for different
systems, Resident Evil 2 for N64 and
Marvel vs. Capcom for Dreamcast
being two standouts. Even games
like Star Wars Episode One Racer,
while new and innovative, were built
on more than readily recognizable
entertainment monoliths.
One major sequel, Sonic
Adventure, although it came out on
the same day as Final Fantasy VIII,
had more to do with the other, bigger
story of 1999: The American release
of the Sega Dreamcast. The system
had more selling points in 1999 than
merchandise for the false millenni-
um.
It is still the only current next gen-
eration video game console, with a
huge lead time over the forthcoming
Nintendo and Playstation platforms;
it came from day one with an inte-
grated modem; and it still debuted at
a very reasonable price, only around
S50 more than its last-generation
competitors' prices at the beginning
of 1999.
With dozens of titles available
before Christmas, Dreamcast was
quicker to the punch on software
than nearly any other newly launched
console had been before. The tri-
umphal nature of the debut dispelled
the naysayers, who were uncertain of
Sega after the less than stellar per-
formance of their solid but poorly
marketed Saturn system.
With the substantial equivalent of
the hardware that many arcade
games run on, the Dreamcast fea-
tures beautiful ports of brilliant
games like House of the Dead 2 and
Sega Bass Fishing that were previ-
ously playable only for one dollar a
shot at a chaotic smoke-filled game
house. It even features a better-than-
arcade version of the fighter Soul
Calibur (itself a sequel to Soul
Edge), arguably the finest 3-D fight-
ing game ever made.
Self-evidently, sequels abounded
on the Dreamcast as well. But even
with more sequels like Sega F
and Street Fighter Alpha
Dreamcast had plenty of firs
games. New heights in sports
were reached in the for
NBA2K and NFL2K, and
unique discs for a wide range c
came out in the form of Pe
TrilceLon and Toy Comm
Still, nothing incredibly differ
kind was released in the
Japanese gamers got the in
innovative game Shenmue, bu
"A MAGICAL, aS-TV
ANIMATED MAS!
"IMAX® Is THE WAY To SEE IT - NoT JusT As
Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIME
"YOU WON'T BELIEVE YOUR EYES OR EARS. TH
IS ARGUABLY THE GREATEST DISNI
J'm Svejda, KNX/CBS RADIO
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2000' INTRODUCES SEVEN
WHILE KEEPING 'THE SORCE
Two THUMBS Ui
Roger Ebert and Harry Knowles,
ROGER EBERT & THE MOVIES
IC
P nk 0O
Magician
G raphi
C
Prints from the Norton Simon Museum
Now through January 16, 2000
Trace the career and life of this
startling and original 20th-century
master through his print work
Call 419-255-8000
for more information
Pablo Picasso. Woman with Hoimet, September 1956
A oks ablo Pcasso ©999tt of
Pablo PcassdArtistsRights Society (ARS),NewYork
This exhibtidon has been orp byed b the Norton
Simon Museum and heIis &B. GerldCener fr
,K {am.L ,Y isual Mts at Sta n~x U ersityThis exhibuo has
been made possible by a geneetous grant fros
Jil and John Freidenich
THAT SUPsORTS PUAlIC
PROGRAMS IN THE ARTS
The Toledo Museum of-Art
P ICTURE $ P RE SO NT
[ATAS
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2000
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