For some reason, Drive Me Crazy wasn’t in the list, so there could be others for me or you that aren’t there.
= Movies I remember and still think are good
** = Movies I think are outstanding
The Thin Red Line*
Payback*
Rushmore*
Office Space**
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Wing Commander
EDtv*
The Matrix**
Election*
The Mummy
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Notting Hill*
The Thirteenth Floor
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me*
Wild Wild West
American Pie*
Eyes Wide Shut
The Haunting
The Blair Witch Project
Runaway Bride
Mystery Men**
The Sixth Sense**
The Thomas Crown Affair
Detroit Rock City*
In Too Deep*
Dudley Do-Right
The Muse
Blue Streak**
American Beauty*
Double Jeopardy
Fight Club
Bringing Out the Dead
Drive Me Crazy**
Toy Story 2*
The Green Mile
Galaxy Quest**
Magnolia
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Have seen since on TV or video:
She’s All That*
Blast from the Past*
200 Cigarettes*
The Mod Squad
Go*
The Straight Story*
Dick*
Teaching Mrs. Tingle
So, 38 movies. I think that’s a lot by non-movie-critic standards! And I saw a lot more in the theater than I have since on TV or video (but I saw a good percentage of the year’s output in the theater anyway…).
Why did I see so many? I was in grad school at the time. I was hella busy but I guess movies were one stress-relieving outlet. Then, during my summer internship in New Jersey, I lived within walking distance of a theater and would basically see whatever was playing. That was my attitude pretty much throughout the year: go and see anything playing.
This was not a bad strategy, since 1999 is now recognized as one of the greatest years for movies ever. I wasn’t necessarily conscious of how good things were at the time, but it never seemed to hurt to take a chance on a movie.
The surprise masterpiece of the year for me was Drive Me Crazy. Yes, it’s a teen romance. But some movies have it, and this has it. The funny thing is that I shared it with my best friend, and it has turned into one of his favorites as well, so it’s not just me. You might want to give it a watch.
Another thing to talk about is why 1999 was so good. I don’t really have a good answer. Luck may be one factor. Some years are bound to be better in others just by chance. But there may be some other factors as well:
The mood in the country was good, which may have inspired more fun movies like American Pie.
For whatever reason, a lot of great teen comedies were coming out in this era, which have almost become a genre unto themselves. There may be real demographic reasons for this, or it may have just been a trend.
The acting talent of the time was in the zone, with good actors being the right ages to play the parts they did. I don’t necessarily think things are worse today, but the time was definitely right then.
Don’t have a list, but sure, I would beat your total most years.
Here’s what I saw in theaters in 2014 (looking at Box Office Mojo list to explain the order), just from the top 200 moneymakers. Would be several others, docs probably, if I went through all 600 or so movies released in 2014):
The Hunger Games - Mockingjay Part 1
Guardians of the Galaxy
American Sniper
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The LEGO Movie
The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies
Maleficent
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Big Hero 6
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Godzilla
22 Jump Street
Interstellar
Gone Girl
Divergent
Neighbors
Into the Woods
Lucy
Unbroken
The Equalizer
Edge of Tomorrow
Non-Stop
The Imitation Game
Fury
The Monuments Men
Hercules
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day
For me the big movie-watching concentration was the summer of 1982. I had lots of spare time and the funds, because I was working a job in a new city. Also, I didn’t know many people there. It was a fine summer for science fiction and fantasy movies. And a couple of musicals.
The Thin Red Line
The Matrix
Go
The Phantom Menace
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
The Blair Witch Project
Dogma
Toy Story 2
Galaxy Quest
Fantasia 2000
Dating = seeing movies in theaters. Married/living with someone = trying to squeeze in TV viewing so the DVR doesn’t get up to 100% full. I can easily chart my movie watching by looking at my relationship status.
I was getting divorced in 1999 and had two small children. I didn’t see any of those 1999 movies in the theater. I saw only Galaxy Quest and South Park since then. Never seen the others.
I saw 184 Movies in the theater in 1999. Some of them were seen in repertory theaters, so not all were 1999 releases.
I’m spoiler-boxing my list so as not to fill up the screen.
Shakespeare in Love
Hurlyburly
A Civil Action
The Thin Red Line
Dr. No
From Russia with Love
Goldfinger
The Thin Red Line
Hurlyburly
Prospero’s Books
Still Crazy
Hilary and Jackie
Affliction
Anatomy of a Murder
Downtown Torpedoes
Beyond Hypothermia
Preaching to the Perverted
The General
The Swindle
Elizabeth
Rushmore
My Name is Joe
Blast from the Past
She’s All That
Playing by Heart
200 Cigarettes
Office Space
Private Confessions
Another Day in Paradise
Day of the Beast
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
The Corruptor
Swingers
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The Virgin Spring
Analyze This
True Crime
The Long Goodbye
Shaft
Ravenous
The Harmonists
Life on Earth
The Book of Life
10 Things I Hate About You
EDtv
Lawrence of Arabia
The Matrix
The Dreamlife of Angels
From Here to Eternity
Go
The School of Flesh
Cookie’s Fortune
Twin Dragons
Wild at Heart
eXistenZ
Metroland
Hideous Kinky
Perdita Durango
The Apple
SLC Punk
Dry Cleaning
Mighty Peking Man
Lovers of the Arctic Circle
Open Your Eyes
The Winslow Boy
The Mummy
The Empty Mirror
Election
Entrapment
The Black Mask
Pushing Tin
A Walk on the Moon
Three Seasons
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
This is My Father
The Phantom Menace
Jules and Jim
The Phantom Menace
Notting Hill
The Loss of Sexual Innocence
Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl
Limbo
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
Two English Girls
Bed and Board
After Life
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Southie
Besieged
Twice Upon a Yesterday
The Last Metro
Love on the Run
The Red Violin
Tarzan
Tea with Mussolini
The Love Letter
Eternity and a Day
The General’s Daughter
South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut
Desert Blue
An Ideal Husband
Summer of Sam
The King of Masks
Run Lola Run
The Third Man
My Son the Fanatic
Wild Wild West
American Pie
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
Eyes Wide Shut
Lake Placid
The Lovers on the Bridge
The Dinner Game
Arlington Road
The Blair Witch Project
Dick
The Sixth Sense
Mystery Men
The Haunting
The Thomas Crown Affair
Twin Falls Idaho
Autumn Tale
Illuminata
Cabaret Balkan
Portland Street Blues
The Buena Vista Social Club
Late August, Early September
King of Comedy
Bowfinger
The Muse
Mickey Blue Eyes
The Muse
My Life So Far
Stop Making Sense
American Beauty
Mumford
The Minus Man
Sugar Town
The Acid House
Splendor
Three Kings
Guinevere
Mystery Men
Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train
Black Cat, White Cat
Mystery Men
Fight Club
Romance
Breakfast of Champions
The Source
Grand Illusion
Boys Don’t Cry
Bringing Out the Dead
Julien Donkey-Boy
Princess Mononoke
The Straight Story
The Insider
The Limey
Being John Malkovich
Dogma
Being John Malkovich
Sleepy Hollow
Last Night
West Beirut
Sleepy Hollow
The World Is Not Enough
Dogma
Happy, Texas
Felicia’s Journey
Lucie Aubrac
Mystery, Alaska
Tumbleweeds
Rosetta
It’s a Wonderful Life
Anywhere But Here
Toy Story 2
Man on the Moon
American Movie
All About My Mother
Sweet and Lowdown
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Anna and the King
Mansfield Park
Liberty Heights
My biggest year, however, was the year before – I saw 302 movies in the theater in 1998.
Yup. And also…
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Beau Geste
Confessions of a Nazi Spy
Dark Victory
Dodge City
Drums Along the Mohawk
Gulliver’s Travels
Gunga Din
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Intermezzo: A Love Story
Million Dollar Legs
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Ninotchka
Of Mice and Men
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
The Roaring Twenties
Stagecoach
Union Pacific
Wuthering Heights
Young Mr. Lincoln
And those are just American films I figure people would have reasonable chance of at least hearing about. Wiki has a list of notable films much longer than that and if you scroll to the top of the article, you’ll find 1939 is considered by many as Hollywood’s greatest year.
My personal high was 172 movies (seen in a theater) set in 1979. I was just out of the Navy where movies are hard to come by, and was living in San Jose California. Besides the first run movies everyone has access to, there were three repertoire or art theaters plus another being run as a club that showed only the really old stuff, which means I’ve seen almost all of my little list on the big screen. That one alone was good for two a week as they were almost always double-bills.* Nowadays between discs from Netflix, streaming, and actually going to a theater, I see somewhere between 150 and 200 movies a year, but I don’t keep count any more.
*I discovered it when I drove past the place in Saratoga and on the marquee was The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and White Heat. This caught my attention.
Isn’t equipose or someone on the Dope going to win? One Doper sees as many movies as a professional critic.
I do believe Roger Ebert once saw and reviewed a ludicrous amount of movies. It was in the final decade of his life and he chose to increase his productivity while ill instead of decrease it.
I have no cite handy, but I believe it was 350+ movies one year, I believe all in the theater. Then again, he was paid to review movies, so it was both his job and passion. He was older and ill and was showing younger critics what work ethic really was. I miss him.
