007: The World is Not Enough (1999) DVD

Bond (Pierce Brosnan) must race to defuse an international power struggle with the world's oil supply hanging in the balance. Elektra King (Sophie Marceau), is the daughter of a murdered oil tycoon whom Bond is assigned to protect. The villain is Renard (Robert Carlyle), who has a bullet lodged in his brain rendering him unable to feel pain. Also featuring nuclear weapons expert Dr. Christmas Jones (Denise Richards).

Topsy-Turvy (1999)

Topsy-Turvy is a 1999 British musical drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh and stars Allan Corduner as Sir Arthur Sullivan and Jim Broadbent as W. S. Gilbert, along with Timothy Spall and Lesley Manville. The story concerns the 15-month period in 1884 and 1885 leading up to the premiere of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. The film focuses on the creative conflict between playwright and composer, and the decision by the two men to continue their partnership, which led to the creation of several more famous Savoy Operas between them.

The film was not released widely, but it received very favourable reviews, including a number of film festival awards and two design Academy Awards. While considered an artistic success, illustrating Victorian era British life in the theatre in depth, the film did not recover its production costs. Leigh cast actors who did their own singing in the film, and the singing performances were faulted by some critics, while others lauded Leigh's strategy.

On the opening night of Princess Ida at the Savoy Theatre in January 1884, composer Sir Arthur Sullivan (Allan Corduner), who is ill from kidney disease, is barely able to make it to the theatre to conduct. He goes on a holiday to Continental Europe hoping that the rest will improve his health. While he is away, ticket sales and audiences at the Savoy Theatre wilt in the hot summer weather. Producer Richard D'Oyly Carte (Ron Cook) has called on Sullivan and the playwright W. S. Gilbert (Jim Broadbent) to create a new piece for the Savoy, but it is not ready when Ida closes. Until a new piece can be prepared, Carte revives an earlier Gilbert and Sullivan work, The Sorcerer.

Gilbert's idea for their next opera features a transformative magic potion, which Sullivan feels is too similar to the magic lozenge and other magic talismans used in previous operas and appears mechanical in its reliance on a supernatural device. Sullivan, under pressure to write more serious music, says he longs for something that is "probable" and involves "human interest", and is not dependent on magic. Gilbert sees nothing wrong with his libretto and refuses to write a new one, which results in a standoff. The impasse is resolved after Gilbert and his wife visit a popular exhibition of Japanese arts and crafts in Knightsbridge, London. When the katana sword he purchases there falls noisily off the wall of his study, he is inspired to write a libretto set in exotic Japan. Sullivan likes the idea and agrees to compose the music for it.

Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte work to make The Mikado a success, and many glimpses of rehearsals and stressful backstage preparations for the show follow: Cast members lunch together before negotiating their salaries. Gilbert brings in Japanese girls from the exhibition to teach the ladies' chorus how to walk and use fans in the Japanese manner. The principal cast react to the fittings of their costumes designed by C. Wilhelm. The entire cast object to Gilbert's proposed cut of the title character's Act Two solo, "A more humane Mikado," which persuades the playwright to restore the solo. The actors face first-night jitters in their dressing rooms. Finally The Mikado is ready to open. As usual, Gilbert is too nervous to watch the opening performance and paces the streets of London. Returning to the theatre, however, he finds that the new opera is a resounding success.

Pushing Tin (1999) DVD

Two air traffic controllers (John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton) who thrive on living dangerously compete to outdo each other on several levels.

Hit and Run (1999)

When she accidentally knocks an eight-year-old girl off her bike while out driving, Joanna Kendall (Margaret Colin) immediately telephones for help. However, she returns to the scene to find an angry mob, and chooses to drive away to avoid taking the blame. She tries to carry on her cosy suburban existence as usual, but her troubled conscience soon affects her already shaky marriage.

Angela's Ashes (1999)

Angela's Ashes is a 1999 Irish-American drama film based on the memoir of the same name by Frank McCourt. It was co-written and directed by Alan Parker, and starred Emily Watson, Robert Carlyle, Joe Breen, Ciaran Owens, and Michael Legge, the latter three playing the Young, Middle and Older Frank McCourt respectively.

Angela's Ashes tells the story of Frank McCourt and his childhood after his family are forced to move from the United States back to Ireland because of financial difficulties and family problems caused by his father's alcoholism. The film chronicles young McCourt's life in Limerick, Ireland, during his childhood in the 1930s and 1940s, the difficulties that arose, and Frank's way of earning enough money to return to the land of his dreams: America.

Although set in Limerick, many street scenes were filmed in Cork. For example, the 'fleas in the mattress' scene was filmed at Farren Street, Blackpool and other scenes were shot at Roche's Buildings, Lower John Street and Barrack Street.

(1999) Dreaming of Joseph Lees

Dreaming of Joseph Lees is a 1999 British romantic drama film directed by Eric Styles and starring Rupert Graves, Samantha Morton and Nicholas Woodeson. It is an adaptation of a story written by Catherine Linstrum set in rural England in the late 1950s. The film was distributed by the Fox Entertainment Group. Samantha Morton's performance in the film won the Evening Standard Award British Film Award for Best Actress.

Set in rural England in the 1950s Eva (Samantha Morton) fantasises about her handsome, worldly cousin Joseph Lees (Rupert Graves), with whom she fell in love as a girl. However, stuck in a closed community she becomes the object of someone else's fantasy, Harry (Lee Ross). When Harry learns that Eva is planning to leave the village in order to live with and look after the injured Lees, he devises a gruesome scheme in order to force her to stay and look after him.

FILM REVIEW; A Love Triangle Ignited By What Might Have Been

By JANET MASLIN

Published: October 29, 1999

Though Samantha Morton proved herself a raw, electrifying actress in ''Under the Skin,'' she now turns up in the kind of tremulously carnal shy-flower role that once would have been played by Sarah Miles. ''Dreaming of Joseph Lees'' casts her as a prim-looking spinster who works at a sawmill and sends a lusty pig farmer named Harry (Lee Ross) in pursuit of her. Harry courts Eva (Ms. Morton) so unabashedly that he makes her blush, which is to say that he gets her attention. Harry's sister teases Eva about this, claiming that Eva is ''lookin' at him like he was burnin' you from the inside out.''

''Dreaming of Joseph Lees'' is set in 1958, when such thoughts qualify as dangerously naughty. And it is shot on the Isle of Man, where lonely, rugged panoramas replete with stone, mud and timber create rebellion-ready mood. So Eva is eventually tempted to flee the household of her stern, disapproving father and move to Harry's house. But as the title suggests, Eva yearns for something more.

Specifically, she thinks about her distant cousin, a geologist who lost a leg while working in an Italian quarry. (The sawmill's way of cutting logs may be an unfortunate metaphor.) She has not seen him since she was a 14-year-old with a schoolgirl crush. Then, at a family wedding, Joseph Lees shows up in the form of Rupert Graves and looks not at all the worse for wear. Unfortunately Joseph is not an option, now that Harry is on the scene.

But Joseph, who sends his cousin books about Italian art, has an undeniable effect on her. ''You and me, my darling, are made for love!'' exclaims Harry, only to have Eva snap ''You and I, Harry.'' Eventually, she and the handsome geologist wind up entwined together, talking about the earth's crust and other matters that are beyond Harry. And Harry begins behaving differently, as if the screenplay (by Catherine Linstrum) had flipped a switch.

As directed by Eric Styles, this earnest first feature pays careful attention to drably authentic details (Harry's sweaters have moth holes) and tells its glumly bodice-ripping tale with somber sensitivity. Ms. Morton succeeds in seeming volatile and alive even when the material is all too strained. Not content with metaphorical import, the sawmill also becomes part of a suicide attempt near the film's shrilly contrived ending. The screenplay asks viewers to believe that a character would willingly get in the way of a whirring blade.

''Dreaming of Joseph Lees'' is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It includes sexual situations and implicit gore.

Directed by Eric Styles; written by Catherine Linstrum; director of photography, Jimmy Dibling; edited by Caroline Limmer; music by Zbigniew Preisner; production designer, Humphrey Jaeger; produced by Christopher Milburn; released by Fox Searchlight Pictures. At the U.A. Union Square 14, 13th Street at Broadway. Running time: 92 minutes. This film is rated R.

WITH: Rupert Graves (Joseph Lees), Samantha Morton (Eva) and Lee Ross (Harry).

Sleepy Hollow (1999) DVD

Sleepy Hollow is a 1999 supernatural horror film directed by Tim Burton. It is a film adaptation loosely inspired by the 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving and stars Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci, with Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Casper Van Dien, Ray Park and Jeffrey Jones in supporting roles. The plot follows police constable Ichabod Crane (Depp) sent from New York City to investigate a series of murders in the village of Sleepy Hollow by a mysterious Headless Horseman.

Development began in 1993 at Paramount Pictures with Kevin Yagher originally set to direct Andrew Kevin Walker's script as a low-budget slasher film. Disagreements with Paramount resulted in Yagher being demoted to prosthetic makeup designer, and Burton was hired to direct in June 1998. Filming took place from November 1998 to May 1999, and Sleepy Hollow was released to generally favorable reviews from critics, and grossed approximately $206 million worldwide. The film won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction.

(1999) The Sixth Sense

Young Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) is haunted by a dark secret: he is visited by ghosts. Cole is frightened by visitations from those with unresolved problems who appear from the shadows. He is too afraid to tell anyone about his anguish, except child psychologist Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis). As Dr. Crowe tries to uncover the truth about Cole's supernatural abilities, the consequences for client and therapist are a jolt that awakens them both to something unexplainable.

Ratcatcher (1999)

Ratcatcher is a 1999 drama film written and directed by Lynne Ramsay. It is her debut feature film and was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.

James Gillespie (William Eadie) is 12 years old. The world he knew is changing. Haunted by a secret, he has become a stranger in his own family. He is drawn to the canal where he creates a world of his own. He finds an awkward tenderness with Margaret Anne (Leanne Mullen), a vulnerable 14 year old expressing a need for love in all the wrong ways, and befriends Kenny (John Miller), who possesses an unusual innocence in spite of the harsh surroundings.

(1999) Progeny

Progeny is an American science fiction film released in 1999. It was directed by Brian Yuzna and written by Aubrey Solomon and Stuart Gordon. The film stars Arnold Vosloo as Dr. Craig Burton, Jillian McWhirter as Sherry Burton, Brad Dourif as Dr. Bert Clavell and Lindsay Crouse as Dr. Susan Lamarche.

Sherry (Jillian McWhirter), a professional woman, happily discovers she is pregnant. While this is happy news for her and her doctor husband (Arnold Vosloo), both begin having strange memories from the night of conception. Uneasiness then becomes terror when both are convinced that she is carrying something alien inside her body. Sherry's therapist Dr. Susan Lamarche (Lindsay Crouse) believes that Sherry has a psychological problem, of which Craig is to blame.

The couple contact a UFO/Paranormal college professor (Brad Dourif), who, through the use of hypnosis takes Sherry back to the night she conceived.

They discover that she was abducted by aliens and artificially impregnated. The viewer is shown this sequence several times, with each time showing that Sherry blocked or distorted certain parts of the event in an attempt to accept and understand what was being done to her.

(1999) The Astronaut's Wife

When astronaut Spencer Armacost (Johnny Depp) returns to Earth after a mission that nearly cost him his life, he decides to take a desk job in order to see his beautiful wife, Jillian (Charlize Theron), more often. Gradually, Jillian notices that Spencer's personality seems to have changed, but her concerns fade when she discovers that she's pregnant. As Jillian grows closer to becoming a mother, her suspicions about Spencer return. Why does it seem as if he's a different person?

Notting Hill (1999)

William Thacker (Hugh Grant) is a London bookstore owner whose humdrum existence is thrown into romantic turmoil when famous American actress Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) appears in his shop. A chance encounter over spilled orange juice leads to a kiss that blossoms into a full-blown affair. As the average bloke and glamorous movie star draw closer and closer together, they struggle to reconcile their radically different lifestyles in the name of love.

(1999) The Ninth Gate

Dean Corso (Johnny Depp) specializes in tracking down rare and exotic volumes for collectors. Boris Balkan (Frank Langella) has recently acquired a seventeenth-century satanic text called The Nine Gates- a legendary book written by Satan himself. With The Nine Gates in his possession, Corso soon finds himself at the center of strange and violent goings-on. Not only is his apartment ransacked, it appears that he is being shadowed ferociously by others determined to regain the book.

(1999) Mystery Men

Champion City already has a superhero, the appropriately named Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear), but that doesn't deter the city's seven quirky amateur crime-fighters, who use the Captain's capture at the hands of villain Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush) as motivation to prove themselves. The only problem is that their strange powers - silverware hurling, bowling, shovel skills, incompetent invisibility and deadly flatulence - aren't doing them any favors.

(1999) The Matrix

Neo (Keanu Reeves) believes that Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), an elusive figure considered to be the most dangerous man alive, can answer his question - What is the Matrix? Neo is contacted by Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), a beautiful stranger who leads him into an underworld where he meets Morpheus. They fight a brutal battle for their lives against a cadre of viciously intelligent secret agents. It is a truth that could cost Neo something more precious than his life.

(1999) Magnolia

On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy genius, an ex-boy genius, a game show host and an estranged daughter will each become part of a dazzling multiplicity of plots, but one story.

(1999) The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns

The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns is a 1999 Hallmark Entertainment made-for-TV fantasy movie. It stars Randy Quaid, Colm Meaney, Kieran Culkin, Roger Daltrey, Caroline Carver and Whoopi Goldberg. The film contains two main stories that eventually intertwine: the first being the story of an American businessman who visits Ireland and encounters magical leprechauns and the second, a story of a pair of star-crossed lovers who happen to be a fairy and a leprechaun, belonging to opposing sides of a magical war. It contains many references to Romeo and Juliet such as two lovers taking poison and feuding clans.
Emma Townshend's song "We Can Fly Away" was the theme song for the film.

(1999) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Starring Tony Award® winner Brent Carver and Rachelle Lefevre, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow faithfully recounts the classic Washington Irbing tale, successfully capturing the mystery and romance that have eluded other screen efforts. Connecticut Yankee Ichabod Crane (Carver) arrives in the rural Dutch community of Sleepy Hollow and assumes his post as the new schoolteacher. Though the outsider is widely regarded with suspicion, the daughter of the area's wealthiest farmer, Katrina Van Tassel (Lefevre), is charmed by his manners and education. But Ichabod's attentions to the lovely Katrina are not welcomed by handsome blacksmith Brom Bones (Paul Lemelin), and when Brom tries to scare Ichabod by posing as the "Headless Hosrseman" of local legend, they are paid an unexpected visit - leaving behind a mystery that has enthralled audiences for generations.

(1999) Lavender Castle: The Complete Collection

All 26 episodes of the Gerry Anderson CGI animated sci-fi series. In the 17th century, The Paradox is an old thatched cottage that is secretly a futuristic spaceship on a continuing mission to track down the legendary Lavender Castle, the greatest force in the galaxy. Captain Thrice and his crew hope to use this power for good, while the evil Dr Agon wants to use it for evil. Episodes are: 'In the Beginning'; 'Flower Power'; 'The Twilight Tower'; 'High Moon'; 'The Lost Starfighter'; 'The Black Swat'; 'Double Cross'; 'A Stitch in Time'; 'Bird of Prey'; 'Collision Course'; 'Swamp Fever'; 'Raiders of the Planet Zark'; 'The Galacternet'; 'Brightonia on Sea'; 'The Traitor'; 'The Collector'; 'Lost in Space'; 'Duelling Banjos'; 'The Legend'; 'Cloud of Chaos'; 'Diamonds Aren't Forever'; 'Galactic Park'; 'Wearizy'; 'Supernova'; 'Interface'; and 'Birds of a Feather'.

(1999) Snow Falling on Cedars

Fog as thick and palpable as cotton hangs suspended over San Piedro Island. On the bay, a flickering lantern signals distress from a crippled fishing boat, while elsewhere a freighter lurches blindly through the chalky mist. By morning, sea and sky are clear, but the tranquil village of fisherman and berry farmers will forever be changed. For one man has lost his life, and another -a childhood friend- has been charged with taking it. An investigation is launched. The trial begins.