What’s your

favourite movie year?

The range of winning films really attests to the quality of movies this yr. Best yr in maybe 20 years. #GoldenGIobes

— Phil Bacharach (@PhilBacharach) January 13, 2014

Movies really are like fine wine in that some years truly are better than others. For example, it’s commonly understand that–for some reason–1939 produced more of the best films of Hollywood’s golden age than any other. But this post isn’t really about the “best years” but your favourite ones–a very important distinction, because “best” is universal, while “favourite” is wholly personal and has nothing to do with anything but your own happiness.

Looking over my favourite year it’s easy to see how it might cause other folks to scratch their head, but it was the year that occurred during my prime movie-going life (a time when I went to the theatre at least once a week–often more) where I was amazed and enthralled more often than any other.

It was 1999.

Of the films from that year, the three I found most personally affecting were Fight Club, Magnolia and American Beauty. And though it’s now popular to insist that the last of these three was over-rated, I still regard it with great admiration and affection (it was the only movie I saw twice that year). But looking over the films that came out that year, I also find myself lost in memories of so many other wonderful movie-going experiences, including: The Matrix, Eyes Wide Shut, The Green Mile, 10 Things I Hate About You, The Sixth Sense, Sleepy Hollow, Being John Malkovitch, Office Space, Notting Hill, Dogma, Three Kings, Toy Story 2, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Iron Giant, The Virgin Suicides, Galaxy Quest, Boys Don’t Cry, The Insider, The Thomas Crown Affair, Man On the Moon, Go, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, Election, Existenz, Bowfinger, Dick, Sweet & Lowdown,  and The Limey.

And those are just the genuinely good movies! I also remember all of the guilty pleasures I saw that year, like: American Pie, The Mummy, Deep Blue Sea, Cruel Intentions, Blast From the Past, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Mystery Men, Detroit Rock City, Idle Hands, Arlington Road and Forces of Nature. Sure there was also a lot of filler, but only a few struck me as actively terrible (ie. Wild Wild West, End of Days and I suppose I should say The Phantom Menace, but I actually liked it at the time) with the others merely being forgettable.

So that’s why 1999 is my favourite movie year. What’s yours?