re: The 50 Best Movies of 1999

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16. The Insider

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The Insider is one of the great, forgotten movies of the 90s. Just a fantastic movie.

And when Bruce McGill drops the "Wipe that smirk off your face" line. I mean, holy shite.

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It was not critically praised. It was a critical and commercial flop that found a huge audience on DVD over the course of the early 2000s. That said, I do think it is now overrated by the culture at large.

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Agreed, I was working at a theater when this came out. I loved this damn movie and most everyone hated it. It did shitty, I'm not sure when people started liking it, but it was well after it's theater run. Agree it's overpraised now.

I still got the giant wall banner from my theater, no one wanted it, so I took it home. It's rolled up in my basement somewhere, lol.

I think the IMDB top 250 is what got Fight Club it’s due. In the early 2000s, I can’t think of a more important signifier of a film’s importance than making the top 250 for fans of movies from the ages of 15 to 35.

I think the ranking of Fight Club is a good reflection of the subject matter engaged rather than the skill with which they successfully resolved any of the issues correctly identified by the writer.

Here's a pretty decent review that spells out some of this:

fight club review

So I think people should love the part of the film that successfully struggles with meaning in existence - but what I don't really like about it (actually hate and fear) is how unsuccessfully they resolve issues and ultimately end the movie. Violence at the personal or societal level is a destructive non answer and the film leads too many people to consider physical or real violence to be a good substitute for inner improvement and struggling against personal and societal barriers through non violent means.

Is that an important concern? Yes, for anyone who thinks history echoes and Nietsche's philosophical influence offered important critiques but was a complete failure when it came to creating engaging solutions (was actually a step backwards from the personal and societal philosophies of Mill et al many years before).