Two decades ago, Hollywood had a golden run of films which has subsequently seen some critics laud it as cinema’s greatest year – and others declare it to be the last great year. Indeed, such is the discussion 1999 inspires, it will be the topic of a special panel event next week as part of the Film4 outdoor Summer Screen season at London’s Somerset House. In the meantime, we asked two writers to battle it out over whether it truly deserves its peerless reputation:



Yes, writes Nicholas Barber

Apart from being on a pub-quiz team when it’s time to name all of The Magnificent Seven, the most nerve-racking moment for any film journalist is when someone asks you what to see at the cinema on a Saturday night.

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I know, I know, it shouldn’t be a problem. If you watch several films a week as a part of your job, it should be a doddle to pick two or three which are worth the price of a multiplex ticket. But instead you find yourself thinking, well, X is good, but it’s a tiny foreign-language character study that’s been out for a fortnight, so it’s probably disappeared already. I’ve got to come up with something that might actually be showing within a 10-mile radius. And, invariably, you end up mumbling, “Um... the latest Spider-Man is OK.” Pathetic, isn’t it?