I am Kyle's self-indulgence

Popmatters features what is, at first glance, a ridiculously long list of the 60 [plus 2] most memorable films of 1999.

My first reaction was, "62? Isn't that a bit of overkill?"

But as I read through the list, I realized these really are some great movies. Some of them I would probably put on my all-time top movies list. It's hard to believe they all came out in a single year.

Here are some notables:

The Thin Red Line
Office Space
The Matrix
Election
Run Lola Run
The Iron Giant
The Sixth Sense
American Beauty
The Straight Story
Being John Malkovich
Princess Mononoke
Sweet and Lowdown
Magnolia
Man on the Moon
Fight Club

How is it that a single year could spawn so many beloved films? I'm sure that for me at least, part of it is the timing. I was 19 years old, and had just recently awakened to the range of great film art around me. Naturally, the movies I saw at that age shaped my critical taste more than movies released today possibly could.

But that doesn't explain it all. Several of those movies, including Sweet and Lowdown, The Straight Story, The Iron Giant, and The Thin Red Line, I didn't see until years later, but they still had a bit impact on me.

What do you think? Was there really something extraordinarily great about 1999, or is it nostalgia?