A 25th Anniversary Retrospective: LOOKING AT THE BEST FILMS OF 1998

*SOME OF THESE SEGMENTS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS SO YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED*

*ALSO - DO I REALLY NEED A SPOILER WARNING FOR 25-YEAR-OLD FILMS????*

When I look at 1998, I sort of have a very sentimental feeling towards it.

I wouldn't say that the feeling stems entirely from the films I am about to mention (although a couple of them would play a role), but 1998 was the year that the movie lover in me was truly born. 

I was 10 years old and I can distinctly remember watching the 70th Annual Academy Awards, which for reference was the year that Titanic won. During that ceremony, there were a lot of segments devoted to the history of the Oscars and one such montage was a series of clips showcasing the 69 films that had won Best Picture up to that point. 

The link above takes you to the actual clip, complete with the original introduction by Dustin Hoffman. I even commented on the video saying "I've always credited this montage as being a major catalyst to me becoming interested in movie history".

By reading the other comments, I was so happy to see so many other similar variations of that comment and that I wasn't alone in my opinion. The use of the Dragonheart score gives it such an epic feel as well...but it did impress me to watch this list unfold. I bet I rewound that VHS tape dozens of times to the point where I have (and still have) all of the winners memorized. 

And I eventually would watch every single Best Picture winner...something I still have managed to do to this day. I even ranked them!

My Best Picture Ranking! (Access All Here)

So going into the 1998/9 Oscar season, it was sort of the first time I observed the process nearly in full...which looking back was rather interesting considering it was such a controversial year with Harvey Weinstein/Miramax pulling off a campaign coup that led to Shakespeare in Love beating Saving Private Ryan.

Even approaching the age of 11, I remember understanding how cheap and questionable of a choice that was on the Academy's part strictly based on the tactics reported in the press...and this isn't even with the immense knowledge we now know about Weinstein's heinous harassment history.

However, that whole story is a tangent that would lead me in an entirely different direction.

At any rate, 1998 was a big year in pushing me towards becoming a young cinephile.

I am going to be doing something slightly different by choosing one film as an honorable mention for this installment as I feel like it does deserve to be mentioned even if I don't perhaps share the same immense admiration for it that others do.

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HONORABLE MENTION:

Saving Private Ryan

(Steven Spielberg)

I feel like some people will think I am being crazy for saying this, but I wouldn't say that Saving Private Ryan is necessarily a masterpiece.

As much as I don't want to buy into some of the horrendous campaign tactics that Miramax/Harvey Weinstein pulled during that awards season that I talked about a little already, I do sort of feel that Saving Private Ryan benefits from an insanely strong first act only for it to sort of settle into a "pretty good" category beyond that.

I have never been a "war film" person, but I do acknowledge a great one when I see it...and I do certainly find it impossible to ignore how well made this film is even if it does have that decline in quality after its D-Day scene.

I know that I am not alone in that thought process...in fact, Letterboxd has its fair share of people who even gave the film a negative rating. I would never go that far, but I do think this placement on my list is pretty much solely resting on the tech craftsmanship and how strong that first third of the movie was.

It kind of falls into that schmaltzy Spielberg trap I have discussed multiple times where there is just this sheen over his work that often prevents me from fully sinking into the dramatic material.

Moments in this film do transcend this feeling but not completely; same with something like Schindler's List but I think that film was more of a complete success. 

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THE TOP 10:

#10 - Pleasantville

(Gary Ross)

There were two films that came out in 1998 that felt very potent to a lot of my interests at the time and were crucial to setting me on a path to falling in love with films in a serious manner.

One of them is coming up later on this list, but Pleasantville was one of the two.

Before I really got into film and theatre, my early years of childhood were dominated by a love of television. Sure, I watched stuff like Nickelodeon and PBS and The Disney Channel but I also took a fascination in watching old reruns of shows during the iconic evening portion of Nickelodeon called Nick-at-Nite and the eventual spin-off network called TV Land. 

I did relate to Tobey Maguire's character a lot as a younger person who perhaps had an interest in "uncool" older television...and it seemed like a fun idea for two modern day teenagers to be sucked into the life of a cheesy B&W 50s sitcom.

I can remember so impressed with the combination of B&W and color sharing the screen but I was still a tad too young to truly grasp the political statement angle at first.

I do think the idea of people turning into color for embracing more modernized ideals and then being treated with prejudice as "people of color" was a brilliant idea...although the film does lose some of its spark once it descends into its final third.

I do think the movie is stolen by Joan Allen and William H. Macy as the 50s spouses who end up at an impasse when she has a sexual awakening and turns into technicolor. I still think one of the more humorous bits in the film is when Macy is trying to find Allen for dinner, but she is off with Jeff Daniels, and he aimlessly walks around going "Where's my dinner?!".

Maybe it falters at times, but I appreciate a lot of the film more than not.

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#9 - American History X

(Tony Kaye)

It has been about 20 years since I have last seen American History X.

I remember very vividly sitting there after watching the film and just feeling a bit shaken by it...and the sad truth is that it feels even more potent today with how the culture has changed over the last decade.

The film has Danny Vinyard (Edward Furlong) trying to emulate the neo-Nazi values of his imprisoned older brother Derek (Edward Norton). On the day that Derek is to be released, Danny is taunting his Jewish teacher by doing a report on Mein Kampf. Derek has been rehabilitated and he is now eager to make sure Danny doesn't go any deeper down the same path as he did.

Derek had been in prison for voluntary manslaughter (and side note: this film introduced me to what a "curb stomp" actually was...) and it originally began when his and Danny's father (a firefighter) had been shot and killed by a black narcotics dealer.

In his vengeful and mourning state, he launches into a vicious racial tirade on live TV which prompts neo-Nazi leader Cameron Alexander (Stacy Keach) to take him under his wing and they form D.O.C. - Disciples of Christ. 

American History X is a film that manages to work based a lot on how powerful the work of Norton and Furlong is, but it does have its flaws.

In fact - one major criticism I have of the film is that we do see Derek's descent into accepting neo-Nazi "values", but we never really see the full journey of how he manages to see the error of his ways. I think a lot of the film's flimsy nature in moments could be tied to the battle over the final cut, which made first-time director Tony Kaye publicly disown the film to the point where he struggled to even have a career following the battle.

Perhaps the film goes heavy handed at times, but it is kind of hard to not go heavy handed when you are dealing with something as vile as Nazis. I feel like the general consensus amongst people is that "Nazi = bad".

The final scene (depicted in the picture above) is a brutal one...and it left me feeling very conflicted at the time I saw it.

I grew up as someone who was very gleeful at the idea of revenge and seeing bad guys get their comeuppance in movies...and I don't think I truly expected to feel so upset by Danny's death. I always felt that bad people deserved bad things...but right in front of me, you had someone like Derek who managed to find it in himself that what he did was wrong.

And that kind of thing happens all the time.

Rehabilitation and care are both keys to helping others learn...and this film was an early example of me discovering how valid and crucial that can be.

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#8 - The Last Days of Disco

(Whit Stillman)

There is something rather fascinating about Whit Stillman as a filmmaker. Since 1990, he has only made 5 feature films and one short film...and he hasn't exactly gotten much mainstream success aside from his 1991 Original Screenplay nomination for his debut film Metropolitan...an award I actually think he should've won.

Also - Stillman is a filmmaker who has a very particular interest: observing the upper classes and how they handle life and interact with one another. While his debut Metropolitan is still my favorite of his works, I would consider The Last Days of Disco to be his next best.

Set in 1980s NYC, the film follows Alice (Chloe Sevigny) and Charlotte (Kate Beckinsale) and their frequent nights out at the club with their group of friends.

Stillman manages to find an interesting balance in making us both hate and care about these people, because in the end, these are essentially "the 1%"...and they are spoiled and selfish and think more highly of themselves than they probably should. Stillman somehow gives them nuance...and his dialogue is sort of comparable to that of Noah Baumbach's work.

Although, if I were to be critical of the film, I would say that perhaps some of the visuals and aesthetics don't fully ring true as being set in early 80s NYC. I understand that I was not alive then, but enough visual aid from over the years should show that perhaps Stillman was only really working with what his budget could afford...and therefore I will let it slide.

Some have accused Stillman of being rather hollow in his material, but I do find that he possesses a rather graceful take on sociological content. 

One of my favorite lines from a 90s film comes from The Last Days of Disco, and it may not seem that amazing on paper but its content and the manner of which the sentence is structured work so wonderfully:

"I consider you a person of integrity - except, you know, in your relations to women". 

I find that this is a film that truly works a lot better than it should. It is almost as if they took elements of Showgirls and Queer as Folk and put them through an artsy indie car wash.... which is not a comparison I expected to use today but whatever, I will go for it.

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#7 - Gods & Monsters 

(Bill Condon)

While it is very traditional and, perhaps, a little more mainstream in its approach, there is still something very bold and refreshing about Gods & Monsters.

This is a film released in 1998 about a gay man who was played by a gay actor and the film was written and directed by a gay filmmaker. 

And not only that, I feel like this is one of the best characterizations of homosexuality on film I have seen...especially in relation to the trauma it may cause the person.

Ian McKellan gives the finest screen performance of his career as famed director James Whale, who is most remembered for directing the 1931 film adaptation of Frankenstein. 

Set in 1957, Whale's German housekeeper Hanna (Lynn Redgrave) hires a handsome young gardener named Clayton (Brendan Fraser) to help tend the property. Hanna is very no-nonsense and also highly disapproves of Whale's homosexuality.

Gods & Monsters manages to wear a few different hats: it's an homage to Old Hollywood, it's a take-down of Old Hollywood, it deals with trauma of war, it deals with trauma of aging, and it deals with the pain of unrequited affection.

It may have been easy to portray Whale as just a sleazy dirty old man who is out for prey, but McKellan (NOT SURPRISINGLY) manages to imbue him with such an inner turmoil that you can't help but feel bad for him even if you know how wrong it is for him to try to pursue Fraser's Clayton in the way that he does.

For what the film manages to pull off, I would say it is a great success for its time in Hollywood filmmaking and also still holds up as an interesting character study for someone who grew up feeling unfulfilled in their sexual life at a time when the majority of the world viewed it as either illegal or an abomination at best.

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#6 - The Celebration

(Thomas Vinterberg)

Thomas Vinterberg, along with another Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier, were a very crucial part of the indie filmmaking scene in the 90s.

Their Dogme 95 movement was instrumental in finding ways to make quality films while not focusing too much on the idea of spending a lot on fancy production elements. 

Even though Vinterberg managed to be the one to get a Best Director nod to date, I still think von Trier has made more of a name for himself...but I think Vinterberg deserves a lot of attention and acclaim.

I also think that The Celebration is peak Vinterberg.

There are many films that have tackled family dysfunction, but dear lord, it is hard to imagine many others that tap into comedic elements that are at their darkest.

I have heard some people refer to Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums as the more abundantly comedic cousin to this film, and I totally see it. They are both structured in similar ways, but The Celebration is certainly far more sinister.

If The Last Days of Disco was a take down on how spoiled rich people may act, The Celebration is a steam roller.

If you think the Roy family on Succession needs to have a group therapy session, the Klingenfelt-Hansen clan might drive a therapist out of their practice never wanting to return.

And lastly, I feel like this is the kind of film Ruben Ostlund wants to make and has never quite achieved it...no matter what his awards success with Triangle of Sadness might prove.

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#5 - Eternity & a Day

(Theo Angelopoulos)

When I did my 35th Anniversary Retrospective on 1988, I had included the film Landscape in the Mist on that list with a mention that I am not overly familiar with Greek cinema.

I would shamefully admit that I don't even think I have seen any films from Greece aside from two of Theo Angelopoulos' works: Landscape in the Mist and Eternity and a Day.

I really should check out more of his work and look into other Greek filmmakers as I do think very highly of these two films, and I know that Martin Scorsese has always spoken very highly of Angelopoulos as well.

Eternity and a Day almost gives off a vibe of Kurosawa's Ikiru in that a terminally ill man is trying to do what he can to get his affairs in order and also find a permanent home for his dog before he dies.

The man, named Alexandros (Bruno Ganz), is also trying to help a young Albanian boy, whose name we never learn, who is about to be captured by human traffickers and put into illegal adoption.

Alexandros is able to rescue him and makes it his new mission to get the boy back home. 

Eternity and a Day is a film that I have been thinking a lot about as of late. Part of this is due to how it manages to make you try to find a certain sense of hope for life. As someone who has been feeling very unfulfilled in so many aspects of my life, I do wish I had put more thought and focus into trying to enjoy it.

The only difference now is that I am still fairly young; I do still (hopefully) have a chance to do so.

There is a monumental and poetic beauty to this film, and it feels so delicate and fragile. Life is too short and I think this movie shows you how maybe you need to find ways to liven it up without wallowing in your own despair.

It thrills me that this won the 1998 Palme d'or at the Cannes Film Festival. I wish it had gotten more notice in the US back then, but it does seem to have gained a good following in recent years.

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#4 - Rushmore 

(Wes Anderson)

Very few filmmakers have a visual and tonal aesthetic that is as instantly identifiable as Wes Anderson. As much as I often enjoy his work, sometimes I do sort of wish he would try some different techniques. With Rushmore, it was only his second film, but you could tell that he hadn't quite settled into some of his usual tendencies yet...which, in hindsight, works greatly in its favor. 

I adore Rushmore and feel like a lot of people don't talk about it much these days. It even feels like it is often forgotten in the Wes Anderson canon even though I think it is part of his (as of this writing) Holy Trinity of Films which also includes: The Royal Tenenbaums and The Grand Budapest Hotel. 

Plus - this film established Bill Murray as an ever-present fixture of so many Wes Anderson films and also remains one of the worst Oscar snubs for an actor in recent memory.

It also doesn't hurt that Anderson was able to find Jason Schwartzmann for Max Fischer, therefore jumpstarting his career in the process. Schwartzmann gives a performance that feels reminiscent of a young Dustin Hoffman...which isn't surprising since Anderson picked up on that quality when the two first met.

Considering Anderson films would often go on to have more of a whimsy feel to them, there is something a bit more cynical about Rushmore that plays very differently now in hindsight. One review I always loved was Anthony Quinn's in The Independent as he called the film an "adolescent tragicomedy, neurotic romantic triangle".

And that is apt. 

It truly feels very unique compared to many other high school films (sort of like a weird kind of brother film to Heathers but without all the murder staged as suicide), and the weird, warped pairing of Schwartzmann and Murray battling for the affections of Olivia Williams makes for one of the more entertaining and interesting storylines in a Wes Anderson film.

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#3 - The Thin Red Line 

(Terrence Malick)

The prodigal son has returned.

20 years after the release of what was his second film (1978's Days of Heaven, my selection for best film of that year), Terrence Malick returned with The Thin Red Line, a WWII film based on a graphic novel by James Jones.

After what I had said about war films when discussing Saving Private Ryan, it may seem surprising that I am already diving back into the genre.

1998 was a strange year when it came to the major awards as it felt like the Best Picture nominees were a lot alike. 

3 of the films related to the era of WWII (The Thin Red Line, Saving Private Ryan, and Life is Beautiful) and the other two were set during the original Elizabethan era (Shakespeare in Love and Elizabeth). 

On nomination morning, The Thin Red Line was seen as a mild surprise for a Best Picture nominee but the truth is that I found it to be the best of the films that made the list.

Not surprisingly, Malick came back after 20 years just as assured as ever and gave us one of the best war movies ever made.

It is a truly brutal film both in terms of its violence and how we witness these characters. There is no sort of glossy sheen over it that I might complain about with Spielberg; this is simply just pure pain and pure hell...and as the saying goes, war is hell.

Not to mention, the film has an exchange that I have always loved...and it sort of ties into that feeling of being alone even if you may be surrounded by hundreds of people around you:

"Do you ever get lonely?"

"Only when I'm around people."

Malick's philosophical nature always manages him to strike gold with even the most simplistic of moments. This one is a true gem.

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#2 - Central Station

(Walter Salles)

At the 1999 Oscars, many film historians and awards prognosticators still bemoan one of the great injustices in Oscar history...and no, it isn't Shakespeare in Love beating Saving Private Ryan.

Although - it does relate to Shakespeare in Love.

Brazilian actress Fernanda Montenegro was the critical favorite for her work in Central Station and to this day, her loss is brought in many forums. Even Glenn Close, despite the fact she didn't remember Montenegro's name, said in an interview how it was truly ridiculous that she didn't win.

And I agree.

Gwyneth Paltrow should not have won. And if it wasn't Montenegro, it should've been Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth. But anyways...

Central Station got overshadowed that year as Life as Beautiful was the foreign film that seemed to drum up the most excitement in Hollywood. Unlike some, I actually do like Life is Beautiful but not enough that I felt it warranted a slot on my top 10. 

Montenegro plays Dora, a middle-aged woman who makes a living by writing letters for illiterate people and mailing them out of Rio de Janeiro's Central Station...however, she is so frustrated and bitter about her life that she often finds little joy in helping others and won't even mail out the letters she writes.

When a young mother who frequently visits her for her services is killed in a bus accident outside of the station, Dora is forced to take care of her 9-year-old son Josue. 

While trying to pawn him off on a couple that have ill intentions, she relents but still struggles at the idea of having to care for him. Dora does decide to travel with Josue in hopes to find other family he can live with and thus sets off a bit of an odyssey of discovery between these two.

Central Station is the kind of film we've seen variations of over time: the surly adult that bonds with a young kid despite how much they want to resist it.

We've seen it tackled in everything from Bicycle Thieves to a freaking children's sitcom like Punky Brewster.

This is a film that manages to find hope without appearing to cloying or sentimental. It is the right mix of that genteel nature with a little touch of grit to go with it...and I think aside from Walter Salles, a lot of that credit has to go to the truly phenomenal work done by Fernanda Montenegro.

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#1 - The Truman Show

(Peter Weir)

I have often tried to think about which movies really set me off down the path of actually loving films and wanting to study them and watch as many of them as I could.

I do think The Truman Show is a prime candidate for what might be the major film that started it all...at least in the top 3. 

When I first watched The Truman Show upon its VHS release in 1999, I was already very aware of Jim Carrey and his comedic work. Even from that standpoint, I was impressed going into the film as an 11-year-old seeing Carrey stretch himself as an actor.

I wrote up this film as it was featured on my Best Films of the 1990s list that I devised back in 2021. Below is a big portion of that segment where I go into Carrey as an actor and discuss the film:

"I have heard some people critique Jim Carrey's performance as being directed in the wrong manner; that he was too manic for a role in which he didn't know that he was being watched by millions and millions of people around the world. I can sort of understand what they mean...but I also don't really care because I think it is plausible that someone could be this silly. It also must be said that Carrey is able to find moments of subtlety and he creates a truly wonderful character that was, in many ways, his first foray into a more dramatic role without also sacrificing his comedic talents.

Jim Carrey is a better actor than many give him credit for. His comedic work in a film like Liar Liar is still hilarious but he was also great in this film along with Man on the Moon, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and I Love You Phillip Morris...oh and I have enjoyed his work on the Showtime series Kidding.

Carrey plays the titular Truman Burbank, who is unknowingly the star of a worldwide viewed reality show that was the brainchild of Cristof (Ed Harris). Cristof's goal was to take a child who was abandoned at birth and give them a life inside a huge world he built complete with state of the art technology that simulates day time/night time and even contains a large body of water.

But how do they keep him there?

Well, Cristof devised a plan in which he had Truman's "father" die in a boating accident in order to try to give him a fear of navigating water. Also, when a teacher asks Truman what he wants to do when he grows up, he says he wants to be an explorer in which the teacher says "There's nothing really left to explore!"

This was sort of the big movie debut for Laura Linney, who is fantastic as Truman's "wife" as she too is crumbling the more Truman realizes that he is starting to become more aware of his strange surroundings.

In some ways, this film was ahead of its time but only slightly. Two years after its release, Survivor would premiere and start a true reality series boom...but the amazing thing is that even after 20 years, I think The Truman Show has held up remarkably well in showing how much of an obsession of a reality show concept would be for the world."

I am truly amazed at how well it has held up. For aspects that seemed so insane at the time, the movie came in and sort of predicted the future in a darkly comedic Orwellian way.

The final scene, where Ed Harris' Cristof tries to plead his case to Truman is a beautiful moment and it almost makes you forget the questionable ethics of his plan...and then to top it off with Truman leaving, the show ending, and the movie ending with the audience already thinking about what to watch next because "the fad" is over.

Brilliant ending, brilliant movie.

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FINAL THOUGHTS:

The 1990s truly were a great decade for film...and it is something I didn't truly realize until the last couple of years or so. 

I do think 1998 is a far more deceptive year than meets the eye, because not only were there movies like the ones I mentioned, but you also got great indies that were quite memorable such as High Art, Buffalo 66, or The Opposite of Sex.

You also had solid comedies like There's Something About Mary, Bulworth, and Primary Colors and solid dramas like A Simple Plan, Out of Sight, and Affliction. 

Even the films that might've been second tier were pretty solid in their own right. 

Granted, the year that followed would be one of the greatest years for cinema in history...which I will be diving into once we get to next year!

And that is all I have for now. 1998 really began the journey for me, even if it didn't take off in full force until around 2001. I can't help but feel sentimental about it.