Written by DAVID KEYES

January 4, 1999

THE BEST MOVIES OF 1998:

1 - Beloved
1998’s best movie was also the year’s most difficult movie. Based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Jonathan Demme’s "Beloved" was a manifestation of dark and cruel punishments revolving around some of the south’s former slaves, as Oprah Winfrey portrayed a devoted mother whose past actions were not only disturbing and repugnant, but, in ways, understandable to her situation. Such difficult material could have felt routine and obvious if it had fallen into the wrong hands, but the stellar performances by Oprah Winfrey, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover and Beah Richards are the forces that manage to bring passion and understanding to the story and the subject matter. After it ends, you are left with questions and thoughts on your mind that attack you psychologically.The negative response provoked by the commercial audience was unnecessary: either the public cannot cope with the subject matter or they prefer to watch trash like "Armageddon." This is clearly the movie masterpiece of the year.

2 - Wilde
Brian Gilbert’s "Wilde" is the movie that Oscar Wilde himself would have greeted with open arms. Historical documents and texts described him as a man who had a way with words, and the fascinating, lyrical way the movie portrays him is undoubtedly close to his original persona. Stephen Fry, the fascinating actor who portrays him, could not be more powerful or more convincing even if he were in one of Ingmar Bergman’s movies. This is a performance that should ensure him a tight nomination at the Academy Awards, and if he is somehow drawn back from that honor, heaven help the Academy. Not many actors can convince you to appreciate the historical figures of the past. As Fry woos his way onto screen, you’ll be urging to go out and pick up an Oscar Wilde literary work to read.

3 - Elizabeth
"Elizabeth" is the year’s second-best historical drama, only instead of portraying a powerful man as the subject, it paints an intense and thrilling portrait of history’s most prolific political female. Elizabeth I was procclaimed the "Virgin Queen" because she succeeded in court without the help of a husband or man by her side. In an era like Elizabethan England, when women were not considered the higher power, Elizabeth became a monarch with no experience and emerged a figure of stark power. Cate Blanchet is guaranteed the Academy Award regardless of who else is nominated; I can guarantee that, whoever does not vote for her in the final proceedure, needs a catscan immediately.

4 - The Mask Of Zorro
Call it the revival of the swashbuckler. After a little mess called "The Man In The Iron Mask" earlier this year, "The Mask Of Zorro" arrived right at the height of the summer lineup and demanded total attention from movie-goers. Good move--the movie is so observantly portrayed and characterized that its unbelievable. As quick as I can tell, it deserves an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography, since its opening scenes portray the grandeur elegance and involvement of the old Zorro moves. When that man in black and his horse climb the steps of the city in the opening shot, the camera captures a beautiful portrait of Zorro’s robe and horse silhouetted by the red sun. It is shots like this that make you glad cameras could capture such beauty, and as a whole, "The Mask Of Zorro" is the year’s best blockbuster adventure.

5 - Mulan
How many times must we say "Disney had done it again?" Every year, their annual animated film arrives and delivers what it intends and more; this year, the spotlight was not on Greek mythology, but rather, on Chinese legend. The story of Fa Mulan, family honor and feminine prejudice in war were the focus of the material, and with the spectacular score conducted as the film’s backdrop, as well as the stunning animation provoked, it emerges as the best Disney animated feature in two years, and a promise that, with the future of animation just around the corner, it’s going to be a beautiful journey.

6 - The Opposite Of Sex
The best thing about this raunchy and sassy black comedy is Christina Ricci, the actress who we remember as Wednesday Addams in the "Addams Family" films. For the past year-and-a-half, she’s slowly blossomed into a beautiful and talented young woman, and with the sophisticated performance she gives in "The Opposite Of Sex," she proves that child actors don’t always fade after puberty. She will have a promising career down the road, and she owes that to her recent crop of adult-oriented roles like the one here and in "Buffalo 66" and "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas." As far as a movie goes, it’s brilliantly written, smartly portrayed, graciously concepted, hilariously directed, and yes, sexually involved. Clearly, it’s the best comedy in a long time.

7 - The Truman Show
If there’s one thing I like more than actors landing great roles, it’s unfunny actors landing terrific roles. The unadmirable Jim Carrey took his fans and non-fans by storm when he stepped on the screen as Truman Burbank, the man whose life is actually a television series provoked by artificial yet lifelike sets, and a real main character who has no idea what is actually going on. The idea is original and the material fun--once it knows it’s subject matter, it rotates the story through Carrey’s mind and offers glimpses of his world as it changes through his eyes. Metaphorically speaking, it constructs itself on a note that, even though we enjoy the entertainment, we can turn the lives of celebrities and stars into plastic, shallow places without even knowing it. Serving as Peter Weir’s best film, "The Truman Show" is a masterpiece, to say the least.

8 - Dark City
It’s a shame that a movie like this failed in theaters, because its so breathtaking visually and artistically that it will likely leave its viewers in complete awe after the first twenty frames. Like "The Truman Show," it deals with people in a plastic society that has no idea that their lives are being manipulated and controlled by higher power. Indeed, Alex Proyas’ "Dark City" is one of the most inventive and visually appealing movies that has ever come along, but its not just visuals that make it so special. Imagine a race of "strangers" who were curious about our humanity, and in attempt to capture it themselves, they created a habitat in space to monitor our minds, personalities, actions, etc. as sort of a guinea pig experiment. It’s always nighttime, and at the stoke of twelve, the residents of this unaware city are put into a deep sleep and are transformed into different people, as these "strangers" mix-mash the memories and personalities of others to create new personas to monitor. Then, at the height of their study, one of those lab rats just accidentally forgets to fall asleep at twelve midnight, and his memories and investigation of what these "strangers" do unleashes an ability to telekinetically tap into their computer database and explore what their experiments mean and how they are determined to recapture their life essence, as it fades slowly but surely. Don’t tell me that a story like that sounds unoriginal. The approach of the material is, more or less, a modernization of "2001"--in both cases, our minds function just like our universe; they are endless, unpredictable things that become more understandable to mankind as time passes. "2001" played with technological and visual capabilities of the 1960s; "Dark City" brings the journey full circle and shows us that, after thirty years, our imaginations have expanded beyond the horizon.

9 - Deep Impact
I don’t know how many times I received criticism about giving "Deep Impact" four stars. Some of them call me crazy, while others just declare me brain dead, or mentally deficient. Hmmm. Maybe they never saw the movie. I say this because, despite what others think, the movie is deserving of the four stars completely, if not more. Most critics make a point that all disaster films are formulaic, predictable, and sometimes, unrealistic. Okay, I agree that the movies do contain obvious plots, but in a genre based on natural/manmade disasters, can it be done any other way? "Deep Impact" doesn’t get marked down because I’ve accepted the formula for what it is, and I’ve welcomed it with open arms. If you look at the film as pure movie, it’s more original than you might realize. Disaster films are so named because they concentrate on natural or manmade disturbances that will either effect a balance in life or end mankind as we know it (though, notice that mankind always prevails). The genre’s characters are not usually the concentrated area in a film’s script, but "Deep Impact" offers an approach unlike any other; we care about the characters enough to get sidetracked from the disaster. Ultimately, our minds move from concentrating on special effects to concentrating on the reaction and outcry of a possible life extinction. No disaster film has done that, or at least, has done that appropriately. You really care about these characters, and for that, even though all these movies have obvious resolutions, it deserves four stars, and garners the ninth spot on my top ten films of 1998.

10 - The Apostle
"The Apostle" is actually a 1997 film, but it was not seen by nationwide eyes until the tale beginning of 1998, after it had finished test-screenings and limited engagements during the previous December. For that, it deserves to appear on a 1998 best list. Robert Duvall’s movie is a tale so mesmerizing and powerful that it rushes into your soul and doesn’t let go of you until after the closing credits have finished rolling. Afterwards, you feel the urge to break out in thunderous applause, because what Mr. Duvall has done is made a movie about a real character in the real south society; a man so obsessed with his religious beliefs and church devotion that, when he commits murder, he seeks a redemption, reborn as the Apostle. The story in itself is routine, but the stellar ensemble performances make it a treasure for Duvall fans. It’s not simply enough to see it once; here is a film that requires multiple viewings to appreciate everything it stands for.

Runners-up: 54, American History X, Babe: Pig In The City, Blade, The Borrowers, A Bug’s Life, City Of Angels, Ever After: A Cinderella Story, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Life Is Beautiful, The Parent Trap, Paulie, A Perfect Murder, Primary Colors, Saving Private Ryan, Shakespeare In Love, There’s Something About Mary, Two Girls And A Guy, The X-Files: Fight The Future, Your Friends And Neighbors

THE WORST MOVIES OF 1998:

1 - Let’s Talk About Sex
What a title. And what a mess. Seeing it is almost as bad as having surgery without anesthetic. Indeed, the worst movie to ever grace the screen, "Let’s Talk About Sex" announced its arrival right in time for a fairly annoying and pathetic fall lineup of movies. We are usually able to forget about bad movies after we’ve seen them, but in the case of this rubbish, nightmares follow. They continue for weeks and weeks until your convinced that movies can’t get any more painful. It’s not only offensive to both the female and male specimens of sexuality, but it is brutally repugnant morally and artistically. If this had been a list of the worst movies of all time, its position would not change.

2 - Very Bad Things
Sometimes a film’s title says it all. In the case of "Very Bad Things," no title could be more specific. Arriving at the tale end of 1998’s horrid fall lineup, this horrible mess of a film provoked a series of some of the most rotten and trashy humor that has ever found its way onto the screen. Anyone who finds dead prostitutes, cut up corpses, murder, deceit and ruthless cremation funny deserves to be banned from the theater entirely. The material does not demonstrate any decent moral background in the humor whatsoever, and despite contradictory opinion that the movie would work as a drama or thriller, it’s one of those movies that cannot be saved, in any way, shape, or form. We’re just lucky the movie failed, because, according to some rumors, a sequel was in planning if it succeeded. Maybe after its theatrical bomb, the people who made it won’t make the same mistake twice.

3 - Major League: Back To The Minors
In a year crowded with ultimately painful sequels, "Major League: Back To The Minors" brought a comedic baseball franchise full circle to a destination where the only funny thing about it was the fact that the makers found it funny. The subject matter has no appeal or desire to be seen; what could honestly give Hollywood the impression that we need another "Major League" movie anyway? Didn’t the commercial and critical failures of the first two films indicate in any way that a third film was of no use? Normally, a useless movie will get a whole star just for showing up, but considering that all the film’s characters have the IQ of the objects thrown at them, the comedy is toned to a level of ineptness so beyond being saved that it’s not worth mentioning. As "Very Bad Things" left me feeling unhappy and depressed, "Major League: Back To The Minors" left me feeling frustrated and tormented for an hour-and-a-half period.

4 - Sour Grapes
"Very Bad Things" was crude comedy. "Major League: Back To The Minors" was laughless comedy. "A Night At The Roxbury" was pathetic comedy. "Krippendorf’s Tribe" was corny comedy. The year’s other big laughless movie was "Sour Grapes," only it was more or less a series of gross comedy skits strung together by an uninspired plot and characters that have as much use in this world as gnats. The story of two cousins torn between a jackpot win was not only the most unusual and viscous film of the year, but also the most vile and disgusting. Prostate cancer, castration, personal oral sex, family feuds, racism, annoying mothers--none of these elements can be provoked well in humor, even if the Farely brothers had used it in one of their films. Writer Larry David of "Seinfeld" has apparently had as much respect for decent movies in the past as a skin head, because his views of humor mixed with farse and sitcomish structure are not appropriate for this type of movie. With a year of forgettable comedies, "Sour Grapes" will be remembered for bringing so much aggravation to the screen.

5 - Lost In Space
Are you surprised? Well don’t be. "Lost In Space" was indeed the ugliest film of the year--a movie so hideously chronicled and executed that it is by all means a horrible experience. As a vehicle for the talents of William Hurt and Matt LeBlanc, it will likely provoke a downfall in their careers that could leave them in the dust unless they quickly recover from it. Bad movies like this are reasons why actors have bad careers. If their foolish enough to choose the role, than so be it.

6 - A Night At The Roxbury
Yet another one of the year’s worst and most uninspired comedies, "A Night At The Roxbury" was your typical "Saturday Night Live"-skit-turned-motion-picture-without-decent-characters-or-subplots-to-support-the-time-frame movie. In more realistic terms, one of those films like "Ishtar" where a television skit is transformed onto the big screen without a needed change in structure. If you’re going to make a one-and-a-half hour movie, don’t expect few characters and small plot to carry over very will. Add something to it. At least with "Ishtar," something happened in the last half.

7 - Krippendorf’s Tribe
Here we go again. Seven titles into 1998’s worst movies, and five of them are comedies (can we say that this was the genre’s worst year?). "Krippendorf’s Tribe" was that movie which has so far determined the future of Richard Dreyfuss’ career; just before its release, he was interviews on television, and he begged his fans to see the movie, otherwise, as he stated, it could be the end of his career. Bad move--people saw it, but for the most part, the film was neglected at the box office. And rightfully so. If an actor of his talent and ambition to please and audience can do such a foolish thing as pleading on television, something has to be wrong with his movie. In fact, if he pleads like that, chances are that he, too, knows the film is bad. Maybe his career could have been salvaged if he had been listed on the credits as "Alan Smithee."*
* If you don’t know the Alan Smithee joke, than forget the last sentence.

8 - Spice World
"Spice World" is a movie featuring five awful singers (not bad, but awful). Compared to the numerous and obvious times they lip-synched their own, intentionally derived music, Milli Vannilli look natural. I necessarily don’t have anything against these movies about music artists on tour (who could hate "Truth Or Dare" and "A Hard Day’s Night?"), but when five women get together with the intention of gossiping and singing bad music from start to finish, can you honestly appreciate anything they stand for? Let’s not also forget that this is simply boring and annoying. The rhythm and lyrics merely appeal to that part of our lives when we are young, unwise human beings who have not developed appropriate and decent tastes in music or artist integrity. As for the Spice Girls themselves, they have nothing unique about them other than their names. And those names, of course, say something about the people they are attached to. The "Spice Girls"--oh boy. Strike up the gland.

9 - Barney’s Great Adventure
The scariest creature that has ever walked into the children’s entertainment scene got his own movie as if the studio was desperate for attention, be it bad or good. Their movie defies explanation; a purple dinosaur with a smile constantly on his face is by far a disturbing sight. As he walks the screen with his over-childish personality, you realize why the television show was canceled. I can’t imagine any child, any respectable human specimen who would want to subject themselves to this evil, colorful reptile. Maybe next time, they’ll keep this kind of garbage off the screen and back onto television where it belongs. There, the children can watch it, and we, the adults and teenagers, can effectively avoid it.

10 - Meet The Deedles
"Meet The Deedles" arrived in spring 1998 as a follow-up to Disney’s winter flop, "Mr. Magoo." Thankfully, the follow-up flopped, too. Here is a movie that is not even strong enough to annoy--there are reasons to dislike or even despise it, but it does not even contain an ambition to inflame the audience with hatred.. People sit there in totally dead silence and a confused look on their face, as if they’re performing brain surgery on bodily organs that they never knew existed. The film is simply a teaser for human stupidity in the sense that the title characters were actually persona’s of people who were within the film’s production staff. Meaning, the screenwriter, director, producer, etc., could have had the Deedles’ IQ--a number which is too small to calculate.

Runners-up: An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn!, Armageddon, Almost Heroes, Belly, Black Dog, Breast Men, Bride Of Chucky, Bulworth, Dead Man On Campus, Deep Rising, Doctor Dolittle, Half-Baked, He Got Game, Hard Rain, Holy Man, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, I Got The Hook Up, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Jack Frost, MAFIA!, Mr. Nice Guy, My Giant, Pecker, The Players’ Club, The Real Blonde, Ringmaster, Species II, Sphere, Still Breathing, The Waterboy, Wrongfully Accused