Remembering, once again, that some of the year’s best films don’t arrive in our neck of the woods until well into 1999, we offer up this list based on what we’ve seen thus far.
1) Saving Private Ryan. The game for Oscar with over this year before anyone else really got a chance to play. Steven Spielberg, operating at the very top of his game, pulls off an amazing coup. The opening sequence depicting the D-Day invasion was a brilliant display of filmmaking and the rest of the movie wasn’t bad either. Featuring the always reliable Tom Hanks, Saving Private Ryan was the movie event of the year.
2) Men With Guns. John Sayles once again proves why he’s one of the most sought-after script doctors in Hollywood. This small, thoughtful movie about one man’s quest for the truth is both life-affirming and heartbreaking. A methodical film that mounts to a shattering climax.
3) Life is Beautiful. With touches of Charlie Chaplin, Jerry Lewis, The Bicycle Thief and the magic of the Taviani Brothers, Roberto Benigni has written and directed a true cinematic fable. Walking a tightrope between slapstick comedy and brutality, Benigni fuses his film with a hallucinated realism that is mesmerizing. The Holocaust as seen through a clown’s tears.
4) Happiness. Written and directed by Todd Solondz, Happiness was the Nashville of sexual neurosis. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jane Adams, Dylan Baker, Rufus Read and a host of others, Happiness was a strange mix of black humor, loneliness and monsters that live just down the block.
5) Welcome to Sarajevo. What modern day war is really like—snipers picking off innocents so that the superpowers will argue about who’s in charge. Michael Winterbottom directed a jittery thriller about a British journalist (Stephen Dillane) who gets caught up in the story that he is covering. Woody Harrelson adds a bit of Gonzo flair to’ the proceedings although his role’ is truncated to the point of being a bit part.
6) Out of Sight. Homeboy Steven Soderbergh directed this ultra-cool ‘adaptation of an Elmore Leonard novel and it shines through and through. George Clooney does his best big screen work to date as Jack Foley, a habitual criminal. Clooney is wonderfully supported by Jennifer Lopez, Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle and a nearly unrecognizable Albert Brooks.
7) Pleasantville. One of those rare films that just seems to work for critics and movie-goers alike. Director/writer Gary Ross seems to get everything right in his fable about two teenagers who are whisked back into a black and white era where nothing seems to go wrong. A strong cast, including Jeff Daniels, Joan Allen, William H. Macy and Don Knotts, make you believe in the power of color.
8) The Truman Show. Jim Carrey steps away from his Ace Ventura character long enough to make a strong impression in director Peter Weir’s cautionary tale. Written by Andrew Niccol, the same fellow who drafted and then directed Gattaca, The Truman Show scores points in the witty ways it skewered the media. A strong acting nod to Carrey and his “creator,” played by the always interesting, Ed Harris.
9) 4 Little Girls. One of Spike Lee’s best efforts in years and it’s a documentary about a bombing in Alabama during the height of the Civil Rights movement. Restrained and provocative, this film makes a strong case for peace and understanding in deeply humanistic terms.
10) Fast, Cheap & Out of Control. Another documentary by the genius of the genre, Erroll Morris. In this one, Morris examines the lives of a robotics scientist, a mole rat expert, a circus trainer and gardener. By employing illogical edits, the filmmaker achieves a level of symbiosis that is absolutely astounding. This should come as no surprise to those fans who have enjoyed previous efforts such as Vernon, Florida, Gaus of Heaven and Thin Blue Line.
Following are a few odds and ends from the 1998 film year:
Most Disappointing Films: Beloved-Considering the source material (quite possibly unadaptable) and the players involved director Jonathan Demme and actors Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover-this one was a real bust; Ronin-Good actors (Robert DeNiro and Jean Reno) doing good things with a lousy, confusing script. On the plus side, there are a couple of outstanding chase sequences.
Most Surprising & Unusual Film of ’98: Simon Birch How this thing ever made it through the Hollywood “pitch cycle” is beyond me. The end result, however, was touching and quite realistic.
Best Soundtrack: Clay Pigeons-A delightful mix of old and new that helped smooth out the rough patches in this strange but involving little film. (The second best soundtrack was Out of Sight with the Isley Brothers doing a couple of their hits mixed with several memorable sound bites from the movie.)
Greatest Re-Issues: Gone with the Wind, Touch of Evil & The Wizard of Oz.Thank you; thank you, thank you.
Best Performances That Might Go Unnoticed: 1)Vince Vaughn’s chilling portrayal of a serial killer in Clay Pigeons that was, by turns, hilarious and downright shocking. 2) Kris Kristofferson’ rock solid performance in A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries. He was smart, believable. and sly as the author James Jones; 3) Especially after Speed 2, Jason Patric’s misogynist, in-your-face turn in Neil LaBute’s Your Friends & Neighbors caused quite the uproar. 4) In addition to Hanks (who just might win his third Oscar in the last five years), Saving Private Ryan greatly benefited from Tom Sizemore’s blunt/grunt sergeant portrayal; 5) Dylan Baker’s no-holds-barred-portrait of a man with a real fondness for 12 year-olds in Happiness; and 6) The always underrated Jeff Bridges in the Coen Brother’s marvelously absurd, The Big Lebowski. In this one, Bridges plays a man without a clue to Absolute (sic) perfection. Still looking forward to seeing Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line and A Civil Action starring John Travolta.
Get out your handkerchiefs for this season’s weepie, Stepmom. When this movie begins, you’ll roll your eyes but, by the end, your eyes will be filled with tears as Susan Sarandon and Julie Roberts (in a dramatic role that works) make their peace with one another. Sarandon plays the woman who’s been abandoned by her husband for Roberts. (You didn’t think it would be the other way around?) A medical problem imposes more conflict and everybody plays the whole thing smart and close to the heart. Stepmom occasionally veers into the maudlin but for the most part it avoids the pitfalls of most holiday/cancer films. Strong support in this one from Ed Harris (again) and the children, played by Jena Malone and Liam Aiken.
Ian McKellan should be recognized for his brilliant work (once again) in the subtly complex Gods and Monsters, a movie that goes in six different directions at once and manages not to get lost.
It’s the story about James Whale (McKellan), the creator of the famous Frankenstein movies of the 1930s, and his relationship with Clayton Boone played by Brendan Ian McKelian should Fraser). What follows is an examination of life, seduction, death and moviemaking itself. The movie is slow but the themes are rich and McKellan is great!
On the TV Front…The best new show of the year is Aaron Sorkin’s once and manages Sports Night, a dramedy that is lightning quick and features a great cast headed by potential breakout star, Peter Krause. Krause plays Casey McCall, who, along with fellow anchor Dan Rydell (Josh Charles), provide the focal point of the ESPN-ish show. Much like Garry Shandling’s now defunct The Larry Sanders Show on HBO, SportsNight features “real” characters fluctuating wildly between comedy and drama. This show has a definite edge to it, just like the show that it precedes: NYPD Blue. So, tune into ABC on Tuesday nights starting at 8:30 p.m. and get ready see 1V at its finest.
