Best of '98: Moments out of time

Film Comment, Jan, 1999

PETER HOGUE

in no necessary order: TASTE OF CHERRY, BUFFALO '66, LES VAMPIRES, THE SWEET HEREAFTER, HENRY FOOL, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, MEN WITH GUNS, TOUCH OF EVIL, ME AND MY BROTHER (Robert Frank 1968/98), THE BANK ROBBERY (Oklahoma Mutoscope, 1907), BORDERLINE (Kenneth MacPherson, 1930) runners-up: GADJO DILO, ONE TRUE THING, HIGH ART, SMOKE SIGNALS, CHARACTER, LA VIE EN ROSE, IRMA VEP, GABBEH, TWILIGHT

ANNE THOMPSON

1. THE BUTCHER BOY 2. THE CELEBRATION 3. SLAM 4. THIN RED LINE 5. THE TRUMAN SHOW 6. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN 7. THE GENERAL 8. SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE 9. RUSHMORE 10. HENRY FOOL

MICHAEL WILMINGTON

1. MADADAYO 2. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN 3. THE THIN RED LINE 4. LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL 5. THE BUTCHER BOY 6. TASTE OF CHERRY 7. THE EEL 8. SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE 9. BELOVED 10. HE GOT GAME

ROBERT HORTON

alphabetical: THE BUTCHER BOY/THE GENERAL (delirious Irish criminality); FIRST LOVE, LAST RITES; A FRIEND OF THE DECEASED, THE GINGERBREAD MAN, HAV PLENTY, HE GOT GAME, THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO, LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT

KENT JONES

1. THE THIN RED LINE 2. KHROUSTALIOV, MY CAR! 3. FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI 4. VARIATIONS 5. LATE AUGUST, EARLY SEPTEMBER 6. KANZO SENSEI 7. HENRY FOOL 8. ON CONNAIT LA CHANSON 9. A SOLDIER'S DAUGHTER NEVER CRIES 10. RUSHMORE

DAVE KEHR

1. RUSHMORE 2. AFFLICTION 3. HANA-BI/FIREWORKS 4. TASTE OF CHERRY 5. THE THIN RED LINE 6. HAPPINESS 7. THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY 8. SALTMEN OF TIBET 9. GODS AND MONSTERS 10. THE EEL

DONALD LYONS

1. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN 2. GODS AND MONSTERS 3. YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS/LAST DAYS OF DISCO 4. AUTUMN TALE 5. WILD THINGS/THE THIN RED LINE 6. DRY CLEANING 7. STEAM 8. THE BIG LEBOWSKI 9. THE BUTCHER BOY 10. THE SPANISH PRISONER

ANDREW SARRIS

1. A SIMPLE PLAN 2. OUT OF SIGHT 3. MRS. DALLOWAY 4. LIVING OUT LOUD 5. THE OPPOSITE OF SEX 6. SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE 7. RETURN TO PARADISE 8. SLAM 9. CLOCKWATCHERS 10. THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY

DALE THOMAJAN

Had 2001 been released in 1998, it would have been the best picture of the year, but it doesn't make even my top ten of 1968 (in order of preference): NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT, MADIGAN, FACES, THE CONQUEROR WORM (Witchfinder-General), CHARLIE BUBBLES, HELL IN THE PACIFIC, THE PARTY, DANGER: DIABOLIK, WEEKEND ITALIAN STYLE (L'Omrellone)

ARMOND WHITE

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, BELOVED, THE THIN RED LINE, THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO, BULWORTH, THE EEL, THE BUTCHER BOY, OUT OF SIGHT, THE GENERAL, BABE: PIG IN THE CITY

New Faces and Best Performances

The year of great Billy Bob Thornton performances: Primary Colors -- the scene where his hardass advisor starts crying thinking of his mom; Armageddon -- a believable, reassuring pro at the core of terminal preposterousness; A Simple Plan -- the pathos of a man who dimly grasps his own subnormality.... Kevin Corrigan's addled bloat and slurred indolence as Vincent Gallo's best friend Goon, Buffalo '66 ... The droll intentness of Harold Pinter's sexually predatory London crime boss, Mojo ... Kate Beckinsale's facile, calculating, profoundly un-self-aware climber, pure Jane Austen, The Last Days of Disco ... Nick Nolte: two corrosive yet comically gruff portraits of masculine anguish slowly dissolving all pretenses of control -- Affliction and The Thin Red Line ... Philippe Nahon's brooding, undemonstrative mass, Seul contre tous ... the calm, unaffected equilibrium of Ally Sheedy's back-from-the-brink photographer, High Art ... The rough charm and matter-of-fact dishonesty of Jared Harris's Russian immigrant, Happiness ... Barry Pepper as a devout, determined sharpshooter, finding glow in his art, Saving Private Ryan ... Vince Vaughn's babyfaced boyishness, nervous laugh and sly little smile, Psycho ... Ellen Barkin's jitteredout diner waitress, terrorized by Benicio Del Toro, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ... Jeanne Balibar, the most alive and expressive presence in movies this year, Late August, Early September ... the ennervation of Tilda Swinton's plummy-voiced, dissolute bohemian, Love Is the Devil ... Brendan Gleeson's goodnatured belligerence in I Went Down and sheepish wolfishness in The General ... The beatific out-to-lunchness of Jeff Bridges, The Big Lebowski ... Not forgetting: Philip Seymour Hoffman in Next Stop, Wonderland and Happiness; Kimberly Elise in Beloved; Dustin Hoffman and Sharon Stone in Sphere; Bill Murray in Wild Things; Robert Duvall in Deep Impact; Giovanni Ribisi in Saving Private Ryan; Dwight Yoakam in The Newton Boys; Leonardo DiCaprio in Celebrity;, Eamonn Owens in The Butcher Boy ...