Best of the '90s (#5 part 2)

Concluded from yesterday, we continue our look at the top movies of 1998, with 6-1.

#6 AMERICAN HISTORY X - This movie was so close to being perfect, except for some fuzzy editing and too much attempt to "explain" things. Still, for what it is, what a forceful film! Major credit to everyone involved for really putting themselves out there on the edge. The movie is about a Skinhead trying to go legit, and pulls no punches showing us that world, so be prepared. But you need to be shaken up a little bit. This is a good movie to wake you up.

#5 LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL - When I saw Roberto Benigni jumping on heads to accept his Oscar I was turned off and vowed not to watch. Oh, I am so glad I did. Set in Italy, the story tells us of a clown in love. He woos an Italian girl winning her over with his simple silly ways. When the War comes, because of he Jewish heritage Benigni and the couple's young son are carted off to a concentration camp. To save his child from the horror of it all this clown convinces his boy it's all a game they must win. Much is made of this second part, but if he didn't win you over at first you wouldn't go along for the ride. In Italian with subtitles, but do not let that stop you.

#4 ELIZABETH - When I think that Gwyneth Paltrow won Best Actress over Cate Blanchett I get angry. Cate gives an amazing performance here as Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen. We explore the world of 16th Century England, which was rife with danger, and where the desperation was never far from the surface. Despite the nearly fatal casting of Joseph Fiennes, ELIZABETH crackles with intrigue, sex and murder. Quite the good time.

#3 OUT OF SIGHT - Simply put, George Clooney has never been better, and Jennifer Lopez is so good that you realize she could be a real movie star with the right scripts. He's a bank robber, she's a Federal Marshal. Oh yeah: she just be in love with him. Based on Elmore Leonard's novel, OUT OF SIGHT is brimming with humor, quirky characters, and a great sensibility that offsets the menace of the criminal world. You can hardly find a sexier more fun picture to watch.

#2 THE BUTCHER BOY - Along with Schindler, the most emotionally devastating film of the '90s. About a boy who really never had a chance. This IS NOT an easy film to watch, but movie lovers owe it to themselves to see perfect cinema in action. The ending is as heart-breaking as it is predictable, but no less emotionally shattering for all that. Sometimes the reward of a difficult film is that we are better for having watched it, and no more can that be said than here.

and the number one film of 1998.....

#1 SAVING PRIVATE RYAN - The Oscars' biggest travesty since CITIZEN KANE didn't win. How do you give the fluff piece SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE--which I did enjoy, so I'm not hating--over such monumental work as PRIVATE RYAN? One of the top five war movies of all time and the second best movie of the decade. But I'll quit talking about the awards it didn't win and instead talk about the majesty that is SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. It starts off with an opening 25 minutes that rank as high as any opening in movie history. There's just nothing like it. We continue on with the Allies on a mission they don't really believe in, to find and rescue one single soldier in the midst of all that chaos. Spielberg uses conventional Archetypes of the characters; familiar stereotypes of a thousand war flicks, to make us comfortable, and then throws the conventions on their head. SPR was one of the first war films to really get at just how difficult war is without glorifying the protagonists. Yes, they sometimes murder the enemy, and you see why that happens, and can't judge them for it. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN is a difficult movie to watch, but an absolutely essential one. If you were only going to watch one movie from 1998, this would HAVE to be it.