30 From 98: My Favorite Films From 1998
 Just like Bug's, Antz uses the highest level of cartooning tech at the time to take the idea of the macrocosm of the insect universe and transforms it into a cute, wonderful world of innocent anthropomorphic fun that was sure to entertain the elementary-level audience for which these kinds of animated adventures tended to depend on for effective box office returns. However, with the inclusion of some Woody Allen-like mannerisms into the presentation of this tiny titanic tale of rebellious nonconformity against totalitarian tropes, producers were hoping in making mountains out of anthills if they could somehow also inspire older fans of scintillian invertebrates into swarming towards the ticket booths of that year.

 And thatâs what A Bugâs Life manages to do. Donât expect Oscar material in this sophomore effort from Pixar, but its tiny tale of insects imitating a slice of life of human society is one that is well worth a sit-through, even today. The script manages to set up the premise with enough metaphoric wit and endearing characters to keep viewers invested, and the dated visuals pack enough charming exaggeration to allow one to look past the quickly antiquated elements that have been leveled up past eleven by this point.Â
 Sure todayâs 3-dimensional animation may be mountains when compared to this 90âs anthill, but the life of this bug still crawls with the energy and enthusiasm that keeps it entertaining even to the most discernible eyes of any modern-day millennial.

And in the end he must decided between playing it safe in the slammer or voicing his opinions at the poetry slam.


 I mean, sure, the subject matter of the film doesn't exactly sport a rocket-science script, but it also didn't require that one completely leave one's brain at the door as much as most of his other feature films do. Plus, the premise also benefits from having Hollywood veteran Gene Hackman bring his brand of self-assured and seasoned acting to a story required his kind of heavyweight underscored presence to help counter Will's slaphappy approach which can sometimes dilute the sense of danger that's in needed to pull Enemy's premise off effectively.

 The concept of Big Brother's eyes in the sky watching our every move is what really kept this movie's story interesting for me, and it was a great foundation that allowed the suspense to flow along all throughout the plot in a way that didn't completely dismiss the mentality of the viewer. And I really think that there was a solid chemistry between the starring duo of Gene Hackman and Will Smith, one that didn't come off as forced as most marquee names that are usually paired for the more for the sake driving a blockbuster film than for the sake of an honest pairing.
 Obviously, EofS might not be the kind of motion picture that will enhance or enrich anyone's life, but it's a good example of the type of thriller escapism whose provocation towards thought isn't going to get in the way of the film's primary purpose is to kill a few hours just for the sake of killing a few hours.
Take out the Australian part, and you could easily be describing my last girlfriend. ('Ey, who do I talk to about having a "ba-dum-tish!" emoticon installed around here, anyway?)
An underrated and good intentioned sequel that never seems to get the kind of fair shakes that it deserves.

 Seeing an opportunity here, movie makers teamed the two together into the ever-reliable buddy cop plot device, taking the sure-fire formula to the extreme of two law enforcers from completely opposite sides of the world. It was a move that turned out much better than anyone could have expected because the chemistry between Chris T. and Jackie C. was practically instantaneous. To the point that where not only was a new franchise born, but also a new friendship between the two actors that still exists today.Â

 As a film, Rush Hour is very good. Admittedly, it has a very thin plot device, but it's flimsiness is held up by the strong points of each of the dynamic duo's specialties.... Tucker's talent for quick and chaotic urban-based colloquiums, and Chan's crazy and comedic combat choreography. It's a piece of empty escapism which is highlighted by the energetic "fuzz" of its two key components, and it was no surprise that it made the kind of money that it did. However, I will say that after I watched this first Hour, and as much as I enjoyed it, I instantly recognized that it had all the markings of series in which its sequels were going to sacrifice story over that of a quick and easy buck.Â
 And that's exactly what happened.Â
 But that doesn't hurt what this first installment of the franchise was able to accomplish as yet another a simple, fast-moving comedy that's non-stop fun from point A to point B.Â
And of course, we're talking metaphorically here.


And as anyone knows, the Dude needs his rug.
It's what ties the whole room together.

 Okay, so I am someone who does everything he can to avoid spoilers whenever I'm discussing cinema in any manner. However, for this entry, I' going to go there. So, if you wanna avoid having this Big Lebowski spoiled all over you, I highly suggest you stop reading here and simply move on to the next movie entry....
The Big Lebowski is a movie that shares something with the Seinfeld television series.... and that is that it has a premise that is, in actuality, about nothing. Hoever, unlike Seinfeld, Lebowski isn't upfront about it. It's so-called stories has many elements that fool the viewer into thinking that what hey are watching is indeed a story that is being unfolded.Â
Dark City is a stylishly gloomy sci-fi quasi-noir that features cool comic book style plot-lines bought to the silver screen with a keen integration of bold visual designs with shadowy and suspenseful intrigue.

A fictionalized version of World War Two's Battle of Mount Austen. the plot follows the soldiers involved in the campaign, not just physically, but also mentally as throughout the pacing of the story, the script is interjected with the thoughts of various combatants.

This movie is another example of one of the roles that BBT has done in which he tends to approach the role with such a distinct character that, no matter what the quality of the film is, it's just interesting to watch as a vehicle for an actor who utilizes the diversity of his acting abilities to it's farthest extent. Therefore, with other films like Sling Blade, One False Move, Bandits, The Apostle and Monster's Ball, A Simple Plan comes off as just another quality flick that came out at a time when Mr. Thornton really seemed to be cruising on quite the cinematic streak.

 Fortunately, the movie was a good movie, called The Truman Show (by the way, i went for a couple of years before I got the metaphorical setup pf that film title... yeah, yeah, I know...."D'uh!"...). Not only was it a good movie, but it was also a perfect vehicle for the pliable comedic actor Jim Carrey to step away from the zany antics of his more fruitful flavor of frenetic farce, and into something which provided him with the flexibility to tap into something that was centered more on "reality". That is, "reality" as it was captured by the zeitgeist of the 90's. And a reality that was the opposite of the cartoonish background that his more laugh-minute film work was usually set against.

However, that doesn't take away from the fact that I found the rest of About Mary to be one of the best comedies to "come" out of the year of 1998.

In other words, Happiness is a film about anything but.
Not that I would could consider this to be a depressing piece of cinema,
it's just an acquired taste, even for the most ardent of art-house appreciandos.



Oh, and when this does happen, as a courtesy to the next tenants,
please don't forget to remove the cat from the oven.

And one of the patriarch's major surprise gifts, "given" to him by his only son, is the unveiling news that he is responsible for the suicide death of his daughter as a result of a family history of sexual abuse.
Although, considering the other troubled revelations that reveal themselves as the party chugs along, it wouldn't surprise me if "Big Daddy" would have just settled on just getting a tie.

Therefore, there's an updated installment released after the seventh year of the previous film, each titled after the age of the subjects involved in this long-running project.
By the time of 1998, they're up to the age of 42.

Personally, I found it almost spooky and universally telling on the kind of perspective that arises from being a spectator of some else's life other than my own.
After every incarnation of this series, I can't help but ask those deep kinds of questions that are much easier to ask from the outside looking in.
For example, taking the film segments of the various people of this project when they were just children and watching 'em up against the segments of them as adults, I found myself genuinely wondering at what point in life do most of us, as humans, lose the zest and free-spiritedness that naturally comes with being a child, and then have it replaced by the more restrained walking representative of a crushed spirit that we have as adults?
And I can't remember when was the last time any film had the ability to make me get that introspective.
 I did. Because ever since I was a kid, I had wished that there was such a thing. But, realistically speaking, I thought that such an idea was too far away from Hollywood's ability, creatively, resourcefully and financially, to produce such a good movie based on a Marvel character, let alone a whole Universe.
But, it happened. Despite all the uphill obstacles, the loonies in La La Land had managed to pull it off. They didn't spawn one film about a Marvel character, not two, not three, but a whole slew of 'em. Heck, they've made more films about Marvel superheroes than a kid from the 1970's would see on a local grocery store's spinner rack. They created an entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.
And even though most people tend to think that it all started with the very first Spider-Man flick back in 2002, we hardcore fans knew that it started earlier than that. In 1998, with a much more obscure character known as Blade, the Vampire Slayer.Â
 Blade was a superhero whose powers were the same as those of a typical vampire, with the exception that he had the advantage of being able to walk around in the daylight, thus earning him the nickname of "The Day-Walker". His actual first appearance was naturally in one of Marvel's horror comics called "The Tomb of Dracula". And it was pretty obvious that he was an antagonist to the King of vampires. What wasn't obvious was that Blade, a character so little known, even by Marvel Comics Fans (traditionally known, coincidentally enough as "Marvel Zombies") themselves, that he would eventually get one of the very first big screen treatments before any of the more well-known Marvel heavyweights, such as Spider-Man, Captain America or the Avengers.Â
 Now, to be honest, even as someone who was a tried and true "True Believer" (another nickname for any "friends of ol' Marvel" {that's an inside joke, BTW}), I'm not sure how it came to be that the Day-Walker became the first from the massive roster that came outta the "House of Ideas" (one of just a whole slew of nicknames for the company that was Marvel Comics Group), but least ta say, I was truly overjoyed that he did. I was even more overjoyed when I saw just how awesome the movie turned out. And I didn't love it just because I was a "Keeper of the Flame (yet another nickname for hardcore fans). I loved it because I truly believed that it was a good action movie. Along as a good vampire flick. As a matter of fact, it's within my top five favorite vampire motion pictures of all time, not to mention, as this list shows, one of my top ten films of 1998 (and BTW, just to completely fill out my point here, Blade ranks as #5 as my favorite comic book-based movie of all time, which I have somewhere on this site...).Â

Almost immediately, she finds herself attracted to her captor as he "forces" her to pretend that she is his wife-to-be in order to impress Billy's disassociated parents.
And thus a budding dysfunctional relationship gets it's dysfunction off the ground running.
Buffalo '66 is an indie flick about a kind of germinal romance that gives hope to even the most love-lorn maladjusted.


This is a movie that I feel very lucky to have not just on this list, but more specifically, within the top ten of my faves of 1998.
Because, now, whenever I play any kind of "Name your fave flix from A to Z" games and the letter "x" comes up, which usually causes other participants much pause, I have The X-Files: Fight the Future fastidiously at the ready.
Oh sure, I guess I could use either X2: X-Men United or X-Men: First Class,
but the truth is,
as much as I liked those two films,
they still didn't make within the top ten of their particular years.
And with X-Files, now I can answer with a bit more X-uberance in my enthusiasm.
An action and suspense spy thriller with a MacGuffin so prominent to the story-line that I couldn't help but wonder,
what was in the case?

And even though Samuel Jackson is probably the most famous of the ensemble cast, he is still but one in an ensemble cast. Each separate story entry is strung together to flow with a such a great sense of harmony, that no matter which character role any of these actors have in The Red Violin,
the movie is strong enough for any of 'em to be proud to have this work included in their filmography.



even the English can have style.

Not to mention that among the vast cast is included a small but solid bite-strewn and really cool role for Sting (the former Police-man, not the clown-faced wrestler .....you buncha nerds). The singer who, after filming was done, supposedly was responsible for introducing Guy Ritchie to Madonna.
Which later would result in a relationship 'tween said director and material girl.
Which later would result in marriage.
Which later would then result in the movie Swept Away.
Which later would then result in the conclusion that Sting needs to learn to mind his own business.
In fact, the solidity of this upstanding political drama is so dense that it almost has a feel that seems like could it be more solid than Travolta's big ol' Clinton-like tummy.

Oh,
and he doesn't dance in this movie, either. Which, considering the state of physique these days, is always a plus.
- Mulan
- The Negotiator
Haven't watched yet:
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Other Fave Movies Lists By Year:
1970
www.listal.com/list/10-70-my-fave-films
1971
www.listal.com/list/15-71-my-favorite-movies
1972
www.listal.com/list/15-72-my-favorite-films
1973
www.listal.com/list/20-73-my-favorite-films
1974
www.listal.com/list/films-of-1974
1975
www.listal.com/list/20-75-my-favorite-films
1976
www.listal.com/list/20-76-my-favorite-films
1977
www.listal.com/list/20-77-my-favorite-films
1978
www.listal.com/list/20-1978-my-favorite-films
1979
www.listal.com/list/20-79-my-favorite-films
1981
www.listal.com/list/25-81-my-favorite-films
1982
www.listal.com/list/25-82-my-favorite-films
1983
www.listal.com/list/25-83-my-favorite-films
1984
www.listal.com/list/25-84-my-favorite-films
1985
www.listal.com/list/25-85-my-favorite-films
1986
www.listal.com/list/25-86-my-favorite-films
1987
www.listal.com/list/25-87-my-favorite-films
1988
www.listal.com/list/25-88-my-favorite-films
1989
www.listal.com/list/25-89-my-favorite-films
1990
www.listal.com/list/30-90-my-favorite-films
1991
www.listal.com/list/30-91-my-favorite-films
1992
www.listal.com/list/30-92-my-favorite-films
1993
www.listal.com/list/30-93-my-favorite-films
1994
www.listal.com/list/30-94-my-favorite-films
1995
www.listal.com/list/30-95-my-favorite-films
1996
www.listal.com/list/30-96-my-favorite-films
1997
www.listal.com/list/30-97-my-favorite-films
1999
www.listal.com/list/30-99-my-favorite-films
2000
www.listal.com/list/35-00-my-favorite-films
2001
www.listal.com/list/35-1-my-favorite-films
2002
www.listal.com/list/35-2-my-favorite-films
2003
www.listal.com/list/35-3-my-favorite-films
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