Hard to get excited by this year's movie crop. Only the top 4 films on my list were really something special. Hollywood's marketing seems to have more to do with the films than the movies themselves. Case in point -- Babe 2 was terrific! But the marketing and expectations sunk the film. I saw an early screening of Meet Joe Black, and seeing it with NO IDEA what it was going to be about, made it one of the year's best film pleasures for me. Doubt I would have enjoyed it anywhere near as much after all the press hype, marketing spin, and trailors that pretty much revealed the whole story. That's why the Indy Films are often more enjoyable -- they are more likely to surprise you.
Here's what I saw this year, in my own personal order of enjoyment.
The Best of 1998
| 1 | Happiness |
| 2 | Babe-Pig in the City |
| 3 | Love and Death in Long Island |
| 4 | Saving Private Ryan |
| 5 | The Opposite of Sex |
| 6 | The Spanish Prisoner |
| 7 | Meet Joe Black |
| 8 | Pleasantville |
| 9 | The Truman Show |
| 10 | There's Something About Mary |
The Good
| 11 | Smoke Signals |
| 12 | Pi |
| 13 | Everest (IMAX) |
| 14 | Sheakespeare in Love |
| 15 | A Simple Plan |
| 16 | Living out Loud |
| 17 | Rounders |
| 18 | The Big Lebowski |
| 19 | Bulworth |
| 20 | Enemy of the State |
| 21 | Last Days of Disco |
| 22 | Out of Sight |
| 23 | Buffalo 66 |
| 24 | You've got Mail |
| 25 | Primary Colors |
| 26 | Prince of Egypt |
| 27 | Slums of Beverly Hills |
| 28 | What Dreams May Come |
| 29 | Dark City |
| 30 | Elizabeth |
| 31 | Wild Things |
| 32 | Waking Ned Devine |
| 33 | Gods and Monsters |
| 34 | Antz |
| 35 | The Faculty |
| 36 | Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas |
| 37 | Zorro |
| 38 | Lost in Space |
| 39 | Palmetto |
| 40 | The Negotiator |
The Not So Good
| 41 | Your Friends and Neighbors |
| 42 | Star Trek Insurrection |
| 43 | A Perfect Murder |
| 44 | Blues Brothers 2000 |
| 45 | The Siege |
| 46 | The Replacement Killers |
| 47 | Ronin |
| 48 | Snake Eyes |
| 49 | Godzilla |
| 50 | 6 Days 7 Nights |
| 51 | X-Files |
| 52 | Psycho |
| 53 | Deep Impact |
| 54 | A Bugs Life |
| 55 | Ever After |
| 56 | Rush Hour |
| 57 | Small Soldiers |
| 58 | Mighty Joe Young |
| 59 | Soldier |
| 60 | Very Bad Things |
| 61 | American History X |
| 62 | Lethal Weapon IV |
| 63 | Sphere |
| 64 | The Big Hit |
| 65 | Thrill Ride (Imax) |
The Worst
| 66 | The Imposters |
| 67 | Mr. Nice Guy |
| 68 | Celebrity |
| 69 | Armageddon |
| 70 | Mercury Rising |
| 71 | Spiceworld |
| 72 | Species II |
| 73 | My Giant |
| 74 | Zero Effect |
| 75 | Eaters of the Dead (So bad it may never see a commercial release!) |
Fine Films from 1997 first seen in 1998
| 76 | Wag the Dog |
| 77 | The Apostle |
Films seen in 2008 and beyond are all now housed on TroutcoBlog.
The films I saw in 2007 Rated.
The films I saw in 2006 Rated.
The films I saw in 2005 Rated
The films I saw in 2004 Rated.
The films I saw in 2003 Rated.
The films I saw in 2002 Rated.
The films I saw in 2001 Rated.