1998 and early 1999 movies (in alphabetical order) and Dean's rating (out of four stars):
 

American History X	1998	***1/2
Central Station	1998	***1/2
Elizabeth	1998	***
Hilary and Jackie	1998	***
Life is Beautiful	1998	***
Matrix	1999	1/2
Pleasantville	1998	**
Rushmore	1998	**
Saving Private Ryan	1998	***1/2
Shakespeare in Love	1998	**
Tango	1999	*1/2
Thin Red Line	1998	*
Waking Ned Devine	1998	***
West Beirut	1999	***1/2
Windhorse	1998	****

American History X -- This movie about neo-Nazi skinheads in Venice, California is often difficult yet compelling to watch.  It works well both as social commentary and entertainment, and Edward Norton, one of 1998's Oscar nominees for best actor, put in an astounding performance that I would have chosen over the actual winner, Roberto Benigni in Life is Beautiful.  Perhaps the nastiness of the role precluded Norton from winning.  This is a very strong film in both message and characterization, but if there was any weakness for me, it was in the believability of some of the skinhead dialogue.  Something tells me, inspite of how intensely these folks may feel hatred at times, in reality such things are usually expressed a bit more subtly and cooly when talking amongst themselves.   Also, I've spent some time in Venice, California, and if anything, the city tends to leave the (perhaps mistaken) impression of tolerance both for diversity and extreme eccentricities.   Hatred is everywhere, but Venice, a very unique American city that attracts mostly harmless free-spirits and bizarros of all stripes, could have been put in more context.  These weaknesses, however, are not significant distractions from what is otherwise a powerful message movie, and I would highly recommend it to most open-minded folks -- although it's not a movie to which you should bring your date.  ***1/2

Central Station, (in Portuguese, with English subtitles) in my humble opinion, is a truly great flick, although it's rather slow pace may not impress the typically jaded American movie goer.  There is a good chance that it would have gotten my vote for Best Picture of 1998 had it been nominated and had I actually been eligible to vote -- but alas, it wasn't and I couldn't.  A touching, though mostly believable story line (unlike most American flicks these days) is also an eye-opener for folks who lack exposure to the kinds of choices poor people face in developing nations such as Brazil.  I'd give the movie four stars if I wasn't afraid that some folks might wonder what planet I'm on.  Fernanda Montenegra gives a great performance, although unfortunately, she lacked the glamor and star appeal of the other Best Actress nominees, and Oscar selection seems corrupted by money, American bias and backroom dealmaking.  ***1/2

Elizabeth was probably the most tightly written script of the lot nominated for Best Picture in 1998, and I enjoyed this flick even though the lives of British monarchs are never very happy stories.  Most folks that I know wouldn't really enjoy this kind of movie, but I do believe that it's worth viewing if only to see Kate Blanchett put in a mesmorizing performance. ***

Hilary and Jackie -- This is another quite remarkable movie, although it's perhaps a bit too high brow for many people's tastes.  "Chicks bonding", an acquaintance very oversimplistically described it.  The movie is based on the true story of the sisters Hilary and Jacqueline du Pre, two extraordinarily talented classical musicians from Britain, who achieved fame and international notoriety (particularly in Jacqueline's case) as virtuoso perfomers during the 1950s and 1960s.   Without giving away any of the plot, let it suffice to say that their relationship was remarkably close and trusting beyond what most of us might ever imagine in our own close relationships.  Emily Watson, nominated last year for Best Actress in Breaking the Waves might be nominated again, were it not for the chorus of critics (including friends and acquaintances of Jacqueline du Pre) who claim that Watson's portrayal of her as being manipulative and self-absorbed was not true to the real Jacqueline.   The real Hilary, on the other hand, claims that her sister would have loved this movie and the portrayal of her.  In any event, this movie is worth checking out.  Miss it -- miss out. ***

Life Is Beautiful --(In Italian, with English subtitles)  Before I went to see this movie, acquaintances had built it up so much that I was expecting more from it than I think I got.  Indeed, it has a very strange mixture of humor, irony, tragedy and horror.  At times the movie is very touching, but it also has some weaker, lesser compelling moments (mostly in the first half) which, in combination with my recent prior sleep loss, contributed to me nearly falling asleep at one point.  The movie starts out in a slapstick fashion, and newspaper ads largely promoted this movie based on that aspect.  In spite of comparisons made to Charlie Chaplin, don't expect a lot of that sort of schtick in a concentration camp, nor expect the gravity of such surroundings to be very movingly portrayed.   The director mostly uses a rather gentle humor, and strangely juxtaposes it into a very somber situation.  Contrast it with Steven Spielberg's highly dramatized, emotionally wrenching ending to Shindler's List, which was far more moving and intense.  Director Roberto Benigni instead preferred a more gentle tugging of people's heart strings, hoping to extract a positive from a negative.  The strange mixture of comedy and tragedy seemed to me heavy going at times, and while I think he only partially succeeds at mixing the two, he certainly deserves credit for taking on the challenging task.  In spite of my objections, Life is Beautiful easily warrents a three star rating and your attention.  Pay attention to rapidly passing subtitles. ***

The Matrix -- Many folks disagree with me on this one, but I went to this movie kicking and screaming and came out the same way.  Okay, it had somewhat novel bents on a couple of standard sci-fi concepts (computers controlling humans and reality not always being what it seems), but the main message I got was n-th degree violence by men in black suits (shades of Littleton, Colorado).  If movies only meant special effects to me, I might be more generous, but instead it struggles to earn one-half star.  Many may look at this movie and see just plain fun, and for them I say, fine!  I grew up on Bugs Bunny and Road Runner (once rated the most violent shows on television), and I still turned out okay.  But if you have a genius kid with pyrotechnic skills who also harbors pent-up hostilities against those who ridicule him, think twice before inspiring him with new ideas for blowing people away!  1/2

Pleasantville is filled with symbolism both for our own era and for the era of the '50s and early '60s, but one has to be able to make an enormous leap into fantasy to appreciate this movie, and it probably helps to be old enough to remember the era being skewered.  Failure to make the leap is curtains, and if you don't think you can make it, you may as well stay home. **

Rushmore is a rather strange and eclectic comedy about a rather unusual love triangle.  I felt a little cheated again by too much contrivance.  The best part of this movie is Bill Murray who, while playing a mostly serious role, is nevertheless thankfully very hard to take seriously.  He makes maximum use of his dead pan face, and I had a hard time not laughing at it. **

Saving Private Ryan is extraordinarily intense, particularly in the first half hour, and although Steven Spielberg has always been a good storymeister and great cinematically, I otherwise find virtually all of his films to be lacking in depth.  Some of this movie's plot seems to be a formulaic remake of Shindler's List.  Although it seemed to me at times gratuitously gory, I heard an interesting debate among some of  my more liberal acquaintances about whether it did more to glorify war and to celebrate duty, honor and country than to paint a balanced picture of the horrors of war.  I would recommend this movie to many folks (although I might discourage others from seeing it), and in my opinion, it was the best of 1998's five nominees for Best Picture, though it did not win and does not receive my highest seal of approval.  ***1/2

Shakespere in Love seemed much too contrived for me.  At times, its romantacism got in the way of continuity for me.  Although there always seems to be some part of any movie that makes me teary-eyed these days, I came away from this movie feeling cheated by the impression that 13 Oscar nominations had given me before showing up.  Unless you are a truly hard-core romantic, in every sense of the word, and have a very high tolerance for disjointed fables requiring huge leaps of faith, don't see this movie.  Nice costumes though, and Gweneth Paltrow is beautiful and gives an excellent performance, although I give best actress to Kate Blanchett's Elizabeth.  This won Best Picture of 1998, but I thought that, of those nominated, Saving Private Ryan deserved it more, and had it been me doing the selecting, I might have picked Central Station or American History X. **

Tango -- (In Spanish, with English subtitles)  This movie may be too artsy for many movie goers, unless they are strongly appreciative of dance and dance symbolism.  I have an abiding respect for anybody who attempts to dance the Tango, which seems to me the most impressive and difficult kind of dance to perform.  I saw the movie in Boston with my friend from Argentina (the Land of the Tango), who actually never learned it there, but is now learning it here in America. *1/2

The Thin Red Line was supposed to be the "thinking person's" Saving Private Ryan, although I found it to have even less depth.  I had heard that the movie asks more questions than it answers, and I thought that it would be good for me since, as an agnostic myself, I like to ask more questions than I can answer.  However, I found that the questions it asked were not very interesting.  The movie dragged.  It's climax came 45 minutes before the end, and then the movie fizzled out altogether.  I would hardly recommend this movie to anyone. *

Waking Ned Devine is among my favorite light comedies of recent years.  It's a simple but fun picture set in the terminally green and beautiful Irish countryside. Seeing it at a time when the President Clinton's Impeachment trial was in full swing, I couldn't help but see irony in how the movie audience seemed to appreciate and celebrate the telling of lies for personal gain.  I'd recommend this to just about anybody. ***

West Beirut --  While I found the Tibetan movie Windhorse (see below) playing even way out in Boise, Idaho, I think that West Beirut may not get much play outside of big city film festivals.  It would be a shame though, since I found the movie to be just the right blend of humor, irony, drama and horror, very much like the city of its name.  The movie is set during the most violent years (late '70s, early '80s) when Lebanon was hell-bent on tearing itself to shreds.  Its perspective is from that of three mostly pragmatic-thinking adolescents who seem to make due in the difficult environment in which they are placed and even have a good time when all around them insanity reigns.  It has inspired me to make a visit to that war torn country, hopefully later this year. ***1/2

Windhorse -- This is far and away the best movie I've seen about Tibet.  While Seven Years in Tibet and Kundun focused on the life of the Dalai Lama, Windhorse focuses on somewhat more recent (1980s) Chinese repression of average Tibetans.  It is the only of the three movies that was filmed clandestinely in Tibet, (the others being filmed in Nepal and Morocco), and I sat in wonder of the chances that they must have taken to film it.  The credits at the end listed many names as "withheld" to protect the participants from possible retribution.  It's clear why the Chinese government would try to prevent it from being shown here in the States (notably, here at the DC Film Festival, and elsewhere), since the  movie's propaganda might have been kinder to Attila the Hun.  There was one Chinese good guy for balance, if one could call it that.  Aside from providing welcome insight into one of the most fascinating cultures on the planet, I enjoyed seeing many places that I well recognized in Tibet's capital, Lhasa and elsewhere, such as the Yak Hotel, a backpacker's hangout where I stayed for a couple weeks.  This is a must-see movie for human rights activist types, but it would also likely captivate anybody with a taste for exotic places -- and Tibet is still about as exotic as any place on the planet. ****

Return to other movies | Dean's Home Page.