It was also the year that one of my favorite movies of all time, Saving Private Ryan, came out. I remember seeing it for the first time in Gillette, Wyoming with my family the day before we went on a trip back east, I think to Stu Lake. The minute the landing craft opened up on the D-Day beach to unload the troops and came under fire, my cinema life was changed forever. Never before had I seen anything like the depictions of war as I had seen in that scene and the coming battle sequences to follow. I remember leaving the theater after the last battle (not the tell me I'm a good man part) and feeling numb. I didn't quite know what I had just saw but something deep inside me was brewing. That night, I had a vivid dream where I was an America or German Soldier in Europe and I had come across a bunker in the middle of a forest. Before I could aim my gun and shoot, a soldier jumped up and shot me right in the head. For a brief second, I thought I had actually died. But just as soon as it happened, I woke up lying in my sleeping bag on the floor of my dad's apartment in Gillette, grateful to be alive. The movie was already affecting my dreams. I had to go back to the theater to see the movie again and to understand what was going on in my head. I must of seen the movie maybe 5 to 6 more times in the theater, each time being mesmerized by what I saw. WWII history quickly became my new favorite subject and I tried to devour as many war films as I could. I guess you could say, this movie generated a religious experience in me that very few movies have since. I could also since my brother had a similar experience to the movie as I did. The movie has become one of those films that my brother and I through quotes to and back to each other from time to time. And this movie made Steven Spielberg my favorite director of all time. I also had to go back and discover every movie he had made that I hadn't seen already. The guy is truly a master at what he does and even his lesser films have redeemable qualities save The Terminal (2002) which was a dud).
Anyway, two other films came out in 1998 that have become classics in my world as well, American History X and The Big Lebowski. I didn't like The Big Lebowski when I first saw it. I heard that is common with the Coen Brothers films. But it grew on my over time and quickly became one of my favorties of the Coens. American History X was also a powerful experience and remains a classic movie on the destruction racial hatred can cause in society.
So now, I will get off my soapbox and count them down.
Best Movies of 1998
1. Saving Private Ryan - (One of the best of the best and still a powerful experiences of cinema I have ever experienced)
2. (Tie) American History X
2. (Tie) The Big Lebowski
3. Enemy of the State - (Don't use a cell phone around Gene Hackman - He will Shing the family jewels)
4. The Wedding Singer - (Yes Adam Sandler has made some good movies)
5. The Truman Show - (Jim Carey gets trapped in his own little world)
6. The Faculty - (Please report to the principals office...uuaaahhhh SHING)
7. Desperate Measures - (Andy Garcia vs the US Health Care System vs scary Michael Keaton)
8. There's Something About Mary - (Remember when the Farley Brothers were Funny?)
9. Simon Birch - (Little sacs turn into peas)
10. A Civil Action - (John Travolta is a good lawyer who doesn't want you to drink poo water)
"Tell me I'm a good man. Tell me those floating heads I saw during WWII were not real"
Best TV
1. South Park - Season 2
1. From Here to the Moon - (Ron Howard and Tom Hanks go back to the moon to retrieve Bill Paxton's underwear)
2. ER - Season 5
3. The Mr. Show (Season 4) - (Discovered in Chadron-Still Hilarious)
4. American Experience -Reagan- (Remember when Republicans were rational?)
Worst of 1998
1. Armageddon - (I think we saw this in Gillette before SPR. Wow what a transition between suck and exquisite)
2. Patch Adams - (Robin Williams farts on Cancer patients and it isn't funny)
3. A Perfect Murder - (Michael Douglas is jealous because his wife oates with another guy)
4. The Waterboy - (I guess that makes it a net 0 for Adam Sandler movies this year)
5. Rushmore - (Didn't and don't get it)
6. Dark City - (Saw in the American Theater or the Rialto in downtown Casper with the UBSTU gang, thought it sucked)
7. City of Angels - (City of Boring)
8. Sphere - (Read the book and hoped high, got shot down by this turd)
8. (Tie) Species II - (Man goes to Mars and gets infected. Comes back to earth to Oates and well...oates is only redeeming part of this shit storm)
9. What Dreams May Come - (When you die, you go to a magical color world that is a neat concept but overblown stuness)
10. Shakespeare in Love - (Yep, I was pissed off when SPR lost to SIL at the Oscars. Maybe I should give this one another chance but it was a travesty at the time)