Top 10 Films of 1998

1. ''Of Freaks And Men'' (Aleksei Balabanov, Russia)

2. ''Wild Things'' (John McNaughton, USA)

3. "The Longest Nite" (Patrick Yau, Hong Kong)

4. "The Big Hit" (Kirk Wong, USA)

5. ''Dangerous Beauty'' (Marshall Herskovitz, USA)

6. "The Hole" (Tsai Ming-Liang, Taiwan)

7. "The Truman Show" (Peter Weir, USA)

8. "Life Is Beautiful" (Roberto Benigni, Italy)

9. "Hurlyburly" (Anthony Drazan, USA)

10. "Out Of Sight" (Steven Soderbergh, USA)

Other great films:

À la place du coeur (France)

Antz
The Apple (Iran)
Babe: Pig In The City (Australia)

Babyface (Canada)

The Big Lebowski 

The Big One
Black Cat White Cat (Serbia)
Blues Brothers 2000
The Borrowers
A Bug's Life
Bulworth
The Butcher Boy (Ireland)

Caricies (Spain)

The Celebration (Denmark)

Celebrity

Ciemna strona Wenus (Poland)

Conte d'automne (France)
Cousin Bette
Cube (Canada)

Curacha: A Woman Without Rest (Philippines)

The Decline Of Western Civilization. Part III
Diner des cons (France)
Drive

Elizabeth

L'Ennui (France)

Farba (Poland)

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas

Femalien 2

Fiona

Firelight

Flowers Of Shanghai (Taiwan)
The General (Ireland)

The Gingerbread Man

Gods And Monsters

Godzilla

Happiness

Henry Fool

Hitman (Hong Kong)

The Humiliated (Denmark)

The Idiots (Denmark)

Jeanne et le garçon formidable (France)

Kirikou et la sorcière (France)

Kroniki domowe (Poland)

Little Voice (UK)

Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels (UK)

Lola Rennt (Germany)

Love And Death On Long Island (UK)
The Man In The Iron Mask
Men With Guns

Mlode wilki ½ (Poland)

Mrs Dalloway (UK)

Mulan
My Name Is Joe (UK)
No (Canada)
The Opposite Of Sex
The Parent Trap
Pippi Longstocking

The Players Club
Primary Colors
Quiconque meurt, meurt à douleur (Canada)

Raped By An Angel 2: The Uniform Fan (Hong Kong)

The Red Violin (Canada)

Revoir Julie (Canada)
Ronin
Rushmore

Sada (Japan)
Saving Private Ryan

Seul contre tous (France)

Sex And Zen III (Hong Kong)

Shakespeare In Love

The Silence (Iran)
A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries
The Spanish Prisoner
Spice World
Strike
The Terrorist (India)

There's Something About Mary

The Thin Red Line

Trop (peu) d'amour (France)

Vive la Republique (France)

Why Do Fools Fall In Love
Wild Man Blues

Yellow Flower (South Korea)

You Can Thank Me Later (Canada)

Zabic Sekala (Czech Republic)


Top 10 Guilty Pleasures of 1998:

1. The Last Days Of Disco (Whit Stillman, USA)

2. "Kite" (Yasuomi Umetsu, Japan)

3. "Historia kina w Popielawach" (Jan Jakub Kolski, Poland)

4. "Dance Me To My Song" (Rolf de Heer, Australia)

5. "Gia" (Michael Cristofer, HBO) - TV

6. "Great Expectations" (Alfonso Cuaron, 20th Century-Fox)

7. "Heroines" (Gérard Krawczyk, France)

8. "The Untold Story 2" (Ng Yiu-Kuen, Hong Kong)

9. "Looker" (Nic Cramer, USA)

10. Une Fille de la campagne (Joe D'Amato, France)

Short Top 3:

1. "X2000" (Francois Ozon, France)

2. "Pot de colle" (Etienne Desrosiers, Nicole Lafriche, Canada)

3. "Noema" (Scott Stark, USA)

Other great shorts:

Exercice Of Steel (France)

Good Boys Wear Condoms (France)

Goodbye Emma Joe

Jangri (Canada)
Les Mots magiques (Canada)

Nocturne
Roger's Cable (Canada)

Scènes de lit (France)

Sodomites (France)

Top 3 Music Videos:

1. "Ray Of Light" (Jonas Akerlund, Madonna)

2. "This Is Hardcore" (Doug Nichol, Pulp)

3. "Baby One More Time" (Nigel Dick, Britney Spears)

Top Commercial:

"Laundromat" (Doritos)

TV Top 3:

1. "Frasier: The Ski Lodge" (David Lee, NBC)

2. "Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Becoming" (Joss Whedon, WB)

3. "Sex And The City: Season 1" (Darren Star, HBO)

Other great TV shows:

The Canterbury Tales (UK)

Kabaret Olgi Lipinskiej: Dziady na czatach (Poland)

Kabaret Olgi Lipinskiej: Zeby jaja byly swieze (Poland)

Oz: Season 2

Cartoon Top 3:

1. "Macca Strewth" (Dylan Crooke, Australia)

2. "A Viagem" (Christian Boustani, Portugal)

3. "Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square" (Wang Shui-Bo, NFB, Canada)

Other great cartoons:

The Exciting Life Of A Tree
Frank The Wrabbit (Canada)
Jolly Roger (UK)
Mon enfant ma terre (Canada)
More
No Support (Mexico)

Snow Cat (Canada)

Taxi de nuit (France)
VHS/Carrhot (Canada)
When Life Departs (Estonia)

Weak film of 1998:

100% Arabica (France)
2 Secondes (Canada)
Un 32 aout sur terre (Canada)
54
99.9 (Spain)
Affliction
Africa's Elephant Kingdom
L'Age de braise (France)
Airbag (Spain)
Air Bud: Golden Receiver
Almost Heroes
American History X
American Perfekt
Amores (Brazil)
Angel Of The Night (Denmark)
Another Lonely Hitman (Japan)
Aprile (Italy)
Apt Pupil
L'Arche du desert (Algeria)
Arlette (France)
Armageddon
L'Arriere pays (France)
Assassin(s) (France)
Aujourd'hui ou jamais (Canada)
A vendre (France)
The Avengers
Bandyta (Romania)
Barney's Great Adventure
Baseketball
Beast Cops (Hong Kong)
Begging For Love (Japan)
Beneath The Surface
The Bible And Gun Club
Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss
Black Angel 2
Black Dog
The Blacksheep Affair (Hong Kong)
Blade
Les Boyz II (Canada)
Bride Of Chucky
Buffalo 66
Bullet Ballet (Japan)
Un Bunuel mexicain
Buud Yam (Burkina Faso)
Can't Hardly Wait
Casos de violencia contra comunidades indigenas de Chiapas (Mexico)
Central Station (Brazil)
Le Cercle parfait (Bosnia)
Ceux qui m'aiment prendront le train (France)
Une Chance sur deux (France)
Children Of Hannibal (Italy)
Children Of Heaven (Iran)
Christmas In August (South Korea)
Le Ciel est a nous (France)
City Of Angels
A Civil Action
La Classe de neige (France)
Clay Pigeons
Cleopatra's Second Husband
Le Coeur au poing (Canada)
Color Of The Clouds (Spain)
Comme elle respire (France)
Confession (Russia)
Corps plonges
Cotton Candy (Japan)
C't'a ton tour Laura Cadieux (Canada)
Dahan (India)
Dame Algo (Spain)
Dance With Me
Dangan Runner (Japan)
Dark City
Daybreak
Day Of Full Moon (Russia)
Deadly Rescue (Germany)
Dead Man On Campus
Dear Antonioni (Italy)
Deceiver
Deep Impact
Deep Rising
Deja Vu
De l'autre cote du periph' (France)
Le Demenagement (France)
The Dentist 2
La Deroute (Canada)
Desperate Measures
Didn't Do It For Love
Dieu seul me voit (France)
Dirty Work
Dis-moi que je reve (France)
Disturbing Behavior
Divine Carcasse (Benin)
Doctor Dolittle
Don Juan
Douce France (France)
Downfall (South Korea)
L'Ecole de la chair (France)
The Education Of Little Tree
Elvjs And Merilijn (Bulgaria)
Enemy Of The State
En plein coeur (France)
Esther et Mariana, d'une rive a l'autre (Argentina)
Eternity And A Day (Greece)
Ever After
Everest
Evil Dead's Trap (Japan)
Expect The Unexpected (Hong Kong)
Extras (South Korea)
The Farm Angola USA
El Faro (Argentina)
Felice...Felice (Holland)
La Femme assassin (France)
Femmes et... femmes (Morocco)
Firestorm
Foreign Ghosts (Canada)
Fragments Jerusalem (Israel)
Fred (France)
Full Moon (Switzerland)
Gadjo dilo (France)
George Lucas: Flying Solo
The Gingko Bed (South Korea)
Going To School With Dad On My Back (China)
Le Gone du Chaaba (France)
Go Now (UK)
Habitual Sadness (South Korea)
Half Baked
Halloween H20
Hang The DJ
Hard Rain
Hasards ou coincidences (France)
Hathi (India)
Hav'Plenty
Heart Of The Sun (Canada)
Heaven
Heaven's Burning (Australia)
He Got Game
A Hero Never Dies (Hong Kong)
Hilary And Jackie
Hold You Tight (Hong Kong)
Hollywoodism
Home Fries
Homegrown
L'Homme est une femme comme les autres (France)
Hope Floats
The Horse Whisperer
How Stella Got Her Groove Back
Hunger: Addicted To Love (Germany)
Hush
I'll Be Home For Christmas
The Impostors
In Barca A Vela Contromano (Italy)
L'Inconnu de Strasbourg (France)
The Interview (Australia)
Irma Vep (France)
Island Of Greed (Taiwan)
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
I Think I Do
Jack Frost
Jerry Springer: The Ringmaster
Jin-Roh (Japan)
Kasaba (Turkey)
Kayla (Canada)
Kiler-ow 2-och (Poland)
Kissing A Fool
Kitchen Party (Canada)
Knock Off (Hong Kong)
Krippendorfs' Tribe
Kunoichi: The Lady Ninja (Japan)
The Land Girls (UK)
The Last Days
Last Night (Canada)
Late Bloomers
Lautrec (France)
Lethal Weapon 4
Let's Talk About Sex
The Letter (South Korea)
Life On Earth (Mali)
Live Flesh (Spain)
Living Out Loud
Lost In Space
Love From Ground Zero
Lulu On The Bridge
Madeline
Mafia!
The Magic Of Flight
La Magie Melies (France)
Major League 3
The Man With Rain In His Shoes (UK)
Marie Baie des Anges (France)
The Mask Of Zorro
Mauvais genre (France)
The May Lady (Iran)
Meet Joe Black
Meet The Deedles
Mercury Rising
Les Miserables
Moment Of Impact
Mondo (France)
My Brother's Gun (Spain)
My Giant
The Negotiator
The Newton Boys
Next Stop Wonderland
Niagara Niagara
Nic (Poland)
Night Train
Nightwatch
No Looking Back
The Object Of My Affection
The Odd Couple II
One Good Cop
One True Thing
Le Onzieme (Vietnam)
Painted Angels
Palmetto
Le Pari (France)
Paris (France)
Le Passager clandestin
Passion (Hungary)
Passion In The Desert
Patch Adams
Paulie
A Perfect Murder
Petits desordres amoureux (France)
Phantasm OblIVion
Phantoms
Pi
Place Vendome (France)
Pleasantville
The Polish Bride (Holland)
Polish Wedding
Popol Vuh
La Position de l'escargot (Canada)
Post Coitum animal triste (France)
Pour rire (France)
The Power Of Kangwon Province (South Korea)
Practical Magic
La Premiere nuit de ma vie (France)
A Price Above Rubies
The Prince Of Egypt
Progeny
The Proposition
Psycho
The Quarry (South Africa)
Quest For Camelot
The Quiet Family (South Korea)
Las Ratas (Spain)
Real Blonde
Red Suit (China)
Regeneration
The Replacement Killers
Return To Paradise
Ring (Japan)
River Of Gold (Portugal)
Roujin Z (Japan)
Rounders
The Rugrats Movie
Rush Hour
Saving Grace (New Zealand)
Secret Defense (France)
Seetha And Carole (Canada)
Seul dans mon putain d'univers (Canada)
Shattered Image
The Shoe (Latvia)
Shooting Fish (UK)
Show Me Love (Sweden)
The Siege
Si je t'aime, prends garde a toi (France)
Simon Birch
A Simple Plan
Sitcom (France)
Six Days, Seven Nights
Slam
Sliding Doors
The Slums Of Beverly Hills
Small Soldiers
Smoke Signals
Snake Eyes
Southie
Species II
Sphere
Spriggan (Japan)
Star Kid
Star Trek Insurrection
Stepmom
Stuart Bliss
Such A Long Journey (Canada)
Sucre amer (France)
El Sueno de los Heroes (Argentina)
Suicide Kings
Sunbird (China)
Talos The Mummy
Tamas And Juli (Hungary)
Tango (Argentina)
Tango Lessons
Tarzan And The Lost City
Taxi (France)
Timeless Bottomless Bad Movie (South Korea)
Tokyo Eyes (Japan)
Torrente: The Dumb Arm Of The Law (Spain)
Towards A Promised Land (Canada)
Train de vie
Tranceformer: A Portrait Of Lars Von Trier (Denmark)
The Traveller From The South (Iran)
The Truce (Italy)
Twilight
Two Girls And A Guy
The Ugly (New Zealand)
Unlucky Monkey (Japan)
Unmarried Couples (Sweden)
Urban Legend
US Marshals
Vampires
Velvet Goldmine
Viens danser sur la lune (Canada)
La Vie revée des anges (France)
Les Visiteurs 2: Les Couloirs du temps (France)
Waking Ned Devine (Ireland)
The Waterboy
The Wedding Singer
Welcome To Sarajevo
What Dreams May Come
Whatever
Whispering Corridors (South Korea)
Who Am I ?
Wilde
With Friends Like These
Woo
Wrongfully Accused
The Wrong Guy (Canada)
The X-Files
XXL (France)
Your Friends And Neighbors
You've Got Mail

Weak shorts:

Adieu au TNS (France)

Weak cartoons:

The Art Of Survival
Bunny
Room And Board

Satisfaction Real (Japan)
Snake Theater
Tokitama Hustle (Japan)
Transfigured (Canada)
Zoom

Weak TV shows:

Kabaret Olgi Lipinskiej: Placowka for ewer (Poland)

More Tales Of The City

Top Musical of 1998

"Jeanne et un garçon formidable" (Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau, France)

Wild Things (1998) *****

Of Freaks And Men (1998) *****

Dinara Drukarova is a Russian actress who appeared in films like "Freeze-Die-Come To Life" (1990) and "Since Otar Left" (2003), but her most memorable role was as an innocent rich girl forced to appear in pornographic films in "Of Freaks and Men" (1998), one of the best Russian movies of the last decade. Poor Dinara has to strip naked, kneel on all fours and be whipped by an old lady, while being filmed and watched by perverts. A blind woman, played by Anzhelika Nevolina, is also forced to undress and be whipped. Those torrid scenes are as arousing as they are fascinating, showing those previously prim and proper bourgeois ladies being humiliated, and their tender little asses being struck by whips. This masterpiece of perversity was directed by Aleksei Balabanov. But ''Of Freaks And Men'' isn't just a perverse film. It's a hauntingly beautiful allegory about Communism. The perverts, gradually taking over the lives of two bourgeois families, clearly represent the Bolsheviks, and their rape and the humiliation of the old Russia.

The Big Hit (1998) *****

An absolutely brilliant, totally insane and screamingly funny comedy about a shy hitman (Mark Wahlberg) and his buddies kidnapping the daughter of a bankrupt Japanese businessman. It out-pulp-fictions any recent Tarantino imitation in its hilarity, fast pace, violence, wackiness, inventiveness and energy. Kirk Wong, a Hong Kong master best known for 1994's "Organized Crime And Triad Bureau", makes a stunning Hollywood debut. Domestic box-office: $28 million.

The Longest Nite (1998) *****

A masterfully directed, hard-hitting existential drama about a mysterious stranger (Lau Ching-Wan) framed by a police detective (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), who in turn becomes the victim of an even more elaborate set-up. This is Hong Kong cinema at its finest - incredibly stylish, shockingly violent and absolutely riveting.

Kite (1998) ****

Along with ''Mezzo Forte'' (also directed by Yasuomi Umetsu), ''Kite'' (1998) is probably the best Japanese hentai animé action movie ever made. It's so good, in fact, that there are two versions of it, the R-rated version that eliminates all the explicit scenes, and the Unrated Director's Cut. But both versions feature some of the best action sequences ever seen in a Japanese animation film.

The Red Violin (1998) ****

Historia kina w Popielawach (1998) ****

Happiness (1998) ****

Shakespeare In Love (1998) ****

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Elizabeth (1998) ****

Out Of Sight (1998) ****

George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez have great chemistry together in this very funny gangster comedy. Truly memorable characters and great dialogue.

L'Ennui (1998) ****

Dance Me To My Song (1998) ****

The Celebration (1998) ****

Caricies (1998) ****

The Big Lebowski (1998) ****

Lola Rennt (1998) ****

Lola has 20 minutes to find 100,000 deutchmarks and save her boyfriend's ass.

Hurlyburly (1998) ****

Cynical, superbly written film about a bunch of misogynist, coke-snorting Hollywood executives. The most inhuman, disturbing (but yes, riotously funny) scene involves a teenage drifter (played by Anna Paquin), who finds herself as a kind of sexual hot potato to be screwed, abused and tossed at random from one guy to another.

The Truman Show (1998) ****

Truman Burbanks (Jim Carrey) is the star of a 24-hour TV show that records his life. Problem is, he doesn't know it. A brechtian comedy about manipulation, paranoia and deceit. And an allegory about Communism.

The Opposite Of Sex (1998) ****

Screamingly funny black comedy about an evil 16-year-old girl (Christina Ricci) ruining the life of her saintly (and gay) half-brother (Martin Donovan). Lisa Kudrow steals the movie with her exceptional supporting performance as a cynical spinster.

Life Is Beautiful (1998) ****

In Mussolini's Italy, a young Jewish waiter (Benigni) marries a Gentile woman (Braschi). Five years later, the Nazis send them to a death camp, along with their young son. The father has to find a way to shelter his family from the horrors that surround them. This is one of the most touching and deeply moving films ever made, evoking pathos and compassion in a way that puts a human face on the tragedy of the Holocaust without ever diminishing its horror.

The Hole (1998) ****

A young woman gets to know her upstairs neighbor when a hole appears on her ceiling. A superb comedy from Taiwan.

Black Cat White Cat (1998) ****

Directed by Emir Kusturica. With Branka Katic, Florijan Ajdini and Adnan Bekir. A surrealistic, flamboyant black comedy about crazy Serb Gypsies living on the Danube river. It's a full-blown attack on all accepted norms of propriety and decorum, frenetically paced, absolutely hilarious, wildly sensuous and totally wacky. It offers wild goose chases, shotgun weddings, runaway brides, double-crossing gangsters and non-stop Gypsy music. Kusturica has an uncanny ability to expose the most repulsive, vulgar and disgusting side of humanity, and then...transform it into the most sublime poetry.

The Players Club (1998) ****

The Idiots (1998) ****

The Last Days Of Disco (1998) ****

A Bug's Life (1998) ****

It could be described as a computer-animated remake of Akira Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai", except that here, the brave defenders of the poor peasants happen to be flea circus clowns. Compared with "Antz", this Disney/Pixar co-production is more action-packed, has better animation and more advanced digital effects, but it's certainly not as clever or witty (except for truly hilarious fake bloopers during the closing credits).

Dangerous Beauty (1998) ****

"Dangerous Beauty" is one of the most fascinating historical dramas to come out of Hollywood in recent years. Directed by Marshall Herskovitz ("thirtysomething"), it tells the life story of Veronica Franco, the famous 17th century Venetian courtesan, poet and proto-feminist. Whether making love, reciting poetry, standing up to an Inquisition tribunal or analyzing the strategic importance of Cyprus in the war against the Turks, Veronica (magnificently played by Catherine McCormack) mesmerizes Venetian nobles (and the film's viewers) with her wit, intelligence and beauty. The film is a celebration of her erudition and cleverness.