10. OUT OF SIGHT

There’s a scene near the beginning of Out of Sight where an escaped convict (George Clooney) shares a car ride with a U.S. Marshal (Jennifer Lopez) in the trunk of a getaway car.  They discuss the movies of Faye Dunaway, from Bonnie and Clyde to Network, and the entire scene is fantastic.  It’s at that point when I knew I’d make room for Steven Soderberg’s best film since 1993’s King of the Hill. Who knows, perhaps thirty years from now there will be a film that discusses the films of George Clooney, and I can’t think of a better starting point to his career than Out of Sight.

9. THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY

Every high school class had at least one Mary – and every guy in the class was either like Healy (Matt Dillon) or Ted (Ben Stiller) around her.  Yet, in high school it wasn’t nearly as laugh-out-loud funny as it is in the Farrelly brothers’ best film to date.  And yes, that includes the far-more quotable Dumb and Dumber.

There’s Something About Mary isn’t without flaws, but who can resist the film’s best jokes, from the Matt Dillon giving CPR to Mary’s dog to Bret Favre’s cameo to Ben Stiller’s “frank and beans” incident, which is the funniest scene I’ve seen in the movies in years.

But at the heart of it all, there really is something about Mary because Cameron Diaz is so charming and sweet as the title character.  Like Ted, I hope we see a lot more of her in the future.

8. THE BIG LEBOWSKI

How do you follow up a film that is destine to be an all-time classic like Fargo?  Well, if you’re the Coen brothers, you follow it up by making a film that is a blast to watch – which is exactly what The Big Lebowski is.  Filled with quotable one-liners and starting a group of people who seem like they’d be fun to hang out with, Lebowski tells the story of a lazy hipster (Jeff Bridges) who gets mixed up with a mobster because of his birth name.  What starts out as a misunderstanding soon turns into a complete mess when he enrolls his bowling buddies for help.  Don’t think The Big Lebowski deserves a spot in the top ten?  Well, to quote the Dude, “that’s just like, your opinion, man.” 

7. A SIMPLE PLAN

Director Sam Raimi must have really been taken by the Coen brothers’ masterpiece, Fargo.  It’s evident as the inspiration to A Simple Plan, and there are certainly worse films to mimic than the masterpiece that was released just two years ago.  Fortunately for us, A Simple Plan is about as good as a copycat film can get.

The film relies on a great performance from Billy Bob Thorton – quite possibly the finest performance I saw in 1998 – as a mentally handicapped brother to Hank, a caring but struggling feed mill employee played by Bill Paxton.  The brothers, along with their greedy friend Lou come across a wrecked airplane carrying over four million dollars.  What follows is a tale of greed and deception that deserves to be included alongside The Treasure of the Sierra Madre as one of the best stories about greed to ever shine on the big screen.

6. LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL

Some critics and audience members panned Life is Beautiful for mixing humor with the holocaust, but those viewers missed the point.  It’s true that Life is Beautiful spares its viewers from the horrors that were so painfully depicted in Schindler’s List, but in my opinion, that’s okay.  No film will ever match the superiority of Schindler’s List, so I appreciate filmmakers who take a different approach to the holocaust, which is exactly what Roberto Benigni did. 

His story is more about the love that a father has for child – a love that goes to dangerous lengths to protect his child from the cruelties and realities of war.  True – it’s no Schindler’s List, but most movies are no Life Is Beautiful, either.

5. RUSHMORE

Wes Anderson may just have the ambition of Max Fischer, the overachieving main character of his hilarious new comedy, Rushmore.  Fortunately for all of us, Anderson’s execution and talent far exceeds that of Max’s.

Max is an ambitious student at the prestigious private academy Rushmore, where his full-ride scholarship is threatened to be taken away due to poor grades.  But Max has more important things on his mind – like winning the heart of one of the school teachers that is much older than him. 

In a year filled with some really great comedies, there were none that balanced story and humor together so perfectly than Rushmore.  Max may find himself on academic probation, but his film deserves straight A’s.

4. SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE

Shakespeare In Love gives me hope for the future of the romantic comedies – a genre that has become far too uncreative and predictable in recent years.  Fortunately, Shakespeare In Love is one of the most creative, romantic and funny stories of the year, as it tells the story of the woman who (fictionally) inspired him to write Romeo & Juliet.  Gwyneth Paltrow plays the inspiration with such charm and sweetness that I can’t think of a performance from the past year that has so deservingly made a star out of a lead role. 

3. PLEASANTVILLE

Gary Ross’s sneaky new film, Pleasantville, is a brilliant look at racism and progression disguised as just another light-weight high school comedy.  That’s part of its brilliance. 

Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon play siblings who get trapped inside the black and white world of a 1960’s sitcom, where they inherit the roles of William H. Macy and Joan Allen’s perfect children.  But not for long, as their, for lack of better word, true colors come out. 

Pleasantville, although well received, may be the most overlooked film of the year.  The city of Pleasantville may go from being perfect to anything but that, but in doing so Ross’s film becomes perfect itself.

2. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN

Now that Steven Spielberg has covered both the holocaust and WWII, it is my humble opinion that there never needs to be another World War II film ever made again.  That’s not because the subject matter is unimportant, but rather because Spielberg’s brilliant-beyond-words WWII drama, Saving Private Ryan, has set the bar for the genre beyond reach, much like he did five years back with Schindler’s List.  Saving Private Ryan is a film that not only captures the look, sound and feel of war, but also captures the fear, the heroics and the bonds of those who serve.  If his past resume hadn’t already bumped Spielberg to the top of every greatest director list, Saving Private Ryan is a director’s achievement that certainly makes any other claim ridiculous. 

1. THE TRUMAN SHOW

It seems like a crime to pick any film not named Saving Private Ryan as the best film of the past year – but hear me out.  True, Saving Private Ryan is a masterpiece that will likely go down in cinematic history and The Truman Show is not.  But perhaps it should.  It’s a film that brilliantly captures America’s obsession with the media and way we treat celebrities.  And if that’s not reason enough to pick it as the film of the year, the fact that it was by far the most entertaining film of the year should be.