1998 movies

Playing by Heart

Playing by Heart
Genres: Comedy | Drama | Romance
Year: 1998
Actors: Angelina Jolie | Sean Connery | Gena Rowlands | Gillian Anderson
Directors: Willard Carroll
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Eleven articulate people work through affairs of the heart in L.A. Paul produces Hannah’s TV cooking show, and they must move beyond gentle barbs when she wants to know about an affair of his years ago. Mark is dying of AIDS, and his mother comes to his bedside: they must talk truthfully. Men have scalded Meredith so she rebuffs Trent’s charm, but he persists. The trendy, prolix Joan tries to pull the solitary Keenan into her orbit: why is he reluctant? An adulterous couple meet at hotels for evening sex, but she is unwilling for the relationship to grow. Hugh tells tall tales, usually tragic, to women in bars. By the week’s end, their parallel stories converge.

Great Expectations

Great Expectations
Genres: Drama | Romance
Year: 1998
Actors: John Mills | Tony Wager | Valerie Hobson | Jean Simmons
Directors: David Lean
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An American update of the Dickens novel set on Florida’s Gulf Coast and in the 1980’s SoHo art world. Character’s names have been changed from the source novel.

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
Genres: Horror | Thriller
Year: 1998
Actors: Jamie Lee Curtis | Josh Hartnett | Adam Arkin | Michelle Williams
Directors: Steve Miner
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Laurie Strode (from Halloween I and II) is now the head mistress at a prestigious private school, which is attended by her 17 year-old son. On the 20th anniversary of the events that occurred in Halloween I, Laurie begins having nightmares, flashbacks, and visions of her evil brother, Michael Myers, coming to kill her. Myers shows up at the school on Halloween night, setting the stage for a “final” battle between Myers and Strode.

One True Thing

One True Thing
Genres: Drama
Year: 1998
Actors: Meryl Streep | Renée Zellweger | William Hurt | Tom Everett Scott
Directors: Carl Franklin
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Carl Franklin directed this family drama adapted from the 1995 novel by former New York Times columnist Anna Quindlen about a young woman who goes back home to take care of her dying mother. In 1987-88, independent Ellen Gulden (Renee Zellweger), a Harvard grad, is working on a New York Magazine investigative article when she hears from her father, George (William Hurt), a literary critic and university professor. He tells Ellen she’s needed at home to care for her mother, Kate (Meryl Streep), who’s due for surgery. Ellen needs to get away from the problems of her relationship with her boyfriend Jordan (Nicky Katt), but she plans to continue work on the magazine article from home. In truth, Ellen is uncomfortable with her mother’s various ladies club lunches, and holiday preparations, and she finds communication with her mother awkward. Once Ellen arrives back home, she’s dismayed to find herself caught in the web of her mother’s Middle America activities. Ellen’s attitude changes when it becomes apparent this probably will be the final Thanksgiving and Christmas with all family members present. But tensions erupt as long-buried family secrets emerge. Locations in New Jersey were used to create the film’s Eastern coastal college town. Shown at the 1998 Montreal Film Festival.

Apt Pupil

Apt Pupil
Genres: Drama | Thriller
Year: 1998
Actors: Brad Renfro | Ian McKellen | Joshua Jackson | Mickey Cottrell
Directors: Bryan Singer
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Bryan Singer directed this Brandon Boyce adaptation of Stephen King’s novella about teenager Todd Bowden (Brad Renfro), who discovers Nazi war criminal Kurt Dussander (Ian McKellen) living in his California hometown. Fascinated with Dussender’s wartime atrocities, Bowden blackmails the former death-camp commandant by promising to keep his identity a secret in exchange for Holocaust horror tales, or, as Todd puts it, “everything they’re afraid to show us in school.” Dussander complies, and as the weeks pass, their tense confrontations become increasingly malevolent. This is the third film to derive from King’s 1982 book of four novellas, Different Season. The others are Stand By Me (1986, from “The Body”) and The Shawshank Redemption (1994, from Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, leaving only one remaining unfilmed tale in the book (”The Breathing Method”). Signet felt King’s “Apt Pupil” to be so intense and horrifying that editors asked him to leave it out of the 1983 paperback. A 1987 attempt to film “Apt Pupil” (with Rick Schroder and Nicol Williamson) ended when funding ran out. Shown at numerous 1998 film festivals (Venice, Toronto, Chicago, Sitges, Tokyo).

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
Genres: Horror | Mystery | Thriller
Year: 1998
Actors: Jennifer Love Hewitt | Freddie Prinze Jr. | Brandy Norwood | Mekhi Phifer
Directors: Danny Cannon
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I Know What You Did Last Summer was one of the two teenaged horror movies responsible for bringing the horror genre into the 90’s (the other being Wes Craven’s Scream). Both of those films came from the pen of screenwriter Kevin Williamson, and both of them generated sequels. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is the continuation of Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt), a tortured college co-ed who accidentally almost killed a man and left him for dead one night. One year later, that man, named Ben Willis, came back to kill all of Julie’s friends. Now, another year later, she still suffers from nightmares over the horrible incidents. When Julie’s roommate Kate (Brandy) wins an all-expenses paid trip to the Bahamas on a radio promotion by guessing the capital of Brazil, she decides to take her roommate Julie, her boyfriend (Mekhi Phifer), and their new friend (Matthew Settle) on the retreat. Once there, they discover that besides being the rainy season, they were also followed by Julie’s nemesis who is still seeking revenge. Slowly the islanders turn up murdered, leaving Julie no choice but to explain her past actions to her friends and fight to stay alive. It will entail the final showdown between her and Ben Willis once and for all.

Star Trek: Insurrection

Star Trek: Insurrection
Genres: Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Year: 1998
Actors: Patrick Stewart | Brent Spiner | LeVar Burton | Michael Dorn
Directors:
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Star Trek: Insurrection manages to recall the original 1960s series’ spirit of liberalism, while transcending it for sheer boldness, embracing issues that are on the political cutting edge in the 1990s and beyond. The fact that the first 30 minutes are presented as a mystery only makes the material more engrossing. While assisting a survey team of Federation allies observing the populace of a distant planet, Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) seemingly goes berserk and attacks the survey team, exposing their existence to the populace and jeopardizing the mission. Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) brings the Enterprise into orbit to try and apprehend Data and find out what happened . He discovers that the mission isn’t one of observation, but the involuntary relocation of a small, peaceful population, undertaken by the Federation and its rogue planet allies the Son’a, supposedly to secure the planet’s youth-restoring qualities. As it turns out, there’s a much darker side to the plans of the Son’a, and a personal side to the carnage planned by the Son’a leader Ru’afo (F. Murray Abraham). Picard and his officers, suitably outraged by this violation of the Prime Directive — that no Federation mission may interfere with the natural evolution of an alien culture — take matters into their own hands in an attempt to expose the plot to public scrutiny, risking their lives in the process.

Truman Show, The

Truman Show, The
Genres: Drama | Sci-Fi
Year: 1998
Actors: Jim Carrey | Laura Linney | Noah Emmerich | Natascha McElhone
Directors: Peter Weir
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He’s the star of the show—but he doesn’t know. Truman Burbank is a man whose life is a nonstop TV show. Truman doesn’t realize that his quaint hometown is a giant studio set run by a visionary producer/director/creator, that folks living and working there are Hollywood actors, that even his incessantly bubbly wife is a contract player. Gradually, Truman gets wise. And what he does about his discovery will have you laughing, crying and cheering.

Rush Hour

Rush Hour
Genres: Action | Comedy | Crime | Thriller
Year: 1998
Actors: Mark Rolston | Elizabeth Peña | Ken Leung | Jackie Chan
Directors: Brett Ratner
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Realizing that the FBI and their by the book tactics may be unsuccessful, the Chinese consul recruits the aid of a loyal Hong Kong inspector to help rescue his kidnapped daughter. Outlawed by the FBI, the inspector must form an unlikely partnership with a cocky, street smart LAPD officer who prefers doing things his own way.

Dangerous Beauty

Dangerous Beauty
Genres: Biography | Drama | Romance
Year: 1998
Actors: Catherine McCormack | Rufus Sewell | Oliver Platt | Fred Ward
Directors: Marshall Herskovitz
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Marshall Herskovitz directed this look at life in 16th-century Venice, based on Margaret Rosenthal’s 1994 book The Honest Courtesan. Positioned outside of the Venetian court, Veronica Franco (Catherine McCormack) hopes to rise above her station, but her interest in nobleman’s son Marco Venier (Rufus Sewell) is blocked since his parents forbid their marriage. Following the path taken by her mother, Paola (Jacqueline Bisset), Veronica becomes a courtesan, finding this gives her a niche in the male-dominated society. When Vatican emissaries accuse her of witchcraft, she lashes back, using the trial as a feminist forum to expose the hypocrisies of the period. Filmed in 1996 in Venice and Rome with a variety of working titles (Courtesan, Venice, and The Honest Courtesan).

BASEketball

BASEketball
Genres: Comedy | Sport
Year: 1998
Actors: Trey Parker | Matt Stone | Dian Bachar | Yasmine Bleeth
Directors: David Zucker
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David Zucker directed this slapstick sports comedy starring South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Competing two-on-two against some basketball jocks, goofballs Joe Cooper (Parker) and Doug Remer (Stone) attempt to win by devising new rules while they play. Thus is born the bizarre game of “BASEketball.” Rules: Court position decides whether a sunk basket counts as a single, a home run, or whatever; the opposing team can retrieve missed shots. Verbal abuse is allowed. Ditto for gross-outs — or anything to annoy the shooter. The game becomes popular in driveways, so sports promoter Ted Denslow (Ernest Borgnine) proposes a deal to form a pro league. Dallas Felons owner Baxter Cain (Robert Vaughn), hopes to increase revenues with product placements and pro endorsements, but he needs the okay of team owners. Ted dies during the season finals, leaving Cain to deal with his widow Yvette (Jenny McCarthy). However, Ted willed the team to Cooper, who must win the upcoming season or ownership goes to Yvette. Cameos by Bob Costas and Al Michaels.

Bug’s Life, A

Bug’s Life, A
Genres: Adventure | Animation | Comedy | Family
Year: 1998
Actors: Dave Foley | Kevin Spacey | Julia Louis-Dreyfus | Hayden Panettiere
Directors: John Lasseter
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John Lasseter, director of Pixar’s movie phenomenon Toy Story, has set new standards in computer animation with this effort, another Disney-released children’s epic entitled A Bug’s Life. Blending classic Disney storytelling characters and the mysterious underground world of bugs, Lasseter has created a film that can be enjoyed by all audiences, and another franchise in the process. A Bug’s Life is a computerized retelling of the Aesop fable The Ant and the Grasshopper, made as a cartoon-short by the one-and-only, Walt Disney, in the mid-’30s. However, A Bug’s Life has modernized the story with many new twists and celebrity voices. The story focuses on a colony of ants who seasonally gather food for themselves and a wild gang of rowdy grasshoppers. When bumbling worker ant Flik (David Foley) destroys the food supply, the angry grasshoppers, lead by the maniacally warped Hopper (Kevin Spacey), threaten to kill the ants if they don’t produce a new supply of food by the time they return — an impossible feat. Flik leaves the anthill in search of help in the form of bigger bugs, and to wage war against the grasshoppers. What he doesn’t know is he has actually discovered a group of down-on-their-luck traveling circus insects in need of a job. When the ants realize that their heroes are really circus performers (and the circus bugs realize these grasshoppers are really big and mean), the situation goes from bad to worse. Ultimately, the ants use their large numbers to overcome the grasshoppers.

Snake Eyes

Snake Eyes
Genres: Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller
Year: 1998
Actors: Nicolas Cage | Gary Sinise | John Heard | Carla Gugino
Directors: Brian De Palma
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Brian DePalma directed this taut thriller, set in Atlantic City, where a corrupt cop investigates a political assassination. Outside an Atlantic City arena-hotel-casino, a TV news reporter stands in a pre-hurricane storm to report on the heavyweight boxing match about to begin inside. A transition to the stadium interior focuses on Atlantic City homicide Detective Rick Santoro (Nicolas Cage), a father with a wife and son, yet also a dishonest cop who maintains a mistress and cheerfully accepts bribes. DePalma’s Steadicam follows Santoro on a fast-paced tour of the stadium as the laughing, yelling detective travels stairs and hallways, talks to a gal with a between-rounds placard, visits the dressing room of champ Lincoln Tyler (Stan Shaw), rides down an escalator to squeeze money from a small-time hood, enters the arena of 14,000 fight fans, talks on his phone with his girlfriend and wife, and sits ringside next to his lifelong buddy, Navy Cmdr. Kevin Dunne (Gary Sinise). Behind Dunne, the U.S. Secretary of Defense Charles Kirkland (Joel Fabiani) is seated alongside billionaire casino owner Gilbert Powell (John Heard). As the fight gets underway, Dunne abandons his position protecting the defense chief to pursue a suspicious redhead. From his ringside vantage point, Santoro has a close view of the champ, curiously conscious despite taking a kayo punch. At that moment, an assassin fires at Kirkland. Santoro immediately concocts a good cover story for his pal (to explain why Dunne left his post protecting Kirkland). Just after the shooting, Dunne kills a Palestinian extremist, the apparent killer, and Santoro orders the stadium doors locked, hoping he can locate other suspects among the fleeing crowd. One such is Julia Costello (Carla Gugino), an injured woman in a blond wig who spoke with Kirkland seconds before the gunfire. After a video replay reveals the champ took a fall, going down to the floor from a punch that never touched him, Santoro becomes more curious and suspicious, comparing witness accounts, and he attempts to locate Julia, convinced she’s the key to truth behind the assassination. As it all comes to a head, Santoro peels through successive layers of corruption, ultimately confronting himself in a self-examination of his own values. Filmed at Montreal’s old Forum.