Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)

Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)

[6] Natasha Lyonne (American Pie, But I'm a Cheerleader) leads an esteemed ensemble cast in writer/director Tamara Jenkins' story of a 1970s teenager coming of age on the outskirts of Beverly Hills. The family is struggling to make ends meet,…
Cousin Bette (1998)

Cousin Bette (1998)

[6] Jessica Lange and Elisabeth Shue star in this darkly comedic period piece about a bitter seamstress (Lange) who plots to ruin the lives of her late sister's husband and daughter after they refuse to accept her into their wealthy…
Deep Impact (1998)

Deep Impact (1998)

[7] Deep Impact feels like an old-fashioned Irwin Allen disaster flick -- and I dig that. Basically, the world learns that an asteroid is headed toward earth and we have one year before we can attempt to destroy it with a…
The Faculty (1998)

The Faculty (1998)

[7] Robert Rodriguez directs from a script polished by Kevin Williamson in this fun high school body snatchers horror flick. Piper Laurie, Jon Stewart, Salma Hayek, Robert Patrick, Bebe Neuwirth, and Famke Janssen play the title characters, members of an…
The Prince of Egypt (1998)

The Prince of Egypt (1998)

[8] Dreamworks Animation's maiden voyage is a stunning achievement of sight and sound. Impressionistic background paintings blend with sexy, angular character designs, all set to a brilliant soundtrack by composer Hans Zimmer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz. It kills me that…
The Thin Red Line (1998)

The Thin Red Line (1998)

[5] John Toll's cinematography and Hans Zimmer's music will wash over you in an ecstatic kind of way in The Thin Red Line. The shots rolling over wind-swept grassy hills are mesmerizing and director Terrence Malick incorporates many other elements…
The Governess (1998)

The Governess (1998)

[7] Minnie Driver plays a destitute Jewish woman who poses as a gentile to gain employment as nanny for a rich family in Scotland. While there she falls in love with the children's father and becomes the object of the…
Disturbing Behavior (1998)

Disturbing Behavior (1998)

[7]

After suffering the suicide of his older brother, Steve (James Marsden) and his family relocate to Cradle Bay, where some of the kids at school aren’t quite themselves these days. With the help of new-found friends Rachel (Katie Holmes) and Gavin (Nick Stahl), Steve discovers that a local doctor, Caldicott (Bruce Greenwood), is conspiring with parents to lobotomize their teens in order to create “good boys and girls”, all of whom become members of the school’s Blue Ribbon elitist clique. Caldicott’s experiments stymie the Blue Ribbons’ sexual impulses and mold them into academic achievers that spend a great deal of time trying to recruit others to “the program”. Unfortunately, the experiments don’t always work.  As someone comments in the film, “Whenever one of these kids gets a hard-on, they want to beat someone over the head with it.”  But this doesn’t stop Caldicott or the town’s parents from expanding Blue Ribbon membership.  When Steve’s parents enter him in Caldicott’s program, he plans a desperate escape, not just from Cradle Bay, but from school, his parents, and the past — the archetypal plight of just about every teenager that ever lived.

Permanent Midnight (1998)

Permanent Midnight (1998)

[6] Ben Stiller gives a career-best performance in Permanent Midnight, based on Jerry Stahl's autobiographical book of the same name. As Jerry, Stiller plays a Hollywood writer whose heroin habit almost destroys him. Elizabeth Hurley and Maria Bello play romantic…
Gods and Monsters (1998)

Gods and Monsters (1998)

[9] Ian McKellen gives his most moving film performance to date as James Whale, director of the original Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and many other Golden Age titles. Bill Condon directs and adapts from a novel by…