#1998 films

[cressida-jayoungr]

One Dress a Day Challenge

November: Oscar Winners

Shakespeare in Love / Colin Firth as Lord Wessex

Year: 1998

Designer: Sandy Powell

I've featured some of the women's costumes from this film before, but the men deserve some attention as well. Lord Wessex wears this magnificent outfit when he comes to inform Viola that a match has been arranged between them. The embroidery on his doublet and cloak is simply jaw-dropping in its variety and intricacy. I've included some closeups to show both the details of the embroidery and the texture of the various materials.

It's a shame we can't see what he's got for footwear, and we also never see him wearing the hat. He also manages to make the ruff look like something a person might actually wear on a regular basis.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Wild Things (1998)

From its premise, you’re going to think that Wild Things is one kind of movie. I promise you it isn’t. My advice is to look at the poster. At the bottom of the screen are Matt Dillion and Kein Bacon. Above their heads is the title. Above it… is that Neve Campbell and Denise Richards, together in a pool of water, looking all wet and smoldering? Now you have a better idea of what kind of movie you’re in for.

High School guidance counselor Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon) is shocked when one of his students accuses him of rape. Kelly Van Ryan (Denise Richards), daughter of the wealthy and popular Sandra Van Ryan (Theresa Russell), tells her story to the police. She’s backed by another student, Suzie Toller (Neve Campbell), who tells a similar narrative. Detective Gloria Perez (Daphne Rubin-Vega) and Sergeant Ray Duquette (Kevin Bacon) smell something wrong with this case and begin digging.

Knowing nothing about this movie, I had a bad feeling going in. I was reminded of an exchange in Promising Young Woman. “It's every man's worst nightmare, getting accused of something like that.” to which Cassandra responds “Can you guess what every woman's worst nightmare is?” At the risk of spoiling things, I’ll tell you this movie is not a court case drama and it isn’t about false rape accusations either. It’s a neo-noir erotic thriller. This is the kind of movie you’d watch by yourself and then turn off the second you hear a strange noise at the front door. You might not have been doing anything wrong, the scene you were on might not have been dirty but whoever it is that's knocking might think you were up to something.

Some people would call this film trashy, and it’s hard to disagree. There are a lot more sex scenes than necessary but I wouldn’t cut any of them out. Wild Things contains one twist after another, after another. It’s loaded with revelations that make you wonder who you’re supposed to be cheering for. The plot is wild and convoluted. The shocks continue even into the end credits, which are repeatedly interrupted with scenes that give more information on what exactly happened. It’s not the way most movies would handle this kind of tale but that doesn’t make it bad. You’ll have fun examining the clues, categorizing them under “legitimate” or “red herring”, thinking about what you would look at next and who you think is the real mastermind behind this thing that’s going on.

Wild Thing balances several different tones. At times, it almost feels like a comedy, particularly when Bill Murray comes in as Lombardo’s lawyer. Then, it becomes a thriller, then an erotic thriller. Then, a mystery. The blend isn’t always even, and some of the reveals come in so fast and last-minute, they kind of feel like afterthoughts. Still, it isn’t a movie you’ll easily forget and it’ll certainly make you grateful to have a pair of eyes to watch it with. Call it a guilty pleasure or a movie that’s unashamed of being exactly what it is. Either way, go watch it. I won’t tell anyone. (Full-screen version on VHS, May 16, 2021)

[areladurell]

Favorite Films | 1998 Dark City (dir. Alex Proyas) | The X-Files: Fight the Future (dir. Rob Bowman) | Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (dir. Steve Miner) | Practical Magic (dir. Griffin Dunne) | What Dreams May Come (dir. Vincent Ward) | Urban Legend (dir. Jamie Blanks)

[rookie-critic]

City of Angels (1998, dir. Brad Silberling) - review by Rookie-Critic

The third stop on my Nicolas Cage weekly movie nights was an odd choice. After two absolutely unhinged films like Con Air and Face/Off, why would my friends' next choice be a rom-com between Cage and Meg Ryan that happens to be a remake of a beloved 80s film by auteur Wim Wenders? The answer was simple: The song "Iris" by The Goo Goo Dolls was written for this movie, and that was intriguing enough to give it a slot, and honestly I'm the kind of person who wants to devour an actor's entire filmography, especially for an actor like Nicolas Cage, so I didn't mind at all. I didn't have super high expectations going into this one, I'd never even heard of it before and, looking at the reviews, they didn't seem too favorable. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how well written, well acted, and just generally well made this was.

Cage and Ryan both give absolutely stellar performances, with Cage actually managing to draw a tear out of me with a line delivered towards the end of the film. Special shout out should also go to Dennis Franz, who is unforgettable as Nathaniel Messinger in the film. While the story may seem a tad ridiculous on the surface; an angel wants to become mortal after falling in love with a human woman, the film does a very good job of bringing that frankly wacky premise down to Earth and making it believable within the rules the movie sets up for itself. I know I've already mentioned that Cage gives a stellar performance in this, but I don't think I've really sold it enough, so I'm going to keep talking about it. This isn't Cage unhinged, this is Cage subdued. It's such a straight-laced, non-bombastic performance that I'm not sure I've ever seen out of him before. Even taking Pig into account, which by all metrics is a more subdued performance from his average outing, still has aspects to it that are wacky, and only one scene in this entire film sees Cage approaching his normal levels of insanity, but even then it fits within the confines of the character. I know that a lot of the charm surrounding Nicolas Cage is his crazed, frantic acting, but when I see him in films like this, like Pig, it makes me a little sad, because I know that he's more than capable of giving a truly incredible performance. One that's memorable for how good his acting is as opposed to how bizarre and bonkers it is, which, again, has its own charm and appeal. I don't necessarily want Cage's reputation as a wildman actor to go away, I don't want his legacy to consider how genuinely talented he is, as well.

While I don't understand the Tomatometer's 57% for this film (inversely to how I don't quite understand Face/Off's 92%), there are aspects of it that don't work for me. For one, while the dialogue is amazing, Ryan and Cage have absolutely no chemistry. Cage is definitely not the rom-com scene partner that Tom Hanks is to Ryan, and it shows. It really is their chemistry because, as I stated earlier, their performances are both stellar, but I just got nothing in the romance department out of them. Another lackluster piece of this puzzle is that it does lean over into overly sappy territory more than once, for sure. A lot of the music cues, while the songs themselves are good, were almost too much. One in particular, when Sarah McLachlan's "Angel" plays during a pivotal romance scene, was actually too much. This very possibly could be because of that song's connection to the ASPCA commercials from the mid-2000s, and if that is that case I can't really hold that against the film, but the on-the-nose nature of the song's titular line and the style of music it is was more of a hindrance than a help, as was the case for the scene where "Iris" plays.

One last thing I'll say in the con category is with a specific scene in the film in which we are shown flashes of black-and-white clips that don't really seem pertinent as well as black-and-white versions of things that had happened earlier in the movie. From what I understand, the black-and-white aspect of this is in reference to original Wim Wenders film, Wings of Desire, in which it is a major plot point that angels can't see color, which is all well and good except for the fact that this had never been established in City of Angels up to that point, which makes it very jarring and confusing as to why that was been presented that way. It also still doesn't answer what those other, unrelated clips were. The closest thing I think for them to be are shots from Wings of Desire that were placed there as a way to homage the original film, but I have no idea if that's true or not, and it still wouldn't make sense as to how they relate to Seth in this film. Regardless, City of Angels was great. It's one of the better genuinely fantastic performances I've seen out of Cage, the writing was awesome despite its leads' lack of chemistry, and most importantly, I had a fun time watching this with friends. What more can you ask for?

Score: 8/10

Currently available for rent/purchase on digital (iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, etc.) and on DVD & Blu-ray through Warner Bros./Regency.

[53v3nfrn5]

1001 Nights (1998) Art: Yoshitaka Amano

[zegalba]

Yoshitaka Amano: 1001 Nights (1998)

[shihlun]

Kiyoshi Kurosawa

- Eyes of the Spider

1998

[seasonofhorror]

BEETLEJUICE

1988, dir. Tim Burton

[christianbalefanatic]

Christian Bale attends the premiere of Velvet Goldmine at the Village East Cinema in New York, New York (October 26, 1998)

Re: Christian Bale as Arthur Stuart in Velvet Goldmine (1998) dir. Todd Haynes

[jestinjoculators]

heavy...

[zanephillips]

RYAN PHILLIPPE 54 (1998) dir. Mark Christopher

[cressida-jayoungr]

One Dress a Week Challenge

May: Gold & Silver

Elizabeth / Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I

Although this movie's costumes were known for being loose interpretations of historical styles rather than painstakingly accurate, they did do quite a faithful recreation of Elizabeth's actual coronation gown, right down to the tassels on the closure! The thing that is surprising is that it's just one of her regular dresses that she wears to a dance earlier in the film. I looked up the date of Elizabeth I's coronation, and it was two months after the death of Mary, so in real life she had ample time to have a new gown made for the occasion.

(EDIT: @theladyelizabeth mentioned on a reblog that IRL, Elizabeth wore Mary's coronation gown, just altered to fit her. But in that case, she still would be unlikely to be wearing it to dances!)

The dress looks far less grand without the accompanying ruff, jewelry, and ermine-edged cloak. In fact, I don't think I even registered that it was the same garment on first viewing.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Patch Adams (1998)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

Patch Adams is based on a true story, which is shocking. Not because a real-life doctor called Hunter “Patch” Adams existing seems impossible; because this film is so phoney, so emotionally manipulative, so misguided and manufactured not an ounce of it rings true. Obviously green-lit as a dramatic vehicle for Robin Williams, the story he’s given leaves a bad taste in your mouth despite his best efforts. It was a hit upon release and you can see why. This is exactly the kind of manipulative melodrama that would sucker indiscriminating viewers.

While self-administered in a mental institution, Hunter “Patch” Adams (Williams) finds that humou - rather than the cold, clinical attitude most doctors hold - yields the best results among the patients. After enlisting at the Medical College of Virginia, he questions the attitude his teachers hold towards the patients, raising the ire of Dean Walcott (Bob Gunton) and his roommate, Mitch (Philip Seymour Hoffman).

You can tell which scenes Robin Williams juiced up with his improv. Those moments are great and genuinely funny. The man had a warmth to him that made you believe in his character. Patch seems genuinely sweet and sympathetic. The rest of the picture is unintentionally funny when it isn’t cloying, overly sanctimonious and overbearing. I’m still shocked we didn’t get a scene of Dean Walcott slaming his fists upon a table yelling “Aaaaadams!” like the crusty dean in so many frat-centered comedies. The man’s a cartoon, a bizarro-world version of Patch who wishes every doctor could surgically remove their emotional glands to be as robotic as possible while practicing. This portrait of the medical world is an insult to doctors, who - according to this film - do not care about their patients at all.

I could criticize the film for diverging from the real story of Patch Adams but I won't. While the 47-year-old Williams is twice the age the real man was when he began his career, the casting is good. It's fine to stray from reality because movies are not real life. If you want to take liberties, however, do it to make the film more interesting. This brings us to the worst character in the film: Monica Potter as Carin, a fellow medical student. In a movie filled with stereotypes, she may be the worst; a love interest introduced where none is needed, a token female whose sole purpose is to serve the male lead. It gets downright offensive in the end but even before then, it’s kinda creepy to see Williams flirting with the then-27-year-old who tells him she’s not interested. He persists until eventually, she relents. It makes the sweet Patch seem like a creep and further undermines his character. Perpetually goofy and never seen studying (though we’re assured he’s acing his tests and brilliant at medicine), Patch steals medical supplies, bursts into patients’ rooms unannounced, invades people’s privacy and repeatedly ignores his superiors’ orders. You understand why doctors feel the need to remain emotionally distant from their patients. They're very likely to see someone in their care die. It happens in this movie. There is something to be said about being too cold but this movie takes things to such extremes that no one would ever want to be cared for by Patch.

Relying on one cliché after another and going for cheap sentiments every time is the favourite tactic of director Tom Shadyac but let’s not forget to blame screenplay writer Steve Oedekerk. Ultimately, Patch Adams is interested in giving Robin Williams a role. Everything else was an afterthought. (On DVD, June 7, 2019)

[sapphicweisz]

[velveys]

Christina Ricci & Vincent Gallo in Buffalo 66 (1998)

[53v3nfrn5]

1001 Nights (1998) dir. Mike Smith art: Yoshitaka Amano