Good Morning, World

It's Monday! Who doesn't love a Monday? Why you ask anybody around the globe what their favorite morning is, it's gonna be Monday. (Set to the tune of "It's Gonna Be Me" by NSYNC of course.) Anyway we're not big on double-dipping but I only recently discovered that there was a longer version of the "Dylan O'Brien baths bare-assed in the sea-shore scene in Send Help" that was included in the extras on the blu-ray, and what, I'm gonna leave those shots un-giffed? Dylan lathering up his soapy torso... 

... will be one of The indelible images of 2026, cut or uncut (editing, I mean editing!) -- make no mistake! For serious though I think this extended sequence, which adds a little extra sexual tension between him and Rachel McAdams' character (instead of staying turned away she turns back and he shows off for her), is useful -- not just because we see more of Naked Dylan, but because it complicates their relationship further and that's always good. Alas. At least we have it now. And now is the time where you hit the jump, to have it...

Burn Demon Babies Burn

That there is the first teaser trailer for the next Evil Dead movie, titled Evil Dead Burn, and unlike what I normally say about horror movie trailers I think it's perfectly fine to watch this one! It's about a minute of footage from the movie, a single unbroken take that shows very little except the expected chaos of any Evil Dead movie. But I think it gives you a good feel for what French director Sébastien Vanicek will be rbinging to the typical Deadite-inflected proceedings -- I was a huge fan of his 2023 spider-horror flick Infested, which is in itself kinda extraordinary because I fucking hate spiders, they terrify me, and I usually can't bring myself to seek out horror movies about spiders. And yet! Even I, through my fingers, couldn't deny the fun and power of Infested. (And speaking of I will now renew my plea for a physical media release of it. Come on, Shudder!) Anyway Evil Dead Burn is out on July 11th and below (via) is the plot description, which does fill in some gap points of reference for the clip above:

"Evil Dead Burn unleashes the franchise’s most savage and terrifying ride to date, blazing onto big screens with an all-new chapter of carnage and demonic mayhem. After the loss of her husband, a woman seeks solace with her in-laws in their secluded family home. As one by one they are transformed into Deadites—turning the gathering into a family reunion from hell—she comes to discover that the vows she took in life… live on even in death."

I Want My Mummy!

It's totally inexplicable how much not a Mummy movie this Mummy movie is. Lee Cronin's The Mummy (and I do think that's the official title in full, which... well that probably would've been a better choice had you been sure you'd made a great Mummy movie first, Mr. Cronin) is in fact, besides a couple of scenes set in Egypt and a sarcophogus, an Evil Dead movie. It's basically a remake of Lee Cronin's Evil Dead Rise (his last directorial effort) in fact, when it comes down to it. It's Evil Dead Rise with a bunch of CG sand flying around over everything every so often -- basically when Cronin remembers this is supposed to be a Mummy movie he makes some sand show up. Otherwise this is about a family who gets possessed one by one by a blasphemous demon, making little kids do the darndest things (or dare I even day, the damndest thing, gasp!), while ancient indecipherable artifacts get translated via obselete technology, and everything's extremely gross and obscene. 

The last bit is the best bit -- it's what I liked about Evil Dead Rise, too. Cronin is definitely not afraid to be extremely gross and extremely obscene. But as with EDR (which brought the Deadites to the city only to then keep them entirely contained to one building for the entire run-time, making it feel like a retread of everything we'd seen before in the franchise) the plot and the characterizations in this movie make so little sense from scene to scene; it's really just "gross and obscene" strung together by the thinnest of (admittedly sticky) threads. I didn't really hate my time watching this movie, but it's in no way "good" nor should anyone be applauded for how lazy it all is. Cronin made a terrific Irish Folk Horror movie in 2019 with The Hole in the Ground, but he's just been coasting on puke and pus and kids saying fuck ever since. Bad Mummy!

Good Morning, World

Who's up for a morning dip with Dylan O'Brien? I am, I am. And today's your day too because Sam Raimi's absolutely terrific thriller Send Help starring this man here and a tremendsouly bonkers Rachel McAdams (in the "Bruce Campbell in a Sam Raimi Movie" role) is now out on VOD -- and even better it's also available to pre-order on 4K physical media. That lands on April 21st -- not even a month away! Why you could practically bounce a quarter off of that, uhhh, amount of time. Sorry my own gifs were distracting me. It's just this movie proposes one hell of a situation -- Blue Lagooning it with this boy? One's bound to get distracted. Hit the jump for an extra gif to perk up your morning...

Today's Mood

Rub Dylan O'Brien For Good Luck

Well that's the brief that for this Thursday -- I've gotta run myself to a screening, and I think the above photo of Mr. Dylan O'Brien and the below trailer will give you a good clue what movie I'm seeing. Whee super duper excited for this one! Sam Raimi locked back in sicko mode -- it's been too, too long. More on that in the coming week (ir's in theaters on January 30th) though -- for now just feel free to distract yourselves a little longer from the dreaded real world outdoors by looking at the rest of the photos from the set the one up top comes from. Right here. It's worth that click. Bye!

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Crimewave (1985)

Girl in bar: You're cute.

Renaldo the Heel: Keep talkin', baby. 

Maybe you'll tell me something I don't already know.

Happy 65 to Sam Raimi!
Any fans of Crimewave up in here?

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

A Simple Plan (1998)

Hank: When I was still just a kid, I remember my father telling me what he thought that it took for a man to be happy. Simple things, really. A wife he loves, a decent job, friends and neighbors who like and respect him. And for a while there, without hardly even realizing it, I had all that. I was a happy man.

Happy 25 to Sam Raimi's masterpiece.

(How the hell is this movie not on blu-ray yet?)

Have a Very Waters Weekend!

It's John Waters' 77th birthday tomorrow, so find some way to celebrate -- you know, eat shit and die or something. No but seriously this should hopefully be a stellar John year since he's supposedly working on making an actual movie now! Let's hope we hear more about that soon since, I mean, dude is turning 77. Okay I need to shut my pie-hole -- John Waters is gonna live forever! 

Aaaanyway I'm done for the day, which means I'm done until Monday -- but I have given you a whole lot to ponder! I reviewed three count them three movies out this weekend -- here is my review of Guy Ritchie's The Covenant with Jake Gyllenhaal; here is my review of Evil Dead Rise; and here is my review of Ari Aster's Beau is Afraid. Oh and I also wrote about the 50th anniversary of the incredible 1973 horror flick Messiah of Evil today too for good measure -- read that right here! And that is plenty to keep you busy this weekend. When you're not eating shit and dying for John Waters, I mean. Bye!

Dawn of a New Evil Dead

Extremely busy week for me off-MNPP (hence why it's been somewhat quiet here) -- if you head over to Mashable you can read my thoughts on the new Evil Dead movie, Evil Dead Rise! I start it right off with the claim that the Evil Dead franchise is obviously the strongest horror franchise around, and I stand by that even if I might have some quibbles with how this new one plays out. It's extremely fun and extremely extremely gory, all of which obviously fits it right in alongside all the previous entries (and the TV series). I really want them to mash up all three stories in the next one -- give me Ash and Mia (from the 2013 film) plus the survivor(s) of this one all brought together dammit! We have earned it.

Bringing Out the Deadites

Fiiiiiiinally seeing Evil Dead Rise tonight! I've managed to avoid mostly everything -- I haven't watched the trailer nor have I read any reviews... but still I've heard about the cheese grater and the "maggots" line and wish I hadn't. Oh well. It's okay. My body is ready. And my fingers better be too because I'm seeing this movie so late I've got to pound out my review in record time. Maybe if I repeat this little mantra I see scribbled down here it will help? What's it say? Klaatu.... barada.... necktie? Huh. That's weird. Did you guys hear that? I think I hea

Good Afternoon, Gratuitous Ray Santiago

I was hoping when I clicked on actor Ray Santiago's IMDb page today (after noticing that today is his birthday) that I'd see he would somehow be reprising his Ash vs Evil Dead role of "Pablo" in Evil Dead Rise, the upcoming Evil Dead movie (this time set in a city!) from The Hole in the Ground director Lee Cronin (see my previous post here). I haven't been paying much attention to EDR because why would I, I am sold on Evil Dead content alone and will see it no matter what -- no need to spoil too much. So I only realized now that EDR is focused on another batch of brand new characters, meaning no Ash, no Mia, and no Pablo. Boo! Anyway Ray's IMDb page might have been a disappointment on that front but his Instagram page turned out to be anything but...

... emphasis on the "butt," clearly. I can't remember when I learned that Ray was openly gay but it's not something I realized watching him play Pablo on Ash vs Evil Dead, not at all, and I was totally (ecstatically) surprised when I did get that information. Well one glance at his Insta these days and no such doubts remain -- it's hella gay up in there, bless him. He's got a cute boyfriend and a drawer full of micro-speedos and he is living his best exhibitionist life and we are happy for him! Also it looks like he also got interviewed by our pal Bryan Fuller for the upcoming Queer For Fear mini-series that's hitting Shudder this fall, which is something else to be excited about. Anyway in celebration of Ray's birthday I snatched up some photos off that Insta, and I have them after the jump, enjoy...

In the Marvels of Madness

Raimi, Raimier, Raimiest -- those were the words that kept kicking me in the face last night during Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe offering featuring Avengers and Scarlet Witches, Wizard Supremes and several very surprising guest stars, faces old and new, that will surely set comic-book fans toes to tingling. Speaking as an old-school Raimi fan from ye horror days of the Evil Dead films you can sense the maestro's presence early on in the details, but you know that scene in Evil Dead II where an itty bitty drip-drop of liquid turns into a firehose of viscera blasted into Bruce Campbell's face? That's the way the Raimi comes at us with Multiverse -- drip, drop, kablammo, baby. By the last act we might as well be watching Army of Darkness II for how deep his deliciously dastardly vibe, big on goop and goof, has infected the typical flat-ironed and steel-bellied tone of the MCU.

I've got no big desire to dip my own toes into plot specifics but the basic gist here is that fresh hero-to-be America Chavez (a winning Xochitl Gomez) has powers flaring up beyond her control and a whole raft of big baddies (many of them many-tentacled and goopy to the max -- all the better for Raimi to slam in and squish them with windshield-like glee) are chasing her through multiple universes to suck said powers straight outta her. And in every universe which America stumbles she stumbles straight upon the good Doctor -- Strange that is -- and he helps her... or he helps her by hurting her... it all depends on the mood and emotional gradations of that slice of the multiverse's Stephen. 

So Stephen Strange helps her or he doesn't, and the Stephen Strange we're familiar with, in our own chapter of the Marvel Universe,  decides to help her by going to his friends to get some help. Enter the sly and delightful Benedict Wong as Wong the now-reigning Sorcerer Supreme, and also enter Elizabeth Olson as Wanda Maximoff, last seen nursing her emotional devastations post-WandaVision with a very big very bright red book. If you're a comics fan you know that book is called the "Darkhold" and if you're not a comics fan the movie will explain it to you, don't worry. But I think you can guess by its name that that book, in the grand tradition of "Books in Sam Raimi Movies", is problematic! Necronomicon-ho!

Anyway, as many iterations as Benedict Cumberbatch gets to play with as Doctors Strange in this movie, the Multiverse of Madness belongs for me to Olson. And as she's proven time and again, Elizabeth Olson is doing the best acting in the entirety of the MCU. This movie doesn't change that -- it only triple underlines that. While I remain resentful that an actress this talented and multifaceted seems to have been swallowed up entirely by the superhero complex, it's hard to keep that anger at its necessary boil when they keep giving her actual meaty material to work with like they did with WandaVision and like they do in this movie here. She's exceptional, delivering a three-hundred-and-sixty degree range of emotion for poor embattled Wanda, the big-eyed girl whose torments know no bounds. There's something to be said about the cruelty and pain that superhero stories seem intent on inflicting upon women in particular, something I'm not going to fall down the rabbit hole with right now, but Olson makes the experience riveting nevertheless. 

And this movie isn't just cruelty and pain obviously, but as with anything you can label "Raimiest" the director adores butting said pain up against goof and camp and the broadest sincerity, threading the world's trickiest tone like a multiverse-sized camel being jammed through the eye of a needle, a needle in a pile of needles ten pyramids tall (dare I say a "time-stack?) His Wizard of Oz movie showed what happened when the balance was off -- yikes -- but he's got all his plates spinning here, and Multiverse of Madness will send you reeling from emotional high to high like we're leap-frogging a mountain range. As much fun as the last Spider-Man was (and I dug that sucker plenty) this one's much more my jam, and this is the one I'll be re-watching, high off its giddy obscene supply. This is not Sam Raimi chained to anything -- this is the MCU chained to Sam Raimi, and swooping straight through the fires of hell and up through the stars and back, demons screeching on our tails the entire time. What a great goddamned time at the movies!

Jonathan Majors Takes A Lickin'

Leaving my desk a little early today for a couple of screenings -- I'm actually going to a theater to see the trailer (yes just the trailer) for the new Avatar movie. I liked the original Avatar a lot and am of the school that it's top-tier foolish to doubt James Cameron at this point, so I'm excited, naysayers be damned. And then I am seeing the new Doctor Strange film -- a little dispirited after Sam Raimi leveled our expectations last week when he said we should expect this to be less Sam Raimi and more typical MCU, but... it's okay. I liked the last Doctor Strange movie and I love Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch (even if I hate that she only acts in MCU projects now -- let the woman do something else dammit!) so I think I'll probably like this well enough, fingers crossed. What I'm really hoping...

... is that Jonathan Majors makes a surprise appearance as his Loki character (or some iteration thereof) before his already-expected return in the next Ant-Man -- that's my one wish. We will see. But speaking of Majors, y'all remember those beefcake-tastic photos I shared from the set of the third Creed film several weeks back? I missed him briefly talking about the shoot to Variety, so here's what he said about that experience:

"He trained for at least a year to prepare. His hands have become so big he couldn’t even squeeze on a wristband for the Chanel pre-Oscars party. 'Over time, they just got bigger and bigger,' Majors says. Despite playing a boxer in the movie, which marks Jordan’s directorial debut, Majors insists he wasn’t left with any injuries: 'I got punched in the face about 100 times, but it’s all OK!'"

5 Off My Head: Siri Says 1987

Picking back up my "Siri Says" series after a couple of busy weeks as we plow into its final stretch of entries -- as I explained one month ago I've only got around a dozen years left out of one hundred total to write up, so maybe we'll finish this series off before the world ends even! Wouldn't that be a hoot? This series, you might or mightn't know, involves me asking my iPhone to assign me a random number between 1 and 100, and then I give you my five favorite movies from the year that corresponds. Anyway that's how I did it for the majority of these posts, but now that we're down to such minuscule options I've just written the remaining years out on slips of paper, and I pick one that way.

Which brings me to this week's selection -- we'll be choosing our favorite movies from the movies of 1987! Which, well, all of these movies are coincidentally turning 35 this year, so prepare your cake-based celebrations accordingly. And you know what else? This is the last year that I had left from the 1980s! Whenever I finish off a decade like this I collect up links to all that decade's entries, so here those are for your glance-back pleasure:

Here are my favorite movies of 1980

Here are my favorite movies of 1981 

Here are my favorite movies of 1982

Here are my favorite movies of 1983

Here are my favorite movies of 1984

Here are my favorite movies of 1985

Here are my favorite movies of 1986

Here are my favorite movies of 1988

Here are my favorite movies of 1989

Personally speaking I have a deep fondness for a lot of 1980s cinema since I saw my first movie in that decade and slowly, across its span, found myself becoming the obsessive who types before you today, but... the 1980s? Not really the greatest decade for movies when it comes down to it. I can admit that. Don't get me wrong, there are heaps of great films, as all of those links above will show you. But when I steep myself in the general sense of 80s Cinema it's a lot of big budget nonsense that dominated, while even foreign art-cinema was in a kind of strange in-between place. But hey if the 80s are your favorite movie decade please let me have it in the comments! And it's possible I'm feeling less than enthusiastic about them today after going through 1987's specific offerings, which were a little wobbly in particular. But I found some great ones! (It's a really great year for horror movies, actually.) On that note here are...

My 5 Favorite Movies of 1987

Wings of Desire

(dir. Wim Wenders)

-- released on October 19th 1987 --

Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn

(dir. Sam Raimi)

-- released on March 13th 1987 --

Broadcast News

(dir. James Brooks)

-- released on December 13th 1987 --

RoboCop

(dir. Paul Verhoeven)

-- released on July 17th 1987 --

Maurice

(dir. James Ivory)

-- released on September 18th 1987 --

---------------------------------------

Runners-up: Opera (dir. Dario Argento), The Princess Bride (dir. Rob Reiner), Full Metal Jacket (dir. Stanley Kubrick), Moonstruck (dir. Norman Jewison), Raising Arizona (dir. Coens), Fatal Attraction (dir. Adrian Lyne), Adventures in Babysitting (dir. Chris Columbus), Outrageous Fortune (dir. Arthur Hiller), The Last of England (dir. Derek Jarman), House of Games (dir. David Mamet), Near Dark (dir. Bigelow), Dolls (dir. Stuart Gordon)...

... Empire of the Sun (dir. Spielberg), Prince of Darkness (dir. John Carpenter), The Stepfather (dir. Joseph Ruben), River's Edge (dir. Tim Hunter), Hellraiser (dir. Clive Barker), Predator (dir. John McTiernan), The Running Man (dir. Paul Michael Glaser), Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2 (dir. Bruce Pittman), Withnail & I (dir. Bruce Robinson), Street Trash (dir. James Muro)

Never seen: My Life as a Dog (dir. Lasse Holstrom), Au Revoir Les Enfants (dir. Louis Malle), Angel Heart (dir. Alan Parker), The Believers (dir. John Schlesinger), Matewan (dir. John Sayles), Making Mr. Right (dir. Susan Seidelman), Ishtar (dir. Elaine May), Who's That Girl (dir. James Foley), The Dead (dir. John Huston), September (dir. Woody Allen), The Last Emperor (dir. Bertolucci)

---------------------------------------------

What are your favorite movies of 1987?

The Multiverse of Cumberbatch

Is it weird that I don't think of "Dr. Strange" as Benedict Cumberbatch anymore? The actor and the Marvel character have become separate entities in my brain. (I suppose this is especially appropriate given the split realities of the forthcoming sequel.) When I watched The Power of the Dog, all four or five times I have done so, I never once thought of the MCU, and vice versa -- looking at the trailer for the latest Dr. Strange movie, which premiered during the Super Bowl yesterday, I have to walk my brain hand in hand to the realization that Strange is Cumberbatch. Cumberbatch is Strange! 

Who knew the power of some gray streaks and a goatee? I'll have to remember this for when I inevitably have to change my identity and go on the run. Anyway, this trailer! I only just watched it now since I plainly do not watch the Super Bowl (and even though I know it makes me a dick, well, what's new, but I also think a little less of anyone who does watch the Super Bowl -- sorry, them's just the breaks) and it's a blast. Whether you're an MCU fan or not -- and I am, even while I am fully cognizant of the limitations -- I think this is one to be excited about, because Sam Raimi, baby. Here's the trailer:

Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness is out on May 6th.

Spin A Little Web Of Dreams

Did you hear the one about the spider and the man? One bit the other and wham bam web, ma'am. What about the other one about the man and the spider? Or the other? Well I hope your head's full of man spider stuffs because nine movies in (ten including that animated one that everybody loved and which gets a sly little shout-out here) we're arriving at Spider-Man: No Way Home, Tom Holland's third standalone as the character -- which doesn't count all the Avengers movies he's popped up in, of course -- and if you ask me, his best. No Way Home is a superhero smash.

And anyway you did ask me, because you're here reading this, which I take as my permission to continue. But I will be kind, generous, in return for your trust, and I will keep my mouth yapped shut on spoilers. Don't fear! I don't really give a shit when it comes to talking plot any of the time anyway -- other sites I write for demand I get into that stuff but I prefer to write about the vagaries of cinematic sensation over  mechanics whenever I can, and this spoiler-aversion gives me the opportunity to indulge myself. So let's! If you've seen the trailer you know plenty enough. Try not to know anything else and the surprises this one's got in store for you are fairly endless.

What's so great about No Way Home is it truly feels like spider-id unleashed -- like somebody decided for once they were truly gonna go all out on the comic book writer sensation that there's only you and a piece of paper and a pencil in front of you and you can make these characters do absolutely fucking anything you can think of, and this movie's gonna do it dagnabit, and it did. I'm not slighting any of the previous Spider-movies -- I rate Raimi's Spider-Man 2 with an even higher grade than I do this one still -- but Spider-Man: No Way Home lives in the place where the last couple of Avengers movies did where endless buckets of money met truly limitless CGI; it's not just the sky that's the limit, it's the furthest reaches of space, time, and all infinite dimensions.

Basically No Way Home is peak pop culture of our moment. Sure I have quibbles here and there about plot mechanics or character choices if I felt like indulging my inner-quibbler, but the deluge of because-we-can fuck-yeahs on displays in this picture are too dazzling and delightful to deny. This is Marvel & Co giving the exhausted and weary people out here the full superhero nonsense of their dreams, undiluted and gone-for-broke, and this thing deserves every damned penny it will make. It's our moment's version of Busby Berkeley put-on-a-show for the weary folks, razzle dazzle 'em, and I whizzed outta this spider-sucker feeling both razzled and dazzled deep down in my happy places. All I can say is a big thanks. I needed this.

Spider-bums Assemble!

This has been a rumor floating about for a few months but it seems this week we've gotten confirmation that the next Spider-man movie from Marvel is going to be a Spider-verse movie that will bring in both of the previous Spider-man actors -- that'd be Tobey Maguire and our boy Andrew Garfield seen above -- to swing alongside the Spider-twink himself Tom Holland. My reaction to this news yesterday was...

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE pic.twitter.com/QDGJg5zGkw

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) December 8, 2020

... predictable. But this is some nerd heaven, and since I have continually loved the Spider-man movies since the Raimi days this is my kind of nerd heaven. A Spider-bum Heaven! Besides having all of the Spider-twinks and Spider-twunks twerking in one place a couple other names have been officialized, those being Kristen Dunst back as Tobey's and the world's best Mary Jane... 

... and yes, she will get them tigers, and also the franchise's greatest villain (all apologies to Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio who gave a properly valiant effort) Alfred Molina as Doc Ock, from Raimi's second film. This inspired a much more respectable tweet from yours truly shortly before the more lecherous one...

Experiencing Spider-Man 2's subway fight in a New York City movie theater three years after 9/11 was... well I'm crying right now remembering it? It was the probably the best, most moving emotional catharsis that an action movie has ever gifted me pic.twitter.com/DdBfN3KSLS

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) December 8, 2020

15 Off My Head: Siri Says 1998

.

Siri is giving me the whiplash! The last few editions of our beloved far and wide "Siri Says When" series -- in which I ask the voice inside of my telephone for a number between 1 and 100 and then use that number to name my favorite movies from the corresponding year -- have taken us from the 1920s to the 1960s to the 1990s to the 1930s and now, today right on back into the 1990s again. I think the fewer numbers that remain the wilder these swings will get, but funny enough Siri gave me a number we've never done on the very first try today -- 98! So I guess Siri really wants us to look at The Movies of 1998 today! Whatever you says, Siri!

And you know, 1999 gets all the credit for being an amazing year of cinema -- which it really admittedly was, and funny enough 1999 remains the only year of the 90s I have yet to do one of these posts for -- but 1998 really should get more credit than it does, because hot damn there are a ton of movies from 1998 that rocked my face off. So many that today's list isn't the usual 5 -- it's not even the occasional stretched-out-to-10. No today we're doing a Top 15 because I couldn't possibly chop off a single one of these 15. I refuse! And unless you can find the secret sub-basement from which I am now posting this post and chop off both of my hands before I hit "publish" you can't make me! Ha!

My 15 Favorite Movies of 1998

The Truman Show

(dir. Peter Weir)

-- released on June 5th 1998-- 

Happiness

(dir. Todd Solondz)

-- released on October 16th 1998 -- 

Wild Things

(dir. John McNaughton)

-- released on March 20th 1998 -- 

The Opposite of Sex

(dir. Don Roos)

-- released on May 22nd 1998 -- 

Babe: Pig in the City

(dir. George Miller)

-- released on November 25th 1998 -- 

Hands on a Hardbody

(dir. S.R. Bindler),

-- released on July 10th 1998 -- 

Love is the Devil

(dir. John Maybury)

-- released on October 7th 1998 -- 

Velvet Goldmine

(dir. Todd Haynes)

-- released on October 23rd 1998 -- 

Dark City

(dir. Alex Proyas)

-- released on February 27th 1998 -- 

Pleasantville

(dir. Gary Ross)

-- released on October 23rd 1998 -- 

A Simple Plan

(dir. Sam Raimi)

-- released on January 22nd 1998 -- 

Out of Sight

(dir. Steven Soderbergh)

-- released on June 26th 1998 -- 

Gods & Monsters

(dir. Bill Condon)

-- released on November 4th 1998 -- 

Living Out Loud 

(dir. Richard LaGravanese)

-- released on November 6th 1998 -- 

Rushmore

(dir. Wes Anderson)

-- released on October 9th 1998 -- 

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Runners-up: Saving Private Ryan (dir. Steven Spielberg), There's Something About Mary (dir. Farrellys), A Bug's Life (dir. John Lasseter), Shakespeare in Love (dir. John Madden), Apt Pupil (dir. Bryan Singer), Great Expectations (dir. Cuarón), The Big Lebowski (dir. Coens), The Spanish Prisoner (dir. Mamet)...

... Lost in Space (dir. Stephen Hopkins), High Art (dir. Lisa Cholodenko), The Last Days of Disco (dir. Whit Stillman), The X-Files (dir. Rob Bowman), Buffalo '66 (dir. Vincent Gallo), Pi (dir. Aronofsky), Lolita (dir. Adrian Lyne), Halloween: H20 (dir. Steve Miner), Snake Eyes (dir. De Palma)...

... The Slums of Beverly Hills (dir. Tamara Jenkins), Blade (dir. Steven Norrington), Pecker (dir. John Waters), 54 (dir.), Cube (dir.), Your Friends and Neighbors (dir. Neil LaBute), Urban Legend (dir. Jamie Blanks), Beloved (dir. Demme), American History X (dir. Tony Kaye), Psycho (dir. Gus van Sant), Croupier (dir. Mike Hodges), The Faculty (dir. Robert Rodriguez), The Thin Red Line (dir. Terrence Malick)...

... Hurlyburly (dir. Anthony Drazan), I Stand Alone (dir. Gaspar Noé), Ringu (dir. Hideo Nakata), Meeting People is Easy (dir. Grant Gee), Very Bad Things (dir. Peter Berg), Beseiged (dir. Bertolucci), God Said "Ha!" (dir. Julia Sweeney), Hideous Kinky (dir. Gillies MacKinnon), The Butcher Boy (dir. Neil Jordan), Clay Pigeons (dir. David Dobkin), How Stella Got Her Groove Back (dir. Sullivan)

Never Seen: Life is Beautiful (dir. Robert Benigni), Mulan (dir. Barry Cook), Little Voice (dir. Mark Herman), Affliction (dir. Paul Schrader), The Prince of Egypt (dir. Brenda Chapman), Spice World (dir. Bob Spiers), Bulworth (dir. Warren Beatty), He Got Game (dir. Spike Lee), Clockwatchers (dir. Jill Sprecher), Sliding Doors (dir. Peter Howitt)...

... Hilary & Jackie (dir. Anand Tucker), Can't Hardly Wait (dir. Harry Elfont), The Wedding Singer (dir. Frank Coraci), The Boxer (dir. Jim Sheridan), The Celebration (dir. Thomas Vinterberg), Rounders (dir. John Dahl), Henry Fool (dir. Hal Hartley), Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss (dir. Tommy O'Haver), Practical Magic (dir. Griffin Dunne)

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What are your favorite movies of 1998?

.