The 5 Best Films of 1998

 

Judging by the cinematic landscape of the past nine months, it looks as though Hollywood's come full circle in the last 20 years. Think about it: We've already witnessed the release of a movie about an aging basketball player (Uncle Drew), a World War II flick (Operation Finale), a film centered on a duo of African-American gangsters (Superfly) and a game-changing comic book movie featuring a Black superhero (Black Panther) -- and four of the best films of 1998 fit those descriptions to a tee.





5. He Got Game

Barring documentaries, Denzel Washington and Spike Lee's third collaboration is probably the best basketball movie of all time. Lee's examination of the pressures heaped onto an inner-city hoops phenom includes a look at golddiggers, groupies, fanatic boosters, crooked agents, desperate coaches, greedy family members and everything in between -- all targeting a teenager from an as-yet ungentrified section of Brooklyn.

Perfectly timed for b-ball fans, He Got Game debuted a week after the start of the '98 NBA playoffs. Michael Jordan and his Bulls would go on to win the NBA championship for the final time just six weeks later.

4. Hav Plenty

Each year from 1997-1999, three romance films featuring African-American, non-violent, college-educated lead characters endeavouring to carve out writing careers debuted to critical acclaim. Hav Plenty is the middle piece of the spiritual trilogy (the other two are love jones and The Best Man). Though mainstream moviegoers weren't used to seeing these types of characters, they were nothing new to the African-American community.

Hav Plenty is based on the true story of writer/director/editor/star Christopher Scott Cherot's post-college heartbreak. Unlike his fellow leads in the other two aforementioned movies, aspiring-writer Lee Plenty seems to be anything but a success-in-the-making. Technically homeless, he's house-sitting for former co-ed and semi-frenemy Havilland Savage (inspired by Cherot's old flame, Def Jam Records A&R Drew Dixon) when she invites him to spend New Year's weekend at her family home. During his holiday stay with Hav, Lee quickly becomes a pinball careening off of his old buddy's baby sister, friends and grandmother who represent a diverse, yet distinct, collection of women who seem too specific not to be inspired by people who the writer's actually met.

3. Blade

Blade is the first. No, he's not the first African-American superhero to grace the pages of a comic book but Marvel's very first artistic and financial success in Hollywood was Blade. Blade pre-dates the first X-Men movie by two years and the original Spider-Man by four. Blade, which earned more than triple its cost at the box-office, was a hit a full decade before Iron Man was released. 1986's Howard the Duck, 1989's The Punisher and 1990's Captain America were all horrible flops. 1994's The Fantastic Four was so bad it was never even released. While DC had already given the world successful big-screen versions of Superman and Batman, Blade proved that film adaptations of Marvel comics could be viable enterprises. The billion-dollar exploits of Captain America, the Avengers and the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe would never have been possible if not for a 1998 movie about an African-American vampire half-breed who hates 50% of his heritage (vampires, not African-Americans). Blade was so popular that it spawned a trilogy, the third installment of which gave then-future-Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds his entree into the Marvel world.

"The book is better than the movie." Not in this case. Blade is a damn good movie based on a subpar comic. Not only is it one of the best comic book movies ever to hit cineplexes, but it's also one of the best vampire movies ever produced.  It also happens to be the first Marvel movie to feature a Stan Lee cameo, though it was wisely deleted in favor of the more serious final product.

Originally, LL Cool J was in talks to star in Blade as a parody. Luckily, those ideas were nixed too. Blade just happens to have been written by David S. Goyer, who also co-wrote the screenplays for the Dark Knight trilogy.

On top of all of that, it also bears the distinction of being the movie that introduced the world to the drop-(un)dead gorgeous (bad pun intended) Sanaa Lathan. After the movie's release, none of the dudes that I knew that had seen it, would shut up about "Blade's Mom".

Blade tells the story of a guy imbued with superhuman abilities, clad in black leather and a match black trenchcoat, who wages war on (of which most of the world is unaware), and is pursued by, a virtual army of black-clad foes who similarly possess superhuman abilities. Said guy has a penchant for wearing dark sunglasses, is highly proficient in martial arts, routinely defies the laws of physics and is largely known by a one-name alias. He's mentored by an older man of a different race, who, while highly-skilled and knowledgeable, is not as powerful as our hero. He is also aided by a woman, possessing of highly-technical expertise, whose life he saves. At one point, the two are pursued through a subway tunnel. His aforementioned enemies are bent on the global subjugation of humankind and harvest them for their biological resources. It's also made clear that the fate of mankind hinges, in part, on the fulfillment of a prophecy -- with the hero being called "the chosen one". Blade was released to theaters on August 21, 1998. The Matrix was released nearly seven months later. Just saying.









2. Belly

Belly is nearly the inverse of critical darling Boyz N the Hood. While Boyz was the film adaptation of the lyrics and ethos of seminal west coast rap group N.W.A.'s early work, Belly is the cinematic manifestation of New York-bred rap legend Nas' music. Key scenes and characters are directly transplanted from Nas' vivid stories set to music.

The film centers on the criminal exploits of Queens-born friends Tommy and Sincere, the latter of which is appropriately enough portrayed by Nas himself (N.W.A. founding member O'Shea "Ice Cube" Jackson portrays a key role in Boyz N the Hood). Set against the backdrop of the impending new millennium, Tommy and Sincere start bad (robbing nightclub managers at gunpoint) and get worse (trafficking heroin in the Midwest). 

Though the former is fully committed to a life of crime and violence, the latter yearns for a life of conscience and his ever-growing scruples eventually prompt him to quit the business and end the partnership -- though he can still be counted on to settle his friend's affairs after he's busted in connection to a very public murder. Tommy, on the other hand, seems irredeemable.

1. Saving Private Ryan

Surprisingly inspired by true events, Saving Private Ryan is all about a mission to find the last surviving son of the Ryan family and send him home from the war alive and well. It is without a doubt the best military film of all time and legendary director Steven Spielberg's best work.

Over the protests of the surviving men under his command, Captain John H. Miller is tasked with the mission to rescue the last living Ryan brother (two of his brothers were KIA on the beach at Normandy and the third was killed by the Japanese in New Guinea) of an Iowa family from behind enemy lines before a German mortar round or bullet finds him first. Captain Miller receives the assignment after leading the remaining members of his squad from the 2nd Ranger Battalion of the 29th Infantry Division through the landing at Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion, during which American casualties numbered over 2,000.

First, they must find Private James Francis Ryan, a paratrooper and member of the 101st Airborne Division, who may or may not still be alive and who could've landed almost anywhere in the French countryside.

Like I said, the movie is loosely based on a true story. During WWII, the Army sent Fritz Niland home early after his three brothers were reported KIA. Fortunately, reports of Fritz's brother Edward's death turned out to be unfounded. He made it back home to America as well after escaping a Japanese prison camp.

Originally Posted 9/17/18