Best of the Rest

A freakier, rifer year we haven't seen for a decade—in '88, reverence had to be divided between Wings of Desire, Landscape in the Mist, The Last Temptation of Christ, Dead Ringers, The Thin Blue Line, and half a dozen other depth charges. Presently, the edge, stunningly, is Hollywood's, and much of what almost made my list—Rushmore, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Pleasantville, There's Something About Mary, Ronin, Bulworth, etc.—were quixotic studio broodlings. When's the last time you couldn't say it was indeed the worst of times? Bless us, every one.

Read otherVoice critics' 1998 favorite film lists.