83%  Winner:   Shakespeare in Love  123 min,  R,  [Comedy, Drama, History, Romance]  [John Madden]  [08 Jan 1999]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 71%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 92%,   Metacritic: 87%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Won 7 Oscars. Another 56 wins & 88 nominations.
Actors:  Geoffrey Rush, Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Steven O'Donnell, Tim McMullan, Tom Wilkinson
Writer:  Marc Norman, Tom Stoppard
External Links:  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb  Website     Language:  English    Country:  USA, UK
Plot:  Will Shakespeare is a known but struggling poet, playwright and actor who not only has sold his next play to both Philip Henslow and Richard Burbidge but now faces a far more difficult problem: he is bereft of ideas and has yet to begin writing. He is in search of his muse, the woman who will inspire him but all attempts fail him until he meets the beautiful Viola de Lesseps. She loves the theatre and would like nothing more than to take to the stage but is forbidden from doing so as only men can be actors. She is also a great admirer of Shakespeare's works. Dressing as a man and going by the name of Thomas Kent, she auditions and is ideal for a part in his next play. Shakespeare soon sees through her disguise and they begin a love affair, one they know cannot end happily for them as he is already married and she has been promised to the dour Lord Wessex. As the company rehearses his new play, Will and Viola's love is transferred to the written page leading to the masterpiece that is Romeo and Juliet.
Rotten Tomatoes:   William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) is on a cold streak. Not only is he writing for Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush), owner of "The Rose," a theatre whose doors are about to be closed by sadistic creditors, but he's got a nasty case of writer's block. Shakespeare hasn't written a hit in years. In fact, he hasn't written much of anything recently. Thus, the Bard finds himself in quite a bind when Henslowe, desperate to stave off another round of hot-coals-to-feet application, stakes The Rose's solvency on Shakespeare's new comedy, "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter." The problem is, "Romeo" is safely "locked away" in Shakespeare's head, which is to say that not a word of it is written. Meanwhile, the lovely Lady Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow) is an ardent theatre-goer -- scandalous for a woman of her breeding -- who especially admires Shakespeare's plays and, not incidentally, Bill himself. Alas, she's about to be sold as property into a loveless marriage by her mercenary father and shipped off to a Virginia tobacco plantation. But not before dressing up as a young man and winning the part of Romeo in the embryonic play. Shakespeare soon discovers the deception and goes along with it, using the blossoming love affair to ignite his muse. As William and Viola's romance grows in intensity and spirals towards its inevitable culmination, so, too, does the farcical comedy about Romeo and pirates transform into the timeless tragedy that is Romeo and Juliet. ~ Merle Bertrand, Rovi

77%  Nominee:   Elizabeth  124 min,  R,  [Biography, Drama, History]  [Shekhar Kapur]  [19 Feb 1999]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 75%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 82%,   Metacritic: 75%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Won 1 Oscar. Another 34 wins & 54 nominations.
Actors:  Cate Blanchett, Christopher Eccleston, Geoffrey Rush, Joseph Fiennes, Liz Giles, Rod Culbertson
Writer:  Michael Hirst
External Links:  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English, French    Country:  UK
Plot:  This film details the ascension to the throne and the early reign of Queen Elizabeth the First, as played by Cate Blanchett. The main focus is the endless attempts by her council to marry her off, the Catholic hatred of her and her romance with Lord Robert Dudley.
Rotten Tomatoes:   London, 1554. England is rife with intrigue. Elizabeth, born of royal lineage (the daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn), imprisoned by her half- sister Mary, when she is 16, is swept onto the throne and crowned Queen of England at 23. To survive, Elizabeth must suss out hidden agendas in her court, on the battlefield, in the church, and in those closest to her. The male-dominated ruling class would appear to have the advantage, but Elizabeth will deploy whatever means necessary to keep, or take, what is rightfully hers. This young woman of intelligence and vitality will toughen herself into the imposing icon of legend...Elizabeth I.

90%  Nominee:   Saving Private Ryan  169 min,  R,  [Drama, War]  [Steven Spielberg]  [24 Jul 1998]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 86%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 93%,   Metacritic: 91%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Won 5 Oscars. Another 74 wins & 74 nominations.
Actors:  Barry Pepper, Edward Burns, Matt Damon, Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore
Writer:  Robert Rodat
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb  Website     Language:  English, French, German, Czech    Country:  USA
Plot:  Opening with the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944, members of the 2nd Ranger Battalion under Cpt. Miller fight ashore to secure a beachhead. Amidst the fighting, two brothers are killed in action. Earlier in New Guinea, a third brother is KIA. Their mother, Mrs. Ryan, is to receive all three of the grave telegrams on the same day. The United States Army Chief of Staff, George C. Marshall, is given an opportunity to alleviate some of her grief when he learns of a fourth brother, Private James Ryan, and decides to send out 8 men (Cpt. Miller and select members from 2nd Rangers) to find him and bring him back home to his mother...
Rotten Tomatoes:   Steven Spielberg directed this powerful, realistic re-creation of WWII's D-day invasion and the immediate aftermath. The story opens with a prologue in which a veteran brings his family to the American cemetery at Normandy, and a flashback then joins Capt. John Miller (Tom Hanks) and GIs in a landing craft making the June 6, 1944, approach to Omaha Beach to face devastating German artillery fire. This mass slaughter of American soldiers is depicted in a compelling, unforgettable 24-minute sequence. Miller's men slowly move forward to finally take a concrete pillbox. On the beach littered with bodies is one with the name "Ryan" stenciled on his backpack. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall (Harve Presnell), learning that three Ryan brothers from the same family have all been killed in a single week, requests that the surviving brother, Pvt. James Ryan (Matt Damon), be located and brought back to the United States. Capt. Miller gets the assignment, and he chooses a translator, Cpl. Upham (Jeremy Davis), skilled in language but not in combat, to join his squad of right-hand man Sgt. Horvath (Tom Sizemore), plus privates Mellish (Adam Goldberg), Medic Wade (Giovanni Ribisi), cynical Reiben (Edward Burns) from Brooklyn, Italian-American Caparzo (Vin Diesel), and religious Southerner Jackson (Barry Pepper), an ace sharpshooter who calls on the Lord while taking aim. Having previously experienced action in Italy and North Africa, the close-knit squad sets out through areas still thick with Nazis. After they lose one man in a skirmish at a bombed village, some in the group begin to question the logic of losing more lives to save a single soldier. The film's historical consultant is Stephen E. Ambrose, and the incident is based on a true occurance in Ambrose's 1994 bestseller D-Day: June 6, 1944. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

77%  Nominee:   The Thin Red Line  170 min,  R,  [Drama, War]  [Terrence Malick]  [15 Jan 1999]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 76%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 79%,   Metacritic: 78%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Nominated for 7 Oscars. Another 20 wins & 40 nominations.
Actors:  Benjamin Green, Jim Caviezel, Kirk Acevedo, Nick Nolte, Penelope Allen, Sean Penn, Simon Billig
Writer:  James Jones (novel), Terrence Malick (screenplay)
External Links:  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb  Website     Language:  English, Tok Pisin, Japanese, Greek    Country:  USA
Plot:  U.S. Army Private Witt (AWOL) is found and imprisoned on a troop carrier by his company First Sergeant, Welsh.The men of C Company,1st Battalion,27th Infantry Regiment,25th Infantry Division have been brought to Guadalcanal as reinforcements in the campaign to secure Henderson Field and seize the island from the Japanese. They arrive near Hill 210, a key Japanese position. Their task is to capture the hill at all cost. What happens next is a story developing about redemption and the meaningless of war. Regardless the outcome.
Rotten Tomatoes:   The return of director Terrence Malick to feature filmmaking after a twenty year sabbatical, this World War II drama is an elegiac rumination on man's destruction of nature and himself, based on James Jones' semi-autobiographical novel, his follow-up to From Here to Eternity. James Caviezel stars as Private Witt, a deserter living in peace and harmony with the natives of a Pacific island paradise. Captured by the Navy, Witt is debriefed by a senior officer (Sean Penn) and returned to an active duty unit preparing for what will be the Battle of Guadalcanal. As Witt goes ashore in the company of his fellow soldiers, they meet diverse fates. Sergeant Keck (Woody Harrelson) is killed by an exploding grenade. Captain John Gaff (John Cusack) is an intelligent, sober leader facing the destruction of his command because his commanding officer Colonel Tall (Nick Nolte) is bucking for a general's star. Sergeant McCron (John Savage) loses his mind. Private Bell (Ben Chaplin) gets a "Dear John" letter from his beloved wife. However, as the U.S. troops advance up grassy slopes toward entrenched Japanese positions, it is Witt's voiced-over ruminations on life, death, and nature that are the real heart and soul of The Thin Red Line (1998). Adrien Brody appears as Private Fife, the major character of Jones' novel and the author's alter-ego, although Fife has been relegated to a minor supporting role by Malick's filmed adaptation. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi