Thanks for coming back to Part three of our exploration of the top 100 movies of the last 25 years.  Today’s installment starts with 1998 and goes through 2001.  I just wanted to explain quickly why this installment has as many entries as the others but covers far fewer years.

Quite simply, 1998 and 1999 are two of the most prolific years of good film.  For film lovers, these were two golden years and when you see the films we’ve chosen, we think you’ll agree.  The other surprising thing about these films are that not a lot of them ended up nominated for the Best Picture Oscar in their respective years.

1998:

53. Dark City (IMDb): This has long been one of the favorites of more than a few of the Big Shiny Robot!s here on the site and there’s a reason Alex Proyas’ crowning acheivement is on this list. He flawlessly fused the genre of noir and science fiction in a way that is often imitated (*cough*like that shitfest the Matrix*cough*) but never duplicated. If you haven’t seen this film, you owe it to yourself to see it immediately. Seriously, even Roger Ebert said it was the best film of 1998. (Trailer)

54. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (IMDb): Terry Gilliam’s wonderfully quotable (though it’s quoted far too often) rendition of Hunter S. Thompson’s classic work of Gonzo journalism earns it’s way on this list with ease.  This is Johnny Depp at his best, which is why it’s so surprising to us that people are suddenly now realizing he’s a good actor and he’s been doing some of his best work for more than a decade. The same goes for Benecio Del Toro who put on 40 pounds for his transformation in this picture. (Trailer)

55. Rushmore (IMDb): Wes Anderson’s crowning achievement can be seen here in the masterpiece Rushmore. A lot of people will tell you that The Royal Tenenbaums is his best film, but Rushmore embodies a restraint of his style that serves a much more charming and touching story. Bill Murray is also king in this picture alongside Jason Schwartzman and the breathtaking (yet shockingly coarse) Olivia Williams. (Trailer)

56. The Big Lebowski (IMDb): This is, perhaps, the most quoted film of our generation.  Add to the fact that it’s an extremely funny satirical take on a classic noir-ish genre, this has become a cult classic.  It’s an absurdist tale populated by absurd but wonderfully loveable characters like The Dude, Walter Sobchak, Donny, Brandt, Bunny, and the whole gang.  If you haven’t seen this film yet, there’s something clinically wrong with you. (Trailer)

57. Thin Red Line (IMDb): One of the most visually striking and heart-rending war films ever made, this film made the mistake of coming out too closely on the heels of Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan.”  People were expecting a tough, terse war film in that mold and weren’t expecting the poetic art of Malick’s superior masterpiece.  The highlight of the film?  The battle of wills between Nick Nolte and Elias Koteas and the cameos by pretty much everyone under the sun.  Jim Caviezel, though, carries the film on his back and is the crux of the poignant ending where he finally is able to embrace his death and choose his last breath.  (Trailer)

58. Magnolia (IMDb): Every character in this movie is completely relatable, from the abused daughter to the woman scrutinizing Frank T.J. Mackey. And no matter what side of an argument or debate a character is on, you can sympathize with both parties. Every minute of screen time, and every line spoken by everyone (including small parts like the pharmacist) mean something. Phillip Seymour Hoffman (among half a dozen other members of the cast) should have gotten an Oscar. (Trailer)

59. Shakespeare in Love (IMDb): A lot of people felt burned by two years in a row by the Academy, what with Titanic winning and then Shakespeare in Love.  What a lot of people didn’t realize is that Shakespeare in Love didn’t just deserve it, but it’s one of the smartest, most romantic and fun movies ever filmed.  The script is easily one of the most carefully constructed and the cast (including the always delightful Tom Wilkinson) is top notch.  If you overlooked this movie or offered it any amount of disdain, come back to it now and more than a couple of us here at BSR are sure it’ll be worth it for you.  (Trailer)

1999:

60. Talented Mr. Ripley (IMDb): Arguably Anthony Minghella’s best film, The Talented Mr. Ripley, is based on a favorite source of material for Alfred Hitchcock, Patricia Highsmith (who also wrote the novel Strangers on a Train was based on.) With an knockout cast and Matt Damon in, hands down, his best role ever, the film is a tight thriller that keeps you guessing all the way through to its shocking conclusions. Minghella went out of the way to make it as Hitchcockian as possible, even emulating Saul Bass We can’t recommend this movie enough. (Trailer)

61. Fight Club (IMDb): David Fincher created a cult classic by adapting Chuck Pahlanuik’s novel of the same name, despite claims that the book was unadaptable.  This is also another in a string of movies that reminded people that Brad Pitt could act.  Stylistically and in tone, the film is wonderful to look at and a joy to revisit even though some of it’s themes and plot points seem a bit more forceful and clunky than upon initial viewing.  (Trailer)

62. Toy Story 2 (IMDb):This is another film with a screenplay like a fine Swiss watch.  The screenwriters, filmmakers and animators were able to so wholly adapt the world of toys into a living breathing organism in a way that is extremely smart that’s easy for adults to appreciate, but also in a form that kids not only appreciate, but they appreciate it so much that they will watch it over and over and over and over and over again. (Trailer)

63. Eyes Wide Shut (IMDb): Much maligned and misunderstood, it’s taken a lot of time and assurances to convince a lot of people that this is indeed a classic Stanley Kubrick film as good or better as any of his other work.  Kubrick also did some incredible things with the cinematography, largely lighting and shooting the film by himself on top of guiding Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman to could arguably be called the greatest performances of their lives.  The film, though structured non-traditionally, is a master-work in tone, theme and subtext and is truly a wonderful thing to see.  (Trailer)

64. Iron Giant (IMDb): Not just a film for kids, nerds or fans of film, The Iron Giant truly transcends demographic and is a perfect film for literally anyone.  It’s charming, funny, heart-wrenching and hand animated gorgeously.  This was the film that tipped us off about Brad Bird and his genius and he hasn’t disappointed us yet (in fact, all of his movies made the list in one way or another.)  I also make no bones about mentioning that this is hands down the best film Vin Diesel has ever been involved with. (Trailer)

65. Sweet and Lowdown (IMDb): Often overlooked by critics and film fans in recent times, Sweet and Lowdown was another of the best films in a great year not nominated for best picture (along with Eyes Wide Shut, Magnolia and The Talented Mr. Ripley, among others) Woody Allen created this historical fiction story about a 1930s jazz guitarist played to perfection by Sean Penn. He also directed Samantha Morton to a Best Actress Nomination without her character ever uttering a single word. (Trailer)

66. All About My Mother (IMDb): Another Pedro Almodovar picture added to the list, Dr. Cyborg and Clang! Boom! Steam! insist this film is not only one of the best on this list of the last 25 years, but in the history of cinema.  With All About My Mother, Alomodovar once again proves that you can take characters in preposterous or taboo situations and make them not only relatable, but also charming.  Our advice?  Check out Almodovar starting here. (Trailer)

2000:

67. Requiem for a Dream (IMDb): Darren Arronofsky’s masterpiece? While some people may argue this movie is a downer and hard to watch, few would argue that it doesn’t have some of the best film editing in history of cinema. Also, few would argue that it has one of the most iconic soundtracks ever made and is cut to it masterfully. Good or bad, this movie triggers emotional responses by everyone that watches it and that is a difficult feat in itself. This proves without a doubt that Darren Arronofsky knows what he’s doing. (Trailer)

68. American Psycho (IMDb): This film is a hard one to categorize.  It certainly contains Christian Bales first transformative performance as a self-obssessed yuppie serial murderer and that alone should be enough to make it to this list, but it’s got so much more than that.  From it’s incredible use of cheesy music (Sussudio) to the horror of trying to feed a cat to an ATM machine, the film is both witty and horrifying and wrapped up in a mixture that isn’t common to any other film ever made. (Trailer)

2001:

69. The Devils Backbone (IMDb): A ghost story based during the Spanish civil war at an orphanage, The Devil’s Backbone is a well told story with heart (as opposed to most ghost stories told with horror.) We wouldn’t say that Guillermo Del Toro is the creator of this genre, but he certainly defines it. We would also like to say that for a smaller budget Spanish film, the make-up in this movie is more realistic then almost any Hollywood picture we’ve ever seen. (Trailer)

70. Ghost World (IMDb): Daniel Clowes and Terry Zwigoff make quite the team, add Scarlett Johansson, David Cross, and Steve Buscemi and it’s a safe bet that you are going to have a truly outstanding movie. Maybe not a conventional superhero comic book movie, but one of the best comic book movies none the less. This shit be funny! (Trailer)

71. Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), The Return of the King (2003) The greatest Trilogy of nerd films to come out since the completion of the original Indiana Jones Trilogy, The Lord of the Rings films were put together masterfully and made fantasy films cool again.  These will definitly live on forever along with Star Wars and Indiana Jones.  (Trilogy Super Trailer)

72. Y tu mama Tambien (IMDb): Wonderfully acted and masterfully cut. Their aren’t many people that know how to shoot a scene as well as Alfonso Cuaron. This movie also really drives in the fact that he is quite the screenwriter as well. It’s a wonder how he has never won an Oscar. He fits easilly in the ranks of Guillermo Del Toro, and Pedro Almodovar. (Trailer)

According to the LA Times, it seems as though George Lucas is cooking on an idea for the fifth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise.

Harrison Ford said Friday that momentum is building for a fifth movie in the “Indiana Jones“  franchise and that George Lucas is already cooking up a suitable plot for a heroic senior citizen with a penchant for whips and fedoras.

“It’s crazy but great,” the 66-year-old Ford said. “George is in think mode right now.”

Now, though, the latest success and the fact that the franchise’s old machinery was revived has Ford thinking a fifth movie is not only a viable idea, but an attractive one.

“It’s automatic, really, we did well with the last one and with that having done well and been a positive experience, it’s not surprising that some people want to do it again,” Ford said.

I think the only stipulation should be that Frank Darabont writes the script.  I read his version of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (back when it was called Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods) and it was leaps and bounds better than David Koepp’s script which was ultimately the one that was shot.

But you all know me and you know I’m never opposed to George Lucas giving us more of the characters I love to watch.

At the end of the day, I think this is good news.

On Wednesday, Iron Man director Jon Favreau was the center of attention as he answered questions about Iron Man and Iron Man 2 at the Los Angeles Times. You can still read the entire transcript at the LA Times website, but Super Hero Hype! was kind enough to pull out Favreau’s answers to the questions that covered the sequel:

We’re playing with who the villain should be and what we should incorporate from the comic book. And how it will lead into the Avengers.

I’m working with Justin a writer. He’s writing the first draft of the script. I’m working with a story board artist. As well as designing the costumes for good guys and bad guys.

I think its important for all filmmakers working for Marvel to collaborate so there is a consistency in the films, so yes they should keep in touch. I had not been in touch really with Louis during”Hulk” and I think that would have been helpful. I hope to be in contact with directors in the future.

No Dresden, but Marty and Elayne would make good supervillians.

Mandarin is still an important figure in the Iron Man universe. We have an interesting take on him that allows us to incorporate the whole pantheon of villains. The whole 10 Rings thing in IM 1 was a good tease for it.

The sequel is shaping up to incorporate Tony’s vision for the future. What happens after he says “I am Iron Man?”

I focus mostly on story and character. I put a great value on emotion, humor and natural dialogue. The effects are fun to explore in original ways, but without a strong story, they mean nothing.

An earlier answer that scrambled: Now that marvel is making its own movies, every movie has to fit into the Marvel universe. the Avengers incorporates not just Iron Man, but Thor, possibly the Hulk and traditionally Captain America as well. As it is, it’s scheduled Thor will come out the same summer as “Iron Man2″ and Captain America will come out a few months before Avengers. All the films have to come together to create a consistent universe.That’s very important to everyone involved.

Robert brought him to life “for real.” I found a guy that embodied enough of the qualities of Tony Stark to imbue him with an emotional reality. Fergus and Ostby and Markum and Holloway added much to the equation as writers as well.

Happy Hogan can no longer be a wall flower. I must marry Pepper someday. And let’s not rule out the Freak! I have tremendous leverage to make such demands! Stay tuned.

Shield is imortant to the franchise, and what is Shield without Fury?

The only other comic character I would do is Groo.

The “connection” you ask about relates directly to the Mythic “rise of the hero” or hero’s journey. The character must grow or change over the course of the film. If not, the movie goes emotionally flat and relies on tittilation.

We need War Machine. Agreed. Shoulder cannons and all.

Stark has issues with booze. That’s part of who he is. I don’t think we’ll ever do the Leaving Las Vegas version, but it will be dealt with.

The date is daunting. We are making much faster progress than the first time around and have much less to design and fewer casting issues. I am confident that 2010 is achievable if we continue working together as we have for tha past few months. It has to be great, though. It has to be great.

My seven year old son said Iron Man was the second best movie of the year. #1 was Panda.

The new Fraction books are pretty great. We flew him out to LA to discuss story. He’s a great comic writer. Also, love Adi’s art. He will work on the movie’s designs.

There’s always room for improv on my sets. I set up multiple cameras and let them rip.

I think we need some version of “classic villains” in these movies. Many don’t hold up well to time and to the big screen, but their essence should inspire the characters.

Female villain… Now there’s an interesting notion.

Tough to actually shoot in IMAX when you have a CG hero much of the time. The effects becaome very expensive and may not look as good in the higher resolution. Worked very well for DK, though.

Iron Man is indeed a celebrity. He announced who he was and we have now officially departed from the standard secret ID superhero. Tony was already famous before the announcement. What would really happen if this went down? Fun to explore.

MTv broke the following yesterday evening:

Well, now that the news has broken that both Raimi and Maguire have signed back on for a fourth and fifth installment – with a hefty paycheck attached as well — MTV News posed the big question to Dunst while she was promoting her upcoming film, “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People” with Simon Pegg. Is she in or is she out?

“I’m in,” said the actress matter of factly. However, when pressed to make the announcement official, Dunst quickly changed her tone, and rather cryptically added, “I’m not saying anything, I know there’s rumors…”

Now, this robot is probably one of the more forgiving of the short comings of Spider-Man 3 than the rest of my fellow bots, but I was kind of hoping they would use Dunst’s lack of commitment to take a break from her really bad portrayal of Mary Jane. I haven’t liked her MJ from the beginning, and I was really hoping they would write her out of the script, or at least give her a very limited part in 4 and 5, send her off to Hollywood to go after her acting/modeling career and allow some sparks to fly between Peter and Bryce Dallas Howard’s much better portrayal of Gwen Stacy; develop that relationship a little more since they decided to do things a little ass-backwards with her character.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m glad they are moving forward with the franchise. I hope they start a brand new story arch and don’t take a whole hell of a lot from the previous one. The mistakes of the past movie are not irredeemable and there is still some good stuff to explore in these movies with the current cast, director, and direction. But as far as Dunst returning… really don’t care.

Variety announced that none other than Kenneth Branagh will be directing Thor.

Here’s the scoop:

Kenneth Branagh is negotiating to direct “Thor,” the next Marvel Comics property that will be turned into a live-action film by Marvel Studios. Pic will be released in 2010.

Can’t get much cooler than that in my opinion. Branagh has directed a few great movies (Henry V, Dead Again, Frankenstein) and the man is a genius when it comes to the sort of Shakespearian dialogue required of the Norse God Thor.

So… Chew on that.

The Feel good directing choice of the year!-Slugtron

<p style=”text-align: center”><a title=”Geek Show Podcast” href=”http://www.geekshowpodcast.com/” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://www.thegeekshowpodcast.com/images/header.jpg” alt=”" width=”464″ height=”116″ /></a></p>

The Geek Show Podcast is hosting, in some small conjunction with Big Shiny Robot!, the Geek Movie Night at

Brewvies in downtown Salt Lake City.

Tomorrow night, more than a few of us robots will be there watching The Empire Strikes Back on the big screen.

The show starts at five and it’s free!

(Brewvies is located at 677 South 200 Westin Salt Lake City.)

Be there or be a douche-bot.

I got a link sent to me to this article by Aint It Cool News.

Bill Murray was a surprise guest at the Fantastic Fest and participated in a short Q & A after the screening. Someone asked Murray how he felt about bustin’ some ghosts one more time.

But tonight he said that he knew “some writers from THE OFFICE” were taking a stab at the script right now (which we already knew) and that he thinks that’s a good start. He paused for a few seconds then said that he thinks enough time has passed and that “the wounds from GHOSTBUSTERS 2 are healed” and that he would definitely be into doing another GHOSTBUSTERS movie, stating that the first 40 minutes of the original film is some of the best stuff he’s been associated with and the whole shoot was an amazing amount of fun.

He also went on to say that his enthusiasm for Ghostbusters was heightened after recording the voice of Peter Venkman for the video game over the summer. In fact, he said he found himself walking down the street singing the Ghostbusters theme song and then thought people walking around him were going to start yelling at him to “get over yourself, Bill,” so he stopped… But the enthusiasm was there.

For those nay-saying the possibility of a Ghostbusters 3 being any fun, shut the fuck up. If you think it’s going to suck, don’t go see it.

Greetings all, I apologize for my absence but I just got released from rehab for a sex addiction (compulsively masturbating in my own feces) not unlike our favorite David Duchovny.

Studios are hoping to redeem shitty franchises that raped the souls of comic book fans everywhere by rebooting failed flicks. But you know what? It needs to stop. Warner Bros. has announced that because Bryan Singer’s whatever sequel Superman Returns made no sense (was that dumb ass kid Superman’s son with Lois; did Lois know that Clark and Superman were the same person; why was Cyclops in the movie, who gives a shit?) and was two and half hours too long they’re redoing the franchise from scratch. Great, cool, another Superman movie. I wonder what will happen? Will he save people from disasters? Get sick from Kryptonite? Fly around? Hm, I wonder. They’ve also announced that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are getting a third revamp as the computer animated flick that was released last year made audiences shit blood. Yeah, we all grew up with those loveable green amphibians and they helped shape us to the nerds we are today, but it’s a dead franchise. Let it rest in piece. You don’t see Christians revamping the Bible left and right, well, okay, that’s a bad analogy, Christians are the worst. We’ve got Punisher: Warzone; a remake of the shitty Thomas Jane version that was a remake of the shitty Dolph Lundgren version. I’m at a point where I’ll just fucking watch Death Wish, it’s The Punisher without all the shitty aspects of a movie trying to redeem another movie. My tip for all of you: Don’t see Punisher: Warzone – Rent Death Wish.

And we’ve all been covering the news on the developing Ghostbusters III: The Search for Curly’s Gold here at BSR! and I have to say that I’m looking forward to it ever so much, because not only will we have all the original cast members returning to rape a perfectly good franchise from our childhood (a la Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) but they will return swollen from years of age and flops (we’re looking at you Ernie Hudson). And, I’m sure we can look forward to it being a 90-minute preview for Ghostbusters IV, starring Seth Rogan, Dave Chappell, Will Farrell and Owen Wilson. What a cast!

Well, until the next unwanted opinion of everyone’s favorite robot (it might be about Wolverine: Origins). Cheers!

MTv has a little blurb from Ed Norton regarding the future of The Incredible Hulk franchise:

“Incredible Hulk” star Edward Norton says Marvel Studios isn’t giving him any indication they want him to reprise his role as the publisher’s green goliath, whether in a solo sequel or team-up project.

“The minds of Marvel are sometimes opaque,” Norton told MTV News. “I won’t say [they're] obtuse, but I don’t have any idea what they want to do.”

Norton said he’s also been kept in the dark regarding any plans for him, in his role as Hulk’s alter-ego Bruce Banner, to appear in Marvel’s big team-up project, “The Avengers.” The film, which is expected to feature The Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America and several other Marvel characters, is currently scheduled for a 2011 release.

“They’ve got this notion of collecting the Marvel characters,” said Norton, who appeared a bit skeptical of Marvel’s ambitious plans for the project. “Who knows where they’ll go?”

I’m not sure if all that Ed Norton vs. Marvel stuff happened like it was rumored to, or if there is no rift at all between Norton and the powers that be, but let’s face it, they don’t need Norton to come back if they put the Hulk in an Avenger’s movie. They could just use the Hulk, no Bruce and (in my opinion) not lose out on a whole lot. In a perfect world, Norton will come back, the Hulk will be back, and all will be good, but it’s nice to know that if Norton for whatever reason didn’t/couldn’t/won’t come back it doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of the Hulk.

Burn After Reading is fucking funny! -Slugtron

The Coen Brothers have chosen to follow up their Best Picture winning No Country For Old Men with the hilarious screw-ball farce Burn After Reading.

These two films couldn’t be more different, and it’s a good thing, too.  I don’t think the Coen’s could have followed up an artistic masterpiece with another artistic masterpiece, and it was good to see they didn’t even try.  Burn After Reading is much more reminiscent of The Big Lebowski than No Country For Old Men.  In fact, it has a shared structure with Lebowski, though not as good.  The structure is that of creating a zany sort of mad-cap adventure in which to hang the most preposterous and humerous characters possible onto.

And the characters in this adventure are some of the most preposterous and humerous characters in the Coen Brothers lexicon.  In fact, they’re all so solidly put together in this film, it’s hard to pick a favorite.  John Malkovich might be the funniest though, as an angry ex-CIA agent (though agent is probably too strong a word) who repeats just about every sentence he says once more, adding in a well-placed “Fuck”.  But George Clooney is fantastic to watch, as well, as a sex-addled fornicator who sleeps with just about every female character in the movie and devises a sexual contraption so funny that…  well…  Anyway…

As if everything the Coen Brothers did, didn’t show how good they were with characters, this certainly would. -Slugtron

But the rest of the characters are pitch perfect for this film as well, from an airheaded Brad Pitt to a confused JK Simmons and a cold and evil Tilda Swinton to the rest of the cast who is just as confused by what’s going on as everyone else is.

The story revolves around a disc of memoirs written by Malkovich’s character that falls into the hands of Brad Pitt and Francess McDormand.  Unfortunately they’re idiots and don’t realize the disc is practically worthless but want to blackmail everyone anyway, and when that doesn’t work, they try to sell it to the Russians.

The story doesn’t really matter so much as the hilarity that ensues because of it.

I was belly-laughing through most of the film.  The writing was snappy, the jokes were sharp, the characters were witty and everything was to be liked about this movie.

No, it wasn’t as good as some of their other movies, but it was just drop-dead funny and for that, it’s worth seeing.  Not too many good comedies come out these days, so we need to take them when we can get them.

(As a sidenote, that great Saul Bass looking poster above says so much about the movie…  Really.)