The 1998 Movie Draft: A Time for Betrayal

1998, before the draftthe box office, the Oscars, and the mood of the year

Blues Brothers 2000 1998

Sean's real origin story: his uncle flew him to L.A. for his 16th birthday to attend the premiere and after-party, where he met Dan Aykroyd, John Goodman, and Joe Morton. The movie itself is 'quite quite quite a bad movie.'

A Bug's Life 1998

No. 4 at the domestic box office this year.

The Waterboy 1998

No. 5 at the box office, grouped with The Wedding Singer as 'the Waterboy and the Wedding Singer double year.'

Dr. Dolittle 1998

No. 6 at the box office.

Rush Hour 1998

No. 7 at the box office.

Deep Impact 1998

No. 8 at the box office, released the same year as its disaster-movie twin, Armageddon.

Godzilla 1998

No. 9 at the box office; barely discussed all episode, and Sean calls it 'quite bad,' though it was marketed as a huge event.

Patch Adams 1998

No. 10 at the box office; Amanda saw it in theaters at 13 and cites it as one of the year's 'dog shit movies.'

Primary Colors 1998

The thinly veiled Bill Clinton campaign roman a clef, based on Joe Klein's anonymously published novel.

A Simple Plan 1998

Amanda's example of a movie with 'politics underneath its fingernails.' Also gave Billy Bob Thornton a double Oscar nomination (adapted screenplay and supporting actor) the same year Armageddon made him briefly the most talked-about man in Hollywood.

The Siege 1998

Cited as prescient about the war on terror, years before 9/11.

The X-Files 1998

What felt like a joke at the time, a movie spun off a TV show, is now the standard Hollywood model.

What Dreams May Come 1998

Amanda saw it in theaters at 13 and remembers being 'confused.'

The Spanish Prisoner 1998

Sean's joking dig at what 13-year-old Amanda should have been watching instead of Patch Adams.

Affliction 1998

Nick Nolte's Oscar-nominated performance; he lost, and per Chris, has still never won.

Gods and Monsters 1998

Ian McKellen's Oscar-nominated performance; also a loss, also still no Oscar.

The 1998 Movie Draft drafting 1998 movies

Chris Ryan

Comedy

The Big Lebowski 1998

First overall pick and, he says, the movie he's seen and loved the most from this year: Jeff Bridges, John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, John Goodman.

Drama

Rounders 1998

Taken right out from under Sean, who had it queued for his next pick, prompting a whole bit about betrayal. Damon and Norton in a movie Chris calls 'imprinted on his soul.'

Oscar Nominee

Saving Private Ryan 1998

The other half of his 'double Damon' round. He calls the Normandy assault and the closing town battle some of the best action filmmaking he's ever seen.

Action / Horror

The Faculty 1998

Robert Rodriguez's alien-teachers riff, with peak Josh Hartnett and a loaded adult cast: Salma Hayek, Famke Janssen, Piper Laurie, Christopher McDonald, Jon Stewart, Robert Patrick.

Blockbuster

Enemy of the State 1998

Tony Scott's surveillance thriller with Will Smith and Gene Hackman; one of his favorite Scott films.

Wild Card

Belly 1998

Hype Williams's only feature film, with DMX and Nas. Chris says he watched it on VHS loop in 1999 and considers it a formative document of that era of rap.

Sean Fennessey

Drama

Out of Sight 1998

Taken after Chris and Amanda's opening surprises left him without a plan; his third or fourth favorite movie of the year.

Comedy

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 1998

Watched at 16; Terry Gilliam's Hunter S. Thompson adaptation with Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro, back when Depp's Thompson fixation was still just a fun fact.

Oscar Nominee

The Thin Red Line 1998

Malick's disorienting, poetic comeback after two decades away from filmmaking, picked over American History X and Affliction. Not Sean's favorite Malick, but a confirmation of his new, more impressionistic style.

Action / Horror

Ronin 1998

A pure spite pick after Rounders got sniped: a movie Sean has never actually seen, drafted purely off Chris Ryan's years of evangelizing for it. John Frankenheimer, De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone.

Blockbuster

There's Something About Mary 1998

Taken here to free up comedy for later picks. Remembered as an event movie, with the earlobe and zipper gags that had audiences 'rolling in the aisles.'

Wild Card

Wild Things 1998

John McNaughton's sweaty Miami-set noir with Neve Campbell, Denise Richards, Matt Dillon, Kevin Bacon, and Bill Murray; seen by Sean at 16.

Amanda Dobbins

Drama

The Truman Show 1998

Seen in theaters at 13; Peter Weir's surveillance parable that both hosts credit with predicting a lot about reality TV and being watched.

Comedy

Rushmore 1998

Her first Wes Anderson movie, shown to her early on by a college friend from Houston, where it was filmed. 'Made me realize that not all movies have to be the same.'

Oscar Nominee

Shakespeare in Love 1998

The Best Picture upset over Saving Private Ryan, powered by a notorious Harvey Weinstein campaign; Amanda still likes the movie despite that history, and despite Judi Dench winning Supporting Actress for under eight minutes of screen time.

Action / Horror

Armageddon 1998

Her first Michael Bay movie, seen at 13; she says she wept and calls it a crash course in romance, death, oil drilling, and Aerosmith all at once.

Blockbuster

You've Got Mail 1998

The movie that inspired the whole 1998 draft in the first place. Nora Ephron's Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan rom-com, her most-rewatched movie ever.

Wild Card

Sliding Doors 1998

Gwyneth Paltrow's other big role this year, and what Amanda calls 'the number one bad breakup haircut of all time.'

On the board, undrafted honorable mentions

Halloween H20: 20 Years LaterSpice WorldEver AfterVelvet GoldmineHe Got GameMulanPleasantvilleThe Wedding SingerThe Opposite of SexYour Friends & NeighborsBuffalo '66Babe: Pig in the CityA Night at the RoxburyDirty WorkStepmomPlaying by HeartLethal Weapon 4The Replacement KillersThe NegotiatorPalmettoElizabethHow Stella Got Her Groove BackSmall SoldiersMeet Joe BlackBeloved

Movies we forgot to draftpost-draft regrets and shoutouts

The General 1998

John Boorman's film with an 'incredible' Brendan Gleeson performance, brought up in the same breath as the crew's regret over forgetting Gleeson on their Departed episode.

Bulworth 1998

Warren Beatty's satire about a politician who becomes, in Sean's telling, basically Bernie Sanders. Bold racial politics that the hosts agree 'doesn't land the plane,' but a good soundtrack (including 'Ghetto Superstar').

Desperate Measures 1998

Barbet Schroeder thriller: a cop (Michael Keaton) needs a bone-marrow donor for his son, and the only match is a convicted murderer (Andy Garcia). Chris reads the logline as an argument for bringing back this kind of B-movie premise.

American History X 1998

One of Chris's other Oscar Nominee finalists, alongside Affliction. An earnest, on-the-nose telling of race and family with a famously complicated production between director Tony Kaye and Edward Norton.

Great Expectations 1998

Alfonso Cuaron's modern-dress adaptation with Ethan Hawke; the hosts agree the movie itself is mediocre but remember the soundtrack fondly (Grateful Dead, Chris Cornell, Tori Amos, Pulp, Iggy Pop, and a solo Scott Weiland deep cut).

The Parent Trap 1998

Nancy Meyers's directorial debut and Lindsay Lohan's breakout; Amanda tried to copy Lohan's haircut from it.

Vampires 1998

John Carpenter's film, with James Woods and Daniel Baldwin; Sean rewatched it recently and calls it delightful.

Half Baked 1998

Chris says he almost drafted this in comedy over Big Lebowski.

Hard Rain 1998

Christian Slater and Morgan Freeman rob a bank during a flood; the hosts hold it up as an example of a mid-budget B-movie premise Hollywood doesn't make anymore.

The Mask of Zorro 1998

Chris says he almost took this in Oscar Nominee; Martin Campbell's first film after GoldenEye, with Antonio Banderas.

Twilight 1998

Robert Benton's neo-noir with Paul Newman, Susan Sarandon, and Gene Hackman; Chris calls it 'quite good.' Not the vampire movie.

BASEketball 1998

Brought up in passing near the end of the recap; Amanda says she's 'not a fan.'

Fran Kranz on Masshis debut as writer-director

Fran Kranz on

Mass 2021

His debut as writer-director: two couples meet years after a school shooting that connects their families, in a single church meeting room. He wrote it after his own daughter was born and the Parkland shooting sent him into two years of reading about mass shootings. He insisted on no flashbacks or cutaways, so the conversation plays out close to real time.

Fran Kranz on

I, Daniel Blake 2016

A touchstone for how Mass should look and feel: Ken Loach's unshowy realism, where 'you don't feel him as a director.'

Fran Kranz on

American Honey 2016

Not a direct comparison to Mass, but its cinematographer, Robbie Ryan (who also shot I, Daniel Blake), was a reference point for the film's handheld back half.

Fran Kranz on

My Dinner with Andre 1981

The one-location, mostly-two-people conversation movie he kept returning to while writing.

Fran Kranz on

Moonlight 2016

Its opening shot (stable on the hood of a car, then rising into extended handheld as Mahershala Ali gets out) was the direct model for the moment Mass shifts from static wide shots into handheld.

Fran Kranz on

Tokyo Story 1953

Ozu's formal wide shots and doorway framing shaped his decision to withhold the film's first close-up until Martha Plimpton's character speaks.

Fran Kranz on

Black Jack 1979

His 'last great thing' seen: a rarely discussed Ken Loach period piece about a boy roaming 19th-century England with a Frenchman who survived his own hanging.

Fran Kranz on

The Wailing 2016

His other recent favorite: the genre-bending Korean film he praises for never losing 'truthful human emotion' amid the chaos.

Also mentioned raised along the way

In passing TitanicGood Will HuntingBounceTommy BoyThe Last DuelRangoAll the Pretty Horses

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV Freaks and GeeksLuckSquid Game

Ads NetflixBoar's HeadStamps.com