The Best 10 Movies of 1998 | Roger Ebert
6. "Elizabeth"
The story was intriguing, but the visuals multiplied its depth and fascination. Cate Blanchett starred as Elizabeth I, her life in danger as she takes the throne as a young and untested ruler, and then grows in office into perhaps the greatest of British monarchs. Around her, advisors steer her away from (or toward) trouble; kings want her hand for political reasons, but her first true love is a disappointment, and eventually she "becomes" a virgin.
Shekhar Kapur, an Indian director, used the palate of his subcontinent to portray Elizabeth, her court and her architecture in the colors and texture of medieval India. The film is largely set in vast, echoing halls, their pillars reaching up into the shadows. He is attentive to the rustle of dresses and the clank of armor, gives us a barge on the Thames like a houseboat on a lake in Kashmir. Action is glimpsed through iron filigree screens, dresses are rich with embroidery, hair styles are ornately elaborated, and yet there is the feeling that just out of sight of these riches are the rats in the kitchen and the slop-pots in the halls.
Set aside for the moment the question of whether this film is "too dark" for children (set aside too the fact that many children see slasher and horror movies on video). Consider this "Babe" sequel as a film for adults. It is an unending parade of wonderments and visual delights, linked to a story that is Dickensian in its richness of character and the boldness of its villains.
Babe, the clever pig, is marooned in the city with Mrs. Hoggett, and finds refuge in a boarding house that is friendly to animals. There he meets an astonishing array of new friends (some dubious), and gets involved in startling adventures. Yes, some were bothered by the plight of the bull terrier who almost drowned--but isn't it interesting that the dog's dilemma upset more folks than the loss of a billion lives in "Armageddon?" Maybe it actually touched people. Maybe they cared. The movie's visual imagination and art direction were astonishing.
8. "Shakespeare in Love"
A rowdy, irreverent movie with as many different tones as a Shakespeare play: High and low comedy, coincidences, masquerades, jokes about itself, topical references, exits and entrances with screwball timing. It begins as a backstage comedy, filled with lore about the Elizabethan stage and its ambitious young scribbler, Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes), and then widens into a love story as young Will falls in love with the beautiful Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow) whose rich father is buying her a nobleman with title attached.
