GUEST EDITORIAL

“That was the year that was…”

Pondering what Hollywood brought us at the movies in 1998

by Dan Wooding of ASSIST Communications and
by Dr. Ted Baehr of Movieguide

HOLLYWOOD, CA (February 28, 1999)—Dr. Ted Baehr, founder and publisher of MOVIEGUIDE, the authoritative family guide to movies and entertainment, has come up with his highly personal view of the year in movies and entertainment in 1998.

Dr. Baehr says:

  • 1998 was the year that God parted the Red Sea again—in THE PRINCE OF EGYPT.
  • 1998 was the year that some great Western stars rode off into the sunset to meet their beloved Savior—Bob “Tex” Allen, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.
  • 1998 was the year that God starred in THE PRINCE OF EGYPT, LES MISERABLES, SIMON BIRCH, MADELINE, and WIDE AWAKE, and then solved the plot problem in THE TRUMAN SHOW.
  • 1998 was the year of great theology in movies.
  • 1998 was the year that movies came in pairs: two rocks in space, two World War II battles and two sets of bugs.
  • 1998 was the year of the baby kaboom.
  • 1998 was the year of PaxTV.
  • 1998 was the year of another excellent LES MISERABLES.
  • 1998 was the year of a great green monster lost in a great big city.
  • 1998 was the year that Mary charmed America with foul deceit.
  • 1998 was the year that proved that LETHAL WEAPONs are still lethal at the box office.
  • 1998 was the year Adam Sandler joined the big boys' salary bracket through little boy humor.
  • 1998 was the year Tom Hanks simultaneously made people cry and laugh in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and YOU'VE GOT MAIL.
  • 1998 was the year the little screen jumped to the big screen again with THE X-FILES, RUGRATS and LOST IN SPACE.
  • 1998 was the year Hollywood tried to makeover the master of mystery and suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, with A PERFECT MURDER and PSYCHO.
  • 1998 was the year BELOVED wasn't beloved.
  • 1998 was the year many people chose not to MEET JOE BLACK, the HOLY MAN or any other New Age guru for that matter.
  • 1998 was the year of one too many CHUCKY movies.
  • 1998 was the year National Socialists took another fall in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, APT PUPIL and AMERICAN HISTORY X, although they may have survived elsewhere.
  • 1998 was the year that showed those guys at SOUTH PARK don't know how to make good movies.
  • 1998 was the year of real romance in EVER AFTER, real heroes in THE MASK OF ZORRO and real discretion in THE HORSE WHISPERER.
  • 1998 was the year that DreamWorks successfully challenged Disney animation.
  • 1998 was the year that a great Queen was portrayed as a weak woman in ELIZABETH, and Shakespeare became Rosenkrantz in love.
  • 1998 was the year that revisionist history got color in PLEASANTVILLE.
  • 1998 was the year of the pedophile reaching the big screen in HAPPINESS and LOLITA.
  • 1998 was the year Hollywood rebuked divorce in DEEP IMPACT and THE PARENT TRAP.
  • 1998 was the year LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL.
 

CELEBRATING THE CENTURY: THE BEST OF HOLLYWOOD

Dr. Baehr has also announced that PaxTV, the new national network dedicated to family programming, in partnership with the Christian Film and Television Commission, plans to televise a glittering gala event, the 7th Annual MOVIEGUIDE Awards Gala, “CELEBRATING THE CENTURY: THE BEST OF HOLLYWOOD,” just prior to and on the Memorial Day Weekend.

U  P  D  A  T  E
Be sure to read the results of the gala awards program,
held at the Hilton Universal Hotel, Universal City, California on March 18, 1999.

For further information about the Awards Gala or MOVIEGUIDE please call: (800)899-6684, or write to MOVIEGUIDE, P.O. Box 190010, Atlanta, GA 31119.

Posted March 4, 1999.