Despite the idiocy of the Academy, easily the best movie of 1998.

Rating: Null/10 (15 April 1999)

It's tragic that the Academy did not vote Ryan the best movie of 1998. Those movies that deservedly get "Best Movie" Oscars are known for their "shelf life," that characteristic that makes such movies classics, rentable, watchable, buyable 25, 50, 75 years from now. Saving Private Ryan has that quality...in spades. Shakespeare in Love? Hardly. Spielberg has given us something special. Like Schindler, Ryan hits us in the gut, not without cause or good reason, but in the gut just the same. "So THAT'S what grandpa went through." People file out from the movie, somber, disturbed, but grateful that there ever was such a generation, such a bunch of men that went through hell so we could be free forever more.
Of course, it won every award for sound. How could it not? It's as if you were parachuted down to Omaha Beach yourself on that grey-blue June morning. I watched other movie goers. People blanched. Wept. Gripped their seats. Ducked. Cursed the coward. And this movie's not the best of the year? Come on! Such fluff as Shakespeare is fun to watch, but like Wonder Bread, the vitamins, the nutrients, the "guts" have been sucked out. After watching the Bard, an hour later you want more. You know that such fluff doesn't last. Sorry, Steven. Keep writing and finding great stories for us. If we don't appreciate what you've done now, we will. When we're old and decrepid, we'll make our way down to the futurama video rental--only to see that Ryan is once again sold out! But Shakespeare in Love? Why, there're plenty of copies. Imagine that.