Best Movies of 1998 by Rank
72
1
Steven Spielberg
Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg, Matt Damon
Action / Drama / War / Epic
USA
English
213
2
Thomas Vinterberg
Ulrich Thomsen, Henning Moritzen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Paprika Steen
Drama / Comedy
Denmark / Sweden
Danish
372
3
John Madden
Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey Rush, Joseph Fiennes
Drama / Romance / Comedy / Period Film
USA / UK
English
424
4
Terrence Malick
Sean Penn, James Caviezel, Adrien Brody, Ben Chaplin
Action / Drama / War
Canada / USA
English
430
5
Tom Tykwer
Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup, Nina Petri
Action / Crime / Drama / Romance / Thriller
Germany
German
451
6
Walter Salles
Fernanda Montenegro, Vinícius de Oliveira
Drama
Brazil / France
Portuguese
462
7
Todd Solondz
Jane Adams, Jon Lovitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Dylan Baker
Drama / Comedy / Cult
USA
English
732
8
Wes Anderson
Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Olivia Williams, Seymour Cassel, Brian Cox
Romance / Comedy / Drama / Cult
USA
English
734
9
Lars von Trier
Bodil Jørgensen, Jens Albinus, Anne Louise Hassing, Troels Lyby
Comedy / Drama
Denmark / Sweden / France / Netherlands / Italy
Danish
771
10
Hideo Nakata
Nanako Matsushima, Miki Nakatani, Hiroyuki Sanada, Yuko Takeuchi, Hitomi Sato
Horror / Mystery / Thriller
Japan
Japanese
823
11
Peter Weir
Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Natascha McElhone
Comedy / Drama / Sci-Fi
USA
English
905
12
Erick Zonca
Élodie Bouchez, Natacha Régnier, Grégoire Colin
Drama
France
French
916
13
Shekhar Kapur
Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Joseph Fiennes
Drama / History / Epic / Biography
UK
English
1047
14
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, David Huddleston
Comedy / Crime / Mystery / Cult
USA / UK
English
1184
15
Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Ben Stiller, Lee Evans, Chris Elliott
Comedy / Romance
USA
English
1231
16
Bill Condon
Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser, Lynn Redgrave, Lolita Davidovich
Drama / Horror
UK / USA
English
1311
17
Steven Soderbergh
George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle
Comedy / Crime / Drama / Romance / Thriller / Caper
USA
English
1458
18
Hirokazu Koreeda
Arata, Erika Oda, Susumu Terajima, Takashi Naitô, Kyôko Kagawa
Drama / Fantasy
Japan
Japanese
1498
19
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, Oliver Platt, Paul Sorvino
Comedy / Drama / Romance
USA
English
1515
20
Sam Raimi
Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Bridget Fonda, Brent Briscoe
Crime / Thriller / Drama
France / UK / Germany / USA / Japan
English
1517
21
Don Roos
Christina Ricci, Martin Donovan, Lisa Kudrow, Lyle Lovett
Comedy
USA
English
1671
22
John Boorman
Brendan Gleeson, Adrian Dunbar, Jon Voight, Sean McGinley
Crime / Thriller / Drama / Biography / Gangster
UK / Ireland
English
1766
23
Eric Rohmer
Marie Rivière, Béatrice Romand, Alain Libolt
Romance / Comedy
France
French
1782
24
Goran Paskaljevic
Mira Banjac, Ivan Bekjarev, Aleksandar Bercek, Vojislav Brajovic
Drama / Comedy
Fed Rep of Yugoslavia / Rep of N Macedonia / France / Greece / Turkey
Serbo-Croatian
1795
25
Darren Aronofsky
Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis, Ben Shenkman, Pamela Hart, Stephen Pearlman
Thriller / Sci-Fi / Experimental / Cult
USA
English
1852
26
Julio Medem
Najwa Nimri, Fele Martínez, Nancho Novo, Maru Valdivielso
Drama / Romance
Spain / France
Spanish
1861
27
Ken Loach
Peter Mullan, Louise Goodall, David McKay, Anne-Marie Kennedy, David Hayman
Drama / Romance
Spain / Italy / France / UK / Germany
English
1895
28
Jean-Luc Godard
Alain Cuny
Short / Documentary / Experimental
France / Switzerland
French
1921
29
John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton
Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hayden Panettiere
Family / Animation / Comedy / Adventure / Fantasy
USA
English
1952
30
Vincent Gallo
Vincent Gallo, Christina Ricci, Ben Gazzara, Mickey Rourke, Rosanna Arquette
Comedy / Drama / Romance / Crime
USA
English
2198
31
Anand Tucker
Emily Watson, Rachel Griffiths, James Frain, David Morrissey
Biography / Drama / Music
UK
English
2219
32
Mike Nichols
John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Billy Bob Thornton, Kathy Bates
Comedy / Drama
France / UK / Germany / USA / Japan
English
2235
33
Mike Hodges
Clive Owen, Nick Reding, Nicholas Ball, Alexander Morton
Crime / Drama / Caper
France / UK / Germany / Ireland
English
2264
34
Patrice Chéreau
Pascal Greggory, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Charles Berling, Jean-Louis Trintignant
Drama
France
French
2285
35
Alex Proyas
Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, Richard O'Brien
Mystery / Thriller / Sci-Fi / Tech-Noir / Romance / Cult
USA
English
2305
36
Carlos Saura
Miguel Ángel Solá, Cecilia Narova, Mía Maestro
Drama / Musical / Romance
Spain / Argentina
Spanish
2324
37
Robert Redford
Robert Redford, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sam Neill, Dianne Wiest, Scarlett Johansson
Drama / Romance
USA
English
2342
38
James Moll
Bill Basch, Alice Lok Cahana, Renee Firestone, Tom Lantos, Irene Zisblatt
Documentary / History / Biography / War
USA
English
2356
39
Samira Makhmalbaf
Massoumeh Naderi, Zahra Naderi, Ghorban Ali Naderi
Drama / Comedy
Iran / France
Persian
2359
40
Philippe Grandrieux
Marc Barbé, Elina Löwensohn, Géraldine Voillat, Coralie
Drama / Thriller
France
French
2383
41
Lisa Cholodenko
Radha Mitchell, Ally Sheedy, Gabriel Mann, Charis Michaelson
Drama / Romance
Canada / USA
English
2399
42
Gary Ross
Tobey Maguire, Joan Allen, Jeff Daniels, William H. Macy
Fantasy / Comedy / Drama
USA
English
2402
43
Michael Apted
Bruce Balden, Jacqueline Bassett, Symon Basterfield
Documentary / Biography
UK
English
2411
44
Steven Zaillian
John Travolta, Robert Duvall, Tony Shalhoub, William H. Macy, Zeljko Ivanek
Drama
USA
English
2432
45
Barry Cook, Tony Bancroft
Ming-Na, Lea Salonga, Eddie Murphy, B.D. Wong, Donny Osmond, Harvey Fierstein
Animation / Adventure / Comedy / Drama / Family / Musical
USA
English
2479
46
Emir Kusturica
Bajram Severdzan, Srdjan Todorovic, Branka Katic, Florijan Ajdini
Comedy / Romance / Gangster
France / Germany / Fed Rep of Yugoslavia
Romany
2501
48
John Maybury
Derek Jacobi, Daniel Craig, Tilda Swinton, Anne Lambton, Adrian Scarborough
Biography / Drama
UK / France / Japan
English
2528
49
Colin Nutley
Rolf Lassgård, Helena Bergström, Johan Widerberg
Drama / Romance / Mystery
Sweden
Swedish
2543
50
Peter Chelsom
Harry Dean Stanton, Gena Rowlands, Elden Henson, Douglas Bisset, Joseph Perrino
Comedy / Drama
USA
English
2554
51
Pat O'Connor
Meryl Streep, Michael Gambon, Gerard McSorley, Catherine McCormack
Drama / Period Film
Ireland / UK / USA
English
2597
52
Sang-soo Hong
Jong-hak Baek, Jaehyun Chun, Sunyoung Im, Yoosuk Kim, Yun-hong Oh
Drama / Romance
South Korea
Korean
2605
53
Francis Veber
Thierry Lhermitte, Jacques Villeret, Francis Huster, Daniel Prévost
Comedy
France
French
2605
53
Carl Franklin
Meryl Streep, Renée Zellweger, William Hurt, Tom Everett Scott
Drama
USA
English
2605
53
Matthew Diamond
Paul Taylor, Ted Thomas
Documentary / Biography
USA
English
2621
54
F. Gary Gray
Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, David Morse, Ron Rifkin, John Spencer
Action / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller / Detective
Germany / USA
English
2624
55
Guy Ritchie
Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran, Jason Statham, Steven Mackintosh
Comedy / Crime / Thriller / Caper
UK
English
2642
56
Abel Ferrara
Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe, Asia Argento, Annabella Sciorra
Drama / Mystery / Sci-Fi / Thriller / Tech-Noir
USA
English
2652
57
Nicole Garcia
Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Emmanuelle Seigner
Crime / Drama / Thriller / Post-Noir / Romance / Mystery
France
French
2653
58
François Girard
Carlo Cecchi, Jean-Luc Bideau, Irene Grazioli, Anita Laurenzi
Drama / Romance / Mystery / Music / Period Film
Canada / Italy / UK
French
2655
59
Michael Bay
Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler
Action / Sci-Fi / Thriller
USA
English
2655
59
Randall Wallace
Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Gabriel Byrne
Action / Adventure / Drama / Period Film
UK
English
2666
60
Ziad Doueiri
Rami Doueiri, Mohamad Chamas, Rola Al Amin, Carmen Lebbos
Drama / War
France / Norway / Lebanon / Belgium
Arabic
2667
61
George Miller
Magda Szubanski, Mickey Rooney, James Cromwell, Mary Stein
Family / Fantasy / Comedy
Australia / USA
English
2688
62
Matthew Barney
Matthew Barney, Marti Domination, Norman Mailer, Richard Serra, Ursula Andress
Experimental / Musical / Drama / Gangster
USA / France / UK
English
2688
62
Robert Rodriguez
Jordana Brewster, Clea Duvall, Josh Hartnett, Elijah Wood, Laura Harris
Horror / Mystery / Sci-Fi / Thriller
USA
English
2688
62
Aleksey Balabanov
Sergei Makovetsky, Dinara Drukarova, Anzhelika Nevolina, Viktor Sukhorukov
Drama / History / Period Film
Russia
Russian
2688
62
Tamara Jenkins
Natasha Lyonne, Alan Arkin, Bryna Weiss, Marisa Tomei, Charlotte Stewart
Comedy / Drama
USA
English
2691
63
Christopher Nolan
Jeremy Theobald, Alex Haw, Lucy Russell, John Nolan, Dick Bradsell
Crime / Mystery / Thriller / Post-Noir / Gangster
UK
English
2691
63
Michel Ocelot
: Antoinette Kellermann, Fezele Mpeka, Kombisile Sangweni, Theo Sebeko
Animation / Family / Fantasy / Adventure
France / Belgium / Luxembourg
French
2691
63
Todd Haynes
Ewan McGregor, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Christian Bale, Toni Collette, Eddie Izzard
Drama / Music / Period Film
UK / USA
English
2709
64
José Luis Garci
Fernando Fernán Gómez, Rafael Alonso
Drama / Period Film
Spain
Spanish
2742
65
Ming-liang Tsai
Kuei-Mei Yang, Kang-sheng Lee, Tien Miao, Hsiang-Chu Tong
Drama / Musical / Comedy / Romance / Sci-Fi
Taiwan / France
Mandarin
2742
65
Aleksei German
Yuri Tsurilo, Nina Ruslanova, Mikhail Dementyev, Aleksandr Bashirov
Drama / Comedy
Russia / France
Russian
2745
66
Hsiao-hsien Hou
Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Michiko Hada, Michelle Reis, Carina Liu
Drama / Romance / Period Film
Taiwan
Shanghainese
2747
67
Theo Angelopoulos
Bruno Ganz, Isabelle Renauld, Fabrizio Bentivoglio
Drama
Greece / France / Italy
Greek
2756
68
Chris Eyre
Adam Beach, Evan Adams, Irene Bedard, Gary Farmer, Tantoo Cardinal
Comedy / Drama
Canada / USA
English
2761
69
Lukas Moodysson
Alexandra Dahlström, Rebecka Liljeberg, Erica Carlson, Mathias Rust
Drama / Romance / Comedy
Sweden / Denmark
Swedish
2763
70
Eric Darnell, Tim Johnson
Woody Allen, Dan Aykroyd, Anne Bancroft, Jane Curtin, Danny Glover
Adventure / Animation / Comedy / Fantasy / Family
USA
English
2763
70
Jonathan Demme
Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise, Beah Richards
Drama / Period Film
USA
English
2763
70
Maya Angelou
Alfre Woodard, Al Freeman Jr., Esther Rolle, Mary Alice, Loretta Devine
Drama
USA
English
2763
70
Steve Hickner, Simon Wells, Brenda Chapman
Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Goldblum
Animation / Family / Musical / Drama / Religion / Epic
USA
English
2763
70
James Ivory
Kris Kristofferson, Barbara Hershey, Leelee Sobieski, Jane Birkin
Drama
France / UK / USA
English
2771
71
Gianni Amelio
Francesco Giuffrida, Enrico Lo Verso, Rosaria Danzè
Drama
Italy
Italian
2775
72
Kevin Hooks
Patrick Swayze, Meat Loaf, Randy Travis, Gabriel Casseus, Brian Vincent
Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller
USA / UK / France / Germany / Japan
English
2775
72
Tony Scott
Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Barry Pepper, Jon Voight, Regina King, Ian Hart
Action / Drama / Thriller / Crime
USA
English
2775
72
Steve Miner
Jamie Lee Curtis, Josh Hartnett, Adam Arkin, Michelle Williams, LL Cool J
Horror / Thriller / Crime
USA
English
2775
72
Brett Ratner
Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Tom Wilkinson, Elizabeth Peña, Philip Baker Hall
Action / Comedy / Thriller / Crime
USA
English
2775
72
Paul W.S. Anderson
Kurt Russell, Jason Scott Lee, Jason Isaacs, Connie Nielsen, Sean Pertwee
Action / Drama / Sci-Fi
UK / USA
English
2783
73
Neil LaBute
Amy Brenneman, Aaron Eckhart, Catherine Keener, Nastassja Kinski, Jason Patric
Comedy / Drama
USA
English
2788
74
Anthony Drazan
Sean Penn, Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright Penn, Chazz Palminteri
Drama
USA
English
2788
74
Alessandro D'Alatri
Kim Rossi Stuart, Saïd Taghmaoui, Boris Terral
Adventure / Drama / History / Religion / Epic / Biography
Italy
Italian
2788
74
Daniele Luchetti
Stefano Accorsi, Stefania Montorsi, Giorgio Pasotti
War / Drama / Romance / Period Film
Italy
Italian
2788
74
Fernando E. Solanas
Eduardo Pavlovsky, Laura Novoa, Ángela Correa
Drama
France / Argentina
Spanish
2788
74
Francesca Archibugi
Valeria Golino, Niccolò Senni, Francesca Di Giovanni
Drama
Italy
Italian
2788
74
John Dahl
Matt Damon, Edward Norton, Paul Cicero, John Turturro
Drama / Post-Noir
USA
English
2788
74
Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Tahmineh Normatova, Nadereh Abdelahyeva, Goibibi Ziadolahyeva
Drama / Music
Iran / Tajikistan / France
Persian
2788
74
Lucian Pintilie
Costel Cascaval, Dorina Chiriac, Gheorghe Visu, Victor Rebengiuc
Drama
France / Romania
Romanian
2788
74
João Botelho
Joaquim Oliveira, Rita Blanco, Adriano Luz, Branca de Camargo
Comedy / Drama
Portugal / France / Denmark
Portuguese
2788
74
Yves Angelo
Emmanuelle Béart, Sandrine Bonnaire, André Dussollier
Drama
France
French
2789
75
Bernardo Bertolucci
Thandie Newton, David Thewlis, Claudio Santamaria
Drama / Romance
Italy / UK
English
2789
75
Martin Campbell
Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones
Action / Western / Adventure / Romance / Comedy / Comic
USA / Mexico
English
2789
75
Tom Shadyac
Robin Williams, Daniel London, Monica Potter
Comedy / Drama / Biography
USA
English
2789
75
Karim Traïdia
Jaap Spijkers, Monic Hendrickx, Rudi Falkenhagen
Drama / Romance
Netherlands
Dutch
2789
75
Brian Gibson
Stephen Rea, Billy Connolly, Jimmy Nail, Timothy Spall
Comedy / Romance / Musical
UK
English
2792
76
Martin Arnold
Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney
Short / Experimental
Austria
English
2792
76
Caspar Stracke
John Kelly, Kyle deCamp, Charles Duval, Annie Iobst
Experimental / Documentary
USA / Germany
English
2792
76
Kim Longinotto, Ziba Mir-Hosseini
Joanna Rosethall
Documentary
UK
Persian
2792
76
Gaspar Noé
Philippe Nahon, Blandine Lenoir, Frankie Pain, Martine Audrain
Drama / Thriller / Adult
France
French
2792
76
Manoel de Oliveira
Jose Pinto, Luis Miguel Cintra, Isabel Ruth, Leonor Silveira
Drama
Portugal / France / Spain / Switzerland
Portuguese
2792
76
Yue Lu
Yi-Nan Chen, Jing-ming Shi, Zhi-Hua Zhang
Comedy / Drama / Romance
Hong Kong / China
Mandarin
2792
76
Richard Linklater
Matthew McConaughey, Skeet Ulrich, Ethan Hawke, Gail Cronauer
Action / Crime / Drama / History / Western
USA
English
2796
77
Terry Gilliam
Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Tobey Maguire, Ellen Barkin, Gary Busey
Comedy / Drama / Fantasy / Experimental
USA
English
2801
79
Lodge H. Kerrigan
Katrin Cartlidge, Vincent D'Onofrio, Colm Meaney, Patrick Husted, Muriel Maida
Drama
USA / France
English
2801
79
Marshall Herskovitz
Catherine McCormack, Rufus Sewell, Oliver Platt, Moira Kelly, Naomi Watts
Biography / Drama / Romance / Period Film
USA
English
2801
79
Spike Lee
Denzel Washington, Ray Allen, Milla Jovovich, Rosario Dawson, Hill Harper
Drama / Sports
USA
English
2801
79
Whit Stillman
Chloë Sevigny, Kate Beckinsale, Chris Eigeman, Mackenzie Astin, Matt Keeslar
Comedy / Drama
USA
English
2801
79
Richard LaGravenese
Holly Hunter, Danny DeVito, Queen Latifah, Martin Donovan, Richard Schiff
Comedy / Drama / Romance
USA
English
2801
79
Joseph Ruben
Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Joaquin Phoenix, David Conrad, Vera Farmiga
Drama / Romance / Thriller
USA
English
2801
79
Predrag Antonijevic
Nastassja Kinski, Pascal Rollin, Catlin Foster, Dennis Quaid
Drama / War
USA
English
2801
79
Sturla Gunnarsson
Roshan Seth, Soni Razdan, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Ranjit Chowdhry
Drama / Period Film
UK / Canada
English
2801
79
Vincent Ward
Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr., Annabella Sciorra, Max von Sydow
Drama / Fantasy / Romance
USA
English
2801
79
Jake Kasdan
Bill Pullman, Ben Stiller, Ryan O'Neal, Kim Dickens, Angela Featherstone
Comedy / Thriller / Mystery / Romance / Detective
USA
English
2807
80
Robert Lepage
Anne-Marie Cadieux, Marie Gignac, Richard Fréchette, Alexis Martin
Drama / Comedy / Romance
Canada
French
2807
80
unknown
Noel Coward, Richard Attenborough, Judy Campbell, John Gielgud, John Mills
Documentary / Biography
UK
English
2807
80
John Curran
Peter Fenton, Sacha Horler, Marta Dusseldorp, Ray Bull, Joel Edgerton
Drama / Romance
Australia
English
2807
80
John Hamburg
Sam Rockwell, Steve Zahn, Michael Lerner, Paul Giamatti, Michael Schmidt
Comedy / Crime / Caper / Gangster
USA
English
2810
81
Rowan Woods
David Wenham, Toni Collette, Lynette Curran, John Polson, Anthony Hayes
Drama / Crime
Australia
English
2819
82
Kirk Jones
Ian Bannen, David Kelly, Fionnula Flanagan, Susan Lynch, James Nesbitt
Comedy
UK / France / USA
English
2840
83
Liz Garbus, Wilbert Rideau, Jonathan Stack
Bernard Addison, Burl Cain, George Crawford, Wilbert Rideau, Vincent Simmons
Documentary / Biography / Crime
USA
English
2847
84
Joan Chen
Lu Lu, Lopsang, Zheng Qian, Jie Gao, Qianqian Li, Yue Lu, Qian Qiao, Cheng Jiang
Drama
Hong Kong / USA / Taiwan
Mandarin
2852
85
Karin Julsrud
Reidar Sørensen, Jon Øigarden, Gaute Skjegstad, Trond Høvik
Thriller / Mystery / Detective / Crime / Drama
Norway
Norwegian
2852
85
Rolf de Heer
Heather Rose, Joey Kennedy, John Brumpton, Hugh O'Conor, Phil Macpherson
Drama
Australia
English
2852
85
Craig Monahan
Hugo Weaving, Tony Martin, Aaron Jeffery, Paul Sonkkila, Michael Caton
Thriller / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Detective
Australia
English
2852
85
Mark Herman
Brenda Blethyn, Jane Horrocks, Ewan McGregor, Philip Jackson, Annette Badland
Comedy / Drama / Romance / Musical
UK
English
2852
85
John Frankenheimer
Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgård, Sean Bean
Action / Crime / Thriller / Spy
UK / USA
English
2852
85
Edward Zwick
Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, Bruce Willis, Tony Shalhoub, Sami Bouajila
Action / Thriller / Drama
USA
English
2852
85
Peter Howitt
Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah, John Lynch, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Zara Turner
Drama / Romance / Comedy / Fantasy
UK / USA
English
2852
85
Kevin DiNovis
Peter Pryor, Kevin DiNovis, Jason Centeno, Elizabeth Banks, Elizabeth Casey
Drama
USA
English
NR
-
Mimi Leder
Robert Duvall, Téa Leoni, Elijah Wood, Vanessa Redgrave, Morgan Freeman
Drama / Sci-Fi / Thriller
USA
English
NR
-
Roland Emmerich
Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, Maria Pitillo, Hank Azaria, Kevin Dunn
Action / Sci-Fi / Thriller / Horror
USA
English
