Ranking What Was Really The Best Film Of Every Year 1990-2021

Actually won: Shakespeare In Love.

1998 was the year Harvey Weinstein basically forced a victory for Shakespeare In Love, an enjoyable enough romance that's nonetheless far from the quality of Steven Spielberg's D-Day war epic Saving Private Ryan.

One of two WWII dramas released that year, Saving Private Ryan's painful realism and displays of inconceivable heroism, mixed with its timeless opening scene and simple but effective narrative, make it a clear winner over Terrence Malick's less conventional nominee The Thin Red Line.

All these years later, and Saving Private Ryan's defeat remains one of the biggest miscarriages of Oscar justice, and one audiences aren't likely to forget.