The Mask of Zorro (1998)

Sexy Courtship with a Vigorous Sword

Action film director Martin Campbell's characterization of Zorro was slightly comedic in this executive-produced action-adventure swashbuckler - the first Zorro picture made in Hollywood in many years.

After being imprisoned for twenty years, nobleman Don Diego de la Vega/Zorro (Anthony Hopkins) passed on his mission and sword blade to a young apprentice successor - Mexican thief Alejandro Murrieta /Zorro (Antonio Banderas). Many years earlier, Zorro's infant daughter Elena was kidnapped - and was now grown to be a beautiful young lady (Catherine Zeta-Jones), aligned with Zorro's arch-enemy Don Rafael Montero (Stuart Wilson) (she had been told that he was her father).

During the tale, the feisty Elena came upon Alejandro in the barn of Montero's hacienda and claimed: "Give it back...Whatever it is you have stolen from my father. I want it back. Give it to me." She seriously professed that she was up to a sword duel challenge: "I have had the proper instruction since I was four." His sword handle popped up at the thought of fighting with her.

Dueling For a Kiss

She proved she was skillfully trained by slashing his black costume and holding him at swordpoint. He removed his hat, and she removed her blue robe, as they became more vigorous. She also complimented him when he cut her white slip ("Not bad"). He replied "Not bad at all" while he stole a kiss from her. She was doubly enraged when he cut the sleeve of her blouse and even stole a second kiss from her.

The climax of the duel came when he held her at swordpoint, commanded: "Don't move!", and dissected her blouse with a number of diagonal slashes. When her blouse fell to the floor, she stood there topless (except for her hair covering her breasts). She turned and covered herself with his hat, as he approached:

Alejandro: "Do you surrender?"
Elena: "Never, but I may scream."
Alejandro: "I understand. Sometimes I have that effect. (He took her for a very long and sensuous kiss. He snatched back his hat) Excuse me. (He bowed as he departed) Goodbye, senorita."

Afterwards, she reported to her father: "He was young and vigorous...very vigorous."

Meet Joe Black (1998)

Long Sensuous and Awkward Kisses

Martin Brest's tedious, manipulative and overly-long romance film was rich in production values due to its lavish budget. It told of the privileged rich in Newport, Rhode Island and in a Manhattan triplex penthouse. The two main characters who experienced romance together were:

• Joe Black (Brad Pitt), a handsome, golden-haired lawyer, who was renamed after a vehicular accident when he reappeared as an inarticulate, often silent Angel of Death
• Susan Parrish (beautiful Claire Forlani in her first major Hollywood feature film), dark-eyed, vacuous, vulnerable and thin - the beloved daughter of dying, imperious mid-60-ish corporate entrepreneur and magnate William Parrish (Anthony Hopkins)

Parrish's beloved Susan fell in love with the passionless, metaphysical doppelgänger Joe Black in a doomed relationship. (Although engaged to be married, she had recently met the young lawyer in a coffeeshop before his startling death, after which his deceased body was inhabited by Death, and she couldn't understand why he acted differently.) The chemistry between the two good-looking yet bland and passive stars was sometimes visible, but their interactions were protracted, strange, and overblown.

The two fell in love, after a few protracted, intensely slow and tender kisses between the couple, first in the rare book library of the home. She asked: "Joe, may I kiss you?" His answer: "Why yes, you can." When he kissed her, he didn't seem to know what to do. It took a few smooches for him to reciprocate. After their kisses, they awkwardly and formally introduced themselves:

Susan: "Thank you. (She answered for him) You're welcome. Joe? I don't know who you are."
Joe: "I'm Joe."
Susan: "Mm-hmm."
Joe: "And, uh, you're Susan."
Susan: "Mmm."
Joe: "And I have this weak feeling in my knees."
Susan: "And is your heart beating strangely?"
Joe: "Yes."
Susan: "Mm-hmm."
Joe: "Faster. The taste of your lips and the touch of your tongue. That was wonderful."
Susan: "Mmm. I should, uhm, I should go home. Shouldn't I? Yeah."

Then, they experienced a lingering love-making scene in which the two kissed, and then she slowly undressed him - first his coat, then his tie, vest, and white shirt.

Kissing and Undressing

Once his chest was naked, he began to assist Susan in stripping off her clothes, and she let down her hair. Soon, they stood naked kissing, and then reclined back and made love for the first time.

Practical Magic (1998)

Dreamy Life of Love and Family with a Man

In this romantic fantasy story about witches, Sandra Bullock (as introspective orphaned Sally Owens), who grew up in a family of ostracized witches, ran into the local town to find Michael (Mark Feuerstein).

She jumped into his arms and kissed him in the street, to the sounds of Faith Hill singing: "This Kiss":

I don't want another heartbreak, I don't need another turn to cry
I don't want to learn the hard way, Baby, hello, oh, no, goodbye
But you got me like a rocket, Shooting straight across the sky

It's the way you love me, It's a feeling like this
It's centrifugal motion, It's perpetual bliss
It's that pivotal moment, It's impossible
This kiss, this kiss (Unstoppable), This kiss, this kiss

The film dissolved into three years later, where she was still kissing him (although he was now bearded), while she narrated (in voice-over) a letter written to her red-haired sister Gillian (Nicole Kidman). She was now married, with two daughters, Kylie (Evan Rachel Wood) and Antonia (Alexandra Artrip):

"Dear Gillian. Today is our third anniversary and all I have to show for it are two beautiful little girls and a husband I just can't stop kissing. I don't even mind the beard. I wish you could see us. No more stones being thrown, no taunts cried out. Everything is just so blissfully normal. Life is perfect."

He was her 'dream' of having a normal family. She thought that the "curse on any man who dared love an Owens woman" had been lifted, but Michael didn't have long to live. He narrowly avoided being struck by a pack of cyclists in town while he was carting fresh produce on a dolly, but then he was hit head-on by a truck. Michael died an untimely death - proving the curse to be true and leaving her a widow with two children.

She railed against her Aunt Frances (Stockard Channing) and Aunt Jet (Dianne Wiest) who had cast the killing spell, and who never suspected that Sally would really fall in love and become happy:

"It was the curse, wasn't it. He died because I loved him so much....What spell? What are you talking about? Oh, oh, you didn't. You didn't. Please tell me that my own flesh and blood...Well, I did (love him). And I want him back. You brought him into my life. Now I want you to bring him back! Bring him back. I have never asked you for anything! I have never asked you for spells, but do this! I know, I know you can bring him back here...But you can. You can do this. I know you can...I don't care what he comes back as. As long as he comes back. Please do this for me. Please!"

Shakespeare in Love (1998)

"My Love is Deep" Kiss and "You Will Never Age for Me" Good-bye Kiss

John Madden's Best Picture-winning romance/period drama portrayed a love affair of the famed English playwright, at the time he was writing one of his most famous romantic tragedies:

• William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes), a poor, writer's-block suffering bard/playwright
• Lady Viola De Lesseps (Oscar-winning Gwyneth Paltrow), a disguised, cross-dressed (as Thomas Kent) female

Will came to her and they kissed and undressed each other:

Viola: "I do not know how to undress a man."
Will: "It is strange to me too."

He lovingly unwrapped the bound torso of Viola - as she spun and twirled around, her nakedness was slowly revealed before they kissed and made love. The rhythmic creaking of their subsequent lovemaking was cleverly masked by the Nurse's rocking in a chair outside their door. Afterwards, Viola told Will as they were in bed: "I would not have thought it. There is something better than a play...Even your play... And that was only my first try."

She rolled over and kissed him and they shared the night together. The next morning when the rooster crowed, she urged: "You would not leave me" and kissed him, although he moaned: "I must." She continued to tempt him to remain in bed with her, and he became convinced to linger, although then, she changed her mind and wanted him to go so that she would be able to act in his play: "It's broad day. The rooster tells us so."

She became his inspiration for his new work, titled "Romeo and Ethel, The Pirate's Daughter," in a scene that cross-cut between further sensual touching, kissing, and sexual intercourse between them and a practice-performance of Shakespeare's new play - with well-timed words:

"Good night, as sweet repose and rest come to thy heart as that within my breast. Oh, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?...My bounty is as boundless as the sea. My love is deep. The more I give to thee, the more I have for both are infinite... Stay but a little. I will come again."

Departure Kisses

They kissed in the film's tearjerking conclusion as she departed for Virginia, and they pledged themselves to each other forever when they said good-bye:

Will (with his voice quavering as he sobbed): "You will never age for me, nor fade nor die."
Viola: "Nor you for me."
Will: "Good-bye, my love. A thousand times good-bye."
Viola: "Write me well."

The Wedding Singer (1998)

A Life-Changing Practice Church Kiss

The outcome of this mid-80s era romantic comedy about the impending marriages of a mis-matched couple were altered with one kiss. The two couples engaged to marry the wrong people were:

• Julia "Jules" Sullivan (Drew Barrymore), a reception hall waitress - engaged to marry egomaniacal and pompous Wall Street broker Glenn Guglia (Matthew Glave)
• Robbie Hart (Adam Sandler), a Ridgefield, NJ wedding band singer - planning to marry longtime fiancee Linda (Angela Featherstone) - but he was jilted at the altar

Things changed after Julia was urged by her cousin Holly (Christine Taylor) to receive a special church practice kiss, when Robbie was helping to plan Julia's wedding. It was described by Julia:

"Thin, partially opened, no tongue...well, maybe a little tongue, not porno tongue, church tongue."

The film predictably ended with aspiring song-writer Robbie and Julia finally finding love together - with two kisses:

• on an airplane flight (Julia was on her way to Las Vegas with Glenn to marry him), Robbie (with his guitar) serenaded Julia with his own love song dedicated to her: "Grow Old With You." The passengers applauded when he finished, and Julia told him: "That was the most beautiful song." He responded: "I've got a confession to make. That song was about you. (She giggled) I'm in love with you." She confessed her own love for him: "I am so in love with you."
  (dissolving into)
• their kiss at the altar after they had recited their vows in their own wedding ceremony (with Dave Veltri (Steve Buscemi) in the band singing "True")

Wild Things (1998)

Swimming Pool Kiss

Director John McNaughton's 'guilty pleasure' erotic, film-noirish thriller with plot twists featured a sexy, swimming pool lesbian kiss (extended only in the uncut version) between:

• Kelly Van Ryan (Denise Richards), a rich vixen teen socialite
• Suzie Toller (Neve Campbell), trashy and disturbed

Suzie untied the straps of Kelly's bikini top, as they kissed, and soon they were both topless and in each other's arms.