Web posted on:
Tuesday, December 22, 1998 2:27:11 PM EST

• Broadcast critics name top 10 movies this year
• Anna Paquin: 16 and enjoying herself
• Farrelly brothers won't touch Clinton's escapade
• Kinnear not shying away from family life
• Stalking gets fashion designer two years in prison

"Saving Private Ryan" was in the Broadcast Film Critics Association's top 10 films of the year

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- It was a big year for World War II on the entertainment front, according to television and radio critics. On Monday, the Broadcast Film Critics Association ranked "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Thin Red Line" among the top 10 films of 1998.

"Life is Beautiful," "Elizabeth," "Gods and Monsters," "A Simple Plan," "Out of Sight," Pleasantville," "Shakespeare in Love" and "The Truman Show" were also named to the list from which a best picture winner will be picked on January 25.

Sir Ian McKellen was named best actor for his work in "Gods and Monsters," and Cate Blanchett was named best actress for her role as a British monarch in "Elizabeth." Steven Spielberg was named best director for "Saving Private Ryan" and the Italian-made "Life is Beautiful" was named best foreign film. Best supporting actor went to Billy Bob Thornton ("A Simple Plan"), and Joan Allen ("Pleasantville") and Kathy Bates ("Primary Colors") tied for best supporting actress.

Paquin

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Anna Paquin, the 16-year-old actress who won an Academy Award at age 11 for her work in "The Piano," tells the New York Daily News she wasn't intimidated by working with co-stars Sean Penn, Kevin Spacey and Garry Shandling in her latest movie, ""Hurlyburly."

"I don't know what it is that I'm doing, but I'm really enjoying myself," said Paquin, who claims she has never taken acting lessons. "And I'm free to do it as much as I want. Most people don't have careers until they're adults."

In "Hurlyburly," the New Zealand native can be seen playing a teen-age runaway willing to sleep with anybody in exchange for a bed. It opens in limited release on Christmas Day. "It's a little bit of a stretch," she said of her role. "It's so intense, and the characters are so interesting and their lives are so frightening and screwed up."

Bobby and Peter Farrelly

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The Farrelly brothers, who created the gross-out hit comedy "There's Something About Mary," have their standards, according to Newsweek magazine. The pair says though they're known for lowbrow humor, they wouldn't degrade themselves by making a movie about Kenneth Starr's investigation into President Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky.

"We do gross-out humor, admittedly, but we won't go this low," Peter Farrelly says. "This is beneath us -- it's too vile. There is nothing slap-on-your-knee funny. It's just, like, 'Ugh!'" Nonetheless, if the brothers were to cast the movie, Bobby Farrelly says Gary Shandling or Bill Murray would be ideal for the part of Clinton. "He's the guy who got the ball rolling, he's got to be the scoundrel," he said.

Kinnear

ARLINGTON, Virginia (CNN) -- Greg Kinnear is a family man, times 16. The actor who's currently seen in "You've Got Mail" told USA Weekend that he and fiancee Helen Labdon have only slightly different ideas on their desired number of children. "I say 16. Helen says two," Kinnear said. "So we're just trying to work that out."

Kinnear and Labdon, a British model-turned-writer, plan to wed next year, but haven't set the date. "I'm someone who's always looked forward to marriage," Kinnear said. "My parents being together for so long made marriage that much more important."

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Gianluigi Assenato, a popular fashion designer, was sentenced Monday to two years in prison to be followed by deportation back to Italy after pleading guilty to stalking "NYPD Blue" actress Andrea Thompson after their romance soured.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Frank Johnson disregarded pleas for leniency for Assenato, including an argument from his attorney who pointed out that Assenato was "a man with no history of violence, a man who's never served a day in custody before this case."

Assenato, 34, who began dating Thompson, 38, after making her a dress for the Emmy awards, pleaded guilty earlier this year to a felony charge of stalking her. Prosecutors say he slashed Thompson's tires and made threats against her and her child, both in person and over the telephone over a six-month period after she ended their relationship.

Reuters Limited and The Associated Press contributed to this report.