The 70th National Board of Review Awards, honoring the best in filmmaking in 1998, were announced on 8 December 1998 and given on 8 February 1999.

Top 10 films

1. Gods and Monsters
2. Saving Private Ryan
3. Elizabeth
4. Happiness
5. Shakespeare in Love
6. The Butcher Boy
7. Lolita
8. The Thin Red Line
9. A Simple Plan
10. Dancing at Lughnasa

Top Foreign Films

1. Central Station
2. Life Is Beautiful
3. The Thief
4. Beyond Silence
5. Men with Guns

Winners

• Best Picture:
  • Gods and Monsters
• Best Foreign Film:
  • Central Station
• Best Actor:
  • Ian McKellen - Gods and Monsters
• Best Actress:
  • Fernanda Montenegro - Central Station
• Best Supporting Actor:
  • Ed Harris - The Truman Show
• Best Supporting Actress:
  • Christina Ricci - The Opposite of Sex
• Best Acting by an Ensemble:
  • Happiness
• Breakthrough Performance - Male:
  • Billy Crudup - The Hi-Lo Country
• Breakthrough Performance - Female:
  • Angelina Jolie - Playing by Heart
• Best Director:
  • Shekhar Kapur - Elizabeth
• Best Screenplay:
  • Scott B. Smith - A Simple Plan
• Best Documentary:
  • Wild Man Blues
• Best Achievement in Filmmaking:
  • Roberto Benigni - Life Is Beautiful
• Career Achievement Award:
  • Michael Caine
• Billy Wilder Award for Excellence in Directing:
  • Martin Scorsese
• William K. Everson Award for Film History:
  • John Willis
• International Freedom Award:
  • Volker Schlöndorff
• Freedom of Expression:
  • Bernardo Bertolucci
• Special Citation:
  • Warren Beatty, Alan J. Pakula Memorial Award
• Special Recognition for Excellence in Filmmaking:
  • Buffalo '66
  • Dark City
  • Love and Death on Long Island
  • Next Stop Wonderland
  • The Opposite of Sex
  • Passion in the Desert
  • Pi
  • Smoke Signals
  • Waking Ned Devine
  • Your Friends & Neighbors