Top Ten Films of 1992
The year I was born! I recommend doing the year you were born challenge by ranking your favorite movies of that year. Letterboxd is a great resource to see what came out in what year. Let me know what your favorites are in your birth year.
This year doesn’t have THE ONE but it is very deep and I think it’s a fantastic movie year.
I have a few extra here to make my 8 honorable mentions then my top 10.
video
A Few Good Men (Directed Rob Reiner)
A League of Their Own (Directed by Penny Marshall)
Alien 3 (Directed by David Fincher) - HBO Max
Batman Returns (Directed by Tim Burton) - HBO Max
Juice (Directed by Ernest R. Dickerson) - Amazon Prime
My Cousin Vinny (Directed by Jonathan Lynn) - Hulu
Passion Fish (Directed by John Sayles) - Tubi TV
The Player (Directed by Robert Altman) - Criterion Channel & HBO Max
10. Lorenzo’s Oil (Directed by George Miller)
A hard movie to recommend but anyone who lost a parent or has a child would get teary eyed in this drama. Based on a true story of a pair of persistent parents that try to find a way to spend more time with their son. You know a movie is good when Nick Nolte doing a almost comically over the top Italian accent at times doesn’t bring it down.
9. One False Move (Directed by Carl Franklin)
Carl Franklin is another tale of a BIPOC that didn’t get as many chances as he should have. He has been doing amazing TV work in recent years on The Leftovers and Mindhunter. But with Mo’ Better Blues and One False Move that should buy him at least a few more big swings. Bill Paxton in one of his best performances, and a script written by co-star Billy Bob Thornton before he made Sling Blade. A good crime story with some twists and gnarly turns that make it more memorable than most.
8. The Muppet Christmas Carol (Directed by Brian Henson)
Might be my favorite Muppet movie. Michael Caine gives an Oscar worthy performance surrounded by hand puppets. It’s impressive. I still feel a lot during this. The cuteness still works, the gags make me smile, and I can’t wait to show my future kid this someday.
7. Wayne’s World (Directed by Penelope Spheeris)
Love both of these movies, so I guess spoiler for next week’s movies, and I could watch them forever. When you get asked the desert island question it’s easy to pick the great favorites. Maybe the new emotional adult choices. But, this childhood favorite holds up for me and would be near the top of something I think I could enjoy everyday. Game on.
6. The Last of the Mohicans (Directed by Michael Mann)
I haven’t seen this recently and I could see it rising on rewatch. Daniel Day Lewis is always great, but I fell for Madeline Stowe in this. Wes Studi is one of the most dignified screen presences and is ever so in this. Not near my top Michael Mann movies but a universal dad film that I think just about anyone could enjoy.
5. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (Directed by David Lynch) Criterion Channel & HBO Max
Although it came almost 30 years before Twin Peaks: The Return, it is a companion piece to that wonderful 18 hours of TV. Sheryl Lee is heartbreaking as Laura Palmer. She channels so much innocence, pain, sorrow, wild eyed rebellion, and ultimately madness. It’s her show and although others are good, especially David Bowie, it is a tour-de-force performance and it’s what I think of when I think of this.
4. Dracula (Directed by Francis Ford Coppola)
A deep love letter to old fashioned entertainment. Beautiful imagery, passionate love story, and melodrama at its best. Gary Oldman looks like he was probably miserable but channeled that into an amazing performance. Keanu, my 1991 breakout, isn’t good here but not as bad as you can read. He also refused to make Winona Ryder cry on set and he’s a good dude. Ryder is good and clearly an adult star after crushing Beetlejuice and Heathers. Coppola has made many all time great canon movies, and I think this should be right there with them.
3. Reservoir Dogs (Directed by Quentin Tarantino)
A movie that I would guess my friend would think would be my number one of this year. An important film to me and many other teenage boys that led to some very annoying long conversations (one guy talking at a girl endlessly without asking her questions except for “have you seen it?”) and some very good films. Tarantino had a choice to make this or True Romance and he chose this. I can argue with myself that he made the wrong decision. But, we will never know. He became iconic, and although this is now my least favorite of his movies I still love it and would love to put on a stage play of it like Michael Fassbender did in high school.
2. Unforgiven (Directed by Clint Eastwood) - HBO Max
An old man reckoning with his past of violence. That is true of the character of William Munny in this movie and of Clint Eastwood. He made his name by not having one and killing other men. The movie is his coming to terms with the one thing he was great at and how he had to do it one more time to kill it. Gene Hackman basically steals the movie from him, but Clint certainly knows how to shoot and light himself. Maybe the best “one last time” movie.
1. Malcolm X (Directed by Spike Lee)
My personal favorite Spike movie. It’s a long and winding epic over three hours long of a life that deserves much more. Denzel Washington, before he was truly DENZEL and proved himself to be one of the most charismatic actors to ever be on camera. As with any great Spike movie this shifts in tone and style multiple times: dance scenes, hilarious banter, empowering speeches, and the images that stick with you. I love this movie and it’s the closest thing to a masterpiece he has in my opinion.
1993 next week.