Tuesday, August 15, 2017

5 Off My Head: Siri Says 1992

.
I always like it when I ask Siri for a number between 1 and 100 (as we do weekly) and she gives me a year with meaning outside of the random pleasure doing this series brings me, and so when she gave me "92" today I smiled - it's the 25th anniversary of 1992 and all the films therein! We've already noted that fact with a couple of the titles you'll see below (we just did one yesterday, in fact). 

I didn't have a hard time picking a Top 5 Faves for 1992 (unlike when we did 1993, where I had to make it a Top 10) but there are reams and reams of runners-up - movies I like a whole lot but don't love enough to expand this list past 5. So it's a good year, if not a "great" one.

Still I was just coming of age as a cinephile at this moment in time (I was 15 and living inside the local video store) so I saw a whole helluva lot, but these fall into a chasm where a lot of them I haven't re-watched many of them since they came out. Anyway...

My 5 Favorite Movies of 1992

(dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
-- released on November 13th 1992 --

(dir. Tim Burton)
-- released on June 19th 1992 --

(dir. Robert Zemeckis)
-- released on July 31st 1992 --

(dir. James Ivory)
-- released on February 26th 1992 --

(dir. Michael Haneke)
-- released on September 28th 1992 --

-----------------------------------

Runners-upAladdin (dir. John Musker), Reservoir Dogs (dir. Quentin Tarantino), Alien 3 (dir. David Fincher), Basic Instinct (dir. Paul Verhoeven), A League of Their Own (dir. Penny Marshall)...

... The Crying Game (dir. Neil Jordan), My Cousin Vinnie (dir. Jonathan Lynn), Candyman (dir. Bernard Rose), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (dir. David Lynch), Wayne's World (dir. Penelope Spheeris), Sister Act (dir. Emile Ardolino), Universal Soldier (dir. Roland Emmerich), Single White Female (dir. Barbet Schroeder)...

... Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (dir. Columbus), White Men Can't Jump (dir. Ron Shelton), Husbands and Wives (dir. Woody Allen), Poison Ivy (dir. Katt Shea), Boomerang (dir. Hudlin)...

... Raising Cain (dir. Brain DePalma), Orlando (dir. Sally Potter), Malcolm X (dir. Spike Lee), The Mambo Kings (dir. Arne Glimcher), Porco Rosso (dir. Hayao Miyazaki)...

... Romper Stomper (dir. Geoffrey Wright), The Story of Qui Ju (dir. Zhang Yimou), Strictly Ballroom (dir. Baz Luhrmann), The Lover (dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud), Bitter Moon (dir. Roman Polanski), Housesitter (dir. Frank Oz), The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (dir. Curtis Hanson), The Last of the Mohicans (dir. Michael Mann), Toys (dir. Barry Levinson)

Never seen: Bad Lieutenant (dir. Abel Ferrera), Chaplin (dir. Richard Attenborough), Passion Fish (dir. John Sayles), Damage (dir. Louis Malle), Indochine (dir. Régis Wargnier), Jamon Jamon (dir. Bigas Luna), Love Field (dir. Jonathan Kaplan), Lorenzo's Oil (dir. George Miller), Enchanted April (dir. Mike Newell)

-----------------------------------

What are your favorite movies of 1992?
.

10 comments:

Chris said...

You've never seen Passion Fish?? Alfre Woodard has never been better.

Jason Adams said...

There's a small chance I have seen it - there's a small chance I have maybe seen a couple of the movies listed under "Never Seen" (see also Damage). But that would've been a full 25 years ago and I remember nothing of those viewings. I would love to see both of them right now - maybe I'll have myself a little mini-marathon!

joel65913 said...

There were a lot of great films this year which might account for how different our lists are. We only share one title though it's my favorite and your number 2 so we're close there. Several that are faves of mine are on your never seen list. I've never heard of Benny's Video I'll have to check it out.

My top 6 (couldn't decide between the last two) in order:

Howards End
The Last of the Mohicans
Enchanted April
Sister Act
A River Runs Through It
School Ties

Runner-ups

My Cousin Vinny
Of Mice and Men
One False Move
Indochine
A League of Their Own
Death Becomes Her
Passion Fish
Bob Roberts
Chaplin
The Crying Game
Damage
Leap of Faith

Anonymous said...

I agree with Chris, see Passion Fish! Alfre and Mary give amazing performances. They both need A LOT more work.

MMinDC

Scott said...

Yeah it seems to have been a liked it but didn't love it kind of year. I mean I loved Howards End, and I liked Husbands and Wives, Damage, Aladdin, My New Gun, and Bram Stoker's Dracula a lot, but ...

But like you there's a lot from 1992 I haven't see since then and I'm wondering what I'd think of movies I liked at the time, when I was a lot younger, now - things like A Few Good Men, School Ties, Swoon, The Flight of the Innocent, and Chaplin.

Pierce said...

RE: Never seen entries: Chaplin isn't bad, Damage is magnificent, I haven't seen Indochine or Lorenzo's Oil either. Enchanted April is magnificent.

Aladdin is a good movie, but it's been blown way out of proportion since then.
Bram Stoker's Dracula. I wish it had been better, but it's fairly good. Not as good as the Louis Jourdan version, but...
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. So much fun!
Chain of Desire. A really sexy movie that seems to have disappeared.
Chaplin. Surprisingly good.
The Crying Game. Beautiful and moody!
Damage. Great cast and Jeremy Irons naked!
Death Becomes Her. The only Streep movie I can stand to watch.
For a Lost Soldier, disturbing, but beautifully made.
Home Alone 2. Not as good as the first one, but Brenda Fricker is lovely in it.
Howard's End. One name: Vanessa Redgrave!
Last of the Mohicans. Daniel Day-Lewis before he became truly creepy.
A League of Her Own. Terrific and good for Penny Marshall!
Like Water For Chocolate: True story. This movie is so hot and steamy, my VCR stopped working. I had to take it in so they could remove the tape and I had it serviced. When I went back to the video store to get the tape, so I could finish watching it, the tape was still where I'd had it when I'd returned it. I loved this movie and the book, too!
My Cousin Vinny. Saw this frequently when I had cable. Still a fun movie.
Noises Off. This is the funniest play I've ever seen. The movie isn't quite as good, but it's entertaining.
Orlando. A weird movie, but a great adaptation of Virginia Woolf's book
Peter's Friends. Marvelous.
The Player. One of Altman's best films.
Straight Talk. Saw this several times on cable, too. Very entertaining.
Strictly Ballroom. Nice movie. Possibly Baz Luhrmann's best movie. (Not a big fan)
This is My Life. Smart little movie.
Toys. Brilliant and it was hated by the critics.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With me. I was a huge Twin Peaks fan.

MTMSLG said...

Wow, what a year! Many of my favorite movies of all time were released in 1992: Bram Stoker's Dracula, Howard's End, Orlando, Strictly Ballroom (Miss Tina Sparkles!), The Last of the Mohicans, Death Becomes Her, Indochine . . .

Brad said...

1992 is the greatest year for unhinged women!

JB said...

Wow, I didn't realise what an excellent year for movies 1992 was. Howard's End, Batman Returns & Sister Act would all be in my all-time top 10.

Not only that, but I have A LOT of love for so many 1992 movies; A Muppet's Christmas Carol, Strictly Ballroom, Basic Instinct, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Aladdin, Peter's Friends, Death Becomes Her, A Few Good Men.
Stellar year for Hollywood studio movies!

Anonymous said...

Wait, how have you never seen Jamon Jamon? The first scene is literally a tighty-whitey competition in a meat factory, overseen by a horned-up lady boss.