Favorites Of 1992

Favorite English-Language Films of 1992

1. LESSONS OF DARKNESS (Werner Herzog)
-- THE LONG DAY CLOSES (Terence Davies)
3. HOWARDS END (James Ivory)
-- UNFORGIVEN (Clint Eastwood)
5. THE CRYING GAME (Neil Jordan)
-- THE PANAMA DECEPTION (Barbara Trent)
-- VISIONS OF LIGHT:The Art of Cinematography (McCarthy/Samuels/Glassman)
7. CLOSE MY EYES (Stephen Poliakoff)
-- MALCOLM X (Spike Lee)
-- RESERVOIR DOGS (Quentin Tarantino)
-- TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (David Lynch)

Runners-Up
The Last Days of Chez Nous, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Careful, Passion Fish, Bitter Moon, Deep Cover, Of Mice and Men, The Lover, A Midnight Clear, The Player.

1. THE ACTRESS (Stanley Kwan/Hong Kong)
2. DREAM OF LIGHT (Victor Erice/Spain)
3. THE BEST INTENTIONS (Bille August/Sweden)
4. THE OAK (Lucian Pintilie/Romania)
-- SAVAGE NIGHTS (Cyril Collard/France)
6. A TALE OF WINTER (Rohmer/France)
-- GUELWAAR (Ousmane Sembene/Senegal)
8. A HEART IN WINTER (Claude Sautet/France)
-- A PLACE IN THE WORLD (Adolfo Aristarain/Argentina)
-- LA FRONTERA (Ricardo Larrain/Chile)
-- LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE (Alfonso Arau/Mexico)
-- REBELS OF THE NEON GOD (Tsai Ming Liang/Taiwan)
-- THE STOLEN CHILDREN (Gianni Amelio/Italy)
-- THE STORY OF QIU JU (Zhang Yimou/China)

Runners Up
Porco Rosso, Jamon Jamon, Vacas, L.627, Leolo, Belle Epoque, Hyenas.

I'm glad you mentioned Coppola's Dracula.
It deserves a mention for several reasons.

It won 3 oscars- Costumes, Make up, best effects/sound effects editing.

The cinematography is stunning: Michael Ballhaus, a legend who's worked with legends.

Gary Oldman is incredible as Dracula. Simply incredible.
He threw himself into the role with absolute rapture.

The opening scenes and titles are among the best in the history of movies: Hellion war, blood, swords & lances, love, medieval madness, black & blood red skies.. what more can you ask for?

I could watch the first 10 minutes of this movie forever.

Don't ask me why Keanu Reeves is in it.
He's so wrong for it I don't even want to talk about it.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Johann


Don't ask me why Keanu Reeves is in it.
He's so wrong for it I don't even want to talk about it.

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I don't think there was a worse miscasting of him than of the role of Don John in Much Ado About Nothing. Keanu and Shakespeare? Bleargh!

*Indeed, I think we can call Michael Ballhaus "a legend". He's worked consistently at a high level of artistry. I'm particularly fond of his long collaboration with R.W. Fassbinder (especially Martha and The Marriage of Maria Braun) and Martin Scorsese (The Last Temptation of Christ, The Age of Innocence). His work here is, as you say, stunning.

*Most Dracula movies are actually based on the 1927 stage adaptation. Bram Stoker's Dracula is obviously based on the 1897 novel. That means that it appropriates from it the characteristic multiple narrators and it puts sex back into the story. Oldman is phenomenal, but I enjoyed smaller perfs by Winona Ryder and Tom Waits just as much.

*I agree with both of you about Keanu Reeves. He seems ill-suited to period films. Paradoxically, in my favorite performance by Mr. Reeves, he plays a character inspired by Prince Hal. It's set in the present though. Know which film I'm talking about?

I give up- I'm not on the up and up with the Reeves filmography.

My guess is Bill & Ted.
:)

My Own Private Idaho.

Bill, strange things are afoot at the Circle K.

Yes! Tree rocks! My favorite American movie of 1991 and the best movie featuring River Phoenix. His other 1991 release, Dogfight, is also good; good enough for me to add it to that year's runners-up. By the way, I "fell in love" with Chiara Caselli, the Italian girl Keanu ends up marrying in My Own Private Idaho. Antonioni cast her as Peter Weller's mistress in Beyond the Clouds, where the talented actress appears fully nude :)
Ms. Caselli has directed two features recently.

"We have heard the chimes at midnight"

I've seen Visions of Light listed as a 1993 release, so its on my list for that year, but a damn fine documentary for any year. Also nice mention of Dracula, but I'm one of about 4 people on earth who can't figure out why all the hating on Keanu Reeves. I didn't mind him in this film, and generally I actually like the guy. Some people just can't get past his Ted Theodore Logan, but perhaps I love those films too much as well.

1. Malcolm X (Lee)
2. Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino)
3. Unforgiven (Eastwood)
4. Hard Boiled (Woo)
5. Wayne’s World (Spheeris)
6. Rebels of the Neon God (Ming-Liang)
7. Dead Alive (Jackson)
8. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Coppola)
9. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (Lynch)
10. Husbands and Wives (Allen)

Wayne's World and Dead Alive are the two childhood favorites that I'm representing here. I can still find myself getting stuck watching all of Wayne's World whenever its on TV and have a host of friends who can quote any scene of it in complete detail. Jackson's ultimate zombie film I've probably watched 40 times and I'm responsible for introducing at least 2 dozen people directly to that movie, as well as Meet the Feebles.

As for my #1, I think Malcolm-X is Lee's most perfectly realized film, along with Do the Right Thing, which also happens to top my 1989 list.

When it comes to the first six features (from She's Gotta Have It to Malcolm X) directed by Spike Lee, allow me to take advantage of this opportunity to give credit to cinematographer-turned-director Ernest Dickerson, who rarely gets a mention.

Do the Right Thing is my clear favorite of Lee's, with 25th Hour and Malcolm X closely behind. X gets a bit underrated; seems to me, whereas 4 Little Girls and Get on the Bus get ignored.

The film suffers in my opinion from being based on the absolutely brilliant, exhilarating and complex "The Autobiography of Malcolm X", the widely read book ghostwritten by Alex Haley. Those in the habit of comparing films with the books they're based on, would say the book is "better". I'm not sold on the idea that it's valid to rate a film based on how it compares with the book, although it's a valid topic for analysis and discussion. J. Rosenbaum, for instance and among others, failed to realize the film is very good, even though it's undoubtedly less rich and compelling than the book.

It gives me great pleasure to find Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me on your list. I think of it as a horror film, one of the best ones in a genre that usually aims too low to satisfy.

People just seemed very, very disappointed with the film. Watching it and then watching the Pilot Episode of Twin Peaks the puzzle fits wonderfully together. I think some people thought that the film went a little over the top, but it was an expressionist film, and audiences I guess weren't sure how to take it. The same can be said for the acting in Wild at Heart. Granted not all the cast was here, but Moira Kelly was an admirable Donna substitute.

I haven't read the autobiography so I can't adequately comment on it, but I just found the film nearly perfect. As for Mr. Rosenbaum, his tastes are a little too odd for me.

I find everyone else's taste to be odd because it's not my taste. Rosenbaum is my favorite critic because I learn something from him in every review. This time I feel he got caught comparing apples and oranges, and consequently failing to give enough credit to a superior film, simply because it's "not as good" as the source book. When I was in high school/college/grad school, "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" was required reading. Is it not the case anymore? It is stunning.