“Schwing!” – Wayne’s World
Here’s advice. If you see a big mouse, don’t try killing it with a baseball bat. At least not in Disneyland®.
The cliff is real. As we move from the 1980s into 1992, we see that the world has really changed. Movies, for the most part, have much higher production value – perhaps someone could explain that, but even low-budget B movies looked better than they did in the 1980s. Take, for example, Reservoir Dogs. It was on a budget of $1.5 million (depending on who you believe) and it looks great.
Movies look better. But are they better? There are a few that have passed the test of time, but most are “meh” tier movies at best. Now, not that there isn’t some good (or at least memorable) acting in some of the films. “You can’t handle the truth” Nicholson and whatever Pacino was yelling in Scent of a Woman after gargling gravel are memorable, but the movies themselves are flat, and feel a bit defeated.
Of the top four movies in box office for the year, three are sequels, mainly forgettable sequels. The top movie is Aladdin, from the time that Disney® went from making family entertainment to becoming a strip-miner of popular culture. Only two movies from the top 10 made the list.
Anyway, in no particular order, here are films from 1992. Enjoy!
In Wayne’s World, everyone apparently has Wayne’s face.
Wayne’s World – I always had a soft spot for this silly movie. It’s basically the story of how to stretch a premise for a four minute skit into a 95 minute movie. It’s silly. It’s self-referential. It’s what people were looking for. It was released in movie “garbage time” (February) and ended up resurrecting Bohemian Rhapsody into a hit for the second time and also resulted in a lot of unnecessary whiplash.
Noises Off – A comedy movie about a play with John Ritter and Carol Burnett and Michael Caine chewing their way through their lines.. A huge box-office bomb. Probably 10 minutes too long. Yet, for me, it works. It’s sort of like if the television show Frasier was a movie. I liked it Most people didn’t.
Encino Man – Fat hobbit® Sean Astin and Pauly Shore find a prehistoric caveman (Brendan Fraser) while digging a hole for a swimming pool. They thaw him out, and pretend to be Bill and Ted with a cavemen. A bit of advice: don’t wheeze the juice.
Well, that’s one reason to let her stay.
House Sitter – Goldie Hawn plays a psychotic stalker and Steve Martin plays an architect that she blackmails and terrorizes. Oh, wait, that would be the way it would have been written about in 2020 if they made it and the sexes were reversed. Instead, it’s a charming comedy about Goldie Hawn pretending to be Steve Martin’s wife because . . . reasons. It was fun, and Martin/Hawn have a pretty good chemistry.
A League of Their Own – Geena Davis carries this movie about a baseball league that was focused on the World War II period when it actually wasn’t controversial to assume a woman was a woman and all the able-bodied men were off killing each other and all of the rest of them were making bombs. The film is mainly memorable for Tom Hanks’ line, “There’s no crying in baseball,” which was funny before Me, Too and now it is said that he committed feelings rape. I watched this movie once. It was enough.
To your house in 30 minutes, or the next murder is free.
Universal Soldier – This movie is based on a documentary about reanimated soldiers from the Vietnam era being used to deliver pizzas for Dominos™ in thirty minutes or less. No, I kid. It’s about Dolph Lundgren and Jean Claude Van Damme shooting lots of guns and killing lots of things. Not sure that you need much more in a movie.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – If you think 1992 wasn’t far back in time, of the top five billed actors in this movie, four are dead: Donald Sutherland, Paul Reubens, Rutger Hauer, and Luke Perry. The one undead main actor is Buffy herself, Kristy Swanson. The movie isn’t great, but it still had some of the spirit of the late, great 1980s comedies. Plus, Kristy Swanson regularly likes my comments on X®. Because she’s based. And not dead.
Wouldn’t all westerns be better if they rode giant housecats?
Unforgiven – This is the Eastwood movie of a lot of Eastwood fans. It’s Eastwood shooting things, so I’m on board, but I put this one below many of his other films. Why? It’s got good dialogue, plausible action, and great actors. So what’s missing in this film? In my mind it’s the fact that essentially every single character is morally bankrupt. That was the trend of movies in the 1990s that got stronger as the decade went along. Give me Josey Wales or Dirty Harry any day over this character.
Captain Ron – This is a weird movie because I could see about 593 actors that could have played each of the roles in this film. In one way, it’s a generic 1980s comedic romp featuring an ex-SCTV comedian. In another version it could have starred Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren killing people on a boat. Which, again, what more do you need in a movie?
Second prize is, as always, a set of steak knives.
Glengarry Glen Ross – For me, this movie is really only 8 minutes long. Alec Baldwin is a tool in real life, but his portrayal of a top salesman is the speech that won him an Oscar™ in the only scene he’s in. The rest of the movie is okay. Another dark, gritty movie with no real heroes.
Mr. Baseball – In this movie, Tom Selleck is turned into an actual baseball, but with small arms and legs and is forced into a Japanese prisoner of war camp where he devises nuclear weapons and bombs Hiroshima and wins World War II. Nah. Not that at all. Tom Selleck is a baseball player who goes to Japan and becomes a better person in a romantic comedy centered around baseball. Everyone else likes Bull Durham better, but I’d easily pick this one over it. I believe that only Tom Selleck would agree with me.
Steven Seagal after he joined Meal Team Six.
Under Siege – Steven Seagal had exactly one good movie. It awas this one.
Reservoir Dogs – Speaking of a cheap movie looking good, this is another one. Tightly filmed on a budget that consisted of Twinkies®, cocaine, and some sort of cheap whiskey, this was the movie that got Tarantino the nod to make Pulp Fiction. Is it his best? Maybe. It’s easily the best movie on this list. Gritty, yet humanity still managed to seep through.
But what if they were actual dogs? I suppose this could be the Disney® version, but then they’d all have to be black labs.
Passenger 57 – In another universe, this starred Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme killing people on a plane. Which, again, what more do you need in a movie?
Bad Lieutenant – This was a movie so intent on being gritty that at times it turns into nearly comic parody. I never saw it at the time, but saw a review of it indicating how good it was and watched it a few years ago. Whoa. No. It’s not good. It’s just 96 minutes of Harvey Keitel becoming increasingly unhinged. Critics loved it.
Okay, it’s Paxton and Paxton, and they’re carrying fireman tools from some Lovecraftian alternate universe, but I’ll go with it.
Trespass – I really like this movie. It’s a tight little treasure run into the heart of a ghetto, and Bill Paxton and William Sadler star as two firefighters who get a tip to where a bunch of gold is. Complications ensue. Again, I really liked it, but I have a soft spot for both Paxton and Sadler, who were/are very underrated actors. Why was it a box office bomb? It featured white guys fighting black gang members right after the LA riots in ’92. Yeah, the market wasn’t ready for it.
1992 continued the demise of the anti-hero and the rise of “everyone sucks” that seemed to permeate the 1990s like a bunch of bodies buried under the crawlspace of a nice house. Sure, it looked great, but something didn’t smell right. The comedies were mostly generic pale imitations of the Morning in America confidence of the 1980s.
As usual, I deleted a few for length. What did you like that I missed?
Dude, Bad Lieutenant is the best! Never forget Harvey wanking it on the side of the road to some teenage girl making mouth actions who shouldn’t be out driving. OMFG, the best scene ever he ever did, right after that one w/ the mercedes car chase, and “…the finest german engineering…” before he rams the other car off the cliff. Gonna miss that guy when he pulls his Hackman.
Wait a minute…Falling Down (1993) was one of the best of the whole era…
So “1992” wasn’t a rather obvious cluebat…?
Just curious. 🙂
Oh, Keitel did fine with what he had. But what he had . . .
Wow, I didn’t realize how much the movie quality had fallen in the 90’s until looking at this list relative to the others. I started grad school that year so didn’t go to the theaters much. I do remember seeing Sneakers and really enjoying it and Under Siege was surprisingly good as well (not what I expected from a Steven Seagal movie)
It’s also interesting to see how the AI image quality is improving with each of these posts. These seem much more life-like than some of the earlier postings. That being said, WTF are Wayne and Garth holding in their hands??? Did the AI steal those PEZ hammers from Minecraft?
Hahahaha! The AI is getting better (at least in part) by me talking to the AI and telling it what I’m doing. It’s weird – I can give the same instructions to it, but if it knows my intent, it’s better. Also, if I asked it why it ignored part of my request it gets better.
Didn’t “Basic Instinct” come out that year? I didn’t care for the movie, but would love to see how AI interprets the infamous interrogation scene.
I think Last of the Mohicans was also made in 1992. It never seemed to get all of the fanfare but was a really good movie. A friend of the family somehow ended up with one of the cannon props from that film (I think he got it at an auction).
Both 1992. As was “My Cousin Vinny”. Leaving it off is unforgivable. “Mohicans” was filmed in the Western NC Mtns., beautiful country in summer.
Yes. I missed My Cousin Vinny or else it would have been on the list. My mistake.
Okay, Last of the Mohicans was a late cut from the list. I haven’t seen it since then. I thought it was good at the time but . . . I was dumber then. I’ll give it a re-watch.
Not eligible. A remake of a remake.
Wow, Unforgiven is the only film on that list I would bother watching today and it remains one of my favorite films precisely because it is dark and not so cut and dried good guys vs bad guys. Sometimes there are no good guys. Movies in the 1990s are like music in the 1990s: not very good, not memorable and infinitely inferior to the 1980s.
I still think that The Outlaw Josie Wales is better, and so is For a Few Dollars More, but Unforgiven has a great cast, so there’s that….
Yup. The music was headed darker at this time, too.
A Few Good Men – Not a good movie, but Nicholson chews up the scenery in the courtroom.
The Player – Hollyweird navel gazing.
Medicine Man – Live action Fern Gully with Sean Connery.
Fern Gully – “Save the Amazon!” animated fairy tale. James Cameron ripped it off to make Avatar.
Night On Earth – 5 dark comedy vignettes of the same night. Tarantino did it better in Four rooms.
Sister Act – Whoopi can act? Great use of some golden oldies.
Cool World – Ralph Bakshi doing what he does, but with an actual budget.
Death Becomes Her – Undeath isn’t good for the complexion.
Sneakers – A professional red team gets too involved. “I could never kill my friend. Kill my friend.”
The Crying Game – Pushing trannies on the unsuspecting public before it was mandatory. The entire theater stared at me, appalled, after I guffawed when the frog was killed by the scorpion.
Leap Of Faith – Steve Martin as a born-again revival con man exposed to an actual miracle.
Toys – Robin Williams against an army of adorably lethal drones. Why is LL Cool J in it?
I started watching Leap Of Faith but was put off by the anti-religiosity at the beginning. Worth a shot?
Not really. It takes the anti-con man too far into anti-religion. It’s really more of a story about a young man looking for a mentor, and finding a jerk that’s obviously using him. The actual religious overtones of the miracle are almost glossed over, and become a point of angst with the con man.
That’s the point: There’s an actual miracle, and the huckster immediately folds his tent, and walks away, because he recognizes that you don’t mess with a legit higher power.
The bad guy loses, and true faith wins, and they do it without beating you over the head with it.
I can’t believe nobody is mentioning the 1992 scared-straight movie steering men away from adultery: Basic Instinct, the one where Michael Douglas learns Lust Is Not Good. In the dystopian future that awaits us, this movie will be THE instructional video on how to boil a rabbit.
In 1992 I remember going to see Freejack just because it had Mick Jagger on a sci-fi setting and Medicine Man because it had Sean Connery (after 007) in a jungle setting. Sadly, neither were memorable, altho Sean’s love interest did go on to become Dr. Melfi on The Sopranos. I also went to see Lawnmower Man, another forgettable early sci-fi exploration of virtual reality with Pierce Brosnan (before 007) and Sneakers with Robert Redford leading an all-star cast of hackers. RR went on to direct the beautiful A River Runs Through It which I remember seeing with my wife.
I loved Unforgiven. I am a sucker for antiheros and Will Munny is right up there with Tony Soprano and Walter White. One of Gene Hackman’s best roles as the sheriff.
Altho we don’t discuss sequels, I cannot let it pass that Alien 3 sucked. Such a disappointment to me after the first two classic installments.
But there is one film from 1992 that is a forgotten classic standout to me.
The Last Of The Mohicans is an AWESOME epic movie from 1992 worth seeing just for the cinematography (which it won a BAFTA for) of Daniel-Day Lewis (who won BAFTA Best Actor) roaming around in the forests. (The Brits appreciated this film far more than the Yanks who made it). Even today I remember how the film captures the atmosphere of Frontier America being an endless beautiful wilderness that was a canvas where men could build a future full of anything. And just look what we finally did with it. Michael Mann directed this film, bringing his Miami Vice esthetic to Colonial America. The battle for Ft. Henry is gripping, and the “who’s gonna get burned at the stake” climax is chilling. TLOTM is a historic epic story of men and women fighting to create a nation set against a people trying to preserve theirs. It is a shame that TLOTM is forgotten in the 99 cent DVD shelf at Goodwill today. Once upon a time this story was the Star Wars of the 18th Century.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/710416
Although my biz was based in W-S (1988-99), then Charlotte (1999-2022), residence was in Blowing Rock, NC (NC Mtns. from 1987-2022). During that timespan, it changed from a great place to live to a bunch of Dime Store Millionaires, except for the Country Club elite. Who weren’t bad people at all, excepting that Meridian, MS (my hometown) BoA shape-shifter CEO Ken Lewis.
I live about an hour from Blowing Rock and we used to drive over (mostly for the scenery). We’d hang out at that little outdoor restaurant area and have a drink or two, walk around for a bit, and drive back. Ex-wife’s friend lived there and taught a computer class to the elderly idle rich that would stay there in the summer. She said if she could get them to pull up a few web pages on their own, she considered the class a success.
Never thought I’d hear Meridian MS mentioned but I spent quite a bit of time there in my youth. My grandparents lived just across the state line. Hottest and most humid place on the planet outside of Houston and Columbia SC. I like the mountains a whole lot better.
Meridian is horrid. Glad you agree.
It has dropped from 50K in 1970 to 35K population since then. My cousins own Newell Paper Co., the largest in the state, HQed there. Haven’t heard from them in 25+ years…arrogancy follows (been quite successful w/ a great sweetie) Guess they don’t want free lodging in a 2,800 sq ft Charleston penthouse overlooking the Ashley River or outside Beaufort in our mother in law on Coosaw Island. Arrogant Ole Piss A-holes.
OH, across the AL Line, my family co-founded Boyd in the 1820s. Have a very, very politically incorrect will from the 1840s. BTW, I like Columbia, as long as it’s air conditioned. Drinks at Hall’s are fun in legislative season.
As for BR, my largest client and his wife rarely eat in town, except on Saturday nights during summer. They’re here in Charleston most of the year two blocks north of Market Street on Maiden Ln., one of two cobblestone streets downtown.
Are you in the Wilkesboros? Was GM of the Esso Distributor there. Zack’s dad Harry Galafinakis (Texaco Jobber) was a crooked POS.
We’re up closer to Bristol. Used to make the trip to Banner Elk a lot in my youth to night ski, but haven’t been in a while (nothing like driving those winding mountainous roads at night when you are dead tired). Blowing Rock is definitely a more leisurely place but also easier on my knees than skiing.
Boyd and Newell both ring a bell. My dad used to work for a company that specialized in paper mills so he spent a lot of time in Mississippi on various job sites.
You’re confusing Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct.
Ack! So I am!!! Thanks for pointing that out to me, my bad!
Again, Last of the Mohicans was a late cut from the list. Basic Instinct was . . . (in retrospect) a bit trite.
“Encino Man.” A Pauley Shore movie. All I need to know.
Hey, he’s the thinking man’s Shaggy.
I saw about 2/3 of the movies on this list. If I were to measure how well I liked a movie by whether I’ve watched it more than once, then the only two that I apparently liked would be Wayne’s World and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I agree with what you said about Unforgiven. On paper it has all the elements of a good movie, but I just have never really wanted to watch it again even when it pops up as recommended on one of the streaming services.
I’d watch Last of the Mohicans again, but haven’t seen it wander by.
In 1992 I turned 16, so I had better things to do than watch movies, things like drinking and mudbogging.
This is the answer.
None of your picks except Noises Off and Under Seige make any list I’d make.
Everything else on it – including Unforgiven – was last seen exiting the southern end of a northbound horse. I almost let Wayne’s World and Buffy under the wire, but…just no.
And FTR, anything with Pauly Shore, other than live action video of him dying in a fiery freeway crash, or getting pummeled into a coma by Mike Tyson live for real, should be burned with fire, and nuked from orbit. Then go after his family. He’s the reason I switch off the screen and listen to music. Or talk radio. Or news. Even NPR. He’s that awful.
The ones you missed, and shouldn’t have:
My Cousin Vinny. Timeless. And a much better courtroom drama than A Few Good Men. (Even Aaron Sorkin’s Greatest Screenwriter In History creds can’t save that steaming pile from Meathead’s hatred of the American military and everything it stands for.)
Thunderheart. Val Kilmer as the only good FBI agent in 50 years, in a great whodunit, despite the PC White Man’s Guilt framework.
Sneakers. A casting director’s wet dream, a great flick with a perfect story, and a soundtrack to die for.
The Last Of The Mohicans. Nobody’s seen a better flick of that era in their lives, despite Daniel Day Lewis sharing screen credit with his hair. Classic epic story, great cast, Wes Studi as the villain of all time, stellar action scenes (with flintlocks and hatchets, FFS!), and spectacular cinematography of the North Carolina woods doubling for upstate NY, and the most hauntingly beautiful soundtrack in 20 years. Anyone who can’t like this film needs a refresher on why we go to the movies.
Leap Of Faith. You had me at Steve Martin playing a religious huckster. And then the movie starts, and delivers on all eight cylinders, right to the end.
Scent Of A Woman. Chris O’Donnell standing toe-to-toe and talking Pacino’s character out of blowing his head off? Pacino doing a blind tango with absolutely scene-stealingly beautiful Gabrielle Anwar? C’mon. This won Pacino an Oscar from back before they gave them out for being black.
Chaplin. Before his career downfall, and long before his career resurrection, Robert Downey Jr. could act. And he was only 26 when he made this. This movie was phenomenal, and it took Pacino to beat him out for Best Actor.
And yes, even with these to pick from, compared to any year in the 1980s, moviemaking fell off a cliff.
And then it started screwing itself into the ground at the bottom.
“And FTR, anything with Pauly Shore, other than live action video of him dying in a fiery freeway crash, or getting pummeled into a coma by Mike Tyson live for real, should be burned with fire, and nuked from orbit”
Would you turn down a free Pauly Shore PEZ dispenser?
Did you ever see comedian Gallagher’s Sledge-O-Matic routine?
No points for guessing what I’d do with a Pauly Shore PEZ dispenser (after removing the tasty candy filling).
My Cousin Vinny was a sheer miss on my list. It would have been on there – I’ve recently rewatched it, and it is still charming.
Never saw Thunderheart, Last of the Mohicans was a late cut, I’m in favor of all things Gabrielle Anwar, but Scent of a Woman just wasn’t . . . interesting. Chaplin was okay, and RDJ was (and is) a great actor.
Disqualified for being not just a sequel but the sequel to a sequel, but nevertheless: Army of Darkness. No introduction should be needed.
Porco Rosso and Aladdin. Gorgeously animated films with storytelling to match. Fantastic movies, highly recommended. Not the very best that Ghibli and Disney respectively has made, but it’s up there.
The original El Mariachi. Ultra-low budget and still better than any of the sequels with Antonio Banderas. Even if it’s a fun game to imagine the original being “what really happened” and the sequels as “what the legends turned the original into”. It would give an excuse for the ridiculous spectacle of the latter movies.
I don’t care what the hoity-toity critics have to say, Split Second with Ruger Hauer and Nemesis with Olivier Gruner are fun cyberpunk movies.
And saving the best for last, the one that I don’t understand how any of you failed to mention up until now: The Muppet Christmas Carol.
Movie adaptations of A Christmas Carol is a crowded field, but the Muppets one is in the highest tier along with the 1951 version with Alistair Sim*. Personal preference will vary, I would put the 1951 version at the pinnacle but it is by a slim margin.
*I have yet to see the 1984 one with George C. Scott and the 1999 one with Patrick Stewart, but I’ve heard those are also of the highest quality.
I loved Army of Darkness. I love both endings.
“Under Siege – Steven Seagal had exactly one good movie. It was this one.”
Are you kidding? Did you not see “Above the Law”? A movie that portrays the CIA in a bad light?
I saw it, but just can’t recall it (if that makes sense).
Count your lucky stars.
Well, I’d just like to get a chance to eat at the buffet at his dojo.
Mr. Baseball actually makes my top 5 baseball movies list. And while it might not be a “classic”, I put it right up there with Bull Durham (which I also love).
My top 5 baseball movies (in no order):
* Mr. Baseball
* Bull Durham
* The Rookie (Dennis Quaid)
* Field of Dreams
* Major League (the first one only)
Love Major League.
If you watch every Steven Seagal movie, starting with “Above the Law,” you can see how Hollywood wears down one’s virtue until you’re just an overweight shell of who you were before the corruption. It sucks, because “Above the Law” got me interested in Aikido.
And before y’all start the flaming, my understanding is Aikido started after MacArthur proscribed (on pain of death) anything related to Japanese martial arts.
If I am trying to get to my Sig, in order to get to get to the rifle, Aikido is my go-to against whoever is trying to stop me. And you don’t have to take my word for that. Just try to stop me from getting my Sig.
I love the layers of defense idea you have. Yup, definitely better earlier in his career.
I was a naif when I started. Then I went out into the world and learned human nature doesn’t change despite one’s wishes. Sheesh. From liberal to right of Atilla the Hun. Some seriously patient people put up with my stupid. I think the light came on when I was on a subway and realized I was prey.
It’s a really sudden thing.