This was probably the hardest of these lists I've had to make (at least so far), as I had about 15 movies I wanted to cram into this top 10. Many of these movies are ones that people would probably want to slap me for excluding, but honestly I don't care -- "come at me bro", as they say. So let's get this proverbial show on the road, and don't forget the exact ordering isn't my main concern here and these are just my own personal favorites.
10. The Last Of The Mohicans
While I generally consider this one of DDL's weakest performances, as far as the movie as a whole, this is still one of my favorites in his filmography. Michael Mann rarely makes movies of this variety, but I kind of wish he did it more. Wes Studi as Magua is one of the best villains of the 1990s (I made a countdown of this a while back) the music is incredible, and the finale on the mountain is one of the single best sequences ever put to film. It always gives me the chills.
9. Reservoir Dogs
The debut film by that Quinn Tarantula guy, Reservoir Dogs may just be a bit of a copy of City On Fire, but since when has stealing ideas been something that bothered Tarantino fans? Levity aside, this is a top-notch bottle thriller with some fantastic performances, iconic scenes/images, and enough humor to keep you laughing uncomfortably while you're busy biting your nails. It's a wonderful combination of elements and a great showcase of the kind of dialogue Tarantino would come to be known for. As far as directorial debuts go, this is near the top of the list.
8. Dracula: Pages From A Virgin's Diary
WHOOPS!
Yeah, I forgot what I was doing when I made this list and mixed up what list I was making. Oh well. So I've kept this here as a record for how wrong and stupid I can be. Just in case you couldn't already tell.
8. A Few Good Men
When I first made this post, I originally put this movie on the list. The saddest part is that I already wrote and then deleted it all when I replaced it with what I put at #7. But it's all good, because this movie sort of speaks for itself. It has a great cast (particularly Nicholson and Bacon) and an Aaron Sorkin script, so you know the dialogue is great. It's a very good courtroom drama and one of Rob Reiner's better movies. I still like Dracula: Pages From A Virgin's Diary better...Oh well.
7. Universal Soldier
I originally intended on putting A Few Good Men in this slot, but if I'm being totally honest with myself, in spite of the fantastic performances and dialogue in that movie, I have a lot more fun with this one. I've never been a big Jean-Claude Van Damme fan, but when you pair him with Dolph Lundgren...well, I become a little bit more receptive. This is one of those macho testorone fests that I can see leaving most people slightly cold, but between the two leads (JCVD is fun here), action sequences, and sense of humor, I think it definitely stands out as one of the best of its kind.
6. Unforgiven
The Best Picture winner of 1992, Unforgiven is the kind of uncompromisingly dark and morally ambiguous western you could only expect from a filmmaker as accomplished as Clint Eastwood. The line between good and bad, right and wrong are blurred to the point you have difficulty deciding who to root for. When you pair this kind of complexity with the violent nature of the old west setting and one hell of a cast (Eastwood, Freeman, Hackman, and Harris), you're left with one of the best westerns of the past 40 years.
5. My Cousin Vinny
From everything I've read about it, this movie seems to hold this weird place in the courtroom genre that puts it between being not only one of the most entertaining films of its variety, but also amongst the most realistic as far as how actual courtrooms and case studies work. I've always loved this movie and found it hilarious, and I don't care if people think Tomei didn't deserve her Oscar, I thought she was great; meanwhile Fred Gwynne may be the highlight of the movie for me. It's funny, clever, and endlessly quotable.
4. Batman Returns
While the first Batman is generally considered far superior, I have always enjoyed Batman Returns more. Maybe it's the outlandish and dark nature of this movie, or maybe it's the fact that instead of just The Joker, this movie has two main villains sharing the load, as well as a very sinister Christopher Walken in a slightly smaller role. Danny DeVito, in particular, is absolutely perfect as The Penguin. This is probably the weirdest and creepiest Batman movie, and I love it.
3. Hard Boiled
Trying to pick a favorite John Woo film is a difficult task, and while I once would have gone with The Killer, I think the polish of Hard Boiled bumps it up slightly higher. Chow Yun-fat is his usually awesome self here, managing to make carrying a baby into something unbelievably badass. The destructibility of the sets in this movie make for surprisingly intense action sequences, and the characters themselves aren't half bad either. Very cool, very exciting, and infinitely rewatchable.
2. Glengarry Glen Ross
While A Few Good Men had some of the best dialogue from a 1992 movie, this is the one that easily takes the title as the best. I'm not just talking about the iconic "coffee is for closers" monologue (has Alec Baldwin ever been better?), the writing and dialogue as a whole is so engaging, hilarious, and sharp it easily stands out as one of the best scripts ever shot. The acting is just as adept, with pretty much the entire cast offering up something completely different from the rest, all of which adding up to one of the finest ensembles ever. I kinda like it. It's pretty good.
1. Dead Alive
I kinda like this movie, too. Peter Jackson, as much as I love LOTR, needs to go back to making artsy masterpieces like this again. Pound-for-pound, I believe this to be the goriest movie ever made, with just about every scene in the entire thing covered in blood and goo. The acting is appropriately over-the-top, the dialogue is ceaselessly corny, the cinematography is very rough and unrefined, and let's see, what else? There are more hilariously awesome scenes in this movie than just about any other film ever made, the gore is so deliriously exaggerated it's never anything but entertaining, and the wacky energy is so infectious, I could watch it again and again. If I made a list right now, I would probably put this in my top 5 favorite movies ever, so yeah, it's pretty good. If you like crazy movies, you might like this, too. Watch it, love it, and then get back to me. Thanks for saying hi.
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