Best And Worst Of '92 -- Foreign Films Reasserted Their Influence In The U.S. After A Lull While American Independent Films Had A Very Bad Year.

From the sublime to the unwatchable: 1992 was a year like many movie years, full of unforeseen comebacks, marginal work from once-reliable filmmakers, formulaic junk, terrific pictures from unexpected sources and other surprises.

Outstanding mainstream pictures such as Robert Redford's meditative family drama, "A River Runs Through It," and Spike Lee's revelatory biography, "Malcolm X," shared shopping-mall marquees with sloppy sequels like "Pet Sematary 2" and bottom-of-the-barrel dreck like "Kuffs." But few years are remembered for such in-one-month-and-out-the-next fodder.

In the long run, it's enough that 1992 gave us such movies for the ages as "Unforgiven," Clint Eastwood's tragic Western about a man who struggles to escape his violent nature, and "The Best Intentions," Bille August and Ingmar Bergman's Swedish masterpiece about an uneasy marital truce between an exceptionally strong-willed couple (the models were Bergman's own parents).

For the first time in some time, foreign films reasserted their influence. Zhang Yimou's brilliant tale of oppressed, competitive wives, "Raise the Red Lantern," became the most popular Chinese film ever to play the United States. A pair of wonderfully fresh Australian pictures, "Proof" and "Flirting," also found favor here, and the latest British adaptation of an E.M. Forster novel, "Howards End," set house records and played for months.

Unfortunately, there was no breakthrough independent film on the order of "sex, lies and videotape" this year (Robert Altman's sly Hollywood satire, "The Player," was certainly independent in spirit, but with its all-star cast it doesn't quite count). Even American independent pictures with such commercial potential as Allison Anders' family drama, "Gas Food Lodging," and Carl Franklin's character-driven thriller, "One False Move," had to fight for screen space, and such idiosyncratic fare as Hal Hartley's "Simple Men" failed to draw even Hartley's small cult following.

More than ever, it was difficult for American movies without stars, $40 million budgets or studio backing to find an audience. At year's end, the widely praised "Gas Food Lodging" had grossed just over $900,000 at the domestic box office, while such already-forgotten marginal stuff as "Consenting Adults" and "Captain Ron" topped $20 million.

Video and cable will, of course, help connect these movies with those who might have appreciated them in theaters. But it's difficult to imagine that anything as gripping and provocative as "One False Move" can have the same impact on a 21-inch screen. At left is a list of the best and worst movies I saw in a theater during the past year.

The 10 next best: "Glengarry Glen Ross," "Where Angels Fear to Tread," "Bob Roberts," "Falling From Grace," "Husbands and Wives," "At Play in the Fields of the Lord," "Mississippi Masala," "The Crying Game," "Cabeza de Vaca," "Aladdin."

DUBIOUS AND OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS

Least politically correct major-studio film: "Man Trouble," in which Jack Nicholson plays an attack-dog trainer who mocks his Japanese wife by calling her "Iwo Jima," pokes fun at Ellen Barkin for her freeway driving, and ridicules Mexicans, Germans, mannish lesbians and dithering females as well. All this from the same writing-acting-directing team that made "Five Easy Pieces" two decades ago!

Funniest first half hour: Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep battling over the nerdy Bruce Willis in "Death Becomes Her."

Weakest ending to an otherwise enjoyable movie: The absurdly romantic finale of "Enchanted April," in which the chauvinistic males suddenly become teddy bears once they leave dreary England and arrive in sunny Italy. One critic pointed out that the movie seemed designed to prove that there are no bad people, only bad weather. Runner-up: Dustin Hoffman getting set up for another rescue in "Hero."

Sexiest scene: Tim Robbins voyeuristically falling for Greta Scacchi in "The Player." Runner-ups: the fatalistically romantic first encounter between the HIV-positive lovers in "The Living End," and the hospital love scene between Helen Hunt and Eric Stoltz in "The Waterdance."

Most tasteless, ill-timed comic relief: Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in "Lethal Weapon 3," playing Los Angeles cops who mercilessly harass an L.A. jaywalker and others (sample cute dialogue: "You have the right to remain unconscious"). Warner Bros. released the movie just weeks after the L.A. riots.

Most gratuitously violent scene (tie): The cop torture in Quentin Tarantino's otherwise fascinating "Reservoir Dogs" and the staple-gun attack in the grotesquely unfunny "Home Alone 2."

Unrepeatable High Point of the Seattle International Film Festival: The delightful tribute to Robert Wise.

Unrepeatable High Point of the International Festival of Films by Women Directors: An evening of Yoko Ono's films and her disembodied voice, live by phone from New York.

Most significant trend: The interracial love stories in "Flirting," "The Lover," "The Crying Game," "Indochine," "Zebrahead," "The Bodyguard," "One False Move" and "Mississippi Masala."

A Star Is Born: Brendan Fraser as the closeted Jewish boy in a 1950s WASP school in "School Ties." Runner-up: Thandie Newton as the Ugandan student stranded in hostile Australia in "Flirting."

Most audacious moment: Kay Lenz matter-of-factly explaining to John Mellencamp how she juggles family, husband and various lovers, including her own father-in-law and brother-in-law, in "Falling From Grace."

Most grating trend: The roommate/cop/psychiatrist/nanny-from-hell thriller.

Best performances in a lost cause: Julie Kavner and John Malkovich in "Shadows and Fog," Michelle Pfeiffer in "Batman Returns," David Paymer in "Mr. Saturday Night," Sadie Frost and Tom Waits in "Bram Stoker's Dracula," Joan Cusack in "Toys," Sheryl Lee in "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me," D.B. Sweeney and Moira Kelly in "The Cutting Edge," Halle Berry in "Boomerang," Eric Thal in "A Stranger Among Us," Brenda Fricker in "Home Alone 2," Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve, the late Denholm Elliott and the rest of the cast of "Noises Off."

Worst performance in a lost cause: Alan Alda in "Whispers in the Dark."

Community Service Award: To Richard Von Riesen and Art Bernstein for trying to revive downtown moviegoing habits at the ill-fated Cinedome.

Public Service Booby Prize: To KCTS-TV, which buried the television premieres of "Cabeza de Vaca" and the Oscar-nominated "Waldo Salt" at 3 a.m., and delayed the provocative documentaries, "Color Adjustment" and "Haiti: Killing the Dream," until weeks after the rest of the country had seen and debated them. While PBS itself has become increasingly diverse, our local Channel 9 programmers are mysteriously fascinated with "Ozzie and Harriet" reruns and endless repeat showings of "Three Tenors."

Guilty pleasure: The Neptune's double bill of Gregg Araki's "Three Bewildered People in the Night" and "The Long Weekend (O Despair)," two shoestring-budget comedies that demonstrate with deadpan hilarity that youth truly is wasted on the young.

Most ingenious use of a low budget: Araki's "The Living End."

Most exuberant dance number: The impromptu, poker-faced routine performed to Sonic Youth's "Kool Thing" in Hal Hartley's "Simple Men." Runner-up: The "King of New York" number in Disney's "Newsies."

Most deserving of an Oscar nomination for best score: Mark Isham, who should have been in the running long ago and may finally get a mention for his work on "A River Runs Through It."

Most annoying trend in CD releases of old movie soundtracks: The restoration of unwanted dialogue, especially the insipid Tony-and-Maria banter on the new 77-minute CD of "West Side Story."

Most impressive laserdisc: The Voyager Company's definitive version of "Spartacus," which features so many alternate soundtracks and commentaries that it takes 11 hours to digest. Runner-up: MGM/UA's three-hour compilation of 1930s musical highlights, "The Busby Berkeley Disc."

Best short subject: Mark Christopher's wry, touching AIDS film, "Dead Boys Club." While the Academy Award committees have just eliminated this category from consideration, absurdly claiming that it's obsolete, young filmmakers continue to make their mark this way.

Best documentary: "35 Up." Also outstanding: "American Dream," "Brother's Keeper," "The Architecture of Doom," "Lodz Ghetto," "The Restless Conscience," "Wisecracks," "In the Shadow of the Stars," "A Brief History of Time."

Dumbest plot: "Home Alone 2," in which the burglars from the first film head for New York and land there just in time to run into. . . oh, never mind. Did you expect this thing to make sense? I didn't think so.

Goofiest plots: "The Bodyguard," "Whispers in the Dark," "White Sands," "Final Analysis," "Traces of Red," "Consenting Adults," "Storyville," "Jennifer 8," "Basic Instinct." Suspension of disbelief is one thing, but could anyone buy one randomly chosen reel from any of them?

Candidate for "Oscar's Fakest Moments": The giddy assassination attempt at the Academy Awards ceremonies in "The Bodyguard." When the academy uses up all the real footage for its cassettes about ceremonies past, there may be enough fake stuff to make another tape. This one is every bit as kitschy as the finales of "The Oscar" and "The Lonely Lady," though not in the same classy league as Maggie Smith's trip to the Oscars in "California Suite" or Janet Gaynor or Judy Garland's Oscar-acceptance speeches in "A Star Is Born."

Annual Academy Awards Boo-Boo: The elimination of "The Best Intentions" from the year's eligibility list. Reasoning: It was shown in a different version on Swedish television. But the same was true of Bergman's "Fanny and Alexander," which won four Oscars a decade ago.

Deceiving-With-Statistics Prize: To Michael Medved, the Bob Roberts of movie critics. His distorted book, "Hollywood Vs. America," attempted to prove that audiences flocking to "Basic Instinct," "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and "Under Siege" are really looking for wholesome, G-rated pictures. It's a familiar reactionary argument, and a quick glance at every weekly box-office tally disapproves it. Medved's contention that Hollywood is ignoring the family audience and doesn't really want to make money is simply ludicrous.

Most discouraging trend: The box-office failure of such fine family movies as "FernGully" and "Newsies" and Disney's reissues of "Pinocchio" and "The Great Mouse Detective." Certainly "Aladdin" and "Sister Act" have been successful, but there appears to be a market for only one or two family-oriented blockbusters at a time.

Over-reaction citation: To all the gay and lesbian groups whose protests helped make "Basic Instinct" a box-office smash. True, the movie perpetuated Hollywood's tiresome demonization of homosexuals, but the most attractive, intelligent and powerful character in it was Sharon Stone's bisexual murder suspect. The heterosexuals came off looking like bozos.

Emperor's New Clothes Award: To "Mediterraneo," a soggy Italian souffle that somehow took the Academy Award for best foreign-language film over "Raise the Red Lantern."

All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go: "Zentropa," "Toys," "The Lover," "Wind," "Until the End of the World," "Daughters of the Dust," "Toto the Hero," "American Me," "The Last of the Mohicans," "Diggstown."

Good movies that were released too early and will be forgotten at Oscar time: "Where Angels Fear to Tread," "A Midnight Clear," "Mississippi Masala," "Falling From Grace," "Criss Cross," "FernGully," "Newsies," "My Cousin Vinny."

The Cecil B. DeMille "Light Touch" Award: To John Malkovich for wheezing, slurping, chain-smoking and otherwise devouring the scenery as the FBI interrogator in "Jennifer 8."

Stop Them Before They Direct Again: Sidney J. Furie ("Ladybugs"), Francis Veber ("Out on a Limb"), Mary Lambert ("Pet Sematary II"), John Kent Harrison ("Beautiful Dreamers"), George Miller ("Frozen Assets"), Frank Howson ("Hunting").

Best arguments for remakes: "Scent of a Woman," "Aladdin," "Swoon," "Of Mice and Men," "Leap of Faith" (which is virtually a remake of "Elmer Gantry" mixed with "The Rainmaker").

Worst arguments for remakes: "Night and the City," "Bram Stoker's Dracula," "Highway to Hell," "Sister Act" (which USA Today's Mike Clark aptly dubbed "Some Like It Tepid").

Newest old movie (tie): The restored versions of "Blade Runner" and "Rocco and His Brothers."

Oldest new movie: The lumbering would-be epic, "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery."

Most impenetrable accent: Gerard Depardieu as Columbus, speaking English and sounding French while trying to locate his character's accent in Ridley Scott's "1492: Conquest of Paradise."

Most embarrassing commercial miscalculation: The release of two $40 million flops based on the life of Christopher Columbus. The relatively low-budget Mexican film, "Cabeza de Vaca," which deals with Spanish exploration of Mexico a few years later, was superior to both.

Most useful movie magazine: Entertainment Weekly, which consistently comes up with the most topical reviews (including movies on television, videocassette and laserdisc) and the most interesting background stories.

Best popcorn movies: "Universal Soldier," "Shining Through," "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle," "Patriot Games," "Sneakers," "Zu, Warriors of the Magic Mountain."

Best arguments for sequels: "Flirting," "Chinese Ghost Story III."

Department of Redundancy Department: "Pet Sematary II," "Aces: Iron Eagle III," "Alien 3," "Home Alone 2," "Lethal Weapon 3," "Honey I Blew Up the Kid," "Batman Returns," "Wayne's World" (which already feels like "Wayne's World 2").

More is Less: "Home Alone 2," which runs 15 minutes longer than the original, and "Lethal Weapon 3," which runs eight minutes longer than the first film and five minutes longer than the second one.

Candidate for future cult status: Stacy Cochran's feminist black comedy, "My New Gun."