L-M
| Title | Director | Cast | Genre | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lady in White | Frank LaLoggia | Lukas Haas, Len Cariou | Horror | |
| The Land Before Time | Don Bluth | Gabriel Damon, Candace Hutson, Judith Barsi, Will Ryan, Helen Shaver | Animated | Spielberg-Lucas production |
| The Last Temptation of Christ | Martin Scorsese | Willem Dafoe, Barbara Hershey, Harvey Keitel, Harry Dean Stanton, David Bowie | Drama | from Nikos Kazantzakis novel |
| Laura Lansing Slept Here | George Schaefer | Katharine Hepburn | Drama | made for TV |
| License to Drive | Greg Beeman | Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Carol Kane, Heather Graham | Comedy | 20th Century Fox |
| Light Years | René Laloux | Voices of Glenn Close, Jennifer Grey, Terrence Mann, Penn and Teller | Animated | |
| Little Dorrit | Christine Edzard | Alec Guinness, Derek Jacobi | Drama | from Charles Dickens story |
| Little Nikita | Richard Benjamin | Sidney Poitier, River Phoenix | Drama | Columbia |
| Mac and Me | Stewart Raffill | Christine Ebersole | Fantasy | 4 Razzie nominations |
| Macho Dancer | Comedy | |||
| Madame Sousatzka | John Schlesinger | Shirley MacLaine, Navin Chowdhry, Shabana Azmi, Twiggy | Drama | from Bernice Rubens book |
| A Man for All Seasons | Charlton Heston | Charlton Heston, John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave | Biopic | TV remake of 1965 film |
| The Man from Snowy River II | Geoff Burrowes | Tom Burlinson, Brian Dennehy | Western | sequel |
| Maniac Cop | William Lustig | Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell | Thriller | |
| Married to the Mob | Jonathan Demme | Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Modine, Dean Stockwell, Mercedes Ruehl, Oliver Platt, Joan Cusack, Alec Baldwin, Nancy Travis | Comedy | Academy Award nomination for Stockwell |
| Masquerade | Bob Swaim | Rob Lowe, Meg Tilly, Kim Cattrall | Thriller | |
| Memories of Me | Henry Winkler | Billy Crystal, JoBeth Williams, Alan King | Drama | MGM |
| Messenger of Death | J. Lee Thompson | Charles Bronson, Trish Van Devere, Daniel Benzali | Crime drama | |
| Mickey's 60th Birthday | Fantasy | |||
| Midnight Run | Martin Brest | Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, Yaphet Kotto, Dennis Farina | Comedy | |
| The Milagro Beanfield War | Robert Redford | Sonia Braga, Rubén Blades, Christopher Walken | Drama | Academy Award for Best Music Score |
| Miles from Home | Gary Sinise | Richard Gere, Kevin Anderson | Drama | |
| Miracle Mile | Steve DeJarnatt | Anthony Edwards, Mare Winningham | Drama | |
| Mississippi Burning | Alan Parker | Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand | Crime drama | 7 Oscar nominations |
| The Moderns | Alan Rudolph | Keith Carradine, Linda Fiorentino, Genevieve Bujold, John Lone | Comedy, Drama | |
| Monkey Shines | George A. Romero | John Pankow, Jason Beghe, Joyce Van Patten, Stanley Tucci | Horror | |
| Moon Over Parador | Paul Mazursky | Richard Dreyfuss, Raúl Juliá, Sonia Braga, Jonathan Winters | Comedy | 2 Golden Globe nominations |
| Moonwalker | Jerry Kramer, Jim Blashfield, Colin Chilvers | Michael Jackson, Joe Pesci, Sean Lennon | Biopic | short films on Michael Jackson |
| Moving | Alan Metter | Richard Pryor, Randy Quaid, Dana Carvey | Comedy | |
| The Murder of Mary Phagan | William Hale | Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Cynthia Nixon | Drama | made for TV |
| My Best Friend Is a Vampire | Jimmy Huston | Robert Sean Leonard, David Warner | Comedy | |
| My Stepmother Is an Alien | Richard Benjamin | Kim Basinger, Dan Aykroyd, Jon Lovitz, Alyson Hannigan | Comedy | Columbia |
| Mystic Pizza | Donald Petrie | Julia Roberts, Annabeth Gish, Lili Taylor | Comedy | Samuel Goldwyn Company |
Read more about this topic: List Of American Films Of 1988