Rating: 
Summary: I had to watch it at least once...
Review: Being John Malkovich is... an interesting film. I'll give it that. The premise is very intriguing. Once I heard about the movie, I had to see what they did with it. And I wish they had done more.The 3 stars I gave this movie are all for originality and the potential to inspire some really great movies. I really like the premise and a couple of the scenes are hilarious... but the psychological overtones are a little too much. They distract from the overall originality, and besically lower the enjoyability of the film. I'm all about this level of originality and making new rules for the "movie world" to live by, but I have no desire to watch dementia. This is worth a viewing if you're really into seeing something completely different, and I doubt we'll see many films like this around, but just don't expect the be all and end all of movies in this one.
Rating: 
Summary: p.s.
Review: I'd like to add to my previous review: I've been looking at the reviews of this movie and I find that one thing that people complained about was how horrible the characters were, and how it was disgusting that we were supposed to laugh at that sort of thing. Well, let me tell you my take on it: like Brazil, this movie starts as a comedy but ends as a tragedy. You're not supposed to find the last half of the movie funny--it's depressing as hell, and it's designed that way. You're not supposed to like the characters--they're all jerks, and that's deliberate. Don't let the strangeness of it and the parts that actually /are/ funny (like everything relating to Lester's secretary) fool you into thinking that the later actions of Craig and Maxine are intended to amuse.
Rating:
Summary: if you like brazil, see this
Review: This is a great movie. I'm usually annoyed by little inconsistencies in something like this, but here every detail that "didn't work" worked even better than what "should have" happened. For instance, when Malkovich goes into the portal--infinite recursion, right? WRONG! It would have been too obvious to do /that/... At any rate, I thought every moment of this movie was pretty much perfect, and many aspects of it reminded me of another movie I love, Brazil--a mysterious company that doesn't seem to do anything, a woman who rejects the advances of the main characters before he even makes them, a wonderfully depressing ending. And to top it all off, it used a fragment of Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, which is one of my favorite pieces of music.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most Unique Movies out of the Nineties
Review: The most unique movie I've ever seen in my whole entire life. I've never seen anything like it. I didn't know exactly what to think. But I'll tell you about it and maybe you can get something out of it. A puppeteer named Craig Schwartz (John Cusack, who's great as always)gets a job in a business building on the 7 1/2 floor. He confides in the very tempting coworker Maxine (Catherine Keener) who shrugs him off thinking he's a loser. After finding a port hole in the mind of actor John Malkovich, Craig gets Maxine into his schence to let others in to Malkovich for $200 a trip. Craig's frizzy haired animal loving wife (played by Cameron Diaz, you can barely notice her in this great role) wants to go back in Malkovich more than once and likes the idea of being a man, and decides she wants a sex change and falls for Maxine, who Craig fancies. Hence, chaos, Maxine falls for Craig's wife, Lodi, but will only have relations with her through Malkovich. This movie is the most original film of the year. I think the message in this film, at least for me was that we should be happy with are and not hold other people above us and just be happy with what we have and who we are. Because if you try and be someone else you'll end up like Craig Schwartz....(see the movie) This movie has a wonderful supporting cast featuring Orson Bean, Mary Kay Place, Charlie Sheen, and cameo appearances by Sean Penn, Andy Dick, Gary Sinise, Winona Ryder and many more. But look quick, they don't pop! out at you. All in all it's a great film with some good points, some funny scenes and NEVER a loss of energy. It just keeps going and by the end you want more, which I think is a good element in film. Leave the audience wanting more......
Rating:
Summary: Pure Genius or Insanity!
Review: I LOVED this movie! It was so creative, so different, so...me! John Cusack plays a frustrated pupeteer who is married to Cameron Diaz's character. She is seriously into animals and the two live with a menagerie in their home. Cusack gets a job in the wierdest place imaginable...and there he finds the portal that leads to John Malcovich's mind. Soon, he and his coworker, played by Catherine Keener, are raking in the dough by letting people be John Malcovich for fifteen minutes for a mere $200. Things take a turn when Cusack falls in love with Keener, but Keener is in love with Diaz...but only when Diaz is in Malcovich! Brilliantly written, well acted...awesome, awesome film. Definatley a must see!!
Rating: 
Summary: There's nothing to get!
Review: This is one of only 2 movies I have almost walked out of. The characters were shallow, the plot was thin, and the only entertaining aspect of the movie was the overall concept and imagery. If you took this movie, added some substance, and withdrew some of the awkward moments, you might have something. I know I am in the minority in these views, but I'm not afraid to admit it.
Rating:
Summary: Creative Masterwork
Review: This movie is only bested by Eyes Wide Shut in the year of 1999 for the best movie of the year. This movie lets the creative juices flow with impunity. The lack of creativity in other movies becomes readily apparent after watching this movie. It also works on so many levels, multiple viewings are a must. It works as a satire, comedy, and drama. The acting is this movie is excellent, John Cusack gives a great performence, Cameron Diaz becomes a housewife and is surprisingly thoroughly convincing. The cameos are fantastic, there is one that is especially hilarious, I won't tell. The best thing about this movie is that it convinces you of it's reality. It's never boring, it just keeps throwing new things in your face. Great film, I give it my highest recommendation.
Rating:
Summary: A portal into pure delight
Review: BUY IT. WATCH IT. AGAIN AND AGAIN. The plot as we all know it - puppeteer Craig(John Cusack) with animal-lover wife(Cameron Diaz) living out a simple but unfulfilled marriage. In more ways than one, we are shown that - her need for a child, his aspirations to make puppetry his rice-bowl, her animals, his stories as performed by his puppets.... This takes into another world as Craig finds a portal/door into John Malkovich's mind. All the true characteristics of the main characters start coming out. Spike Jonze takes us into a world of confusion, real confusion within the mind trips into being John Malkovich. But all within the confines of achieving what the characters really want for themselves. John Malkovich delights in this "role". He steals the title and the movie!! John Cusack's performance is understated. Diaz and Keener proficient. Watch for the cameos by Charlie Sheen, Hoffman, Sean Penn, Gary Sinise etc.... The real scene stealers - the puppets. Kudos to the puppeteer!! This is a real movie, watch it and go away thinking. The comedy is incidental. A very well put together film. A classic alongside Gilliam and Kubrick's works.
Rating:
Summary: Wildly inventive, but hard to like.
Review: Watching this film, I felt a great admiration for the sheer invention of it, the boundless creativity with which the writer and director attacked the subject. Being John Malkovich is full of strange characters, wonderfully creative moments, and a sort of lunatic atmosphere that starts to take on its own twisted logic after awhile. If you buy the initial premise (admittedly, a lot to swallow) that a man finds a little portal in the back of an office that leads into the head of John Malkovich, then you will be in for a ride for the rest of the film. If you're the kind of person for whom this "makes no sense," then re-rent Bridges of Madison County and give this one a pass. That being said, the movie is, ultimately, rather too quirky for its own good. The ricidulousness of the movie's basic idea precludes any sort of traditional, satisfying dramatic conclusion. It's not difficult to figure out, early on, that this is not a "happy ending" movie. Some of the characters are genuinely flawed, and in some places, unlikeable, but that fact is one of the few real human touches in the whole production. As such, the film takes on a rather tragic character that makes it hard to recommend with gusto. If the basic premise of Being John Malkovich appeals to you, it's worth at least one look. At the very least, it's one of the most original films to come out in a long time, if not necessarily the most satisfying. If the basic premise strikes you as "unrealistic," then by all means, use your common sense and don't watch it.
Rating: 
Summary: Being Bored Stiff
Review: Yawn. Ooh, wait. I have to say I like it because if I say I don't, people will say I don't understand it. Well, I don't.
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