Being John Malkovich

Rating:
Summary: Thought Provoking
Review: It has been awhile since I have seen such a good movie. It is probably the most thought provoking movie I have ever seen. And I find myself pretty hard to impress. It's not a slapstick comedy like most comedies, but it is pretty funny. I think everyone would agree with me that the funniest part was when John Malkovic entered the vessel that goes into his mind. Being John Malkovich is very clever and well thought out. It is much better to get the DVD because it includes the orientation film about the 7½th floor. It also includes other great things. I saw this late at night and went to bed afterword. When I was trying to sleep, all I could think was, "Wow." Not, "WOW! That was so cool!" but, "Wow." You know. The kind of "Wow" you let out when you are just so amazed. I'm not saying you should buy this, for it may not be your kinf of movie. But you should most definitely rent it.

Rating:
Summary: Inside the mind of Malkovich...
Review: What an interesting film this was! John Cusack plays a puppeteer who is no longer able to continue making a living without a real job. He finally runs across someone that will hire him, but their offices are on the 7 1/2 floor of a local office building. Yes, that's right in between the 7th and 8th. Anyway, that was the first of his problems as he decides he is going to profit off of a portal into John Malkovich's mind. I'll go ahead and tell you that I think it was a good film, but there are several things that bothered me about it.

First rule of finding a powerful force that you don't understand is that it can do things that can be detrimental to your health. Do not abuse the power. Helloooooo? Anyway, the powerful force can be all too addictive as Cusack's character finds out. That's about all I can say on that point.

Another problem I had with the film is that I was a little too stupid to be watching it. Two days after I saw it my friend, who has accompanied me to more films than he cares to admit, explained to me why the ending turned out the way it did. I mean, there is more significance to the portal than just getting to be watching Malkovich from the inside, and my mind was just not processing some of it.

One thing that made me very happy in this film was to see Malkovich play yet another outstanding character... himself. There are kinks to his character which is what makes it so cool. He is playing himself, yet he isn't. All I can say here is that every character I have ever seen him play is unbelievably intense. Have you seen "In the Line of Fire"? Very intense.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely unlogical and scurill! Thats what we want!
Review: Talented Actors,a story with imagination and some great DVD-Features!!! A "must" for Collectors!!! "John Cusack"finds a door in his office at 7 a half floor which swallow you for 15 minutes into "John Malkovich"'s head! Soon he and his atractiv secretary "Maxine" doo a great business with that door! 200$ for one trip into Malkovich's body! Cameron Diaz playes the rolen of "Lotti" John Cusacks wife which fells in love with Maxine! She sleeps with her while she is Malkovich! A great scurril "fantasy-love-story" with great actors and a strange Soundtrack! A must See,2 Thumbs up!

Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly Inventive
Review: BEING JOHN MALKOVICH is one of the most inventive movies I've ever seen. The central conceit is clever and original, but the genius of the movie is that dizzying variations on the idea are worked smoothly into the plot and used to reveal the devices and desires of the characters.

The choice of John Malkovich as the MacGuffin is, in retrospect, obvious. It is hard to imagine another actor with a public image that would work so well (consider BEING BURT REYNOLDS). The entire cast does a suberb job, and even Charlie Sheen appears in a rare non-gratuitous cameo.

Despite many comic moments, this is a fundamentally tragic movie, reminiscent at points of the work of Robert Aickman. Desire, here, is a vacuum and personality is a deadly trap. "Consider the metaphysical implications!" says one; "We could charge $200 a head," answers another. Simple greed appears healthy when compared to the grasping for control and immortality that wins the day. The redemption offered to a few characters by love is anything but the typical tidy Hollywood escape (no one even gets to "die for love.")

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH is delightful and disturbing, a rare and magical combination.

Rating:
Summary: Very unusual and captivating
Review: This movie makes you think. The chracters you may not like, but they are very strange. They all want to live there lives through somebody else. This movie can make you go into a deep thought process. Many surprise twists and turns makes this an interesting movie.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the film that it took to make it!
Review: Although this "piece" might establish some sort of strange "cult" following, it was a truly worthless film. While there may have been some bits of humor and sexual references scattered here and there, this was a waste of film - AND - My Money that I spent on the DVD that I can't give away! Do yourself a favor and go for walk on a busy freeway before choosing to watch this movie. To steal a famous quote: "Two Thumbs Down"! Better luck next time John Malkovich!

Rating:
Summary: I shouldn't have....
Review: ... purchased the DVD on the basis of the excellent reviews by Ebert and others. Actually the first time I've been burnt in this way though.

This movie was very... well boring. The characters were uniformly miscast, although it didn't really matter. Almost anyone could have played any of the roles. The movie is also dark most of the time and so it makes it hard to recognize the actors. John Cusack with a pony tail and rim glasses?? What a waste! And the Cameron Diaz role really required a young Diane Keaton (whoever that might be these days). Maxine was well cast though and the role was useful to the plot.

In spite of all the negatives above, I enjoyed the puppeteering scenes. Relevant to the story line, skillfully performed, and entertaining. The one bright spot to the movie.

If you lean toward the unusual and chose Malkovich for this reason, you can do better. See Run Lola Run for example.

Rating:
Summary: A couple of great ideas, Some really awful execution...
Review: Wow, how can a movie start off with so many terrific ideas and devolve into such a self-indulgent mess? Cusack the puppeteer: great! (shades of Sabbath); Diaz the animal-mom: OK, but not sure what that was about, since the animals seemed to be either ignored or outright abused through most of the film. Catherine Keener: a terrific comic caricaturist, fantastic performance, my eyes were glued to her every gesture & expression. The 7 1/2 floor: Fantastic idea, terrific look & mood! I've had those dreams. This is real Kafka stuff right there on the screen. The portal to Malkovitch's mind: most original idea in American film in years.

So...why does all this great promising stuff get tossed out & replaced by a banal treatise on political identity politics? Turning all the principals into petty, unlikable, uninteresting characters. Poor Cameron Diaz, poor John Malkovitch (what was HE thinking?) and especially poor John Cusack. His character becomes the ultimate male effigy for the current politically "correct" hollywood product. Whatever the problem (neurosis), blame the man: especially dad or hubby.

Better they should have made Being Woody Allen. Then we could have had some genuine belly-yuks.

Rating:
Summary: Can Cusack make a bad movie?
Review: It seems that one of the few sure things in movies is John Cusack. And he does it again. While mind switching and occupation may not be the freshest idea out there, the direction this movie goes is so original it's scary. But it works. Both disturbing and entertaining, this movie succeeds on so many levels.

First, the bizarre rules. Cusack lives in a bizarre world populated with bizarre people that drive the story along. He is subjected to the absurd until he finds a way to escape. I don't want to say much else, because it might ruin the movie. Suffice to say that there is a way to be in John Malkovich's mind, but to do so you must end up along side of the New Jersey Turnpike.

In the tradition of Twelve Monkeys, Brazil, and any other journeys into the bizarre, Being John Malkovich is very entertaining and not a little disturbing.

Rating:
Summary: A good rainy day movie
Review: I liked it. It was definately quite funny, and very original.