BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) BURN AFTER READING
His role is a bit held back, but as the fired CIA analyst Malkovich is awesome. He writes a memoir that’s sure to get him in trouble, meanwhile his wife wants a divorce. So with that all his personal files are copied to a CD that ends up left in this little health club. All hell breaks loose. Basically he shows up again a few times seeking the CD and eventually seeking revenge. Yeah, he ends up in a coma but how else do you stop John Malkovich.
(THREE) IN THE LINE OF FIRE
This may be the biggest and most dramatic of the movies picked today. It’s easily the most serious of the bunch. This 1993 thriller about a crazy assassin going after the president was awesome. As “Mitch Leary”, I think it’s safe to say that this is the role to really expose Malkovich to the world as one of the best actors. He almost didn’t get the role, but he did and was nominated for an Oscar for it.
(TWO) CON AIR
Con Air is a guilty pleasure. It’s a crazy popcorn movie about a jet full of hardcore criminals played by a lot of good actors. One of actors is Malkovich playing Cyrus “The Virus”. He leads the prisoners into a riot and they take over the jet and land it on the strip in Vegas. For me, this was my first big exposure of Malkovich. Here I learned of his awesome-slash-insanity. The movie is kind of forgettable as time passes, but Cyrus “The Virus” is one persona that lingers. Why? Because John Malkovich ate the scenery up and ruled it.
(ONE) BEING JOHN MALKOVICH
This 1999 Spike Jonze movie is a mindfuck of a good time. In this movie we have a man, John Cusack, who is down on his luck and hating life until he finds a small door hidden in his office. What’s happens when you enter this door? The mind of John Malkovich! You go through this magical door and you’re literally in the mind of John Malkovich. You can observe his life and thoughts for fifteen minutes before being dropped to the New Jersey Turnpike. Eventually Cusack’s character doesn’t want to leave. Who would?!
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