Making Mr Right (1987)
May 7, 1999Android Romance Comedy
A Susan Seidelman romantic comedy where Ann Magnuson finds the answers to her love life with android John Malkovich after being assigned to teach him human behaviour
John Malkovich
Shadows and Fog (1991)
Jun 8, 2001Kafka and German Expressionism Homage
One of the not-quite-rans in Woody Allen's oeuvre, a homage to Franz Kafka and German Expressionism with Allen as a mousy clerk caught up in the hunt for a strangler
Jennifer Eight (1992)
Dec 26, 2001Serial Killer
A psycho-thriller in which Andy Garcia plays a detective who is trying to protect/romance blind Uma Thurman from a serial killer who targets blind women
The Convent (1995)
Jan 25, 2003Pacts with an Ambiguous Devil
Enigmatic Manoel de Oliveira film that may be about wife Catherine Deneuve making a pact with The Devil to dispose of the woman husband John Malkovich is attracted to. Or maybe not
Mary Reilly (1996)
Jul 17, 2009Dr Jekyll's Maid
This took a critical drubbing at the time it came out with everybody laughing at Julia Roberts’ Irish accent but is a revisionist take on the Jekyll/Hyde story, all told through the eyes of Dr Jekyll's maid and an extremely good version of the story
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)
Nov 16, 1999Historical Epic
Luc Besson takes on the Joan of Arc story with then wife Milla Jovovich in the title role but in Besson's hands it becomes a crazed historical action film that unquestioningly accepts Joan's visions as real
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Dec 8, 1999Portal Into Actor's Head/Absurdism
Hilariously eccentric Spike Jonze-Charlie Kaufman collaboration in which John Cusack finds an office building that has a portal that takes someone through into actor John Malkovich's head. The wacky spins that the script places on the idea are ingenious
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Jan 19, 2001Making Nosferatu with a Real Vampire
This comes with the clever and uniquely original premise that asks what would happen if during the making of the 1922 Nosferatu actor Max Schreck turned out to be a real vampire
Johnny English (2003)
May 5, 2003Incompetent Spy Comedy
Spy movie parody with Rowan Atkinson as an inept agent who is constantly tripping over his own feet. It is Austin Powers reconceived as a Mr Bean film but offering little that is funny.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
May 2, 2005Gonzo SF
The big-budget film version of The Hitch Hiker’s Guide phenomenon is a disaster that fumbles Douglas Adams’s absurdist wit and blows everything up with big-budget effects and a pitch to American audiences
Eragon (2006)
Feb 11, 2007Epic Dragon Fantasy
A dragon fantasy adapted from a popular book series that has Lord of the Rings wannabe stamped all over it and only unimaginatively follows in Peter Jackson's footsteps
Beowulf (2007)
Dec 2, 2007Epic Legend/Animation
After the success of the motion captured animated The Polar Express, Robert Zemeckis turned his attentions to the classic legend. Armed with a Neil Gaiman script and a host of name actors in the mocap suits, the result is a soaring fantasy
Mutant Chronicles (2008)
Dec 31, 2008Future War With the Mutants
Long-planned project that creates an interesting future scenario, epic action, an array of Dirty Dozen characters but emerges as surprisingly trivial
Afterwards (2008)
Jan 21, 2013Messenger of Death
Beautifully filmed work featuring John Malkovich as an enigmatic Messenger of Death. A coolly sophisticated and mysterious film that plays out like an arthouse version of Final Destination by way of the Jeff Bridges Fearless
Jonah Hex (2010)
Jun 19, 2010Western Comic-Book Adaptation/Supernatural Bounty Hunter
This is an adaptation of the DC comic-book character of a supernatural avenging Western gunslinger that fails to burn with the grim mood it should have
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
Jun 30, 2011Live-Action Transformer Robots
The third of Michael Bay's Transformers films. While the human scenes opt for a ghastly miscalculated sense of humour, the effects houses are at the peak of their game, even if Bay allows them to drag the mass destruction out to a numbing excess
Warm Bodies (2013)
Feb 13, 2013Zombie Romantic Comedy
The idea of a Twilight copy where the lead male is a zombie seems an utterly lame idea before one sat down to watch this. That said, the film manages to make its peculiarly incongruous mix of teen romantic film, zombie film and comedy work for it
Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
Apr 11, 2015Animation/Talking Animal Spy Capers
This spinoff from the Madagascar films is a lot more fun that I was anticipating – how could you dislike a film with John Malkovich as an octopus super-villain? Essentially cast as a spy parody, the film has a gonzo insanity that hits in with a manic delirium
Bullet Head (2017)
Mar 8, 2022Killer Dog
A film with a great set-up where three criminals on the run (which include Adrien Brody and John Malkovich) take refuge in a warehouse only to find they are trapped with a maddened killer dog
Bird Box (2018)
Feb 9, 2019Mysterious Catastrophe After Which People Are Forced to Not Look Outside
Very similar to A Quiet Place from several months earlier where here people cannot look outdoors and must remain blindfolded. Hindered by a frustrating lack of any explanations as to what is happening
Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)
Mar 8, 2019Cursed Artworks
This gets full marks for an eye-catching title, even if it is one that has next to no relevancy in the film. The film itself is set in the world of art dealership and concerns a series of cursed paintings that kill all who seek to acquire them
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)
May 11, 2019True-Life Serial Killer
Documentary-maker Joe Berlinger makes an exactingly detailed recreation of the Ted Bundy case, while Zac Efron abandons teen pin-up roles and steps into the title role with unnerving likeness
Chariot (2022)
Sep 28, 2023Surrealism/Strange Hotel
A very strange surrealist film about the strange characters that populate a rundown hotel. Includes reincarnation, alien bug people and John Malkovich as a psychiatrist with red hair in a bow