Happy Birthday, John Malkovich!

Today, we're celebrating the 58th birthday of Academy Award-nominated actor, John Malkovich. He made his feature-film debut in an uncredited performance in 1978's A Wedding, but he didn't get his first credited appearance until 1984's Places in the Heart, for which he earned his first Oscar nomination. From there, Malkovich made appearances in high-profile films like 1987's Empire of the Sun and 1988's Dangerous Liaisons. In 1993, he earned his second Academy Award nomination for his supporting role in In the Line of Fire. He continued to act in some of the bigger films of the 1990s, including 1997's Con Air, 1998's Rounders and 1999's Being John Malkovich, for which his namesake was used. His resumé in the 2000s has been a tad bit lackluster, but he's still managed to appear in films like 2005's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 2006's Eragon and 2008's Burn After Reading. Most recently, audiences have seen John in this summer's Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and you'll next see him in 2012's As Linhas de Torres. So, to celebrate his birthday, I've listed my five favorite Malkovich performances. I hope you enjoy the videos! Once again, happy birthday, John!

5. Teddy KGB
Rounders (1998)


*****

4. Marvin Boggs
Red (2010)


*****

3. Osborne Cox
Burn After Reading (2008)


*****

2. Lennie Small
Of Mice and Men (1992)


*****

1. John Horatio Malkovich
Being John Malkovich (1999)

Movie Review: RED

RED

2010
PG-13


You can watch the trailer here

I don't want to say, "Oh, how the mighty have fallen," but it's the first thing that comes to mind. On paper, Red seemed like a movie destined to succeed. With an all-star cast, whose four top bills have combined for eleven Oscar nominations and two wins, and a seemingly pleasant script, this action-comedy looked for a road to success. However, what you sometimes see on paper doesn't always translate well to the silver screen. Director Robert Schwentke should've been able to do better.

The screenplay itself is relatively simple: it follows Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), a retired CIA operative, as he tries to piece together the reasoning behind a CIA hit squads attempt on his life. Joining forces with some old associates, as well as a newfound love interest, Moses attacks the CIA itself in order to find the answers he's looking for. Like I said - pretty basic. With an action-comedy, you can't really afford to have too detailed of a plot, so the storyline worked relatively well. My problem, however, was that there just wasn't enough action or comedy to carry the film. The action sequences were few and much too far in-between, and the comedy relied on a variety of desperate grabs for laughter. Yes, I laughed throughout the movie, but the laughs seemed relatively cheap, and I couldn't begin to bring myself into the goings-on of the film.

Acting-wise, I have no real complaints. Willis is a little off-key with a character that's part John McClane from Die Hard and part Mark Wahlberg from The Happening. As one can imagine, this didn't turn out very well. Luckily, some of the supporting actors partially lived up to their billing, even if the material they had to work with wasn't entirely well-formed. John Malkovich and Helen Mirren stand out about the rest, and it's always a delight to see Morgan Freeman grace the screen.

Although there's nothing glaring that I can point out from this movie, it just didn't hook me and bring me into the story. The characters seemed one-dimensional, and the screenplay just didn't allow for much room to run. A cast like this should have knocked this one out of the park, but Red simply settles for the sacrifice bunt.

Movie Review Summary:
Grade: C-
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