Word: actorly
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...greatest toy the movie has to play with is the participation of real-life actor John Malkovich, playing himself with perversity and panache. The film brings him into the plot with characteristic audacity; Cusack discovers a secret door at work that leads directly into the inside of Malkovich's brain. He becomes famous Malkovich for fifteen minutes (get it?), and is then spit out onto the side of the New Jersey Turnpike. It is to the film's credit that this bizarre, supernatural turn of events doesn't jar the logical tone of the movie at all. Getting inside Malkovich...
...Harvard Krokodiloes. The Kroks may not have been a seminary, but they sound divine (ahem) and no doubt prepared Jeff for Superstardom. His background as a vocalist also allows him to approach his role in Jesus Christ Superstar as a singer who happens to act rather than as an actor who happens to sing--a perfect match for a rock opera, which demands an incredible amount of vocal prowess (much more than most of the musicals and light operas staged on campus...
...Fowler considers himself a Christian, and he doesn't feel his faith is affronted by the questioning, human Jesus of the show (two other students chose not to be involved in the production for religious reasons). "As a believer I can believe what I want onstage, but as an actor I have a goal and obligation--and desire--to portray him as a character [just as I would any other character]...as a man who has this amazing secret that he wants to tell everybody. It's good news, but it's like Cassandra the prophet [whose predictions of defeat...
...mood of the film doesn't help the matter. Defined by the triteness of the setting (a generic middle-America suburb/commercial center) and the over-exaggerated antics of the actors, the tone is downright campy, a far cry from the insightful and sharply satirical mood of the novel. Bruce Willis as Dwayne Hoover takes an unfortunate step backwards from his performance in The Sixth Sense by making a complete ass of himself. (Perhaps this is a sign that he should go back to doing Die Hard-type fare.) The rampant television commercials advertising Dwayne's cars? Mind-numbingly annoying...
...there's one other glaring flaw. Unfortunately, it's an actor. Can you guess who it is? Oh yes, Brad Pitt should have been eternally jailed by the acting police after Seven Years in Tibet, Meet Joe Black, etc. etc. The guy has no range. He just yells when he's trying to be profound and adds a slight stutter when he's trying to be subtle. Pitt tries so damn hard not to be a pretty face, but he spends half the movie flexing his muscles and tearing off his shirt. And worst of all, he's self-conscious...