Release Date: 15 May 2012
SRP: $39.95

Synopsis: Have you ever wanted to be someone else? Or, more specifically, have you ever wanted to crawl through a portal hidden in an anonymous office building and thereby enter the cerebral cortex of John Malkovich for fifteen minutes before being spat out on the side of the New Jersey Turnpike? Then director Spike Jonze and writer Charlie Kaufman have the movie for you. Melancholy marionettes, office drudgery, a frizzy-haired Cameron Diaz—but that’s not all! Surrealism, possession, John Cusack, a domesticated primate, Freud, Catherine Keener, non sequiturs, and absolutely no romance! But wait: get your Being John Malkovich now and we’ll throw in emasculation, slapstick, Abelard and Heloise, and extra Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich.

Disc Features
-New high-definition digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
-New selected-scene audio commentary featuring filmmaker Michel Gondry
-New behind-the-scenes documentary by filmmaker Lance Bangs
-Conversation between John Malkovich and humorist John Hodgman
-Director Spike Jonze discusses Being John Malkovich via photos from its production
-Two films within the film: 7½ Floor Orientation and “American Arts & Culture” Presents John Horatio Malkovich, “Dance of Despair and Disillusionment”
- An Intimate Portrait of the Art of Puppeteering, a documentary by Bangs
-Trailer and TV spots
-A booklet featuring a conversation between Jonze and pop-culture critic Perkus Tooth

Will purchase

Yes.

is something wrong with the criterion thread?

Without trying to offend, this movie is more well-known than a lot of the films released in the Criterion Collection. It's quite possible that someone interested in getting this on blu-ray has no idea that it's coming out because they have no interest in other films in the Criterion Collection?

Just my thoughts.

is something wrong with the criterion thread?

???

What I was saying is that there are two groups of people. Those that are interested in Criterions, and those that are interested in Being John Malkovich. (Some are both). For those in the second group, they might not ever click on the Criterion thread to know that this is even coming. I see nothing wrong with having this thread for exposure to a great movie with a nice treatment.

Wish they could've got Malcovich to do a commentary.

"Malkovich Malkovich?"

Very cool. Time to offload another HD DVD!

Yeah, but that could be said about any Criterion release. I'm not sure because BEING JOHN MALKOVICH is a more recent movie that it's any more/less popular or well-known than many other Criterion releases.

Movies don't need their own threads!

The Official Universal Thread
The Official Sony Thread

Yeah, let's do that...

BJM had a wide theatrical release that was accompanied by a national marketing campaign including TV advertising, etc. It was released on DVD by a major studio and upon its initial release was available to purchase in stores like Target and Wal-Mart.

It's certainly one of Criterion's higher-profile releases. I think the case could easily be made that any of the other titles licensed from Universal (Dazed & Confused, The Last Temptation of Christ, Fear & Loathing, Traffic) warrant their own threads.

I understand the need to prevent an onslaught of repeat threads, but I agree with this completely.

TL;DR: People actually saw Being John Malkovich therefore it deserves its own thread.

There.

One of the rare films that lives up to its extremely creative premise - I've watched it many times, and the sheer creativity and imagination of Kaufman (and Jonze) never fails to impress me.

I still find the cover art inexplicably bland for a film so full of creative imagery, but a definite purchase for me anyways.

The cover art is pretty awful. I think the studio released DVD actually had a better art.

agreed that artwork sucks! im keeping my HD-DVD for now!

The cover art doesn't bother me. It's MUCH better than the airbrushed floating heads that usually grace BD boxes.

I also agree that this warrants its own thread. Those giant megathreads are far too convoluted to keep up with.

Same. Previous Criterion vs Universal (HD DVD) "transfers" have not been significant enough (if at all) upgrades.

Did anybody else not realize Cameron Diaz was in this movie until the end credits? I seriously didn't realize that was her while I was watching the film the first time.

Osiris...I think Gizmo was being sarcastic.

Fixed

Although the Criterions are packed with extras and the Universals have nothing.

True. I'm not much of a Special Features person (in most cases).