What the corpus says about Being John Malkovich (1999)

You are a clerk at Video Culture, a video store. A customer just finished Being John Malkovich (1999) and wants to know what to watch next.

Below is what people who love movies said on three podcasts (Blank Check, The Rewatchables, The Big Picture) about Being John Malkovich (1999) and the films around it, one line each. Every line starts with where it came from, in brackets: [show · episode · time · speaker (how sure we are it was them)]. A [pairs] line says how often two films were put side by side. A [speaker] line says what that person likes. A [bits] line lists a show's running bits: a format, not an opinion.

[Blank Check — Patreon · OLD DOGS - Blank Check LIVE! at the Bell House · 1:19:34 · David Sims (0.40)] Old Dogs ↔ Being John Malkovich · theme · The human puppeteer plot is likened to Being John Malkovich (transcribed Mell). · "So this is, like, being John Mell."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:40:57 · unknown (0.30)] Being John Malkovich ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · people · Spike Jonze came aboard Button straight off Malkovich. · "It's like after Malkovich, they're Jones like, what do you want?"
[The Big Picture · Top Five Gen X Director Debuts, the Fate of ‘Black Widow,’ and a Potential Oscars Disaster · 0:41:21 · Brian Koppelman (0.90)] Being John Malkovich ↔ a perfect album · verdict · Brian calls Being John Malkovich a perfect film that fully achieves its aim but is not his favorite. · "being John Malcolmich is nailed"
[The Big Picture · Top Five Gen X Director Debuts, the Fate of ‘Black Widow,’ and a Potential Oscars Disaster · 0:50:15 · Sean Fennessey (0.85)] Being John Malkovich ↔ John Cazale · people · Spike Jonze is the living John Cazale of directors: a very short filmography. · "He's like the living John Kazale of directors."
[The Big Picture · Top Five Gen X Director Debuts, the Fate of ‘Black Widow,’ and a Potential Oscars Disaster · 0:51:42 · Brian Koppelman (0.70)] Being John Malkovich ↔ Charlie Kaufman · people · Kaufman's script is the star, but Jonze deserves credit for recognizing it and realizing it on screen. · "You got to credit Spike for for recognizing it and actualizing it."
[The Big Picture · Top Five Gen X Director Debuts, the Fate of ‘Black Widow,’ and a Potential Oscars Disaster · 0:52:04 · Sean Fennessey (0.85)] Being John Malkovich ↔ Charlie Kaufman · people · Sean sees Jonze and Kaufman as two artists who needed each other; Jonze made Kaufman's abstract ideas literal. · "Spike really was able to visualize and literalize a lot of Charlie's ideas, which are so abstract"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Vanilla Sky · 0:28:17 · unknown (0.40)] Cameron Diaz ↔ Being John Malkovich · verdict · Diaz should have gotten the Oscar nomination that Catherine Keener got for Malkovich. · "I still contend that she should have gotten the Oscar nomination that Catherine Keener got for Malkovich."
[The Big Picture · Top Five Gen X Director Debuts, the Fate of ‘Black Widow,’ and a Potential Oscars Disaster · 0:50:53 · Brian Koppelman (0.85)] Being John Malkovich · fun · Malkovich told Brian that Spike would say 'John Malkovich wouldn't do it that way' on set. · "he'd say, John Malkovich wouldn't do it that way."
[The Big Picture · Top Five Gen X Director Debuts, the Fate of ‘Black Widow,’ and a Potential Oscars Disaster · 0:51:47 · Brian Koppelman (0.80)] Being John Malkovich · fun · Brian relishes using the word 'Malcatraz' legitimately. · "getting to use the expression Malcatraz in your life in a legitimate way"
[Blank Check — Patreon · OLD DOGS - Blank Check LIVE! at the Bell House · 1:32:52 · Griffin Newman (0.70)] Old Dogs ↔ Tangled · programming · Disney released Tangled the next year on the same Thanksgiving weekend, which became its animated slot (Frozen, Moana). · "A year later, they released Tangled the same weekend, and then this becomes the weekend they released their biggest animated film of the year."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:01:30 · unknown (0.30)] F. Scott Fitzgerald ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read) · lineage · The film is adapted from Fitzgerald's short story, though the speakers say it shares little with it. · "It's quite, it's, it doesn't have too much in common with the film, right?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · OLD DOGS - Blank Check LIVE! at the Bell House · 1:53:21 · Griffin Newman (0.60)] Old Dogs ↔ The Twilight Saga: New Moon · programming · Old Dogs opened fourth, behind New Moon in its second week, The Blind Side and 2012. · "Twilight Saga New Moon."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:42:01 · unknown (0.30)] F. Scott Fitzgerald ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read) · lineage · By the time Roth finished, the film resembles the story in name only. · "By the time he's done with it, the movie has no resemblance to Benjamin Button apart from, it's called Benjamin Button."
[Blank Check — Patreon · OLD DOGS - Blank Check LIVE! at the Bell House · 1:54:07 · Griffin Newman (0.70)] Old Dogs ↔ The Princess and the Frog · programming · The Princess and the Frog opened the same weekend on two screens, ranked 18th. · "Princess and the Frog opens this week, number 18."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:43:40 · unknown (0.30)] Joan Didion → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · lineage · A line in the film was something Roth's mother said in the hospital, tied by the speaker to Didion's Year of Magical Thinking. · "Joan Didian's book, the year of magical thinking."
[Blank Check — Patreon · OLD DOGS - Blank Check LIVE! at the Bell House · 0:10:37 · Griffin Newman (0.80)] Wild Hogs ↔ Old Dogs · lineage · Old Dogs reteams Becker with Travolta after Wild Hogs. · "He signs on to do this movie, re teams with Travolta, bring some new people in."
[Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 1:59:12 · unknown (0.30)] Love Is Strong (Rolling Stones video) ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read) · lineage · A host guesses the Stones' giant-scale effects helped Fincher on Benjamin Button. · "Well, and I bet this helped for Benjamin Button eventually."
[Blank Check — Patreon · OLD DOGS - Blank Check LIVE! at the Bell House · 1:04:05 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Old Dogs ↔ Moonrise Kingdom · lineage · A host jokes that Moonrise Kingdom, three years later, is what made scouts cool, after the Old Dogs scout weekend. · "So you're saying Moonrise Kingdom made scouts cooling?"
[The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:05:56 · Adam Nayman (0.90)] The Killer ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · theme · The lonely dinner with Tilda Swinton in a hollow restaurant echoes Benjamin Button's end-of-the-world connection scene, here without sentimental shtick. · "the stuff with Tilda Swinton is very interestingly evocative of Benjamin Button, like this lonely dinner in this big hollow restaurant that feels like it's at the end of the world"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead · 1:28:24 · unknown (0.30)] Eraserhead ↔ Old Dogs · theme · Suddenly discovering a child you didn't know about is the existential terror Old Dogs is built on, and Eraserhead has it too. · "Of course, the kind of existential terror that an entire movie, like old dogs is built off of times two."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:26:08 · Richard Lawson (0.60)] Meet Joe Black ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · theme · Meet Joe Black is Brad Pitt's other epic about death; the speaker rewatched it right after Button. · "Brad Pitt's other somewhat misbegotten epic about death, meet Joe Black."
[Blank Check — Patreon · OLD DOGS - Blank Check LIVE! at the Bell House · 0:32:48 · David Sims (0.50)] Old Dogs ↔ Erin Brockovich · theme · Kelly Preston's eco-protester plot is likened to Erin Brockovich (transcribed Aaron). · "Okay, so she's, like, an Aaron Brockovich?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 1:35:21 · unknown (0.30)] Being There ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · theme · The speaker likens people projecting wisdom onto Benjamin's silence to Chauncey Gardner. · "There's a bit of a Chauncey Gardner where they're like projecting onto his silence."
[Blank Check — Patreon · OLD DOGS - Blank Check LIVE! at the Bell House · 0:43:13 · unknown (0.30)] Old Dogs ↔ Gremlins · theme · Leaving the kids with a list of rules they will break is likened to Gremlins. · "This is like Gremlin."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 1:44:06 · unknown (0.30)] Magnolia ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · theme · The car-accident sequence feels a little like Magnolia, but the film is the anti-Magnolia on connectedness. · "This is sort of the anti-magnolia, which is like Ricky J is saying, like, surely these things mean something."
[speaker] Brian Koppelman · latest sketch, The Rewatchables · ‘Margin Call’ · Loves craft: Chandor's economy, not speaking down, and actors like Tucci and Hoffman. Sucker for heightened workplace dialogue and one-night structures. · stances: Margin Call is among the 10 best of 15 years; Hanks does not play sleaze; Conflict structure over a night is the point
[speaker] Sean Fennessey · latest sketch, The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · Loves gory, funny, fast genre movies with craft and confidence, especially 87-minute films that never overstay. Can't stand ponderous elevated horror that fills out its runtime with introspection and sad family history. A sucker for the Carpenter-era lineage, Die Hard homages, and directors who break studio dogma. · stances: Resident Evil is one of the best films of the year; Horror movies have become a drag; fun genre experiences are needed; Short running times are a virtue; Video-game films work best when great filmmakers get creative license
[speaker] David Sims · latest sketch, Blank Check · The Last Temptation of Christ · Prepares history: novel, casting, budgets, box office. Reveres the film and thinks it reads as a normal ground-level story. A sucker for Hollywood deal backstory and box office game. · stances: Praises Keitel and Dafoe casting; Respects Scorsese's persistence and Corman discipline; The film is now well regarded though not 'canonical Marty'
[bits] The Big Picture: Drafts (Hosts and guests draft films in rounds; every pick is a recommendation with an argument); Hall of Fame (A star's or director's best, ranked and argued); Countdowns (Ranked lists, top five or top ten)

Recommend three to six films, and only films that appear in these lines. A series, a TV film, or a franchise counts too when a line recommends it or pairs it with Being John Malkovich (1999); name it the way the line names it. Don't recommend Being John Malkovich (1999) itself. For each one, give one short reason in your own words and say whose reason it is: the show, named exactly as the brackets name it, and the speaker when the line names one (an "unknown" speaker is just the show). If the lines are thin, say so plainly rather than stretching them.

Keep a contrast a contrast. When a line sets two films apart, the reason is how they differ; never turn it into a way they're alike. A line with ⇒ puts the source first and what drew on it second, and one marked "the maker said so" is still the host reporting it: say who said it, and never state an influence as fact.

You know only what's on these lines. Add no fact they don't state: not who directed a film, not what kind of film it is, not when it came out, unless a line says so. Say nothing about the store or how anything rents here.

Talk the way a clerk talks to a customer at the counter: plain text, titles written plainly with no asterisks or other markup, no headings, no lists of more than six, no JSON.