BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) THE NEGOTIATOR
This is a pretty damn underrated movie. Samuel L. Jackson and Spacey worked awesome together. The movie was intense and at times it’s hard to trust anyone on the screen. Still the movie is almost carried by the bad-assness of Spacey.
(THREE) SEVEN
As John Doe, Spacey is an evil evil genius. We don’t see him for much of the movie, but we feel the effect of his character. His character goes on to kill people and punish them using the seven deadly sins as his mantra. Finally he is revealed. He gives himself up, sans finger tips, and is calm and collective as the happiest man in the world. Then at the end… oh yeah, the end… shit happens. He is an evil villain that crosses so many lines that you can’t help but give him what he ultimately wanted… closure on his plan.
(TWO) THE USUAL SUSPECTS
As a con artist with cerebal palsy, Spacey rocked “The Usual Suspects.” The movie goes on and you keep realizing at every turn that you have no idea what is going on. I tend to think that this movie was carried by the awesomeness of Spacey. This role is what got him out there on the biggest level, but not his biggest or best just yet…
(ONE) AMERICAN BEAUTY
There is no question here. In this Sam Mendes directed/Alan Ball directed masterpiece, Spacey takes the world by its shaft and gets it off in the shower. As Lester Burnham, Spacey plays a middle aged 9 to 5 in the burbs type. He despises his job, hates his wife, and ends up smoking a lot of weed and having a midlife crisis. It’s just a great movie. The actors are on their A-Games, the writing is great, and the direction is great. This is one of the best movies from the past twenty years.
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