Acting like it is out of gas

Assuming there is gas in it, it's either a fuel issue or a electrical issue. Sometimes ignition electrical issues are heat sensitive, where it will die when hot, and then start back up when it's cold.

If it doesn't start cold, remove a spark plug and see if it is wet with gas. If it is dry, then chances are you have a fuel issue. It could be a frozen fuel line, clogged fuel filter, or a bad fuel pump.

Doing a search for "2004 malibu won't start electrical" gives me 728k hits. Searching on "2004 malibu won't start fuel", gives me 553k hits. Chances are it's electrical. Do a search on you tube for your model and year to get some more ideas of common repairs.

Looking on Edmunds it shows the car as pretty reliable except for an ignition problem with the lock cylinder.

http://www.edmunds.com/chevrolet/malibu/2004/reliability.html?sub=sedan

Car Complaints also leads me to believe its electrical:
http://www.carcomplaints.com/Chevrolet/Malibu/2004/

yes fuel filter because you probably ran it out of gas you could have got the fuel pump to hot and burnt it up,(new Pump) do not know what year or model you have but may be relay or fuse as well (more info Please) !!

i need more info. could be a bad ignition switch

that model truck has a huge problem with the electric connector on the coil breaking try this first replacements available from oreilys

You have sediment in your tank that gets losened and blocks your fuel line after you gas up. drain tank and clean and change both fuel filters and that should fix your problem

Keep it simple and replace the fuel filter first, if thr fiiler has not been replaced within 30,000 miles or 1 year. Then it's a good chance that it's going to be the fuel filter. 

Most likely a lack of fuel, check the fuel filter first.

Fuel pump

sounds like your crank sensor

fuel pump change required