Nicolas Cage = Dreadful

[Reno]

Do you think it glamourised it? It was pretty full-on portrayal i thought and didn't swerve the ending

It's so long ago that I saw it, but I had problems believing that someone could drink that much and stay conscious. The friend I went to see the film with had a father who was violent alcoholic who set my friend on fire when he was a kid (his left arm stopped growing after that, it was burnt so bad) and he thought the film was too romantic. So I think that influenced my opinion but then he was projecting his experience onto the film. I liked Leaving Las Vegas, though not enough to ever rewatch it. The poster I answered to was the one who thought it should be in the "ridiculously shit" poll above.

 

[paul mckenna]

It's clearly not an easy subject to put front and centre which is why i like it so much. A fraction either way and it'd have looked either unfaithful to the book/romanticising boozing and the other unpalatable to pretty much everyone. It's a bloody good performance from ol' Nicolas too

 

[Reno]

It's clearly not an easy subject to put front and centre which is why i like it so much. A fraction either way and it'd have looked either unfaithful to the book/romanticising boozing and the other unpalatable to pretty much everyone. It's a bloody good performance from ol' Nicolas too

Both he and Elizabeth Shue were great, the acting was the best thing about it, I thought.

 

[paul mckenna]

Yeah, she was great also

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I remember thinking that he was perfect for that sort of self-mythologising character - his persona didn't make it unreal at all. (Another one I've not seen for ages admittedly.)

 

[redsquirrel]

Having just subjected myself to watching the atrocious Deadfall I have to vote for that. Nicholas Cage and Charlie Sheen both chewing scenery up to 11, laziest neo-noir cliches available. It makes the other options given here look like masterpieces. Not even James Coburn can save this piece of shit.

 

[platinumsage]

Anyone seen Pig yet? I heard it might not be shit...

 

[Caffeine93]

Ghost Rider & sequels

shudders in cringe

 

[Orang Utan]

i’ve altered my approach to watching these damned films. it was strictly chronological before. have made it all the way up to Industrial Symphony but couldn’t find a copy of Zandalee, so am going backwards chronologically too. So the latest I can get hold of at the mo is Wally’s Wonderland which I am in the middle of watching. but i think i will carry on with the two-pronged method as I think it works well to contrast early Cage with post-taxbill Cage.

 

[Orang Utan]

Wally’s Wonderland was entertaining enough but it has a very stupid premise and a barely-sketched and badly acted supporting cast.
it’s unusual cos it has Cage in a non-speaking role, but he flexes his ACTING skills all the same, esp when he does a dance while playing pinball. aside from that, it’s forgettable

I also saw another low budget shocker from this year, Jiu Jitsu, a woeful rip off of Predator with shades of Mortal Kombat
and Bourne and the cheapest shittest CGI i’ve ever witnessed
Nicolas Cage doesn’t appear until half way through and he just fights with a sword, explains the plot badly, and dons a newspaper hat that he tells us he spends a lot of time making.
Dreadful shite to be avoided

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I also saw another low budget shocker from this year, Jiu Jitsu, a woeful rip off of Predator with shades of Mortal Kombat
and Bourne and the cheapest shittest CGI i’ve ever witnessed
Nicolas Cage doesn’t appear until half way through and he just fights with a sword, explains the plot badly, and dons a newspaper hat that he tells us he spends a lot of time making.
Dreadful shite to be avoided

I didn't get far enough in to see Cage. That was really one of the worst things I have seen in a long time.
If it's going to just be fighting and running like that, they really really really needed to think about direction and editing first. That film gets EVERYTHING wrong.

 

[Orang Utan]

he's barely in that film in the pic you posted - Fast Times At Ridgemont High - just an extra really, working in background of the restaurant the hero works in

 

[Orang Utan]

I also watched Wild At Heart again - the 2nd best of the films he's made so far - Raising Arizona is the best. Not quite as enamoured of it as I was when it came out, but I was 18 and in love, so it struck a chord.

Then I watched another forgettable Cage movie - Fire Birds (on YouTube as Wings Of The Apache), which is Top Gun with copters, and appears to be just one long advert for Apache helicopters and the US armed forces. The only other thing of note is that it is the source of the sample Rufige Kru use in their remix of Deep Blue's Helicopter - Tommy Lee Jones saying "you've got two very bad boys up here waiting for something to do...":

 

[Orang Utan]

Watching Zandalee next (thanks to a certain Urbanite who sent me a d/l - I didn't even ask, but am grateful!), before getting stuck in to the rest - I've got some time on my hands so I may watch a lot in the next week or so. I think I've managed to locate all the films now.

 

[Sue]

Orang Utan, thank you for your service.

 

[Riklet]

What about Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call? The Herzog remake. Man that's an awesome movie.. my fav Cage film I think!

 

[Orang Utan]

What about Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call? The Herzog remake. Man that's an awesome movie.. my fav Cage film I think!

aye, loved it - deffo a movie with the Full Cage

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

he's barely in that film in the pic you posted - Fast Times At Ridgemont High - just an extra really, working in background of the restaurant the hero works in

Correct. Well done you.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I also watched Wild At Heart again - the 2nd best of the films he's made so far - Raising Arizona is the best. Not quite as enamoured of it as I was when it came out, but I was 18 and in love, so it struck a chord.

I watched them both quite recently. Both made quite an impact on me as a young teen (later teen for WAH). So many quotable lines and memorable moments. Pretty disappointed that neither packed the punch they used to.

 

[Reno]

I've never cared that much for Raising Arizona and while I can see how brilliantly it is conceived, this type of manic comedy just doesn't make me laugh. When it first came out I was disappointed by Wild at Heart. After being hugely impressed by Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart felt too episodic and tonally all over the place. It has really grown on me though, it's full of great scenes and moments and I think it's one of the great screen love stories. My favourite Cage movie and Laura Dern gives a performance which is every step his crazy equal.

 

[Jeff Robinson]

His last movie ‘Pig’ is honestly one of favourite movies of the year and he’s brilliant in it

 

[seeformiles]

I think Con Air (with muscle vest walking away from exploding stuff cliche) when the rot set in.

 

[Orang Utan]

I think Con Air (with muscle vest walking away from exploding stuff cliche) when the rot set in.

that's one of his best and one of the best action films ever made

 

[killer b]

I've not seen Con Air, keep on meaning to but am hampered by my main movie-watching partner being a Cage hater.

 

[Orang Utan]

Zandalee was of course terrible - one of those erotic dramas that 9 1/2 Weeks/Wild Orchid made briefly popular - Cage is a tortured artist shagging his impotent friend's horny wife
Cage is great in it though - he has a fantastic entrance in silhouette, spreading his legs in a doorway and swirling his hair about - kinda like a videogame signature dance. It's set in New Orleans which is often the location for this kind of distinctly un-erotic sweaty writhing. Steve Buscemi pops his head in a few times as a cheerful ex-con.

I also watched Grand Isle, a more recent effort, which also features a horny Southern belle this time married to Cage, a sinister home owner who torments a young man sheltering at his house during a hurricane. I've nearly forgotten about it already. The only other memorable thing is Kelsey Grammar as a cop, murdering a deep south accent.

 

[petee]

I've never cared that much for Raising Arizona

huh - i liked it very well when it came out, but haven't seen it since. ripe to watch again.

con air was awful though.

 

[seeformiles]

that's one of his best and one of the best action films ever made

Not a patch on Face Off. When I first saw Con Air I thought “Fucking Hell - they’ve turned him into Bruce Willis”

 

[Orang Utan]

Not a patch on Face Off. When I first saw Con Air I thought “Fucking Hell - they’ve turned him into Bruce Willis”

What's wrong with that?
I didn't like Face/Off

 

[seeformiles]

What's wrong with that?
I didn't like Face/Off

Con Air was a steaming pile of shite - although tbf John Malcovich was the worst actor in it. It just seemed to be a standard Hollywood career move at the time. We’ll probably have to agree to disagree. I thought he could do much better than go into that mould.

 

[spanglechick]

Not a fan of big stupid action films, but Con Air is brilliant. Great cast. Buscemi is wonderful.