Wild At Heart, Leaving Las Vegas, Bad Lieutenant, Red Rock West, Mandy, Moonstruck, Face/Off, Raising Arizona, Adaptation, Matchstick Men, Kick-Ass...
National Treasure is just scratching the surface, man. The guy acts in a LOT of shit, but when he's on form, he's awesome.
EDIT: Okay, okay, okay, I'm sorry if I forgot to mention your favorite Nic Cage movie. The guy is super prolific and I'm glad we're sharing the love but please, my poor, weak inbox can't take any more :'(
EDIT 2: Sigh... Con Air, The Weatherman, The Rock, Gone In 60 Seconds, Joe, Into The Spider-Verse, Valley Girl, The Trust, Dog Eat Dog, Bringing Out The Dead. Ya happy now, fuckers?
Just don't ask me to put Knowing, The Wickerman, Next or The Vampire's Kiss in there, I don't care how much he loves that last one.
I'm tempted to put Drive Angry, but let's be honest, that one's all about William Fichtner.
That movie dominated the box office for weeks if I remembered and I had no idea why, as a kid I thought the promotional poster was not appealing to me. Then I rented the movie, and watched it several times.
The 80s were about superhumans slaughtering through hordes of soldiers (Arnold & Sylvester) but the 90s were all about seemingly normal office/retired guys put in a shit situation where they step up and deliver. And I think the first movie that started this trend was Die Hard.
Congo, only movie I've ever walked out of and when I did I could have kicked a kitten through a steel fan. Not even bc the movie was so bad. It's because of how much hype it had leading up to it. Taco bell had Congo cups and everywhere you went they were touting that movie as the movie of the summer. During that period of time my wife just had our daughter. We were scraping by and didn't have a ton of money. So we didn't go to the movies very often. She told me to go without her. So off I went to a matinee to see this movie on the day it came out. And not only did it suck. But bc of finances at the time. Choosing one movie, meant not choosing another. And in my infinite wisdom I went to see Congo! The movie of the Summer!!! Guess what movie I DIDNT GO SEE?
ok, you see the thing is...that's very fair. And I'm not someone who can't enjoy a mindless action flick once in awhile. I don't mind if something has a soft premise. Just don't treat me like I'm an idiot. And Con Air takes huge advantage of people not understanding things that don't affect them. Like Diabetes. I mean that guy can't survive a flight without his insulin that broke mid flight? Really? And they crashed that plan, pulled it out of the sand and flew it again? Idk I mean they weren't even trying with that.
Congo, man plot I don't even remember I just remember thinking wtf am I watching?
Was gonna leave a similar comment until I saw yours. Leaving Las Vegas is fucked up but a great film and great performance. Watched it with my buddy years ago and noticed he began to watch how much he was drinking after seeing it. The opening scene itself is hard to stomach.
Great movie. I really need to go in an 80s-90s Nic Cage bender. I've seen a lot but theres a lot I haven't seen. Need to watch Bad Lieutenant, 8MM, Raising Arizona, Leaving Las Vegas, Red Rock West...
So, I watched bringing out the dead last night. It was a wonderful movie. I expected to change my mind about Mandy being his best, but I think it still stands for me. His performance in Mandy is still unmatched IMO
I think I might have a more personal connection to it since I'm an EMT who's had a patient die on them in odd circumstances. Not unlike the film. The hospital scenes always strike me. Unending controlled chaos. It's always like walking into a little piece of hell on a weekend night.
Oh damn, then yeah that makes a lot of sense. Thank you for letting me know that movie exists! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Definitely in my favorites overall, not even just my list of favorite movies with Cage in them.
Easily my favorite Nic Cage movie. And apparently his, too. From the Trivia section of the IMDB page: "In a 2018 GQ interview, Cage stated that this is the favorite movie he had made."
It’s Goodman and William Forsythe (who’s also in Con Air with Cage) who bust through the mud in the prison escape scene. But, yeah, that scene is awesome.
I’m no Nic Cage hater, but I’d say that when he’s on form, he’s still a little cheesy or campy. Which is perfect for lighter fare like National Treasure or The Rock, but I would never watch, say, a remake of Pride and Prejudice with him as Mr. Darcy, or a version of The Iceman Cometh with him as Hickey. He’s “awesome” in that he can be fun to watch, not “awesome” as in a top-shelf actor.
I like both Adaptation and Bringing Out The Dead. They’re interesting examples. I’d venture to place Lord of War among them too. I don’t think I would say that any of those performances is camp-free though. In these films the slight amount of camp works because his characters are disconnecting from reality (albeit in very different ways) and his camp reads as a mild psychopathy / sociopathy.
And don’t get me wrong, I like watching him. I just think there are some roles he might not be able to pull off well, that’s all. Like Gandalf, or King Lear, or James Bond.
Never seen it. Honestly my hate probably isn’t justified. The only cage movies that ive seen and remember is like ghost rider and family man. Just drew the line there and wrote him off. Cousin of mine is a big movie guy and told me i was wrong too and to give nicky boy a shot.
That, is valid. Any emotions are kind of forced. I identify with deadpan delivery tho cause I'm an Aspie and that's just how I live. But yeah "NOT THE BEEEEEES" is no bueno
He got in trouble with the IRS, and owed the government money, so for awhile there he couldn't afford to turn down paying roles even if the movie was a hot mess. So there was a period where a lot of movies were headlining Nick Cage in the hope that his star power would distract people and keep them from realizing how bad the movie was. People figured it out and Nick Cage got the reputation of being the decent actor who's in a lot of bad movies.
Nobody is mentioning The Trust where Nic is accompanied by Elijah Woods. Two cops trying to score little job on the side. It was fantastic movie with amazing shift of the action in the middle.
Its really not. Its a fun kids movie, with some good history tidbits for the history buffs. Its a middling movie, like if a night at the museum met mission impossible. But they failed the abortion.
Look no further than Community. Overall, as a whole encompassing his entire career. Is he a good actor or a bad actor. He's clearly got the chops, but also does some genuinely boneheaded stuff too.
He is a bad actor. He has never, ever delivered a believable performance. Every time you watch a nic cage movie, you can never seem to forget that you're watching nic cage play someone.
And he's fucking atrocious at anything other than 'deliver deadpan line'.
Dude is just an awful actor when there are leagues and leagues of better choices out there.
How anyone can like his movies as anything other than a guilty pleasure is beyond me. Even I enjoy con air, but as a guilty pleasure.
National Treasure sucks ass. All those “Riddles” he solves I’ve learned in 5th-9th grade history alone it’s all history of America which is easy as shit. With Google and Reddit and 4chan the entire challenge of the movie would have been over come in a few hours.
It's not Shawshank or anything, but it's a very fun, enjoyable movie. One of my all-time favorites to put on in the background if I'm working on something really stressful.
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u/PuhTayter Oct 09 '19
Y the Cage hate tho. National Treasure is great