Why is Nicholas Cage Awesome?
(If you want more you can take this quiz to match the Cage face to the movie)
- He has his own Etsy products, Facebook group, and Pokemon Art.
- Once owned a haunted house in New Orleans and other amazing facts.
- He is famous for his on-screen freak-outs.
- Real last name is Coppola, yes of the famous FRANCIS! He wanted to become famous in his own right so he changed it (a tribute to Marvel’s Luke Cage). He loves comics so much that he named one of his sons Kal-El.
Nicholas Cage has RANGE, people! He defies stereotypical characters. Just when you think you have him pegged as the guy who is over the top, he tries something completely different. He ranges from high grossing action films to supporting indies, and even directing. Lately, his Netflix collection has been poor man remakes of Taken, but it’s good to remember and celebrate the Nicholas Cage who loves cake and his lucky crack pipe. I’m going to separate them into two categories: ones that are actually GOOD and ones I really like… the two aren’t exclusive.
Ones that are good:
1. Lord of War. 2005. 122 minutes. Rated R.
Yuri Orlov (Nicholas Cage) doesn’t want to take over the family restaurant business in the NYC Ukrainian neighborhood of Little Odessa. In order to marry the supermodel from his neighborhood (Bridgett Moynhan) and live in luxury, he decides to sell weapons to neighboring countries. Unfortunately, he’s good at it. He convinces his brother, Vitaly, (Jared Leto) to help him. Vitaly provides a good foil to Yuri, who has convinced himself that he can still sell weapons and sleep at night. Vitaly will quickly learn that Yuri is a black hole. Contrary to popular opinion, I enjoy when movies break the fourth wall and address the audience. It makes you feel like Yuri is sucking you into his vortex too.
2. Face Off. 1997. 258 minutes. Rated R.
It’s like a mad science version of Freaky Friday when FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) must go undercover to reveal a terrorist bomb plot by stealing the face of their leader’s brother Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage), the man that killed his son. The science is a little fuzzy on this one but a cutting-edge institute has mastered the removal and surgical swapping of faces. It involved lasers (this is 1997) enough said. Too bad Castor wakes up from his coma, faceless (and unguarded mind you), and forces the only doctor who knows about the switch to give him Sean’s face and then proceeds to burn the facility down and murder anyone else aware of the swap. 
Sean, mistaken for Castor, must find a way to break out of prison before the bomb that is hidden somewhere in LA is detonated. Meanwhile, fake Sean is left to terrorize his family and ruin his career. For a Nic Cage action movie, this is one of the better ones and he’s given free range to act believably crazy as Castor and sweet more “City of Angels” cage when he’s Sean. He is given some very quotable lines as Castor, like, “I could eat a peach for hours,” “If I were to let you suck on my tongue, would you be grateful?” or “If you dress like Halloween, ghouls will get in your pants.” GOLD! Director John Woo works at some artsy and meaningful shots in this film. The symbol of the Archer family “face” gesture (seen to the right) is a little bit too heavily used though. Try it on someone sometime. It’s really annoying… and germy.
3. Leaving Las Vegas. 1995. 101 minutes. Rated. R
He won an Academy Award for this one;l I promise it is ACTUALLY good, just very sad. Not to be confused with Honeymoon in Vegas, a light-hearted Cage movie, this is a portrait of a broken man who befriends a prostitute in Vegas while he executes his plan of drinking himself to death. Pretty Woman? When Harry Met Sally? Skip those and watch this instead. Cage is dejected in every scene. It is something in his eyes. Even the famous Cage freak-out scene in this movie is very controlled, hard to watch, and not ironically funny. This was like his Revolutionary Road with alcoholism.
4. Raising Arizona. 1987. 94 minutes. PG 13.
Can’t have a baby? just steal one like this ex-con romantically did for his wife (this rich family had quintuplets mind you. They should be giving those away!). This is a true Coen brothers movie with a hysterical integration of screaming throughout the movie and insane over the top mad-cap chases. This is the best movie for Nic Cage’s hair, his acting, and I’m liking the ‘stache. Although if you thought about the movie, you’d have to call child services or at least a therapist later in life for poor Nathan Jr. who witnesses two robberies, an explosion car/motorcycle chase, and survives almost being run over TWICE.
5. Kick Ass. 2010. 117 minutes. Rated R.
What would happen if your average kid tried to be a superhero with no training or special powers? It’s more of a great concept of a movie than a highlight of Nicholas Cage’s career since he takes a small secondary role to star Aaron Taylor-Johnson but he rocks the costume. He has great onscreen chemistry with his highly skilled teen daughter/side kick (Chloë Grace Moretz) (although this would probably be another movie for social services due to the violence and training your young and impressionable daughter to be a dangerous superhero). I KNOW, he’d make a better Batman, oh excuse me Big Daddy, than Ben Affleck.
7. Con Air. 1997. 105 minutes. Rated R.
Cameron Poe (Nicholas Cage), an ex-con and former US Ranger, is on his flight home to be reunited with his wife and daughter when it is hijacked by convicts. Was I the only ones rooting for the convicts? It has a 90’s star-studded cast with John Malkovich, Dave Chappelle, Steve Buscemi, and John Cusack. A great 90s action flick filled with good music, explosions, and a decent southern accent by Cage. Once again, he ends up in Vegas!
8. Moonstruck. . 1987. 102 minutes. Rated PG.
A NYC Italian love story starring Cher and Cage. They have that heated argument/I still love you relationship down. He’s the less infamous one-armed man who blames his brother for his accident and pursues his betrothed (Cher) while he is out of the country. This movie really immerses you in their lives and you can’t help but love her family despite the drama. Great acting and great dialogue give this movie rewatch value.
Ones I LIKE:
1. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call. 2009. 124 minutes. Rated R.
He’s a cop with a lot of vices including his lucky crack pipe. Don’t expect an Academy award-winning performance or storyline, but much like a car wreck, I couldn’t stop watching. Probably one of his top two movies where he loses his shit.
2. Vampire’s Kiss. 103 minutes. Rated R.
I’ve talked about this one in my post about disturbing movies. Peter Loew, a literary agent, is bit by a woman during a one night stand and is convinced he is now a vampire. Good thing mothers were wrong when they warned “if you keep doing that, your face is going to freeze that way” or Nick would be in trouble. This would be the top movie where he loses his shit. Poor ALVA.
3. Wicker Man. 2006. 102 minutes. PG 13.
Police officer Edward Malus (Cage) receives a letter from a long-lost love asking for his help in investigating her missing daughter’s case. He shows up to an island of mostly Puritan looking women (remniscent of The Crucible) who give him the cold shoulder, act shady, and repeatedly deny that the girl ever lived there. You can probably skip through this movie until the BEE HELMET shows up. Maybe I’m desensitized by the other disturbing movies I’ve watched, but I saw the version with the “alternate ending” last weekend, which they thought would be “too” much for general audiences, and I thought the “dirty bird” scene in Steven King‘s Misery was much more cringe-worthy.
4. It Could Happen to You. 1994. 101 minutes. Rated PG.
NYC police officer, Charlie Lang, (Cage) jokingly offers to split a lottery ticket with a local waitress (Bridget Fonda) to replace a forgotten tip. When he wins $4 million, true to his word, he splits it with her, much to the displeasure of his greedy evil wife, Muriel (Rosie Perez). You can all probably see where this is going, since his wife is a terrible human being who hates donating to charity and spends their winnings on fur coats and remodeling their apartment in horrid pastels circa 1990s decorating tastes. It leaves me with a warm fuzzy feeling because the cop and waitress are just so darn nice. It makes you remember that there are genuinely nice altruistic people in this world… very few… but some. It is in my top romantic comedies.
