Nicolas Cage was born Nicholas Coppola and is in fact the nephew of Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola. Cage changed his name so as not to be accused of riding his family's coattails. Sadly its the most admirable accomplishment in his career. I've never liked his work, even when he was supposed to be good (The Weather Man) or winning an Oscar (Leaving Las Vegas). His portrayal of the same manic characters combined with his inability to say no have completely destroyed his career. As always I will be chronicling performances that he has given in movies that I have seen. And for some reason I've seen a lot of Nic Cage movies.
- Peggy Sue Got Married was a minor Francis Ford Coppola film (so much for not riding those coattails) in which Nic plays the husband of the title character. At her high school reunion Peggy Sue faints and wakes up a senior in high school who tried to fix her mistakes. Think Wizard of Oz except an unknown Jim Carrey is a coke head. Cage's performance would be bland and unforgettable until he opens his stupid mouth. He portrays his character as a whiny, nasally wimp who is supposed to be a talented singer? I can't believe Coppola allowed him to give this performance. It must have been a birthday present to Nic from Uncle Frankie.
- Almost everyone knows Raising Arizona. This early Coen brothers work tells the story of a petty criminal (Cage) married to a local cop (Holly Hunter) who can't conceive a child. In desperation they kidnap a quintuplet of a local businessman and all hell breaks loose. Cage again plays a bland and dejected failure but this time he has a great cast around him and an excellent writer/director combo in the Coens. While Cage does nothing to stand out he doesn't ruin the film, which is as good as I can ever expect.
- I have a lot of problems with Moonstruck. So many that Nic Cage is one of the last things about this movie that piss me off. This steaming pile follows Cher (who won an Oscar for this film TWENTY years before Martin Scorsese would get one) who is torn between two brothers (Cage and Danny Aiello). This film reminds me that 1987 must have been a horrible year since this film made over 80 million at the box office. Cage plays the evil portion of a Maury Povich segment as a guy who starts an affair with his brother's fiancee. The worst part is that he is the guy she ends up with and everyone is happy about this. Even Danny Aiello. The Danny Aiello from The Professional would have ripped his intestines out through his eye sockets. But not here. Screw this movie and everyone associated with it.
Wild At Heart (1990)
- This is one of the few movies is which I don't hate Cage's performance. Nic Cage plays Sailor Ripley, who goes on the run with girlfriend Lulu Fortune (David Lynch regular Laura Dern) after Lulu's mother hires a hit man to kill him. I liken this to Raising Arizona where Cage would have had to try really hard to ruin a great director's film and he really isn't given the chance to do so. Willem Dafoe and Crispin Glover really steal the show here as they completely bought in to the weirdness that Lynch creates.
- There comes a time in every up and coming actor's career where he is in a film with an actor who is beginning the down turn of his career. Honeymoon In Vegas is this film for Cage as he stars along side James Caan as a man who recently gets engaged and as the title tells us, plans for a wedding in Las Vegas. This film is also where I mark the beginning of the non-stop shit performances from Nic Cage. He is completely unlikeable, whiny and at the same time completely void of any emotion. It is quite the contradiction. This movie was so terrible Adrian Lynne decided to remake the next year with Robert Redford, Demi Moore, and Woody Harrelson. It was called Indecent Proposal. It sucked too.
Amos & Andrew (1993)
- It makes sense that this unfunny cop buddy comedy stars two guys who can't say no, Nicolas Cage and Samuel L. Jackson. Racist, juvenile and offensively boring Amos & Andrew is the tale of a black man being mistaken for a burglar, the cop who learns the truth and the police chief who tries to get both of them killed. None of the jokes work and Cage's delivery of this dialogue doesn't help matters. His performance of a cop in this movie did what Mike Myers did to gurus in The Love Guru. When N.W.A released Fuck Tha Police it wasn't due to police corruption. They just saw an advanced copy of Amos & Andrew.
- Disgracing police officers in unfunny comedies wasn't enough for Nicolas Cage. He didn't even think to take a year off before he disgraced Secret Service agents in an unfunny comedy as well. Guarding Tess is the oh-so-not-at-all-engaging story of a President's widow (Shirley MacLaineCon Air. He does his best to display no personality and practices his action hero stare throughout. Everyone looked as bored working on this film as I was watching it.
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
- Here we are. The big one. The movie everyone points to when I say I don't enjoy Nicolas Cage's acting. People always ask "Well did you see Leaving Las Vegas? He won an Oscar for that, you know?" No one stops to think of how shallow the field was that year. Anthony Hopkins for Nixon? Sean Penn for Dead Man Walking? Some Italian guy for Il Postino? Braveheart won best picture that year and time certainly hasn't been kind to that film. Same thing goes for Cage here as not being unbearably melodramatic or gargoyle like was enough. Winning an Academy Award in 1995 is like winning a hot dog eating contest: five minutes of glory, a lifetime of being an answer to a Trivial Pursuit question. Leaving Las Vegas is the ultimate one hit wonder in film. It was the only time Cage, Elisabeth Shue or Mike Figgis were ever considered legitimate talents. 1996 couldn't have come fast enough.
The Rock (1996)
- Oh boy how wrong was I? The Rock is a summer action movie in which Cage plays an untested scientist sent to break into Alcatraz with a 184 year old Sean Connery and a team of inept soldiers. The fact that this Michael Bay's best film doesn't speak very highly but Cage just bores me in this movie. Ed Harris displays shocking depth, Sean Connery is entertaining as always but Cage is just kind of there. His stumbling through his scientific jargon really saps out whatever believability there was in the first place. Not to mention the awful, chemistry free scenes between Cage and his way too hot for him girlfriend played by Vanessa Marcil. Catch this movie on cable and enjoy Connery. Listen to some music, or better yet, read this blog entry whenever Nic Cage is on screen.
Con Air (1997)
- The late 90s sent us into Nicolas Cage overload. The man starred in two films per year from 1997-2002. Con Air finally gives us what someone, somewhere thought was a good idea: action hero Nic Cage. The most dynamic component to Cage's performance is his awesome mullet wig. That thing displays more emotion through wind storms, fist fights and motorcycle chases than Cage does throughout the entire film. When you're more wooden and stiff than John Cusack that is really saying something. The stand out performances in this action schlock are from John Malkovich and Colm Meaney. These guys are having fun playing assholes and you know it. Cage is just a blank slate with a horrendous southern accent.
Face/Off (1997)
- The second Nic Cage action movie of 1997 was Face/Off, one of John Woo's failed attempts at the American action movie. John Travolta co-stars in this farce so at least Cage never had to worry about being the hammiest performer on set. This film has so many plot holes and totally implausible action scenes that Cage's shitty acting becomes secondary. However Cage is still awful. Although he is supposed to play both Sean Archer and Castor Troy at points in the movie I often forget which he is supposed to be. At least Travolta switches from ultra bland dad to manic 'I love being a terrorist' mode. Is Cage a federal agent? A terrorist? A drunk? A honeymooner? Who knows, its all the same.
City Of Angels (1998)
- City Of Angels features the romantic duo of Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan. Or as I like to call it: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Bringing Out The Dead (1999)
- It finally happened. Nicolas Cage finally ruined a film by an otherwise great director. The Coen brothers and David Lynch were able to escape but Martin Scorsese wasn't so lucky. Cage pulls out his Leaving Las Vegas serious actor look as a burned out paramedic who begins to have hallucinations of patients he has failed to save. Cage is so piss poor in this movie its painful to watch. He gives the audience both sides of his acting persona: brain dead and coke addict. There is no middle ground and it feels like Scorsese just gave up and finished this film as quickly as possible. I will never forgive you for ruining a Scorsese film, Cage. Never ever.
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