Nic Cage - NEVER afraid to go over the edge

Started by modage, June 06, 2003, 03:28:53 PM

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modage

i love Nic Cage.  he rules.  he is never afraid to go TOO FAR and throughout his career he has done so on several occasions.  i would just like to point out a few performances of special interest to me.

VAMPIRES KISS this is one of the unintentionally funniest movies ive seen, maybe ever.  mainly what sticks out about this movie is Nics performance. priceless.  his diatribe to his therapist where he proceeds to go through the entire alphabet while signaling different hand movements is rolling on the ground funny!  you can practically see him rehearsing this in the mirror the night before (which in the commentary track he confesses to doing so).  the sadistic relationship with his secretary is what pretty much makes this hilarious all the way through.  

RAISING ARIZONA  umm. everyone who has seen this movie, knows the genius of cage.  we have a coen thread, so i dont need to describe this one.

LEAVING LAS VEGAS this movie is so sad, that if in the proper state of intoxication yourself it also can turn into quite a funny movie.  my girlfriend once caught about half of it on cable and described it as "hilarious".

PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED uhh, a small part, but another example of his wild experimentation in the 80s and willingness to pretty much try anything with a character.  he has even recently confessed to a "what was i thinking?" attitude.  (he says he "thought he was a method actor".)

CON AIR "Put the bunny in the box" (southern accent).  i dont think i need to say any more.

KISS OF DEATH another small part, in this godawful remake with a Uge cast.  but he is pretty funny as"Little Junior Brown, a violent and powerful villain"

FACE OFF tell me you DIDNT love cage doing travolta? travolta doing cage?  the movie  may not be your cup of tea, but the acting is worth the price of admission.

ADAPTATION cant believe i almost forgot about this one.  what could be better for a cage lover than this. the pinnacle of all cage performances as 2 hilarious and completely different brothers.  even if the 3rd act didnt work for you, the banter between the brothers was certainly a highlight of every scene they were in together. *edit added
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

SoNowThen

Hello, Bringing Out The Dead??

Yeah, I like Cage.
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

modage

no no im not saying he wasnt great in lots of other movies.  i was just trying to name a few where he was especially OVER THE TOP.  he was a little more subdued in BRINGING OUT THE DEAD and WILD AT HEART and tons of other flicks.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Raikus

How can you forget Adaptation?!?!

If any movie solidifies Cage's acceptance as a great actor it's Adaptation. And this is coming from not-so-big Cage fan.
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands, with all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves, let me forget about today until tomorrow.

Derek237

'Never afraid to go over the edge' describes him perfectly. In Vampires Kiss he actually ate that cockroach. Ew.

cowboykurtis

have any of you seen RED ROCK WEST? little cage for ya'
...your excuses are your own...

MacGuffin

Quote from: cowboykurtishave any of you seen RED ROCK WEST? little cage for ya'

Great noir movie. In the same vein as "Blood Simple".
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Ghostboy

I used to LOVE Cage...up until somewhere around Snake Eyes, at which point it seemed clear he was just stuck in a making-money rut, with no interest in the creativity that once fueled his performances. Bringing Out The Dead was a return to form, but it was quickly overshadowed by the mind numbing vapidity of Gone In 60 Seconds, the sentimental syrup of Captain Correlli's Mandolin, and Windtalkers, which I didn't see more than twenty minutes of. Adaptation was brilliant, but I'm still trepidatious about any new movies with him in it...Matchstick Men could go either way, judging from the trailer. And now he's starring in some video game movie, the synopsis of which didn't exactly grab my attention.

Did anyone see Sonny?

modage

Quote from: cowboykurtishave any of you seen RED ROCK WEST? little cage for ya'

no i havent. but if the cage is there, ill be there.  (although on that same whim, i rented Amos And Andrew.  *shudders)
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

MacGuffin

Quote from: GhostboyAnd now he's starring in some video game movie, the synopsis of which didn't exactly grab my attention.

Nicolas Cage Starring in Dead to Rights

Nicolas Cage will star in an adaptation of the Dead to Rights video game, says Variety. Lorenzo di Bonaventura will produce the film with Cage and his Saturn Pictures partner Norm Golightly, and they will begin pitching the project to studios immediately. Screenwriter Kevin Brodbin (Constantine) will make the pitch and likely write the script.

Cage will play Jack Slate, a disgraced cop who is hell-bent on discovering who murdered his father. The film is designed to have the Hong Kong-style action that has made the game so popular. The game's rights are controlled by Namco.

A sequel game is being produced for Christmas 2004 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube formats.

"The videogame is so compelling because it has so many rich elements and the trick is to cut them down and get to the core story," said di Bonaventura. "The central character is emotionally tortured and that always makes for a good movie and a good Nic Cage movie."
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Nicolas Cage Revs-Up RPM

Nicolas Cage will reteam with his Con Air director Simon West (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) on the high-octane action-thriller RPM at Columbia Pictures.

The film, written by Joel Wyman, revolves around a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid-like pair of outlaws who are among racers tooling around in Maseratis, Aston-Martins, Lamborghinis and Ferraris. The underground race takes place in London, Monaco, Paris and Germany.

RPM is scheduled to start production mid-August in Italy.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Pas

I love him too...but I had trouble forgetting the scene in 8mm when he watches the movie and his face goes something like :

Hurggh...argghhh...ichhh...hoofff..hurrghhh....arghhhh....icchhh....hooff

But then again, you could call that "over the edge"

modage

Quote from: BoothI love him too...but I had trouble forgetting the scene in 8mm when he watches the movie and his face goes something like :

Hurggh...argghhh...ichhh...hoofff..hurrghhh....arghhhh....icchhh....hooff

But then again, you could call that "over the edge"

oh man, that sounds great!  i saw bits and pieces of this awful thing when i used to work at a movie theatre, but now that you mention it, maybe its cage-factor makes this rewatchable (for laughs).
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Gold Trumpet

I've liked Nic Cage in some movies, but he is vastly overrated. For some reason, a lot of people just like acting that is over the edge. I can definitely sense that here. It can be fine and all when right for the role, but it feels like people give so much more importance when someone starts yelling or going nuts and they think he/she is doing something exemplary. Actually, for today, this has just become the typical and the over acting never really was that hard for most actors anyways. A lot of my friends are great at freaking out and if they could talk coherently in some smooth way, I could see room for them in some movies. Its just show and doesn't necessarily speak for someone losing their self in a character and acting for the purpose of just that character.

~rougerum

sphinx

Quote from: themodernage02he was a little more subdued in BRINGING OUT THE DEAD



hello

chainsmoking insomniac

I think my favorite Nic performance was Leaving Las Vegas...whew....
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