Why Nicolas Cage Movies are the Best Quarantine Entertainment
Vampire’s Kiss was his lab, Face/Off was the big stage
Nicolas Cage movies are the best way to pass the time in quarantine because when you watch his movies, you’re in his world…and in his world, there is only Nicolas Cage. Even when he loses he wins because he’s Nicolas Cage. And because he’s appeared in over 110 movies, we win too. (you were supposed to read that in his voice, btw.)
Why Him?
I feel a personal bond with him because we have the same birthday (January 7). RIP Dustin Diamond who was also our birthday twin. I saw him in person in New Orleans once. I was there for Mardi Gras and the street in front of our hotel was closed off to shoot a scene in a Nicolas Cage movie. We watched him do the scene over and over, running on top of cars and looking around. The main thing I remember was that his hair looked very strange like it was spray-painted black. That’s a shame because he’s done some great hair acting (like in Raising Arizona).
Award-Winning Performances
He’ll forever be known as Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage because he won an Oscar for his role in Leaving Las Vegas (which I still haven’t seen) and another nomination for Adaptation (I need to watch it again). I’ve paid attention mostly to his movies that are so bad they’re good. In doing this I started to appreciate him more and more.
In watching him talk about his roles, I realized there is a method to his madness. He studied film from a young age and had a knack for remembering actors in specific roles. When he’s presented a new role, he simply creates a formula pulling from all those memorable performances. When he’s doing wild contorted facial expressions, he’s actually imitating German expressionist acting.
Example of Formula for Award-Winning Performance
20% Fritz Lang in Metropolis
+
30% Albert Finney in
Under the Volcano
+
42% James Dean in
East of Eden
+
8% Woody Woodpecker
=
A Nicolas Cage Role
The Genius
The thing that sticks out to me most about his roles, he always plays a genius! Look at some of these examples:
Dr. Stanley Goodspeed in The Rock
The Rock
Dr. Stanley Goodspeed is the top chemical weapons expert for the Pentagon working with the FBI and Navy Seals to take Alcatraz island back from a group of rogue military special forces ops. They’re all very specialized! He has to work with the only man who ever escaped Alcatraz to rescue the hostages and all of San Francisco after his elite team is eliminated.
As real Charlie Kaufman and his fake twin Donald
Adaptation
Nic plays Charlie Kaufman, a real-life writer, and genius who wrote Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. A movie by a genius, played by a genius, for geniuses. Cage was nominated for an Oscar for his dual roles while his co-stars won. He says playing two characters who are onscreen together was the hardest thing he’s done for a movie and he doesn’t think he could do it again.
Was Cameron Pie inspired by Conair hairdryers?
Con Air
Cameron Poe, an Army Ranger kills a man in self-defense while protecting his pregnant wife and goes to prison for murder. On the day of his release, when he will finally meet his daughter, the plane he’s being transferred on gets hijacked by the prisoners. He alone risks his life fighting back and outwitting the masterminds behind the heist all in time to get his prison buddy his insulin and let his beautiful locks blow in the wind.
“Suck my tongue!”
Face/Off
Castor Troy, freelance terrorist foils the FBI’s plans to switch his face with the agent whose son he killed. Cage spends most of the film playing the FBI agent who was left to rot in prison with everyone aware of the plan dead. Lots of slow-motion pigeon shots. He said he wants to be in a movie where he gets to play Castor Troy for the whole movie. Prequel maybe?
Did I stutter? I said I’m gonna steal the Declaration of Independence.
National Treasure
Benjamin Franklin Gates, Historian, and amateur Cryptologist famously steals the Declaration of Independence after discovering clues hidden in plain sight by America’s Forefathers. He finds the freemasons treasure!
With his dumber MIT colleague who doesn’t listen
Knowing
John Koestler, MIT professor who immediately figures out this code sent from aliens corresponds to all major disasters leading up to the earth’s destruction. It turned out to have a religious interstellar Noah’s Ark spin.
as in Warlord, get it?
Lord of War
Yuri Orlov, an arms dealer who figures out how to get rich (and his dream girl) by supplying weapons to the most dangerous people in the world and somehow lives. This reminded me of Thank you for Smoking (on crack). I don’t buy Nic as a Ukrainian Refugee or as Jared Leto’s brother. He narrates the whole thing explaining in detail how militaries and militias all over the world get their weapons. It explains why he makes such a good host for the docu-series Swear Words on Netflix.
I wish I could find a pic of him in the cage. Cage in a cage.
Primal
Frank Walsh, a big game hunter transporting a rare jaguar on a ship that US Marshals are also containing a political assassin. The prisoner (who is also ex-special forces obviously) gets loose on the ship and it’s up to the hunter to hunt down this prey. Although the cat in this movie is CGI, he attempted to emulate the jaguar and adopt cat-like movements.
He doesn’t want to share Cher with his big brother.
Moonstruck
Ronny Cammareri is a baker with a wooden hand and a grudge against his brother. But he also lives and breathes The Opera! Emotional intelligence level genius. He gets Cher to undergo a complete makeover for one date with him at the Opera, and then she agrees to marry him instead of his brother.
Other fun stuff about Nic Cage Movies
Accents
He does lots of accents. Some say he adopts a new voice for each role. In Peggy Sue Got Married he’s doing a Pee-Wee Herman voice the entire time and it also features him singing in a doo-wop boy group. In Con-Air he sticks to his slow southern accent. I give him points on maintaining the accent throughout but deduct for it being completely made up. He says he started playing the Ronny character in Moonstruck with a gruff Beast voice until the Director told him to cut it out, but he still feels his instincts were right on that.
Slow Motion
In City of Angels Nicolas Cage plays an angel who falls off a building to become human to be with his love Meg Ryan. This movie is so good. Nic perfects his slow turn. The movie is 2 hours but it could easily be under 90 minutes if he just turned around faster. There was so much slow motion, which is where Nicolas Cage shines. You have to slow down the movie in order to capture his raw energy. It has literally the BEST soundtrack. Goo Goo Dolls, Alanis Morissette, and Sarah McLachlan before she did one-eyed dog commercials. I’ve included a big old link for the soundtrack on vinyl because I’m trying not to buy it myself.
Cage works so well with director John Woo probably because of the slow-motion aspect. Woo loves to use it, Cage shines in it. We see it a lot in Face/Off too.
Voice Acting
He doesn’t even need to be on camera to be a great actor. In The Croods: A New Age he plays caveman Grug Crood who has kept his family alive when all the over cavemen have died out. He does some excellent voice acting. I think he brought a lot to his character and the whole movie. Apparently, they record the actors first then animate the character to try to capture their facial expressions and you can see a lot of faces unique to Nicolas Cage. Other notable films where he lends his voice talents include The Croods, Astro Boy, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Teen Titans Go! To The Movies, G-Force, and The Ant Bully.
How Many Nicolas Cage Movies have I Watched?
Watched but not in Quarantine:
Ghost Rider 1 and 2
The Rock
Gone in 60 Seconds
Adaptation (Oscar Nominated)
Wicker Man
Kick-Ass
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
The Weather Man
The Family Man
National Treasure 1 and 2
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Movies watched in Quarantine:
City of Angels
Face/Off
Con Air
Knowing
Mom and Dad
The Croods: A New Age
Snowden
Running with the Devil
Primal
Moonstruck
Vampire’s Kiss
Lord of War
Swear Words
Windtalkers
Peggy Sue Got Married
Bringing out the Dead
Raising Arizona
Need to Watch:
Leaving Las Vegas (Oscar Winner!)
Left Behind
Bad Lieutenant
Color Out of Space
Valley Girl
Trapped in Paradise
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Red Rock West
Drive Angry
Mandy
Snake Eyes
Did I leave out any of your favorites? Let me know which Nicolas Cage movie should have made the list in the comments below.
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