Deadfall (feat. Nicolas Cage)

Nick Cage doesn't star in Deadfall. This noir crime film strikes me as sort of a small time affair for Cage, who at the time, was only making huge hits. The opening credits mention Charlie Sheen and Talia Shire as stars, but the two of them each appear in only one scene, with about ten lines apiece. Cage actually plays Eddie King, the criminal and opulent wacko, later reprised in 2017's Arsenal.

Directed by Cage's brother Chris Coppola, Deadfall was a complete flop, subject to a 0% score on Rotten Tomatoes. But is it that bad? I don't think so. It's the story of Joe, the son of a big time con man who gets tricked into shooting his own father. But the father has a twin brother, Uncle Lou, whom Joe is bequested to recover a "cake" from.

And Uncle Lou is also a big time con man, easily taking to and finding work for his dear nephew, which leads to several dark turns. The story is meant to set you up for a "mind blow", but it's all fairly predictable and generic for the noir crime thing. But the movie is fairly entertaining and fun to watch. It doesn't over reach, and generally succeeds at what it attempts. I think the directing of Chris Coppola was altogether decent, and it's a shame none of his movies have been hits. Deadfall was a movie of its time, rife with seedy violence, and followed closely by Pulp Fiction. If this is your thing, you should check it out. Otherwise, it's worth seeing just for Cage's insane performance, which might even give Jim Carey a run for his money.

1. Raising Arizona
2. Leaving Las Vegas
3. Red Rock West
4. Adaptation
5. Pig
6. Birdy
7. Wild at Heart
8. Joe
9. National Treasure
10. Guarding Tess
11. Snake Eyes
12. Dog Eat Dog
13. Color Out of Space
14. Mom and Dad
15. World Trade Center
16. Peggy Sue Got Married
17. Zandalee
18. Prisoners of the Ghostland
19. City of Angels
20. Willy's Wonderland
21. Captain Corelli's Mandolin
22. Bangkok Dangerous
23. Drive Angry
24. Army of One
25. Lord of War
26. Gone in 60 Seconds
27. Matchstick Men
28. Vampire's Kiss
29. Con Air
30. Face/Off
31. Trapped in Paradise
32. The Boy in Blue
33. Honeymoon in Vegas

34. Deadfall

35. Amos and Andrew
36. Moonstruck
37. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
38. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
39. Primal
40. Bringing Out the Dead
41. The Family Man
42. Knowing
43. The Frozen Ground
44. It Could Happen to You
45. 8mm
46. Grand Isle
47. Looking Glass
48. Arsenal
49. Between Worlds
50. Left Behind
51. Ghost Rider
52. Trespass
53. The Humanity Bureau
54. Next
55. The Weather Man
56. 211
57. Fire Birds
58. The Croods

Dog Eat Dog (feat. Nicolas Cage)

In Dog Eat Dog, Cage brings back the edge, starring alongside superstar Willem Dafoe. Cage is Troy and Dafoe is Mad Dog. Their characters are racist, but they have a dark skinned partner named Diesel. He didn't make it onto the movie poster. Together they make a trio of drugged-out, sleazy ex-cons, ripping off other criminals. You might presume they're the worst of the worst.

You might also think with all the drugs, they'd be a little paranoid, especially Mad Dog, a reputable loose cannon. Troy is the smart, theoretical one, longing for someone to share his interests that are not drugs and crime. Diesel is the brooding hard ass, the cool one. It sounds like a fun life they have, doing a job and then partying until the next one. After all, they have a boss who finds them work. But let's face it, this motley crew isn't really the type to do every type of job. And what if they take an impossible to resist job which they are sure to fail?

Cage does some good acting in this film, and I'm not sure what it is that made him try so hard. Maybe he had some good directing. He even says one of my favorite phrases, "I heard that." Dafoe is, of course, amazing. In fact, all the acting is pretty all right.

With Dog Eat Dog, we are pitched with a heist-style story, with the odds low and the stakes high, all spelled out for the viewers. The thing about this trio of heroes, is we get a chance to sympathize with at least one of them enough to hope for their success. With such an obvious set-up, this film does more than surprise. Even I took a few shocks and felt some sad, not in the obvious "isn't your mind blown???" sense of many Cage films. Among the darkness and gun violence, I found this film to be fairly satisfying.

1. Raising Arizona
2. Leaving Las Vegas
3. Red Rock West
4. Adaptation
5. Birdy
6. Wild at Heart
7. Dog Eat Dog
8. Color Out of Space
9. Peggy Sue Got Married
10. City of Angels
11. Bangkok Dangerous
12. Drive Angry
13. Lord of War
14. Gone in 60 Seconds
15. Matchstick Men
16. Vampire's Kiss
17. Con Air
18. Face/Off
19. Honeymoon in Vegas
20. Amos and Andrew
21. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
22. Bringing Out the Dead
23. The Family Man
24. It Could Happen to You
25. 8mm
26. Ghost Rider
27. Next
28. The Weather Man
29. 211
30. The Croods

Bangkok Dangerous (feat. Nicolas Cage)

I've discovered that so far, over 30% of Cages films are narrated by him. 95% of them have him in the lead role. Narrating Bangkok dangerous, he plays an international assassin who normally kills his partners. In this story, we learn what kind of people these victims are.

I really appreciate how instead of going for edgy, this film gave us an eye-opening experience, a glimpse at Bangkok. It may be a sensationalized Bangkok, but who knows? I have no immediate plan of going there, even though it would be nice, even if it is dangerous.

One might wonder what the deal is with Cage and playing guys who dye their hair. Maybe his character (curtly known as Joe) is supposed to be younger than his actor, but in this case it doesn't seem to make a difference. Her does look much older than he did in last year's Ghost Rider.

I don't know if being in Asia makes you want to make Asian-style films, but that's what we have here. It's highly cinematic, featuring a hero with an especially cool way of being. And it's such a breath of fresh air to watch a quiet, patient scene of maximum impact. It's not real like Lord of War, no. Instead of going for "wow" stunts and practical effects, the action scenes are fun, relying on actual action and choreography. All right, there are SOME stunts and practical effects. But it's cool to see bullets travel through the bottom of the boat and through the water underneath. You might not be surprised to hear there's a lot of good gun shooting in this film.

At times I felt like Cage was acting on autopilot, especially in the scenes that required real acting. But maybe I'm just used to him by now. Also, I wonder how much the film makers did sensationalize Bangkok and all the things that make it not American. There's also no part of the story that isn't predictable. As soon as you meet a character, you figure out who they're going to be and what's going to happen with them. So a lot of the watching is spent waiting for the end. Though I do like not being totally stressed out when trying to kick back and watch a vid.

It seems like half the time a film 'blows your mind', you're left groaning and wondering how you fell for that, wondering why they couldn't have done something more satisfying. Maybe I'm being generous with my rating, and maybe I was too generous in rating Lord of War. Or maybe I just like this kind of film.

1. Raising Arizona
   
2. Leaving Las Vegas
3. Red Rock West
4. Adaptation
5. Birdy
6. Wild at Heart
7. Color Out of Space
8. Peggy Sue Got Married
9. City of Angels
10. Bangkok Dangerous
11. Drive Angry
12. Lord of War
13. Gone in 60 Seconds
14. Matchstick Men
15. Vampire's Kiss
16. Con Air
17. Face/Off
18. Honeymoon in Vegas
19. Amos and Andrew
20. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
21. Bringing Out the Dead
22. The Family Man
23. It Could Happen to You
24. 8mm
25. Ghost Rider
26. Next
27. The Weather Man
28. 211
29. The Croods

ALSO! Lets talk about Saturn Films, Nicolas Cage's own company which I've failed to mention. It was They who rewrote the script for 2007's Next, which as you might remember, turned out horribly. Bangkok Dangerous and Lord of War were also made by Saturn Films. And Sorcerer's Apprentice was produced by them. In the future, I'll be sure to let you know which of these Cage films were done by Saturn.

Red Rock West (feat. Nicolas Cage)

Red Rock West is an objectively good film, and it succeeds in everything it tries to do. Being a modern, crime-oriented western, it doesn't set out to do anything new. That being the case, it's altogether pretty genuine. The scenes are beautiful and the acting is great. There are surprises and treachery within treachery, as you'd maybe expect.

There were no awkward moments that took me out of this terrifically immersive film. And there's even a cameo from Dwight Yoakam, which is a pretty big plus. However, this type of film isn't altogether inticing. There's no great hook for people who aren't into modern westerns. Life before this Red Rock West, I don't feel like I was missing much other than another well-made movie.

1. Raising Arizona
2. Leaving Las Vegas
3. Red Rock West
4. Adaptation
5. Birdy
6. Wild at Heart
7. Color Out of Space
8. Peggy Sue Got Married
9. City of Angels
10. Drive Angry
11. Lord of War
12. Gone in 60 Seconds
13. Matchstick Men
14. Vampire's Kiss
15. Con Air
16. Face/Off
17. Honeymoon in Vegas
18. Amos and Andrew
19. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
20. Bringing Out the Dead
21. The Family Man
22. It Could Happen to You
23. 8mm
24. Ghost Rider
25. Next
26. The Weather Man
27. 211
28. The Croods

211 (feat. Nicolas Cage)

In 2018's 211, Cage plays a bad cop in Massachusetts, named Mike. His name doesn't really matter. None of the characters need to be identified beyond their typical roles. The title of the film refers to a police procedure in response to a robbery. So, Cage, a bad cop, gets to be a hero in a big deal bank robbery done by some military ass holes. Cage's ass hole looking son plays one of them, wearing an ass hole-looking haircut.

Like a direct-to-video tape, 211 plays out like some kind of propaganda movie, pretending it's real, and just as good as any other kind of violent cop movie. During the robbery and romp of very well executed gunshots, I kept expecting someone to pray and make God save the day, depleting all relevance from the rest of the story. The idea behind 211 isn't so terrible, but that's no excuse to do everything badly. If it weren't for my promise to hate The Croods, I might rank 211 at the bottom of my list.

1. Raising Arizona
2. Leaving Las Vegas
3. Adaptation
4. Birdy
5. Wild at Heart
6. Color Out of Space
7. Peggy Sue Got Married
8. City of Angels
9. Drive Angry 10. Lord of War
11. Gone in 60 Seconds
12. Matchstick Men
13. Vampire's Kiss
14. Con Air
15. Face/Off
16. Honeymoon in Vegas
17. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
18. Bringing Out the Dead
19. The Family Man
20. It Could Happen to You
21. 8mm
22. Ghost Rider
23. Next
24. The Weather Man
25. 211
26. The Croods