Showing posts with label film. Show all posts
Showing posts with label film. Show all posts

Season of the Witch (feat. Nicolas Cage)

In 1973, there was released another film with this name, but that didn't matter in 2011. Surely this cinematic spectacle with the director from Gone in 60 Seconds would leave all other films in obscurity. Medieval action adventures were all the rage, except for maybe this one.

In this Season of the Witch, Cage and Ron Perlman play buddy Crusader heroes, the best of their brutal breed. With each battle, whoever killed less than the other had to buy drinks for the night. What fun. Eventually they saw the hypocrisy in killing for God, and became deserters. However, Cage's character still wanted to be a hero, and as chance would have it, the two warriors get a chance to save a witch, or at least have her exorcised.

After some really weak battle scenes, the adventure ensues. There are some fun sword fights with a young cleric with surprising prowess. Then there's a scene with a rickety bridge. Standard fare for this genre. I see how this film seemed like a good idea at the time, but its end product failed on most levels.

I understand that medieval settings are tricky and expensive, but there were a lot of bad shots in this film. In most scenes, there's no sense of space and pacing, as there are rarely more than one or two people in each shot, constantly cutting from one to the next.

The hero boys talk to each other more like badasses in a western and less like the Teutonic knights they should be. With Perlman, there isn't much dialogue. He mostly responds with tough one liners before moving on to smash things. With Season of the Witch, there are no surprises and no immersion.

  1. Raising Arizona
  2. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
  3. Leaving Las Vegas
  4. Red Rock West
  5. Adaptation
  6. Pig
  7. Birdy
  8. Wild at Heart
  9. Joe
  10. National Treasure
  11. Guarding Tess
  12. Snake Eyes
  13. Mandy
  14. Dog Eat Dog
  15. Color Out of Space
  16. Mom and Dad
  17. World Trade Center
  18. Peggy Sue Got Married
  19. The Rock
  20. Zandalee
  21. Prisoners of the Ghostland
  22. City of Angels
  23. Willy's Wonderland
  24. Captain Corelli's Mandolin
  25. Bangkok Dangerous
  26. Drive Angry
  27. Army of One
  28. Lord of War
  29. Gone in 60 Seconds
  30. Matchstick Men
  31. Vampire's Kiss
  32. Con Air
  33. Face/Off
  34. Trapped in Paradise
  35. The Boy in Blue
  36. Honeymoon in Vegas
  37. Deadfall
  38. Amos and Andrew
  39. Moonstruck
  40. Tokarev
  41. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
  42. Knowing
  43. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
  44. Bringing Out the Dead
  45. The Family Man
  46. Stolen
  47. Season of the Witch

  48. It Could Happen to You
  49. The Wicker Man
  50. 8mm
  51. The Frozen Ground
  52. Left Behind
  53. A Score to Settle
  54. Pay the Ghost
  55. Primal
  56. Dying of the Light
  57. Grand Isle
  58. Looking Glass
  59. Arsenal
  60. Between Worlds
  61. Ghost Rider
  62. Trespass
  63. The Humanity Bureau
  64. Next
  65. The Weather Man
  66. 211
  67. Fire Birds
  68. The Croods

The Rock (feat. Nicolas Cage)

Released in 1996, The Rock is one of those covert military op films, for people who like that kind of thing. For its time, it's pretty edgy, giving a little extra juice to those who like Tom Clancy things. I've heard the quote "All is fair in love and war", which we know now to be false. In fact with war, nothing is fair, which gives us a certain amount of sympathy for our antagonist, General Francis Hummel (played by Ed Harris). Hummel is a hero of the Vietnam war. Seeking reparations for himself and his comrades, he seizes Alcatraz (The Rock) with a number of hostages and bio-chemical weapons pointed at San Francisco, in a hostage situation with our government.

Of course our 'Don't Tread On Me' country can't let Hummel get away with this, so it forms a team of navy seals while coercing a chemist in the employ of the FBI named Stanley Goodspeed (played by Nicolas Cage) into taking part in the mission, as they need him to dismantle the weapons. But to break into Alcatraz, they need to employ the only man who has ever successfully escaped from the prision, John Mason (played by Sean Connery).

So Cage gets to play an arrogant, but noble chemist in all of his brilliant 90s Nick Cage fashion while Sean Connery gets to display his talents for always somehow playing a total badass. The badass and the noble chemist make good... chemistry for this film, that is no doubt. While I would rate this film highly among its peers, I'm just not really into these violent tales of military heroism. The Rock hasn't very well stood the test of time, regarding predictability, calls for character sympathy, and its eye-rolling attempts at humor. I guess the writers thought including a very gay hairdresser would fill the theater with ROFLing.

The story itself is well presented, giving the audience a few moments to guess what's going on. And I like how the antagonist himself has a character arc, which is super rare for a Cage film. Speaking of Cage films, the action in The Rock does not make the cut. Most of it is delegated to bullet storms and a singular car chase. While there were a few, forgiveable of stretches in plausibility you'd expect from any action thriller, it's far more immersive than the likes of Face/Off. But it dragged on for too long, with little we didn't see coming.

  1. Raising Arizona
  2. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
  3. Leaving Las Vegas
  4. Red Rock West
  5. Adaptation
  6. Pig
  7. Birdy
  8. Wild at Heart
  9. Joe
  10. National Treasure
  11. Guarding Tess
  12. Snake Eyes
  13. Mandy
  14. Dog Eat Dog
  15. Color Out of Space
  16. Mom and Dad
  17. World Trade Center
  18. Peggy Sue Got Married
  19. The Rock

  20. Zandalee
  21. Prisoners of the Ghostland
  22. City of Angels
  23. Willy's Wonderland
  24. Captain Corelli's Mandolin
  25. Bangkok Dangerous
  26. Drive Angry
  27. Army of One
  28. Lord of War
  29. Gone in 60 Seconds
  30. Matchstick Men
  31. Vampire's Kiss
  32. Con Air
  33. Face/Off
  34. Trapped in Paradise
  35. The Boy in Blue
  36. Honeymoon in Vegas
  37. Deadfall
  38. Amos and Andrew
  39. Moonstruck
  40. Tokarev
  41. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
  42. Knowing
  43. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
  44. Bringing Out the Dead
  45. The Family Man
  46. Stolen
  47. It Could Happen to You
  48. The Wicker Man
  49. 8mm
  50. The Frozen Ground
  51. Left Behind
  52. A Score to Settle
  53. Pay the Ghost
  54. Primal
  55. Dying of the Light
  56. Grand Isle
  57. Looking Glass
  58. Arsenal
  59. Between Worlds
  60. Ghost Rider
  61. Trespass
  62. The Humanity Bureau
  63. Next
  64. The Weather Man
  65. 211
  66. Fire Birds
  67. The Croods

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (feat. Nicolas Cage)

You've probably heard of this movie, the one in which Nicolas Cage plays himself. What a gimmick! But the meta quality of this film provides a depth of context that wouldn't otherwise be possible. Cage could play a great and famous actor, but there's only one Nicolas Cage, and the fact that characters in the film an reference his work tells much about who they are.

So in the film, Cage is having trouble maintaining his self image, relations with his family, and his finances. In fact, he's so into acting it's hard for him to keep in touch with everything else. When he doesn't get a role he was going for, he decides to perhaps retire, and to settle his debts, takes a gig for a million dollars just to attend a wealthy fan's birthday party.

But he doesn't expect this wealthy fan to become his new best friend, or for the FBI to rangle into a dangerous task of finding a woman this new friend (Javi) is said to have kidnapped in order to ransom favor for his criminal enterprise. Furthermore, I won't spoil the rest.

In this gripping film, you never entierely know what's going on, but the relationships are touching and the action sequences are hilarious. Javi can't help himself but pretend he's in a movie with Nick at every chance he gets, and the directing follows every cue without flaw. This film ranks up there with The In Laws as a perfect buddy action comedy, and it is all the hype. Don't snooze on it.

  1. Raising Arizona
  2. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

  3. Leaving Las Vegas
  4. Red Rock West
  5. Adaptation
  6. Pig
  7. Birdy
  8. Wild at Heart
  9. Joe
  10. National Treasure
  11. Guarding Tess
  12. Snake Eyes
  13. Mandy
  14. Dog Eat Dog
  15. Color Out of Space
  16. Mom and Dad
  17. World Trade Center
  18. Peggy Sue Got Married
  19. Zandalee
  20. Prisoners of the Ghostland
  21. City of Angels
  22. Willy's Wonderland
  23. Captain Corelli's Mandolin
  24. Bangkok Dangerous
  25. Drive Angry
  26. Army of One
  27. Lord of War
  28. Gone in 60 Seconds
  29. Matchstick Men
  30. Vampire's Kiss
  31. Con Air
  32. Face/Off
  33. Trapped in Paradise
  34. The Boy in Blue
  35. Honeymoon in Vegas
  36. Deadfall
  37. Amos and Andrew
  38. Moonstruck
  39. Tokarev
  40. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
  41. Knowing
  42. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
  43. Bringing Out the Dead
  44. The Family Man
  45. Stolen
  46. It Could Happen to You
  47. The Wicker Man
  48. 8mm
  49. The Frozen Ground
  50. Left Behind
  51. A Score to Settle
  52. Pay the Ghost
  53. Primal
  54. Dying of the Light
  55. Grand Isle
  56. Looking Glass
  57. Arsenal
  58. Between Worlds
  59. Ghost Rider
  60. Trespass
  61. The Humanity Bureau
  62. Next
  63. The Weather Man
  64. 211
  65. Fire Birds
  66. The Croods

The Wicker Man (feat. Nicolas Cage)

In the early years of Saturn Films, it must have made a lot of sense to remake this 70s cult classic. The Wicker Man was ahead of its time and didn't make much money. But a remake could make a lot of money, especially if the film's most expensive asset (Nicolas Cage) was working for free.

Cage plays police officer Edward Malus who goes on a mission to find a missing child, the daughter of his ex-fiance. She lives on an island with a neo-pagan cult who make honey. Interesting twist, he's severely allergic to bees. Everything's weird and creepy on this island, and it only gets worse as he uncovers the mystery of the missing child.

I can't give much more away without spoiling the film. The mystery element lends a fine excuse for a few of the meaningless plot points. It keeps you wondering. At times it felt like I was watching a high school production of grease instead of the real thing. I get that the movie is meant to be weird, trying to be weird. I found the result boring and contrived.

You may have seen the bad reviews, or the meme of Cage freaking out over the bees. And despite its occasional failures to immerse, I don't think 2006's The Wicker Man was so awful. It wasn't so good either.

  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. Mandy
  13. Dog Eat Dog
  14. Color Out of Space
  15. Mom and Dad
  16. World Trade Center
  17. Peggy Sue Got Married
  18. Zandalee
  19. Prisoners of the Ghostland
  20. City of Angels
  21. Willy's Wonderland
  22. Captain Corelli's Mandolin
  23. Bangkok Dangerous
  24. Drive Angry
  25. Army of One
  26. Lord of War
  27. Gone in 60 Seconds
  28. Matchstick Men
  29. Vampire's Kiss
  30. Con Air
  31. Face/Off
  32. Trapped in Paradise
  33. The Boy in Blue
  34. Honeymoon in Vegas
  35. Deadfall
  36. Amos and Andrew
  37. Moonstruck
  38. Tokarev
  39. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
  40. Knowing
  41. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
  42. Bringing Out the Dead
  43. The Family Man
  44. Stolen
  45. It Could Happen to You
  46. The Wicker Man

  47. 8mm
  48. The Frozen Ground
  49. Left Behind
  50. A Score to Settle
  51. Pay the Ghost
  52. Primal
  53. Dying of the Light
  54. Grand Isle
  55. Looking Glass
  56. Arsenal
  57. Between Worlds
  58. Ghost Rider
  59. Trespass
  60. The Humanity Bureau
  61. Next
  62. The Weather Man
  63. 211
  64. Fire Birds
  65. The Croods

Mandy (feat. Nicolas Cage)

Do you like heavy metal, sci-fi, and 80s horror? If so, this is the film for you. And it feels more genuine than pandering to its demographic. It feels good. Almost every shot fades to black, and fades in from black. The psychedelic touches don't go too far, turning the film into an incomprehensible mess. Mysteries built in the first half of the movie are resolved in the second half, but getting there is dreadfully slow with an emphasis on Dread.

And then you figure out Mandy is yet another Cage revenge/Cage saves girl movie. Despite Cage's wonderful performance within the powerful flex of director Panos Cosmatos, this is just a fancied-up version of every other Cage film of the era. I really thought there was going to be a stronger sci-fi element, but there wasn't. Despite a wonderfully immersive presentation, Mandy hardly qualifies as a horror film. So with its merits, I will rank it higher than the other Cage's other revenge films. But gosh, I was really hoping for something more original.

  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. Mandy

  13. Dog Eat Dog
  14. Color Out of Space
  15. Mom and Dad
  16. World Trade Center
  17. Peggy Sue Got Married
  18. Zandalee
  19. Prisoners of the Ghostland
  20. City of Angels
  21. Willy's Wonderland
  22. Captain Corelli's Mandolin
  23. Bangkok Dangerous
  24. Drive Angry
  25. Army of One
  26. Lord of War
  27. Gone in 60 Seconds
  28. Matchstick Men
  29. Vampire's Kiss
  30. Con Air
  31. Face/Off
  32. Trapped in Paradise
  33. The Boy in Blue
  34. Honeymoon in Vegas
  35. Kill Chain
  36. Deadfall
  37. Amos and Andrew
  38. Moonstruck
  39. Tokarev
  40. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
  41. Knowing
  42. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
  43. Bringing Out the Dead
  44. The Family Man
  45. Stolen
  46. It Could Happen to You
  47. 8mm
  48. The Frozen Ground
  49. Left Behind
  50. A Score to Settle
  51. Pay the Ghost
  52. Primal
  53. Dying of the Light
  54. Grand Isle
  55. Looking Glass
  56. Arsenal
  57. Between Worlds
  58. Ghost Rider
  59. Trespass
  60. The Humanity Bureau
  61. Next
  62. The Weather Man
  63. 211
  64. Fire Birds
  65. The Croods

Dying of the Light (feat. Nicolas Cage)

This 2014 film tells the story of an old CIA agent who can't give up the search for the terrorist Muhammid Banir, who broke off part of his ear. But it's not quite what you'd expect. The film starts off with an edgy speech by Evan Lake (Cage), on why you should choose to be in the CIA. The reason is American Values, whatever that means.

Lake was told 20 years ago to get off the case of Banir, who was dead as far as anyone knew. But of course, Lake couldn't give up and couldn't stop thinking about it. And eventually he comes down with a case of frontotemporal dementia, causing sensory distortions that will continue to get worse until they kill Agent Lake, a condition he tries to hide from the CIA.

With this condition you might expect to see some severe performances from Cage like in Matchstick Men and Bad Leutenant, but that's not the case here. Lake's young protege finds evidence that Banir is alive, but dying of some form of anemia. So said protege, for no logical reason, risks his career to help a dying agent go after his dying nemesis. Aside from being a criminal, the only thing Lake has against him is the missing piece of his stupid ear.

In Romania, they meet the only female character in the film, who also happens to be a past love interest of Cage's character. Like 80% of these Cage films. The stakes are pretty low here, and viewers are never given a reason to care about any character. I might dare to say the characters in this film are stupid. Lake is in the CIA, so he doesn't have a family or anything. He's just an anonymous agent who's going to die soon anyway. After a weak action scene and a vh1-esque hallucination scene, it all ends with someone getting poked in the eye really hard.

So this movie isn't very good. There are some mildly oppulant bad parts, but nothing really worth seeing.

  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. Kill Chain
  35. Deadfall
  36. Amos and Andrew
  37. Moonstruck
  38. Tokarev
  39. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
  40. Knowing
  41. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
  42. Bringing Out the Dead
  43. The Family Man
  44. Stolen
  45. It Could Happen to You
  46. 8mm
  47. The Frozen Ground
  48. Left Behind
  49. A Score to Settle
  50. Pay the Ghost
  51. Primal
  52. Dying of the Light

  53. Grand Isle
  54. Looking Glass
  55. Arsenal
  56. Between Worlds
  57. Ghost Rider
  58. Trespass
  59. The Humanity Bureau
  60. Next
  61. The Weather Man
  62. 211
  63. Fire Birds
  64. The Croods

Kill Chain (feat. Nicolas Cage)

Here's another noir crime film where Cage plays the badass of badasses. There are no good guys, just a bunch of criminals and crooked cops killing each other as planned. The fun thing about this kind of movie is, while the arcs aren't especially strong, us viewers can never predict what's going to happen. And since Cage's character is smart and has made a few honorable sacrifices, we're disposed to root for him.

The aesthetic and direction are also especially good with this one. So if you're especially into violent noir stuff, stabbing vixens, or Nick Cage, I think you'll like this film. While it doesn't have a ton to offer, I don't think any part of it was bad. In fact I found it equally timely and entertaining. So far, my favorite Cage film of 2019.

  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. Kill Chain

  35. Deadfall
  36. Amos and Andrew
  37. Moonstruck
  38. Tokarev
  39. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
  40. Knowing
  41. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
  42. Bringing Out the Dead
  43. The Family Man
  44. Stolen
  45. It Could Happen to You
  46. 8mm
  47. The Frozen Ground
  48. Left Behind
  49. A Score to Settle
  50. Pay the Ghost
  51. Primal
  52. Grand Isle
  53. Looking Glass
  54. Arsenal
  55. Between Worlds
  56. Ghost Rider
  57. Trespass
  58. The Humanity Bureau
  59. Next
  60. The Weather Man
  61. 211
  62. Fire Birds
  63. The Croods

A Score to Settle (feat. Nicolas Cage)

In this turd from 2019, Cage plays a young mob enforcer who takes, for a hefty fee, takes the fall for a murder commited by his boss. 19 years later, Cage's character (Frank Carver) is released from jail, but he's dying of some disease. Frank's son, all grown-up and financially supported by the mob, picks him up and they make up for lost time. Sound Familiar?

Frank and son get along okay, but eventually the son gets his shot at a pitifully contrived monologue about how his Frank's a hypocrite and not much of a father. Fair enough, seeing how after spending a lot of money on his suits, hotels, whores, and hotels, Frank's main objective is to get revenge on his old boss. The money wasn't enough. After all, he missed seeing his son grow-up, and now he's dying. The stakes are low.

All the while Cage is getting into violent trouble and suffering with us thorugh some blurry, low framerate spells of his sickness, which he is going to die from. I can't spoil the story, but some people have a wooden happy ending and others don't. Cage gets to have a freak-out, which he might as well, since he was presumably intended to carry this entire Saturn Film. Every other actor in this film blows their one and only shot to be in a real movie.

  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. Tokarev
  38. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
  39. Knowing
  40. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
  41. Bringing Out the Dead
  42. The Family Man
  43. Stolen
  44. It Could Happen to You
  45. 8mm
  46. The Frozen Ground
  47. Left Behind
  48. A Score to Settle

  49. Pay the Ghost
  50. Primal
  51. Grand Isle
  52. Looking Glass
  53. Arsenal
  54. Between Worlds
  55. Ghost Rider
  56. Trespass
  57. The Humanity Bureau
  58. Next
  59. The Weather Man
  60. 211
  61. Fire Birds
  62. The Croods

Tokarev (feat. Nicolas Cage)

This film has a lot in common with Stolen, which came out two years earlier. Cage plays an ex-criminal who goes straight and becomes a successful business man. His boss lets him go clean, because his wife's dying and somebody needs to be around to take care of the daughter. Said daughter becomes a teen and gets kidnapped/murdered.

So Cage and his old buddies go and take out anyone who might have made enemies with them in the past, including every sect of organized crime. And the cops, one played by Danny Glover, want Cage's character to go free. They sympathize, despite all of the recent, extra killing. And there's a lot of violence. While I said I can't sympathize with a protagonist who thinks with his trigger finger, I can buy it with this one. Tokarev is a story of revenge and consequences, and everyone pays.

Despite it's obviously contrived premise, I still think this movie is a cut above Cage's other actiony films of the 2010s. The action is just better. The character arch is effective, and everything is bleak and (fairly) immersive. To top it off, Tokarev gives us a true Nicolas Cage freak-out. I admit some of the acting is weak, and some of the scenes look like they're from a bad tv show, but that's never been enough to ruin the experience.

  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. Tokarev

  38. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
  39. Knowing
  40. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
  41. Bringing Out the Dead
  42. The Family Man
  43. Stolen
  44. It Could Happen to You
  45. 8mm
  46. The Frozen Ground
  47. Left Behind
  48. Pay the Ghost
  49. Primal
  50. Grand Isle
  51. Looking Glass
  52. Arsenal
  53. Between Worlds
  54. Ghost Rider
  55. Trespass
  56. The Humanity Bureau
  57. Next
  58. The Weather Man
  59. 211
  60. Fire Birds
  61. The Croods

Pay the Ghost (feat. Nicolas Cage)

Honestly I expected more from the promise of this supernatural horror with Sarah Wayne from the Walking Dead. I don't think it's a bad movie. It was made well, and the aim was right. It's just, for a scary movie, not scary at all. Super boring.

Pay the Ghost tells the story of Mike Lawford, a college professor who's busy trying to get his tenure. His wife and son don't like this about him, and he misses Halloween. But there's a carnival, which Mike takes little Charlie to. So it's not so bad. But Charlie disappears. And every Halloween extra kids disappear, and it's cause of a ghost.

Time jumps ahead a full year, where most of the film is spent watching Mike and (wife) Kristen deal with the loss of their son, trying to figure out what happened to him. But there's no new element of danger. They're just trying to find their kid. Worst case scenario, after a whole year, Charlie remains missing. The worst is over before we get to the bulk of the film.

They really blew it with this one.

  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. Knowing
  39. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
  40. Bringing Out the Dead
  41. The Family Man
  42. Stolen
  43. It Could Happen to You
  44. 8mm
  45. The Frozen Ground
  46. Left Behind
  47. Pay the Ghost

  48. Primal
  49. Grand Isle
  50. Looking Glass
  51. Arsenal
  52. Between Worlds
  53. Ghost Rider
  54. Trespass
  55. The Humanity Bureau
  56. Next
  57. The Weather Man
  58. 211
  59. Fire Birds
  60. The Croods

Stolen (feat. Nicolas Cage)

Stolen tells the story of bank robber Will Montgomery, played by Nicolas Cage. He gets busted while his accomplices run free, and to prevent a harsher sentence, Will burns the money. After all, he has a beloved daughter, and doesn't want to miss out on her entire upbringing. Fast forward 8 years and daughter Alison, played by Sami Gayle, is less than forgiving. Neither are Will's accomplices, who along with some FBI members, think the money's hidden somewhere.

In fact one of such accomplices has grown bitter enough to fake his own death and kidnap sweet, adorable Alison, for a ransom of ten million dollars. So Will has to come up with the money, but how? All he knows how to do is rob banks? To make matters worse, it's Fat Tuesday in New Orleans. So the premise is pretty all right, but nothing is especially well executed in this film. And I have a hard time rooting for a protagonist who thinks with his trigger finger. The action is all right, directed by Con-Air's Simon West, whose craft hasn't grown much since the 90s.

There are no surprises whatsover, and it feels like the only demographic for this film are guys who like seeing cute teenage girls drugged and locked in trunks of cards. Sami Gayle's performance, while often overdone, feels like the only thing in this movie that isn't phoned in. Cage is all right, doing his action and all, but he doesn't do anything new or special. Even if you're part of the specific demographic, Stolen's a tough sell.

Also, I'm going to tweak this list. Primal is ranked too high. Left Behind and Knowing are both ranked too low. Even the flawed logic in The Family Man has a small impact on its general enjoyability.

  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. Knowing
  39. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
  40. Bringing Out the Dead
  41. The Family Man
  42. Stolen

  43. It Could Happen to You
  44. 8mm
  45. The Frozen Ground
  46. Left Behind
  47. Primal
  48. Grand Isle
  49. Looking Glass
  50. Arsenal
  51. Between Worlds
  52. Ghost Rider
  53. Trespass
  54. The Humanity Bureau
  55. Next
  56. The Weather Man
  57. 211
  58. Fire Birds
  59. The Croods

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

Primal (feat. Nicolas Cage)

Released in 2019, this movie spent over twenty years in production hell before getting made, and it shows. This is a 90s movie all the way, with a slight upgrade to its CGI effects, which are still bad. Cage plays Frank Walsh, an exotic big-game hunter in the jungles of Brazil. As you might expect, he's not a great dude, greedy and arrogant. But that's fine. He's the protagonist of the film. You can tell because he's in the first scene, and played by the only famous person in the cast. Either way, Cage plays the hero in almost all of his movies.

After Walsh catches a legendary white jaguar, he takes a boat out of the jungle, which as a last minute surprise, is also transporting a criminally insane terrorist assassin named Richard Loffler. So we have Loffler plus jungle animals, plus the white jaguar who we don't need to worry about anymore, even though she's a legendary man eater. Still the US Marshals on board are easily outmatched. So the premise is pretty good, like Con Air but darker and more exciting.

And in this type of situation, you might expect a lot of people to die, like in most thrillers. But that doesn't happen. So the thriller part doesn't work. What about the action? The action is pretty bad all around, except for one scene with Cage, who severely out-performs everyone else in the cast, which by the way, includes only one woman.

With the bechdel test, I am especially forgiving of Nick Cage films, because if he's going to be in a movie, it might as well be mostly about him. But in Primal, any of the characters could have been female. None of them had to be male, except for the hottie who doesn't like Walsh, because he's not a good man. This hottie is Famke Janssen, playing Dr. Ellen Taylor. Some military doctor, it's her job to ensure the health and safety of their prisoner on board. And she doesn't look like a military doctor, always withe her hair in this sultry side braid.

So was there anything good about this movie? The thrill is there if you're really desperate for it. And if you really love 90s action movies, and wish they were still being made, this is the film for you. Otherwise, you should continue not caring about it.

  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. Amos and Andrew
  35. Moonstruck
  36. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
  37. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
  38. Primal

  39. Bringing Out the Dead
  40. The Family Man
  41. Knowing
  42. The Frozen Ground
  43. It Could Happen to You
  44. 8mm
  45. Grand Isle
  46. Looking Glass
  47. Arsenal
  48. Between Worlds
  49. Left Behind
  50. Ghost Rider
  51. Trespass
  52. The Humanity Bureau
  53. Next
  54. The Weather Man
  55. 211
  56. Fire Birds
  57. The Croods

Fire Birds (feat. Nicolas Cage)

This is a weird movie you've probably never heard of. Released in 1990, under Disney's Touchstone pictures, Fire Birds tells the story of an apache pilot who wants nothing more than to kill foreigners for doing things that are illegal in our great country, all in the interest of President Bush's War on Drugs.

Nicolas Cage plays Pilot Jake Preston, doing everything he can to make it look cool and fun to kill people. The herosim in this interest is repeatedly affirmed by Preston's instructor, played by Tommy Lee Jones. I don't think he's a great actor or anything, but he's the only one in this film who gives more than the worst performance of his career. And I don't blame the actors, really. Most of the dialogue exists to demonstrate the greatness of Cage's character. The helicopter stunt scenes are a rare, fun treat, but the rest of this movie sucks. And it doesn't just suck. It sucks in bad taste.

And I don't even care that Fire Birds repeatedly tries to rip off Top Gun. What bothers me more is this is the only Nick Cage film to prominently feature a song by Phil Collins. How did that happen? Did Phil Collins really endorse the War on Drugs? Unbelievable.

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

  56. The Croods

Trapped in Paradise (feat. Nicolas Cage)

I find it hard to judge a 90s comedy, without comparing it only to the other 90s comedies on my list. With Trapped in Paradise, there were a lot of good ideas, but none of them really succeeded. It's a crime, family, christmas comedy with a love story.

Cage played Bill Firpo, a miserable, but good guy who's a waits tables at a fancy joint in New York. His brothers are not such good guys. Dave, played by Jon Lovitz, is the schemer. Dana Carvey plays Alvin, the cleptomaniac. I'd consider these two guys more of comedians than actors. Dana Carvey does a good Garth, but paired with Cage's habitually over-the-top schtick, there's no hope for immersion in this charming little movie.

I'll try not to spoil too much here. Dave tricks Bill into assisting the two criminal brothers on a bank robbery in a little town called Paradise Pennsylvania. All their prison buds were saving this job for one of the big guys back in the clink, but Dave and Alvin planned on pinning it on their brother. But the kindness of the residence of Paradise makes a big difference to these bad apples. And as it turns out, even the good brother had room for improvement.

Trapped in Paradise is okay for a 90s comedy. For a Christmas movie, it's good. I'll be watching it every year, for sure. That being the case, I probably won't be putting it on except to honor the holiday season.

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

Trespass (feat. Nicolas Cage)

This is one of the worse Saturn Films I've seen. It's like Cage isn't ashamed to admit the film industry is a crap shoot. After the raging success of garbage like Ghost Rider and The Croods, it's safe to assume the fiscal success of a film often has little to do with its overall quality.

Trespass tells the story of a seemingly rich family who gets burglarized. Cage plays the diamond-dealing dad, and none of his decisions make sense in the face of such violent trespassers. And as a viewer, the budding story is already too stupid for me to wonder what everyone's hiding. None of the characters had me rooting for them.

So what did the makers of Trespass think would gain interest from potential viewers? Would neglectful dads and husbands identify with Cage's character. Maybe there's a huge demographic of dudes who want to see Nicole Kidman as a smart, seemingly rich housewife, threatened with guns, knives, needles, and rape. What about the obsessive cult following for the hunter bad vampire from the first Twilight movie, who want to see him as a psychotic junky human?

Those are Trespass's only selling points, and the algorhythm was right about this deserving flop. Readers take heart. The masses aren't always asses.

  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. The Boy in Blue
  32. Honeymoon in Vegas
  33. Amos and Andrew
  34. Moonstruck
  35. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
  36. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
  37. Bringing Out the Dead
  38. The Family Man
  39. Knowing
  40. The Frozen Ground
  41. It Could Happen to You
  42. 8mm
  43. Grand Isle
  44. Looking Glass
  45. Arsenal
  46. Between Worlds
  47. Left Behind
  48. Ghost Rider
  49. Trespass

  50. The Humanity Bureau
  51. Next
  52. The Weather Man
  53. 211
  54. The Croods

Captain Corelli's Mandolin (feat. Nicolas Cage)

Of Cage's extensive filmography, I might have been most dreading Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Despite being long, it looked boring, a historical romance for the World War 2 era. Apprently the book of Captain Corelli's Mandolin was more about the war and less about the romance.

Cage plays Captain Corelli, and Italian officer deployed to occupy a little Greek island, home to Penelope Cruz's character whose husband (played by Christian Bale) had a hard time fighting the Germans. But Captain Corelli and his fun-loving, drinking, and singing band of Italians are not Nazis. In fact, they have no interest in fighting anyone. But the treacherous Germans are unhappy when the singing Captain's troops try to withdraw.

So this wartime story stretches a lot to fit the beats for a romance. But I don't think it's a bad movie. I just think it goes on for too long. But even that, I can forgive because there's a lot of story. It wouldn't have bode well to turn the tragically violent war moments into a montage. So it feels like they tried to make two movies into one in attempts to broaden appeal, but the result is kind of a drag.

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

Willy's Wonderland (feat. Nicolas Cage)

Made by Saturn Films during the big pandemic, we got a weird, scary movie called Willy's Wonderland. I don't think the film was meant to actually scare anyone. It's more of a fun slasher, and weird for the sake of weirdness. Cage plays the Janitor, a character with no lines, who rigidly adheres to an hourly dose of a drink called Punch Pop.

Due to a spike trap on the road, Janitor gets stranded in a nowhere town, and the only way to get his car fixed is to trade labor, by cleaning Willy's Wonderland, a closed-down party place, like a Chuck E. Cheese, only the animatronic animals kill people.

The animatronics don't look real, but that's fine. Willy's Wonderland isn't supposed to reflect our own realities in any capacity. By the time you hear the (awesome) titular theme song, you should realize this movie is just fun, violent fun. No substance? No problem. Check it out.

  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. Bangkok Dangerous
  22. Drive Angry
  23. Army of One
  24. Lord of War
  25. Gone in 60 Seconds
  26. Matchstick Men
  27. Vampire's Kiss
  28. Con Air
  29. Face/Off
  30. The Boy in Blue
  31. Honeymoon in Vegas
  32. Amos and Andrew
  33. Moonstruck
  34. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
  35. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
  36. Bringing Out the Dead
  37. The Family Man
  38. Knowing
  39. The Frozen Ground
  40. It Could Happen to You
  41. 8mm
  42. Looking Glass
  43. Arsenal
  44. Between Worlds
  45. Left Behind
  46. Ghost Rider
  47. The Humanity Bureau
  48. Next
  49. The Weather Man
  50. 211
  51. The Croods

Prisoners of the Ghostland (feat. Nicolas Cage)

Set in Samurai Town, this film is a bizarre combination of western drama and kung fu fantasy. The plot is ridiculous by american standards, which makes it somewhat hard to grasp. Hero, our hero, played by Cage, is a prisoner who's sent on a quest to save the warlord's grandaughter who I think is cursed. Hero is sent on the quest in a suit set to explode in three days, and if he succeeds, he wins back his freedom.

But on this quest, Hero has to confront demons other than the demons of his past. Yes, it sounds bizarre, but doesn't it also sound exciting and fantastical? While there isn't much kung-fu fighting in this film, it gives us a visual feast of magical weirdness. From the team that brought us Mandy, Color Out of Space, and Mom and Dad, this movie is definitely one to catch.

  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. Bangkok Dangerous
  21. Drive Angry
  22. Army of One
  23. Lord of War
  24. Gone in 60 Seconds
  25. Matchstick Men
  26. Vampire's Kiss
  27. Con Air
  28. Face/Off
  29. The Boy in Blue
  30. Honeymoon in Vegas
  31. Amos and Andrew
  32. Moonstruck
  33. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
  34. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
  35. Bringing Out the Dead
  36. The Family Man
  37. Knowing
  38. The Frozen Ground
  39. It Could Happen to You
  40. 8mm
  41. Looking Glass
  42. Arsenal
  43. Between Worlds
  44. Left Behind
  45. Ghost Rider
  46. The Humanity Bureau
  47. Next
  48. The Weather Man
  49. 211
  50. The Croods

Snake Eyes (feat. Nicolas Cage)

It's hard to recollect the attitudes I'd been pre-emptively exposed to about this movie, aside from its average ratings. A very 90s movie, there was certainly some reaching with the story, in attempts to satisfy its intended demographic. Still, I think Snake Eyes was a great watch. In addition to Ryuichi Sakamoto's brilliant soundtrack, shot-for-shot, this movie is immersive, exciting, and packed with killer performances.

Set in an Atlantic City casino, Snake Eyes tells the story of a crooked detective named Rick Santoro (played by Cage). With a lot of money on a big fight, distracting Santoro while he was supposed to be protecting the secretary of defense, Charles Kirkland. But there was treachery within treachery surrounding the assassination of Kirkland.

The story unfolds after this inciting incident, in alternate timelines and a well-calculated narrative. With hopes of diminishing his gambling losses, Santoro puts the casino into lockdown for the investigation. As new evidence is uncovered, Santoro has to make some tough, dangerous decisions.

These decisions make way for a level of Character Arc, rare in Cage's many films. For those who haven't been keeping count, I still haven't seen over thirty of them. While Snake Eyes probably won't do it for everyone, I consider it great way to spend 98 minutes.

  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. City of Angels
  19. Bangkok Dangerous
  20. Drive Angry
  21. Army of One
  22. Lord of War
  23. Gone in 60 Seconds
  24. Matchstick Men
  25. Vampire's Kiss
  26. Con Air
  27. Face/Off
  28. The Boy in Blue
  29. Honeymoon in Vegas
  30. Amos and Andrew
  31. Moonstruck
  32. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
  33. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
  34. Bringing Out the Dead
  35. The Family Man
  36. Knowing
  37. The Frozen Ground
  38. It Could Happen to You
  39. 8mm
  40. Looking Glass
  41. Arsenal
  42. Between Worlds
  43. Left Behind
  44. Ghost Rider
  45. The Humanity Bureau
  46. Next
  47. The Weather Man
  48. 211
  49. The Croods