Other People's Clothes by Calla Henkel

This book is kind of a murder mystery. Well, we have two friends who meet while studying abroad in Berlin. They rent a house from a famous writer for very cheap, and throw parties to supplement their rent. 

No spoilers here, I promise. One girl kills herself and the other can't believe it is so, and ends up in an insane asylum after reading her old friends' diary and going out pretending to be the friend, in her clothes. I liked this book. Sure. Was it my thing? I don't know. I'm not super into mysteries above juicy thrills. Maybe you'd like it. 

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

 As soon as I discovered the iconic film American Psycho was based on a book, I immediately added it to my reading list. I loved the long essays with fumbled facts about Genesis, Huey Louis, and Whitney Houston. Such deep feelings really might endear you to the twisted Patrick Batemen. But the book is so graphic. So much more graphic than the movie. So much more graphic than it needed to be. But hey. If you liked the movie and you like books, you should read it. And buy me a tie from Hugo Boss. 

Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton

This is a really fun, dark, and immersive story about a working writer who is struggling to get by because she lives in New York. She becomes best friends with a creative wreck of a girl who wants to write but has no concept of work or self-discipline. But she has a house and money and very useful connections. 

Wonderfully juicy drama ensues with betrayal and forged identities on social media. I will not let myself do more to spoil it. I had a very good time with this book. You should read it and we should talk about it. 

Inconceivable feat. Nicolas Cage

Here we have a thriller about a best friend who is a psycho and killer (but maybe for good reason). This came out 20 years after The Cable Guy made the stereotype into a comedy. Cage isn't the star of this film. He plays the very boring doctor husband of doctor Angela, played by Gina Gershon and her very distracting teeth. I don't know what's up with them. Maybe I'm the one with a problem.

The cast is good though. Everyone is good except for the scenes in which everyone is bad, reading their lines like good workers. It's as if the directors were aiming for mediocrity at best. But I had to keep watching because there's always a chance that the villain will in, or the villain will win and the hero will die, or the hero will die and the villain will lose. I'm not going to tell you what happens, my friend. You're going to have to watch and find out for yourself, unless you can find me one of these family sized papasans. Then I'll give you any spoiler you want.

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

52. Inconceivable

53. 8mm
54. The Frozen Ground
55. Left Behind
56. A Score to Settle
57. Pay the Ghost
58. Primal
59. Dying of the Light
60. Grand Isle
61. Looking Glass
62. Arsenal
63. Between Worlds
64. Ghost Rider
65. Trespass
66. The Humanity Bureau
67. Next
68. The Weather Man
69. 211
70. Fire Birds
71. The Croods

The Push by Ashley Audrain

I had a brief phase of reading dramatic, murdery thriller type things. And I think there's a new trope for stories told by mothers whose favorite children were murdered by their least favorite children. In this case the mother was the only witness and there is no proof. Even She questions what she suspects to have seen. But she cannot let go of this suspicion, causing everyone in her life to turn on her. The Push is a dark, juicy ride for sure. 

The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin

I haven't seen the movie for this, so I don't know how to compare it. Let's consider this book another part of my education in classic thrillers. There's a mystery for a forward thinking photographer, mother, and wife who moves into Stepford with her successful husband.

They are generally on the same page, except when it comes to the Stepford Men's Association, or maybe it's club. There's something wrong with the wives in Stepford, and what it could be grows ever more scary as the mystery unfolds. It's a classic like that.

The Hour of the Oxrun Dread by Charles L. Grant

In the town of Oxrun, there's a myster and a thrill for a brave, widowed librarian. It's exactly the kind of story you'd expect to see in a low-budget 80s tv thriller. It works without gore and special effects. But since there are no budgets for scenes in lirature, why not throw in something specatular? Realism. Perhaps I'm burnt out on it.

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

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

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

The Frozen Ground (feat. Nicolas Cage)

This film is a dramatization of true life events involving the eventual take-down of serial rapist/murderer Robert Hansen (played by John Cusak). Cage plays the fictional detective Jack Halcombe, inspired by the real life Glenn Flothe. Why Cage doesn't play Flothe, I have no idea. He was probably too boring for this generic film.

The shifts in story don't occur by shifts in character. Everything is happenstance and flacid. I figure the only way this movie got made was because Vanessa Hudgens's agent needed a grown-up part for her, in which she smokes meth, shows her underwear, and talks like a street person. Cage follows her into the seedy underbelly of somewhere-Alaska, where somehow nobody has a northern accent. It reminds me a bit of 8mm when Joaquin Phoenix takes him to all the underground, hardcore porn venders.

This movie may have been gripping for anyone fool enough not to figure out how it was going to end. And in the credits, I got to see pictures of all of Hansen's victims, as if anyone would want to be remembered especially for being raped and murdered. What an honor. But let us be warned about visiting creepy guys in especially isolated places for sexual favors.

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

Arsenal (feat. Nicolas Cage)

Arsenal is a story of two brothers who love each other. The older (Mikey) always protected the younger one, and in response to the darkness he faced, grew up to be the sketchy one. JP, the younger brother, grew up to be the good old boy, the blue collar hero.

Where does Cage fit into this? He's Eddie King, the bad guy, the main proprieter of organized crime in their city of Biloxi Mississippi. He wears a wig and a prosthetic nose. Why the customing? For no good reason. Despite the Mississippi setting, none of the characters in this film have southern accents.

But this is only a small flaw in this bad, terrible movie. The camera shakes all the time, like a frantic episode of Cops. All the driving scenes are in fast-motion. Dialogue is spoken as if being read straight from the script, rushing every scene. Cage gets a freak-out before we have a chance to figure out whether or not his character has a personality outside of his evil doings. John Cusak plays an undercover cop who might as well not be in the movie. He explains things that don't need to be explained, using up time that could be better spent on developing a mood of some kind.

And be warned, this film is violent in excess. More than once, I wondered how many times a man can take a baseball bat to the head before passing out. The actual story is pretty basic, despite the insane level of guns and gore. It's not like 8mm, focusing on the grotesque. I feel like the creators wanted to make a normal movie, only so they could normalize their fetish for this flavor of violence.

However, the badness of this movie didn't really inhibit my enjoyment of it. It's not bad-entertaining on the level of Tommy Wiseau's The Room, but it's still noteworthy. If you want to see a heart-warming drama about two brothers, plus 100 gallons of blood, 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. Dog Eat Dog
12. Color Out of Space
13. Mom and Dad
14. Peggy Sue Got Married
15. Zandalee
16. City of Angels
17. Bangkok Dangerous
18. Drive Angry
19. Army of One
20. Lord of War
21. Gone in 60 Seconds
22. Matchstick Men
23. Vampire's Kiss
24. Con Air
25. Face/Off
26. The Boy in Blue
27. Honeymoon in Vegas
28. Amos and Andrew
29. Moonstruck
30. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
31. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
32. Bringing Out the Dead
33. The Family Man
34. Knowing
35. It Could Happen to You
36. 8mm
37. Looking Glass
38. Arsenal
39. Between Worlds
40. Left Behind
41. Ghost Rider
42. The Humanity Bureau
43. Next
44. The Weather Man
45. 211
46. The Croods

Looking Glass (feat. Nicolas Cage)

Directed by Tim Hunter (of great tv shows like Breaking Bad), I had high expectations for this atmospheric thriller. But do thrillers need to be good aside from their grim aesthetic? I do get the impression that fans of scary movies care mostly about mood, cinematography, and directorial vision; putting little value on the substance of characters and story.

But for any other kind of film, these aspects matter. So I've had mixed feelings about Looking Glass. It's the story of a couple who buy a motel in a little desert town. The motel has a dark past, leaving viewers wondering exactly what happened while our heroes try to keep it together in the suspicious town. So there's an element of mystery.

However, the mystery wasn't clever or creative, or any of the things you might have kept hoping for while waiting for the movie to get good. But still, it was an immersive experience, requiring you to pay attention in order to know what was going on. But it didn't really matter in the end. Just like life, there's no way of knowing what's going to happen until it does, and sometimes it's bad. And in the case of Looking Glass, I never felt a sense of fear on behalf of any of it's flawed, and unsympathetic characters. Still, I'm sure some people really like this kind of movie. Not me.

1. Raising Arizona
2. Leaving Las Vegas
3. Red Rock West
4. Adaptation
5. Birdy
6. Wild at Heart
7. Joe
8. Dog Eat Dog
9. Color Out of Space
10. Mom and Dad
11. Peggy Sue Got Married
12. Zandalee
13. City of Angels
14. Bangkok Dangerous
15. Drive Angry
16. Lord of War
17. Gone in 60 Seconds
18. Matchstick Men
19. Vampire's Kiss
20. Con Air
21. Face/Off
22. The Boy in Blue
23. Honeymoon in Vegas
24. Amos and Andrew
25. Moonstruck
26. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
27. Bringing Out the Dead
28. The Family Man
29. Knowing
30. It Could Happen to You
31. 8mm
32. Looking Glass
33. Between Worlds
34. Ghost Rider
35. The Humanity Bureau
36. Next
37. The Weather Man
38. 211
39. The Croods

Between Worlds (feat. Nicolas Cage)

I respect Cage's inclination toward weird and artsy films. Between Worlds is one of those, sort of. It is, but not very much until I'd already decided the movie wasn't very good and that there wasn't much that could save it. I think writer/director/producer Maria Pulera felt the same way. She got halfway through her supernatural thriller and realized it was lame, and thought she could save it by making it as weird as possible, deliberately taking cues for style from Twin Peaks.

In Between Worlds, Cage plays another Joe, a down-on-his-luck trucker with a tragic past. By chance, he finds an innocent woman, Julie, getting strangled in a gas station bathroom. The catch is Julie wanted to be strangled. Getting close to death allows her into the 'other' world, where she can revive her comatose daughter.

So Joe strangles Julie too, but the magic at play goes wrong and bad stuff happens to everyone. The story is more interesting when told in a few sentences than when stretched out over an hour and a half of bad movie. I should have known this movie would be bad when I saw, for no reason at all, a close up of the gas station attendant's butt crack, a shot I found analogous to the quality of this film.

1. Raising Arizona
2. Leaving Las Vegas
3. Red Rock West
4. Adaptation
5. Birdy
6. Wild at Heart
7. Joe
8. Dog Eat Dog
9. Color Out of Space
10. Mom and Dad
11. Peggy Sue Got Married
12. Zandalee
13. City of Angels
14. Bangkok Dangerous
15. Drive Angry
16. Lord of War
17. Gone in 60 Seconds
18. Matchstick Men
19. Vampire's Kiss
20. Con Air
21. Face/Off
22. Honeymoon in Vegas
23. Amos and Andrew
24. Moonstruck
25. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
26. Bringing Out the Dead
27. The Family Man
28. It Could Happen to You
29. 8mm
30. Between Worlds
31. Ghost Rider
32. The Humanity Bureau
33. Next
34. The Weather Man
35. 211
36. The Croods

Zandalee (feat. Nicolas Cage)

In New Orleans, Thierry and Zandalee are having relationship problems, which can happen to even the sexiest of us. Thierry's dad died, and he decides to quit being a poet/professor in order to take over his dad's business. It's a sad time for Thierry, but with his new position, he's about to help Johnny get a job. Johnny, played by Cage, hasn't lost his passion. In fact, you might consider his singular verocity to be problematic as he forces himself between Thierry and Zandalee. You might wonder, 'what's the worst that could happen?', and find yourself surprised at how dark this film really gets. Cage also blesses us with a supreme freak-out, one of his best.

But was this a great film? I think it was pretty good. Instead of setting out to make a 'great' blockbuster, it seems like the creators went ahead and made exactly the kind of self-indulgent film they wanted. And it turned out pretty good, not perfect but pretty good. I enjoyed it.

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. Mom and Dad
10. Peggy Sue Got Married
11. Zandalee
12. City of Angels
13. Bangkok Dangerous
14. Drive Angry
15. Lord of War
16. Gone in 60 Seconds
17. Matchstick Men
18. Vampire's Kiss
19. Con Air
20. Face/Off
21. Honeymoon in Vegas
22. Amos and Andrew
23. Moonstruck
24. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
25. Bringing Out the Dead
26. The Family Man
27. It Could Happen to You
28. 8mm
29. Ghost Rider
30. The Humanity Bureau
31. Next
32. The Weather Man
33. 211
34. The Croods

Mom and Dad (feat. Nicolas Cage)

I never knew Selma Blair was such a great actress since I've probably never seen anything with her, but she was great, starring alongside Cage in this fun, family violent horror movie. Cage plays the dad who always thought he was cool. Blair is the mom who needs her coffee, and plays on a very believable nurturing side in order to get her kids close enough for her to violently murder them.

You read that right. This film is about a day when all the human parents try to kill their brood. There's not much more to it, and that's okay. Reasonably unambitious, this film succeeds on about every front. Cage's violent freak-outs are a lot more effective when he's in dad mode.

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. Mom and Dad
10. Peggy Sue Got Married
11. City of Angels
12. Bangkok Dangerous
13. Drive Angry
14. Lord of War
15. Gone in 60 Seconds
16. Matchstick Men
17. Vampire's Kiss
18. Con Air
19. Face/Off
20. Honeymoon in Vegas
21. Amos and Andrew
22. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
23. Bringing Out the Dead
24. The Family Man
25. It Could Happen to You
26. 8mm
27. Ghost Rider
28. The Humanity Bureau
29. Next
30. The Weather Man
31. 211
32. 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.

The Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

My buddy Evdog let me borrow this book, and I found it to be a pretty good thriller, published before there was so much hype about the creepiness of giant museums. The quotes on the cover keep referring to Jurassic Park, but I don't think the two stories have much in common. On the inside cover, you can see both writers (one a museum expert), both looking thoroughly spooked.

I like stories with short chapters that keep me wondering who's going to die next. This book was also made into a film, so I'll let you know how it turned out, maybe not better than Jurassic Park.

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

Catfishing on Catnet by Naomi Kritzer

This was a fun sci fi thriller about a girl named Steph who befriends a friendly AI on a website called CatNet. Steph isn't allowed to use other social medias, but CatNet is okay because people use it to post pictures of cats, and not themselves. It's a fun ride for probably anyone who likes hard sci fi. It's scary and forward thinking without relying on overly adult themes.

I think Catfishing on CatNet provides a good example for how LBGTQ+ characters can be used in a story without being gratuitous or making the story about sex and gender. I've often questioned the media's insistence that Sex play such a domineering role in our Attractions and Identities. However, my two cents on gender-identity don't matter much. I'm here to talk about books. This was a pretty good one.