One Cage at a Time

Face/Off -#019

ke two actors who can chew scenery like nobody’s business and team them up with one of the most over the top directors to ever film a guy jumping through the air whilst fire two guns in slowmo whilst going ahhh and what do you get? A 90’s action classic that is as much ridiculous as it is hilarious. So sit back as we face off against the mother of all face off films: Face/Off.

Obsessed with stopping a bomb from going off planted by his kid killing arch nemesis and notorious terrorist Castor Troy, Sean Archer undergoes surgery to remove his own face and replace it with that of Troy’s but wouldn’t you know it, Troy wakes ups from a coma and steals Archers face as well.

Face/Off features the face of a man you can tell just by the way he walks he’s a woman’s man John Travolta, son of legendary Director John Cassavetes and the guy who would go on to direct The Notebook: Nick Cassavetes, three time Academy Award nominee Joan Allen, the always scintillating Gina Gershon as well as Margaret Cho for a couple scene because why not and, Academy Award winning actor and the only face that could pull off the many ridiculous faces in Face/Off, Nicolas Kim Coppola better known as Nicolas Cage.

Dark -#018

Paul Schrader had Dying of the Light ripped away from him by a greedy studio desperately trying to recoup the $5 million dollars they gave him to make something even moderately coherent. But Paul Schrader would not be denied. Three years after he, his producer, the DP and the principal stars staged a silent protest on the sacred wall of Paul’s Facebook page, he hired an editor and recut the film using his original first cut, DVD’s from dailies, and some scenes gingerly lifted directly from the studios cut to make the film he originally intended audiences to see to the best of his ability. Does the Schrader cut live up to the hype? Does it turn the steaming pile Dying of the Light was into something worth watching? We’ll find out as we mercifully reach the end of our Paul Schrader Nicolas Cage odyssey with Dark.

After being forced into an early retirement by terminal dementia, Evan Lake and his partner set out to settle a score with Evan’s recently resurfaced arch nemesis who was thought to have died 22 years earlier.

Dying of the Light features the late great Anton Yelchin, Swiss actress Irene Jacob, Alexander Karim and of course, the only reason this film is remotely watchable, Academy Award winning actor and the man Paul Schrader always gets the best performances from, Nicolas Kim Coppola better known as Nicolas Cage.

Dying of The Light -#017

What happens when the writer of such cinematic classics as Taxi Driver, American Gigolo, Raging Bull and….Dog Eat Dog taps Nicolas Cage to play a CIA agent battling dementia? A film deemed so bad due to “studio interference” that director Paul Schrader, the film’s director of photography and the principal stars took to Facebook to publicly disown it. With that glowing endorsement let’s all strap in for the bumpy ride that is Dying of the Light.

After being forced into an early retirement by terminal dementia, Evan Lake and his partner set out to settle a score with Evan’s recently resurfaced arch nemesis who was thought to have died 22 years earlier.

Dying of the Light features the late great Anton Yelchin, Swiss actress Irene Jacob, Alexander Karim and of course, the only reason this film is remotely watchable, Academy Award winning actor and the man Paul Schrader always gets the best performances from, Nicolas Kim Coppola better known as Nicolas Cage.

National Treasure -#016

Who do you turn to when you need to cast Robert Landon from the DaVinci Code and Indiana Jones’ treasure hunting love child? Why, none other than Nicolas ‘Benjamin Franklin Gates’ Cage himself. To be fair, he’s more of a treasure protector than a treasure hunter. So get out your decoder ring as we break down the beloved family adventure classic: National Treasure.

After searching his entire life, Benjamin Franklin Gates stumbles upon a colonial ship that holds clues that lead him through the heart of American history and eventually to stealing the Declaration of Independence itself, that is if he can get to it before his so-called partner steals it first.

National Treasure features a host of legendary actors such as Oscar winner John Voight, a man who steals every scene he’s ever in Harvey Keitel, everyone’s favorite bad guy and Stark Family patriarch Sean Bean, the lovely German American actress Diane Kruger, the late great Christopher Plummer, our films comic relief Justin Bartha and of course, the real national treasure of this film and of America in general, Academy Award winning actor Nicolas Kim Coppola better known as Nicolas Cage.

Raising Arizona - #015

The greatest directing duo of all time teamed up with the legendary Nicolas Cage at the beginning of their respective careers and created a timeless masterpiece. That’s it. That’s all I’m going to say about it. So, sit back and enjoy as we breakdown the brilliant 1987 Coen Brothers classic and the film that made me a lifelong Nicolas Cage fan: Raising Arizona.

When an ex-cop and an ex-con find out they can’t have kids of their own they decide to steal the baby of a family who had quintuplets, but as you might expect things don’t exactly go as planned when a hot on their heels bounty hunter straight from hell does his best to track down the missing kid.

Raising Arizona features amazing performances from the incredible Holly Hunter, the legendary John Goodman, the one and only William Forsythe, a cast of Coen Brothers regulars including Frances McDormand and, Wile E. Coyote himself, Academy Award winning actor and the best damn baby snatcher in all of Arizona, Nicolas Kim Coppola better known as Nicolas Cage.

Trapped in Paradise - #014

Dana Carvey, Jon Lovitz and Nicolas Cage are brothers in a comedy crime Hallmark Christmas mash up that I guess everyone hates but me. Let’s get into the holiday spirit with a film one critic said was “borderline unwatchable” Trapped in Paradise.

Two idiots convince their brother to return to a life of crime to pull off the perfect heist in the town of Paradise, Pennsylvania but wouldn’t you know it, things don’t go as planned and the brothers find themselves trapped with the kind and loving townsfolk they just robbed.

Trapped in Paradise stars SNL alums Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey, Mädchen Amick AKA the waitress from Twin Peaks, John Ashton of Midnight Run and Beverly Hills Cop fame, and everyone’s favorite bank robber, Academy Award winning actor Nicolas Kim Coppola better known as Nicolas Cage.

Pig - #013

How does Nicolas Cage possibly follow the brilliant, touching and life affirming masterpiece featuring prose that touches the very essence of the human soul that was Willy’s Wonderland? We’ll find out as we dive deep into Nic’s critically acclaimed return to Oscar contention: Pig.

Robin Feld has been hiding himself away deep in the Oregon woods but when his beloved truffle hunting pig is kidnapped, he’s forced to return to the world he left behind.

Pig features incredible performances from Alex Wolff AKA Spencer from the new Jumanji movies, Adam Arkin, and of course the soon to be, hopefully, two-time Academy Award winning actor and the best damned truffle pig hunter there is Nicolas Kim Coppola better known as Nicolas Cage.

Ghost Rider - # 012

Nicolas Cage had been dreaming of playing Ghost Rider since he was a kid, unfortunately his dream came true only a year before The Dark Knight and Iron Man revolutionized the comic book movie genre forever leaving Ghost Rider in the pre-MCU dust. All that said, it’s not as bad as Daredevil, so let’s all penance stare into one of Nic Cage’s greatest passion projects: Ghost Rider.

There’s hell to pay when Johnny Blaze offers up his soul in exchange for curing his father’s cancer but Mephistopheles might have picked the wrong errand boy to take down a renegade demon named Blackheart and his bad ass posse of fallen angels played by the members of Breaking Benjamin.

Ghost Rider stars the always perky Eva Mendes, Bag Boy Ricky Fitts AKA Wes Bently of American Beauty fame, Nic’s Deadfall costar Peter Fonda and, of course, Johnny Blaze himself, Academy Award winner and the baddest MF on two wheels Nicolas Kim Coppola better known as Nicolas Cage.

Willy‘s Wonderland - #011

A mute Nicolas Cage fighting animatronics possessed by a satanic cult while gulping down gallons of energy drinks while dancing and playing pinball. Fever dream or actual Hollywood film? Maybe a bit of both. It’s your birthday and we want you to have fun as we breakdown Willy’s Wonderland.

After blowing out some tires on some suspiciously placed tire spikes, a mute Nicolas Cage agrees to clean up an abandoned family fun center in exchange for repairs, but things quickly get wacky when he finds himself battling animatronic mascots possessed by a demonic cult.

Willy’s Wonderland features newcomer Emily Tosta, Dwight Schrute’s babysitter/lover Beth Grant, Ric Reitz and of course, the pinball wizard himself, Academy Award winner and any animatronic demon’s worst nightmare Nicolas Kim Coppola better known as Nicolas Cage.

Gone in Sixty Seconds -#010

How do you improve upon a movie from the 70’s with an almost incoherent plot that seemed to be made specifically to show off cool cars and then destroy them? By making a movie in the 2000’s with an almost incoherent plot that seemed to be made specifically to show off cool cars and then destroy them starring Nicolas Cage. So come along as we suffer through the most Michael Bay movie that wasn’t made by Michael Bay: Gone in 60 Seconds.

“Memphis” Randall Raines was once the best car thief in the business before walking away from his life of crime but when his idiot brother gets in trouble with a lunatic crime lord, Memphis must once again strap on some driving gloves to pull off the job of a lifetime.

Gone in 60 Seconds features a stellar cast such as the one and only Robert Duvall, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi and of course, our films Eleanor, Academy Award winner and gift to all mankind Nicolas Kim Coppola better known as Nicolas Cage