[ed note: Hey, speaking of Nic Cage (which you weren’t), this pile has been sitting in my drafts for weeks! Hooray!]
So we did the five-film blitz to wrap up in what very well may have been two days. Time seemed to acquire a strange molasses-like flow so I’m not sure how long it actually took or exactly when these movies were watched. Somewhere in there Guest-Curator Tyler joined in for Knowing. Unfortunately, not everyone got to see every movie (ie Pickles was busy with school), but there’s no way I’m rewatching them and I’m pretty sure the short-changed parties won’t feel too bad about it. So, in what very well may have been the order they were watched, I present short and tired reviews of the Final Five.
Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
Even though it’s Coppola (who, by virtue of four films, holds a place in my brain or I guess heart or whatever), this looked pretty yawn-worthy. Going in with that mindset, I ended up mildly surprised. Not Very Good, but pretty Cute and with some memorable characters. Kathleen Turner (Overdrive) does a fine, not great, job. Ditto much of the supporting cast. Cage is outstanding. He models his character around some kind of weird 50sish TV-nostalgia, yet slightly cartoon-creepy [ed note: upon review, the term Lynchian springs to mind] voice. It’s pretty stellar. As for story, uh, pretty silly. It’s a time-travel movie about love and Nic Cage’s weird-ass voice.
Best moment(s): It feels like a cop-out to say “any time Cage speaks” so I’ll give a specific example - when Cage is recommending classical music (about which he knows nothing) to a customer at a record store; that squirrelly writer-kid’s poetry; all the Vonnegut references we made while watching [ed note: eg “KATHLEEN TURNER HAS BECOME UNSTUCK IN TIME!”].
Menno’s rating: 6.6
Pickles’ rating: 6.2
Haircut’s rating: 6.4
Overall Cage grade: unanimous A+
Moonstruck (1987)
Another bit-of-a-surprise movie. Not much really happens (some people who love each other betray each other like on various scales of A Little Bit and then everyone’s cool), but there’s good dialogue and performances and nothing really tear-your-eyes-out offensive happens [ed note: at this point I think I was just glad that these movies weren’t turning out to be Zandalee- or Trapped in Paradise-style affairs. Upon review I can practically taste the apathy and psychic exhaustion]. Cage gets to play Intense Guy (for the first time in his career, I guess) in that way he does, and, oh, he has no hand. Because he’s a baker and his brother distracted him and he [ed note: Cage] cut it off by accident or whatever. This is barely dealt with in the movie beyond that explanation, but it’s awesome. Blah blah blah, I didn’t want to kill Cher.
Best moment(s): Nic Cage explaining about his hand accident; John Mahoney’s playa antics (and subsequently drink-splashed face); the rad old Italian walking his dogs forever.
Menno’s rating: 6.5
Pickles’ rating: (absent)
Haircut’s rating: 6.7
Overall Cage grade: B+
Knowing (2009) [ed note: SPOILERS]
I had tried to watch this one before and failed. This time, in the company of allies, it seemed to be going smoothly. I mean, the movie isn’t very good and Cage is hamming it up like Easter Sunday, but it’s watchable enough and fun to make fun of. But then, man oh man, The Turn hits you. When The Turn happened (and I won’t say what it is, but it rhymes with Schmaliens) every man present (including the two who had seen the ending) yelled obscenities at the screen and each other for a short time (30, 40 seconds?) in sheer shock and confusion. I mean, wtf. One of the worst cop-outs I have ever seen on film. Fuck that ending.
Best moment(s): “THE NUMBERS ARE THE KEY!!!”; people in the plane crash walking around all ablaze (literally).
Menno’s rating: 4.8
Pickles’ rating: 5.8
Haircut’s rating: 3.6
GC Tyler’s rating: 4.0
Overall Cage grade: C+
Bad Lieutenant - Port of Call: New Orleans (2009)
This is probably my favourite movie of 2009, and I had seen it twice before screening it for 31DoC. I really can’t say enough good things about this film. Werner “it’s not a significant bullet” Herzog directing + Cage as a drug-addicted and remorseless corrupt NOLA detective + Eva Mendes’ stunning form + over the hill Val Kilmer (who is looking, in a word, terrible) + Alvin “Xzibit” Joiner (yes, he’s credited that way) as a gangsta named Big Fate + lizards and shit = WIN! The film is one of those insanely good trips - all interesting, funny characters and strange/hilarious scenarios and not a wasted or dragging minute and it’s over too soon. I think Herzog and Cage are really on to something here. Maybe Nic could be Werner’s new Kinski!
Best moment(s): “what the fuck is that? fuckin’ iguana!”; “to the break of dawn!”; “shoot him again” “man WHAT FOR?” “his soul is still dancing” (soul breakdances to zydeco); the “oh yeah!” guy; fuck, all of it.
Menno’s rating: 9.2
Pickles’ rating: (absent on the rating sheet, though he’s seen it at least twice)
Haircut’s rating: 8.9
Overall Cage grade: unanimous A+
Face/Off (1997) [ed note: not really a review so much as an excuse for a review. Probably over-harsh on the movie, but something to mark the sad, final act of a weird month. Deals mostly with my state while watching. The most skippable thing I’ve yet written about Cage]
A big, stylish action flick helmed by John Woo and starring John Travolta as Nic Cage and Nic Cage as John Travolta sounds like dynamite on paper. What it really is just OK and over-long and a little sad. Maybe my perception is coloured by watching this one alone at 2 in the morning burnt-out from Cagefest and wanting out and too many whiskeys in, though. The plot is, of course, ridiculous and seems to be a vehicle for large explosions and chases and shootouts and weird acting (Travolta doing Cage doing Travolta and vice versa). I felt empty during and for a brief time after this one, which is probably at least partly its [ed note: Face/Off’s] fault.
Best moment(s): -
Menno’s rating: (absent)
Pickles’ rating: (absent)
Haircut’s rating: 5.2
Overall Cage grade: B (unanimous I guess)
So there it is. My feelings: Cage is a better actor than I gave him credit for before March 2010; I can watch some terrible movies if I put my mind to it; I discovered some pretty cool movies I may never have discovered without 31DoC; don’t live like me. I figured I would end this with a long retrospective on the month and How It Changed Me and What I Learned About Cage and Myself and The Redemptive Power of Cinema and whatnot, but I don’t want to anymore. [ed note: I still don’t want to]
