Where To Start Watching Nicolas Cage

Written by Robert Scocchi | Published 1 hour ago

Fans of Nicolas Cage and the Swifties have one thing in common that might surprise you: you have to appreciate all their different eras. I have to be clear and admit that I brought up this Where Do I Start Watching Nicolas Cage article over a month ago, but I felt so overwhelmed by the prospect of having my opinion archived forever that I spent more time than I ever cared to admit to opening blank documents and trying to answer the question in a completely satisfactory way.

Here’s the problem: Nicolas Cage is one of the most prolific and greatest actors of all time, and you can’t encapsulate his entire essence in one film alone. Like Taylor Swift, he has eras. He has layers. Our only true God is the onion, and we must peel it carefully.

If it were up to me, I would recommend Matchstick men As a solid entry point for reasons I’ll get into later. Since coming up with this guide is essentially the highest level of public service I can ever commit to, I don’t take it lightly. I think we need to draw from each of our favorite Nouveau Shamanic plays in order to deconstruct his desire to lose himself in a role, no matter how good, great, or terrible the role.

So be gentle, dear reader. I’ve lost sleep over this to the point where I feel like Frank Pierce from 1999 Bringing out the deadwhich is one of Cage’s best dramas. Here, I’ll do my best to outline what I believe to be the most widely accessible film of Cage’s career, but you have to know that times and opinions change. Also, Nicolas Cage has been on a hot streak over the past few years, and I have reason to believe he’s working on another three dozen films as we speak right now. There’s no reasonable way for me to go through all of this here because there’s no reasonable way to keep up with the man, the myth, the legend that is the bizarre Nicolas Cage.

Start with the Most Holy Trinity

If you want to experience Nicolas Cage through the lens of big-budget action films, we need to talk about his epic run in the ’90s, when he directed three top-notch action films between 1996 and 1997. Their combined production cost amounted to about $230 million. The rock, Con Airand Flip/Stop It is the pinnacle of Nicolas Cage in the context of action films. This is known as the Holy Trinity to die-hard Nicolas Cage fans, and for good reason.

1996 The rock It’s your classic hostage situation that also serves as a sort of solo adventure that you can sink your teeth into. Cage’s Dr. Stanley Goodspeed, an FBI chemical weapons expert, teams up with Sean Connery’s John Patrick Mason, a lifelong prisoner who is the only person to successfully escape from Alcatraz. When the island’s heavily fortified prison is breached by former patriot Francis Hamill (Ed Harris), it’s a tense race against the clock to make sure that San Francisco, and the rest of the world, don’t fall victim to an explosive nerve gas that would put countless lives at risk.

Talking about prison, 1997 Con Air It is the next entry point. With famous lines like “Put the rabbit back in the box,” you can’t go wrong with this as the cast is packed with a scary amount of talent (John Cusack, John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi, Ving Rhames, and Dave Chappelle, to name a few). You get basically Die hard On a plane. Speaking with a southern accent, Cage’s Cameron Poe has served his time after being charged with manslaughter, and now must work with agents on the ground to make sure the hijacked plane lands safely without causing any collateral damage after completing his sentence. Spoiler alert: there’s a lot of collateral damage.

Nicolas Cage’s holy trinity ends with John Woo’s crazy machinations. This little movie, 1997 Flip/StopIt is the height of cage madness because Friday is terrible With John Travolta. Nicolas Cage Castor Troy is a terrorist for hire who accidentally kills the son of FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta). When Archer is tasked with putting Castor Troy behind bars for good, he does the unthinkable and transforms into his identity through an experimental procedure that allows them to swap bodies. As a result, we get Nicolas Cage playing himself as if John Travolta were playing him, and vice versa. They get pumped up with countless bullet-filled set pieces, both stars bring their A game to the forefront, and look like they’re having a little fun taking the piss out of each other.

We could stop here at Holy Trinity and say “mission accomplished,” but I think it’s in our best interest to engage in some drama for the sole purpose of proving that Nicolas Cage isn’t just a one-trick pony.

Oscar Winner Nicolas Cage can be traced back to one film

In 1995, Nicolas Cage took a huge creative risk with… Leaving Las Vegas. The film tells the story of a self-destructive alcoholic who plans to drink himself to death after losing his job and his marriage, and legend has it that Cage prepared for the role by traveling to Ireland and going on an epic journey. This “research” has paid off because his on-screen behavior is hard to take in the best way.

The casino scene actually features a darkened cage spiraling out of control, and Raw is delivered inside Leaving Las Vegas This is why he received a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for Best actor. Every single frame drips with self-destructive honesty, and if I were Nicolas Cage, I’d be using the title “Oscar-winning actor” every chance I got.

If you’re a Cage fan looking for more movies in this wheelhouse, Martin Scorsese is the one Bringing out the dead Comes with a strong recommendation. The feeling of self-destruction is equally evident, but in a completely different context. During three night shifts, Cage’s Frank Pierce suffers recurring nervous breakdowns as he experiences trauma that first responders deal with at an alarming rate. His struggle to cling to humanity where nothing exists cannot be replicated by any other actor.

Let’s get weird, let’s get messy

My personal favorite era of Nicolas Cage is squarely in his wheelhouse of “Cage Rage.” Matchstick menFor me, it’s the perfect entry point into Nicolas Cage’s curiosity because it checks every box. Cage’s Roy Waller is a prolific con artist who works alongside Sam Rockwell’s Frank Mercer. They conduct scams on elderly people and collect large sums of cash.

Everything gets derailed when Roy, who suffers from OCD and Tourette’s Syndrome, goes off his medication, discovers he has an estranged daughter who wants to reconnect with him, and suddenly has the opportunity to pull off the heist of a lifetime. Here, Cage goes from calm, calm, and cautious to a state of complete chaos as he tries to overcome all of these obstacles. His pharmacy craze is one of the best of his career, and his revelation makes for an insanely entertaining watch.

Previous examples of Cage going completely crazy include 1988, but are not limited to Vampire kisswhere Peter Love’s character believes he has become a vampire and stops at nothing to enact the role in the most adorable way imaginable. If you’re wondering what his character was like before he went completely off the rails, many people, myself included, have called him a prototype version of Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman. American Psycho.

Nicolas Cage screams the alphabet, eats a live cockroach, runs through the streets screaming “I’m a vampire, I’m a vampire, I’m a vampire,” and it’s nice to see Cage lose his mind in real time.

We can talk about 1993 impasse Here too, but it’s honestly pretty terrible. One of the reasons you’ll still want to watch it is the fact that it was written and directed by Christopher Coppola, Cage’s brother. Cage is completely out of control in this movie, and it seems like no one can make him calm down. He knew exactly how far he could push things, and just imagining the car ride home after a day of filming is enough to make you roll on the floor laughing.

Not all live video outings are bad

For a while, Cage stopped being a bankable star, and his increasing financial problems led to some questionable gigs during this time. This is what we refer to as the era of live video. Listen, I’m not here to tell you how to spend your time, but after renting most of these movies on Redbox, I’m here to say that there are some hidden ones.

My personal favorite film from this era has to be 2013’s Frozen ground. Based on true events, we see Cage reuniting with Cusack in a fierce game of cat and mouse inspired by a real series of serial killings in the early 1980s. Cage is a jaded detective named Jack Halcombe, who is determined to catch Cusack’s Robert Hansen, a man who kidnaps women, drags them into the woods, and hunts them for sport. It’s a tense procedural crime film, and both leads give their best.

atmospherewhich was released in 2014, had a very limited theatrical run, but most people watched it at home. Many critics considered it a triumphant return for Cage, who had had a string of laughably bad films up to this point, including the 2006 film. Wicker man Being the most famous example. atmosphere A tense thriller about a blue-collar worker who takes care of a 15-year-old trying to escape the clutches of his abusive father. It’s a quieter version of Cage, but his steady performance seals the deal.

Let’s get gonzo

I could spend hours here, but I will only highlight the key elements that serve as strong entry points. Over the past decade, Nicolas Cage has reached full gonzo level. If I had to pinpoint the exact moment when this shift occurred, I would point to 2017 My mom and dada horror comedy about parents surrendering to a… After 28 daysAn infection of rage that makes them want to kill their offspring. In this song, Cage sings “Hokey Pokey” while smashing a pool table with an ax and trying to dismember his children with a Sawzall, with very funny results.

2018 Mandy is an explosive and varied exploration of grief that finds Cage wielding a chainsaw while hunting down a religious sect known as the Children of the New Dawn after they brutally murder his wife. Mandy It is a violent and psychedelic saga of grief, revenge and redemption, and it is not for the faint of heart. It’s annoying, but it’s also cathartic.

I’ll wrap things up here with one of my favorite Nicolas Cage entries of late, 2021 Willie Wonderland. This film is as simple as it is uncompromising, and Cage doesn’t utter a single word of dialogue throughout its entire runtime. After being locked inside the family entertainment center that bears his name, the cartoon mascot comes back to life, and he must kill them all with brute force and sheer force of will. Things get complicated when a group of teenagers break into the house and trap them inside, forcing Cage’s character, known only as the Janitor, to fend off the possessed animals with any weapons he can find. When he needs to recharge, he plays pinball and drinks energy drinks, and that’s really all there is to it.

We’ve barely begun to scratch the surface

I’ve tried to be comprehensive, but there is simply too much ground to cover. I didn’t even mention it Raise Arizona, Gone in 60 seconds, Angry engine, pigor Dream scenario. What I’ve done is point you towards what I believe are the most important eras in Cage’s career, and in doing so, highlight the best work from each of those periods.

Being a Nicolas Cage fan is a full-time job, and not everyone is cut out for it. If your cage curiosity gets the better of you and you’re ready to jump in headfirst, this piece should be the primer you need to get your feet wet. If you are still with me, dear reader, you have a long road ahead of you, and I wish you good luck and success.