It is now 1997 and the latter half of the decade has a clear emphasis on action films. Most of the films Cage has starred in have been action-packed blockbusters. Perhaps the improvement of CGI and other visual effects had something to do with it. Toy Story, the first film made entirely on computers, had been released two years prior – so why not blow up a car every time it gets shot at?
While some of the films are gun-filled slop, to put it nicely, at least Nic brings some personality in his acting. This could not be more true than in the film Face/Off where Cage is once again unhinged in tone, dialogue, and facial expressions. Kind of. For the first 15 minutes it is all you could ever want – until his character gets put in a coma. Then his face is swapped with John Travolta so Nic is tame but John Travolta is batshit insane because he is being Nic. Cool.
Inside the Golden Statue is a documentary about the 69th Academy Awards where Nic is a presenter. “I thought this would be at least a little bit interesting,” says Evie. It is not. I am also not talking her into watching anything else. “Are you writing down what I’m saying?” Yes I am Evie, and you are not escaping the Cage that easily. Mythos Hollywood is another lost film which makes my life easier.
The 1998 film City of Angels opens with one of the saddest scenes in film where Cage takes a dying girl to heaven because he is an angel. This movie is good but it doesn’t matter because this is the film that the song Iris by the Goo-Goo Dolls appears in. To be honest, I spent the entire film waiting to hear it and at the hour and 24 minute mark I got my wish. It was awesome. Eventually the Cage stops being an angel for Meg Ryan (a doctor he falls in love with) and he can feel things for the first time, concluding in an awfully awkward sex scene.
The Cage does not have a coke addiction but he sure likes portraying characters that behave like they do a line or two. Snake Eyes is a great example of this, a thriller that surprisingly wasn’t loved by critics – the film features great performances from Cage and Gary Sinise with stunning and unique cinematography.
Junket Whore is a documentary that features archival footage of the Cage at one point. It’s about how publicists and people in PR ruin or get in the way of journalists (preach). Unfortunately, time has caught up with me and I am now writing this in the week of going to print – desperately watching another Nic Cage film to meet the word count. It did not matter, though, as Nina wanted the word count to be about 550 words and what I wrote about the next film went over that word limit, so I am writing this to meet the exact word limit. I don’t know what counts though because titles and such, so going off word doc total count. Bingo.
Caginess: Got distracted by MAFS and Rocky
Welfare Check: Got strep throat (probably unrelated)
Total Films Watched: 42/137