So I popped in my copy of Adaptation yesterday, because I had not scene it a while and I couldn’t get over how good the acting was, including Nicholas Cage. And he has an Ascar for an excelent performance in Leaving Las Vegas. So I was looking at his filmography to refresh my meomey and this guy has a pretty guy resume: Birdy, Matchstick Men, Wild at Heart. Moonstruck. He has some decent action movies. But he also has quite a bit of ass in there, Ghost Rider for example.
Is Cage kind of like the Randy Moss of actors, very talented annd when he puts his mind to it can act with the best of them. But often times he seems to mail it in and just do it for the paycheck?
Some of his movies are pretty good. Wild At Heart is badass and is one of my favorite movies. He’s good at basically playing Nicolas Cage, which is a fine skill for an actor (John Wayne basically just played John Wayne) as long as they don’t try to overextend his range, or put him in a movie that takes itself too seriously. I think he’s good in action flicks like Con Air. I don’t think he can necessarily carry a movie all by himself and his best movies are helped by their supporting casts.
Nic Cage will always be one of my favorite actors. As he’s proven time after time (after time after time after time), he’s not afraid to make an ass of himself in the service of finding an unexpected approach to a role. He never gives a half-assed performance. He never phones it in. I think if he’d been a *little *more discriminating, he’d have Johnny Depp’s reputation: a good actor who likes to keep things fresh. Depp’s better at turning down garbage though; Cage appears to accept anything he’s offered. Oh plus we share a birthday.
Adaptatino shouldn’t count; Spike Jonze instructed Cage to ignore his instincts and act just as he was directed. I guess this means that Cage can act well given a strong director, but I wouldn’t say that makes him particularly skilled. Since much of the film either had him acting out the voiceover monologue (as Charlie) or being a complete asshat (as Donald) it wasn’t a role that required incredible nuance.
Basically, Nic Cage plays a great drunk, or a scenery-chewing windbag, and that is about the extent of his natural range as an actor. And like other good actors who will do crap work for a paycheck (Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine) he isn’t capable of elevating mediocre material to a higher level; he sinks straight down to the level the screenplay will allow.
Cage ruined Peggy Sue Got Married for me. He used that ridiculous voice and obviously fake buck teeth. I hit the mute anytime he’s in a scene. Kathleen Turner had nothing nice to say about him in her autobiography.
I’ve always liked Nicolas Cage’s performances. That may have a lot to do with the fact that I almost never go to see an action movie, and so have missed his “paycheck performances”. I think he is particulary good in Peggy Sue Got Married, Adaptation, Guarding Tess and Matchstick Men, although looking at the IMDB, I’m struck by just how many of his movies I’ve enjoyed, even though I’ve never seen the Con Air/National Treasure side of his work.
All Nic Cage fans should see Lord of War and Birdy if you haven’t yet. I assume all fans have seen Raising Arizona and Moonstruck. Adaptation’s a given of course. He’s been very good in a lot of very good movies, those and many more. Yes, he’s done crap movies, but his good works in good movies make up for it.
I’ve liked him ever since his 2nd movie, Valley Girl (I didn’t see his first, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, until years later). There are a lot of his movies I haven’t seen, out of 60 films listed on IMDB I haven’t seen 28 of them, but I’ve seen a majority, and he gets a bad rap. Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen most of the ones that are considered especially bad, like City of Angels or Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.
I also thought he was good in his most recent, The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans. He was over-the-top, but the part called for it, big time.
Agreed Nic Cage has some fine stuff and some crappy stuff… He’s not the kind of guy to me that I will automatically take a chance on his movie… Denzel …Matt Damon… Clooney get that from me… but i do enjoy Cage’s work…
Plus anyone who would cop his last name from Marvel Comics is alright by me…
