Don’t have a favorite among the smattering of Mr. Cage’s films I’ve seen and generally do not care for him as an actor. That said, his mimicking of Adam West’s Batman voice in Kick-Ass (2010) was superlative.
Mine is probably Raising Arizona but Face/Off is so over-the-top absurd that I actually kind of love it. Unspeakably stupid is bang on.
My memory of a Cage movie is when he was filming across from my basement apartment at the Montreal Forum - Face Off (shit movie).
Best movie: Wild at Heart
Wild at Heart by David Lynch was like Down by Law by Jim Jarmusch in that it was really hard to get a hard copy of the movies, but maybe that’s changed.
Next
Not a popular movie, but I liked it.
Adding another Raising Arizona.
I forgot that he didn’t have any lines in Ridgemont High. I thought he said “We serve no fries before their time” but I guess that was Judge Reinhold.
I also liked him in ‘Rumble Fish’ where he played Smokey, with I think Laurence Fishburne and Matt Dillon. It was very reflective of some of the older kids in my neighborhood.
I haven’t seen many, but I am a very basic movie watcher, so I pick National Treasure. I am also looking forward to Spiderman Noir or whatever it’s called.
No brainer for me. Raising Arizona by far, with Moonstruck a strong but distant second place.
Raising Arizona - It’s like the Coen’s said “We need to make a movie with Nic Cage as the lead.” So they wrote it, cast him in it, then gave it a tremendous supporting cast who all brought their A game.
Another vote for Raising Arizona.
For the record, that was Jessica Biel not Jessica Alba.
Raising Arizona is #1 for fun Nic; I saw it in its original run @ a repertory movie theater in downtown Cincinnati & also saw a great actor with an animated spirit in him, especially that voice over he does for Hi’s dream sequence @ the end. #2 for fun is totally Valley Girl, dude!
But Wild at Heart is Nicolas Cage’s coolest performance, dark but with Sailor’s passion for all of life & shining with his love for Lulu. Throw in Willem Dafoe as the weird & wicked Bobby, a definite cinematic trip in Nic’s filmography. #2 but only because it’s not much fun at all is
Leaving Las Vegas, a performance that deserved his receiving an Oscar.
I think probably Lord of War
Raising Arizona
I liked Kick-Ass a lot, but it’s not my favorite of his movies. I’m a bit surprised it hasn’t been mentioned more in this thread.