OPO: Nicolas Cage's Worst Movie

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I forgot about Matchstick Men yesterday when we were talking about this. That's a good movie too.

Alex in SF, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:09 (sixteen years ago) link

I saw that Wicker Man has the widow from Deadwood in it. Is there tittay?

Oilyrags, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:09 (sixteen years ago) link

dude there's tittay in deadwood!

gff, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:12 (sixteen years ago) link

and that should stop me from seeking out more why?

Oilyrags, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:14 (sixteen years ago) link

Basically Nicolas Cage should have just stayed a character actor and never been "promoted" to the action hero/lead role. So it's usually pretty easy to tell which of his movies are going to be good (the quirkier ones that actually involve acting and stories) and which ones are going to be terrible (the big blockbusters). Face/Off and Con-Air are the exceptions, as the big blockbusters that are insane enough to be enjoyable.

n/a, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:14 (sixteen years ago) link

It was a tough choice between 8MM and City of Angels, but I chose the former.

Can't see what all the hate is for though, most of his films I've seen have been either good or great: Birdy, Peggy Sue Got Married, Raising Arizona, Moonstruck, Wild at Heart, The Rock, Bringing Out the Dead, Adaptation, Matchstick Men, The Weather Man... That's not a bad average.

Tuomas, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:16 (sixteen years ago) link

i concede your point, Oilyrags.

gff, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:17 (sixteen years ago) link

8mm is so stupid

gff, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:17 (sixteen years ago) link

lol I think the only person who likes National Treasure. It's a mindbogglingly silly rip-off of the Da Vinci Code and therefore about ten times more fun.

I'm going with Sonny - saw that once on TV and couldn't believe I wasted a couple of hours of my life on it.

Roz, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:17 (sixteen years ago) link

Ignoring Deadfall (which was basically a family-inspired cameo anyway), I find his making FIVE banal romantic comedies in a row really fascinating, especially when it comes right after a near decade of inspired insanity. From Kiss Of Death on it's pretty varied.

da croupier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:19 (sixteen years ago) link

don't get me wrong there's a bunch of good, interesting performances up through at least Wild At Heart, but from the early 90s on - oof what a slide.

Personally I love him in Peggy Sue Got Married ("You don't know ZIP!" "I've got the TEETH, I've got the HAIR" etc.), Raising Arizona, Valey Girl, Moonstruck, etc.

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:20 (sixteen years ago) link

8mm is one of the worst movies evar - but i havent seen most of these

jhøshea, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:20 (sixteen years ago) link

xpost to self: actually, just banal comedies. Amos & Andrew and Trapped In Paradise weren't really romantic (outside of potential homoerotic subtext).

I can't really answer this poll because while I've seen a lot of crappy Cage movies, there are plenty I've ignored as well.

da croupier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:21 (sixteen years ago) link

Guarding Tess was hella romantic though.

da croupier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:21 (sixteen years ago) link

In fact, I think The Weather Man was one of the best movies I've seen this decade, and lot of it was due to Cage and Michael Caine. But because it wasn't an indie movie with and indie director and indie actors, it got a lot less cinephile attention than, say, Wes Anderson's movies.

Tuomas, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:21 (sixteen years ago) link

It's alright, Roz, I liked National Treasure too, you're not alone. Of the one's I've seen, I think "It Could Happen To You" is the one I'd least like to see again. Though I'm guessing there are worse that I haven't seen because of my internal quality control (would I be right in saying that The Weather Man is pointless and not very good?).

um, xpost

ailsa, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:24 (sixteen years ago) link

(ignore random apostrophe there plz)

ailsa, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:24 (sixteen years ago) link

think The Weather Man was one of the best movies I've seen this decade, and lot of it was due to Cage and Michael Caine

Two of my least favourite actors in one film - thank Buddha I've never seen it

Tom D., Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:25 (sixteen years ago) link

how can anybody hate Michael Caine

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:28 (sixteen years ago) link

All these movies you guys are mentioning are worse than _Ghost Rider_?

Sundar, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:28 (sixteen years ago) link

Like I told Shakey on another poll yesterday, Nicolas Cage was BORN to sell out, so there's no need to rend our garments over a talent betrayed. The burden of proof is to show otherwise.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:28 (sixteen years ago) link

I voted for "Wicker Man", based on the clips I've seen on "YouTube". If there's a worse one than that, I don't want to even know about it.

Pashmina, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:29 (sixteen years ago) link

how can anybody hate Michael Caine

Ha ha, I don't hate him, I just don't think he's a very good actor - though he has occasionally been good.

Now Michael Caine's Worst Movie - where would you start?!??!

Tom D., Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:31 (sixteen years ago) link

you are talking a pile of poo re: Michael Caine.

But the answer to that poll is Jaws 4: The Revenge.

kenan, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:31 (sixteen years ago) link

Oh yeah, Peter O'Toole, he's another one

Tom D., Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:32 (sixteen years ago) link

The one in which he won a lottery, what was that named?

Heave Ho, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:34 (sixteen years ago) link

Jaws 4 no question

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:34 (sixteen years ago) link

The Wicker Man might be my favorite movie of his since Snake Eyes, even if that opinion is smothered in irony sauce.

x-post to Heave Ho: It Could Happen To You

da croupier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:35 (sixteen years ago) link

Nicolas Cage wasn't in "Jaws 4" was he?

Tom D., Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:36 (sixteen years ago) link

leaving las vegas. i haven't seen most of the undoubtedly awful movies on this list, but even the smidgen of matchstick men i saw was better than leaving las vegas.

tipsy mothra, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:40 (sixteen years ago) link

oh man, i forgot about FIRE BIRDS

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00008L3UF.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

kingfish, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:41 (sixteen years ago) link

Yeah, it's hard to hate someone when you don't actually see the movies he's in that are supposed hateworthy.

These are the only Nic Cage films I've seen:

World Trade Center (2006)
Adaptation (2002)
Face/Off (1997)
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Wild at Heart (1990)
Moonstruck (1987)
Raising Arizona (1987)

jaymc, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:47 (sixteen years ago) link

also, Lord of War is the best movie no one's ever seen.

Roz, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 17:00 (sixteen years ago) link

ts: Leaving Las Vegas vs. Honeymoon in Vegas

kenan, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 17:01 (sixteen years ago) link

I've seen 7 of these, I think. I haven't seen Ghost Rider but I voted for it on GP.

Jordan, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 17:03 (sixteen years ago) link

lol I think the only person who likes National Treasure

i liked it ok! i don't understand the vitriolic reactions around here to such a harmless, fluffy movie.

as for my vote, i'd go with "Gone in 60 seconds"

latebloomer, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 17:05 (sixteen years ago) link

the weatherman is REALLY good. and lord of war is pretty decent! and i still think Adaptation is way, way better than Eternal Sunshine

ryan, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 18:00 (sixteen years ago) link

waht

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 18:00 (sixteen years ago) link

8mm is the worst film ever made so it walks this.

Noodle Vague, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 18:00 (sixteen years ago) link

I really do not get the love for Adaptation, such a cop-out of a film

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 18:00 (sixteen years ago) link

Cage IS decent in it - he pulls off the twin thing well - but I remember feeling the film didn't take advantage of its best ideas.

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 18:01 (sixteen years ago) link

His accent in Peggie Sue Got Married is something to hear.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 18:02 (sixteen years ago) link

Adaptation = Eternal Sunshine without the twee emo crap and narcissism (ok, less narcissism)

ryan, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 18:06 (sixteen years ago) link

but... they're completely different movies about completely different things! And Adaptation has an even shittier twee-Hollywood-happy ending!

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 18:07 (sixteen years ago) link

Adaptation is a great movie.

horseshoe, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 18:10 (sixteen years ago) link

Eternal Sunshine = Adaptation without the meta crap and narcissism.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 18:14 (sixteen years ago) link

you people are crazy.

horseshoe, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 18:14 (sixteen years ago) link

STEP AWAY FROM THE BIKE

Matt #2, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 18:19 (sixteen years ago) link

I don't understand why anyone would think its so great to make a shitty film that tries to explain away its shittiness with a completely transparent "I MEANT to do that, because I'm rebelling against Hollywood" subtext. Its way more smug and self-serving and boring than anything in Eternal Sunshine - which is probably the most moving, genuinely emotional "romantic comedy" I've seen in at least 20 years.

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 18:20 (sixteen years ago) link

Eternal Sunshine = Adaptation without the meta crap and narcissism.

that's funny!

i think i find the characters in Adaptation more interesting. more adult anyway...i think the subjects of grief and love in that film are more subtle, and definitely less sunk into the detritus of a failed relationship that isn't that interesting to begin with.

i think, however, that a lot of the problems with Sunshine are more due to Gondry and the performances than the script as written. it required a more detached eye, for my taste.

ryan, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 18:22 (sixteen years ago) link

oh fucking dammit i could have helped 8mm tie for first. wtf kind of p.i. never heard of snuff films ???!!!

tremendoid, Monday, 27 August 2007 23:07 (sixteen years ago) link

no in the movie he was aware of them. still what a shitty shitty movie.

latebloomer, Monday, 27 August 2007 23:31 (sixteen years ago) link

one year passes...

i can' believe i've seen 25 of these movies.

anyway, i finally watched The Weather Man last night and i really liked it! i only watched it cuz i actually like bad nic cage movies so i figured this was just one more and i had completely forgotten what it was about or any reviews of it that i might have read. so, it was a surprise. i mean, it's not perfect or anything, but it had some really good funny/cringeworthy moments. and unlike most male pattern baldness midlife crisis mad-as-hell-not-gonna-etc movies there was no big fake explosion moment where the character just decides to let it all hang out and act irrationally and smoke pot and make a big speech about how he doesn't give a fuck anymore. the ending is actually pretty weird. i didn't really know where things would end up and i liked that.

scott seward, Sunday, 21 June 2009 22:42 (fourteen years ago) link

Yeah I like that movie quite a bit I voted for it on the Michael Caine poll he's pretty good in this.

Eastürzendes Annoybaten (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 21 June 2009 23:16 (fourteen years ago) link

The Family Man got no votes. lol

III IV V (Bo Jackson Overdrive), Monday, 22 June 2009 00:07 (fourteen years ago) link

one year passes...

The one positive review:

It's creaky, predictable and frequently idiotic. But for a tipsy Saturday night, this should tick all the right boxes.

Ned Raggett, Friday, 7 January 2011 15:35 (thirteen years ago) link

with friends like that

all i gotta do is akh nachivly (darraghmac), Friday, 7 January 2011 15:37 (thirteen years ago) link

totally read that as "lick all the right boxes"

da croupier, Friday, 7 January 2011 16:43 (thirteen years ago) link

deffo gonna peep season o' the witch dis weekend

Princess TamTam, Friday, 7 January 2011 16:48 (thirteen years ago) link

one month passes...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/feb/19/nicholas-cage-bad-film-guide

the problem i have with cage is that i even like his shit films. well apart from ghost rider, that was the absolute worst.

titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Monday, 21 February 2011 14:08 (thirteen years ago) link

drive angry is shit... not as bad as bangkok dangerous or whatever it was called

for all the fucked-up children of this world we give you 1p3 (history mayne), Monday, 21 February 2011 14:09 (thirteen years ago) link

Guardian commenters unusually OTM. Don't write about Nic Cage if you don't even like Face/Off and Con Air.

Lord of War is underrated.

I've been dancing since 9 and I'm tired and hungry (Dorianlynskey), Monday, 21 February 2011 14:20 (thirteen years ago) link

actually i meant bangkok dangerous. that one was pretty shit. but i really liked the sorcerers apprentice!

titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Monday, 21 February 2011 15:55 (thirteen years ago) link

My wife was watching National Treasure yesterday and that is such an awful movie. It made Da Vinci Code look like Citizen Kane.

rendezvous then i'm through with HOOS (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 21 February 2011 16:02 (thirteen years ago) link

yeah Lord Of War i'd put up there with Matchstick Men as one of the few later Cage flicks that's just a perfectly good movie

some dude, Monday, 21 February 2011 16:12 (thirteen years ago) link

Bad Lieutenant may be may favorite Cageflick, it seemed to have sank like a stone but if you like Nic Cage as much as I do you should enjoy it; it's basically Nic Cage flipping out on random people for a good hour and a half. Very much like The Vampire's Kiss (another A+ flick in my book). I don't think he's ever made a bad movie. Even the terrible stuff like Season of the Witch or Ghost Rider is at least funny because he's in it. Also, keep in mind that these are my favorite things that Nic Cage has ever done:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYkw-5htPw0

frogbs, Monday, 21 February 2011 16:40 (thirteen years ago) link

"I don't think he's ever made a bad movie."

I believe it when people say he's totally without self-awareness because NEXT would have been saved if
Cage was at all aware about what it is people want to see him for, instead of playing a corpse the entire movie.
Even worse than Affleck's stab at PKD.

Philip Nunez, Monday, 21 February 2011 17:38 (thirteen years ago) link

I admire Cage as an actor because he seemingly does not give a shit about what roles he takes and whether it's good for his actorly "reputation". Of course this means that he'll appear in lots of shitty movies but 9/10 times they're watchable because of him.

pre-prison, prison, and post-prison (latebloomer), Monday, 21 February 2011 19:22 (thirteen years ago) link

I think my personal Nick Cage turning point was Wicker Man, because no other actor could pull that kind of ridiculousness off. Wicker Man would just be a bad remake of a classic horror flick instead of a hilariously batshit bad remake of a horror classic.

pre-prison, prison, and post-prison (latebloomer), Monday, 21 February 2011 19:29 (thirteen years ago) link

I was down on Cage for a while then saw him in Kick-Ass, where he was gold through and through--he knew exactly what to do with that role. Very disappointed that the makers of the Green Hornet flick didn't let him do his jamaican-accented bad guy.

WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Monday, 21 February 2011 20:24 (thirteen years ago) link

I think my personal Nick Cage turning point was Wicker Man, because no other actor could pull that kind of ridiculousness off.

That's basically why I like the man so much. Lots of his roles - The Vampire's Kiss, The Weather Man, Bad Lieutenant, Kick-Ass, etc. etc. just could not be done by anyone else. I mean the guy acts like a lunatic in every movie (and his off-screen persona backs this up) and plays every role 110%. The scene where he eats a cockroach in "Vampire's Kiss" wasn't even in the script!! He just suggested, "I think it would be better if I ate a cockroach here", so he did it. Daaamn

frogbs, Monday, 21 February 2011 21:00 (thirteen years ago) link

yeah idg how anyone can hate on someone this batshit - he's game for anything. Nothing's beneath this guy. If Tommy Wiseau wanted him to play a dog he'd probably do it. you gotta avoid half his films like the plague but I can't imagine a cinema without him. Also would love to see a super-insider doc about him blowing his millions.

Cosmo Vitelli, Monday, 21 February 2011 21:05 (thirteen years ago) link

eight years pass...

Ouch. "A Score To Settle" (2019). OUCH!
Has a death scene to rival that of Peter Sellers' bugler in "The Party". Not kidding.

Carly Jae Vespen (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, 7 August 2019 23:26 (four years ago) link

two years pass...

Still doin it:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6372694/

Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 14 September 2021 23:04 (two years ago) link

Whether that's gonna be good or not probably depends on how much one would want to see Boomtown Festival: The Movie

Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Tuesday, 14 September 2021 23:16 (two years ago) link

Impressed that there's barely any mention of Deadfall itt. But it may actually be the greatest of all his performances so maybe it has no place here.

Marty J. Bilge (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 14 September 2021 23:28 (two years ago) link


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