1. The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans
2. Adaptation
3. Leaving Las Vegas
4. Wild at Heart
5. Matchstick Men
When he is bad, he is really bad but boy, can he delivers ? One of the most talented actors around.
Maybe he's bad only when he's bored.
shareVampire's Kiss. Seriously.
shareThe following are my favorite Cage performances
1. Wild At Heart
2. Bringing Out The Dead
3. Raising Arizona
4. Adaptation
5. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
6. Matchstick Men
7. Lord Of War
8. 8MM
9.Valley Girl (Cage's [performance is just decent but the film is a perfect time capsule of the 80's pop aesthetic)
If I had to pick a favorite performance it would probably be either Bringing Out The Dead or Adaption, for the way he was able to overcome his own natural ability to overact and be manic, and was able to perfectly capture these burned out, stressed out characters.
There are a few other films I think he's good in (Kick-Ass, The Rock, Snake Eyes, etc) but, the list is my 9 favorite performances
Dog Eat Dog & The Trust are OK in my book.
shareI always liked Family Man.
shareThe Family Man is a great, underrated film. People like to talk shit on Brett Ratner, but he has shown that he can make a genuinely good movie when he's on his A-game, and The Family Man is probably the best of them. (Rush Hour and Red Dragon would be two other good Ratner pics.)
Cage is great in the film and was the perfect choice for the role. He resists his impulse to indulge in Cageisms and delivers a very normal but good and effective performance.
Ah, the good old days, when he was still an in-demand actor who was sought by top producers and directors. I miss those days.
Actors worth is in their ability to choose movies we actually want to see. Burn that good will with audiences and you burn your reputation forever.
shareIn Nic's case, he had bills to pay. I don't think he really had much choice, with the IRS standing at his door.
It's unfortunate that he got himself into that position, but once he was there he had to take work where it was offered.
In any case, Bruce Willis and Robert De Niro have both appeared in a bunch of shitty direct-to-video films over the last handful of years but their reputation doesn't seem to have suffered nearly as much as Cage's and they are still getting called up for more prestigious projects.
1. Adaptation
2. Lord of War
3. Raising Arizona
4. The Weather Man
I haven't seen some of his most lauded movies (Moonstruck, Leaving Las Vegas), so I'll leave five blank, as it would mostly be a toss-up between something like National Treasure and Gone in 60 Seconds - typical action lead roles.
I was kinda weirdly entertained by Ghost Rider, though.
Face/Off
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