21 days is not an insignificant amount of time. I know this now. With the average Cage movie clocking in at around an hour and 45 minutes, that means I’ve spent well over an entire day of the past three weeks watching Nic Cage movies. I’m pretty sure that’s a really good thing. This was another rock solid week quality wise. I’ve been told by others that I’m starting to slip into Cage like speech-patterns more and more. +10 points for me. Let’s review.

Day 15: Tempo di Uccidere (1990) – Dir. Giuliano Montaldo

I don’t know how Cage ended up doing this Italian movie, but it was definitely a great call on his part. I’ll admit, I hadn’t seen it, and I kind of assumed it would be and extended thin-mustached version of a Suntory Whiskey commercial. Not the case. Strange, certainly, but quite good. Oh Mars was right in his comment on my last post, the scene of Cage giving an iguana a cigarette is probably the highlight, but there are more serious (though still hallucinatory) moments throughout this “war” movie. It’s technically about an italian soldier in Africa, but it’s more of a metaphorical journey through time and the garden of eden and shit. Benissimo!

Day 16: Zandalee (1990) – Dir. Sam Pillsbury

So if you’ve seen the Nic Cage flipping out montage on YouTube, this is the one where he covers himself head to toe in black paint. It’s a straight-to-VHS southern erotic thriller set in the French Quarter of New Orleans and it features a lot of sweating and mustaches (a commonality I’m finding in many Cage films). Judge Reinhold plays a guy named Thierry. And the main girl’s name is Zandalee. So, y’know, that’s pretty dumb.

There’s a lot of Cage having really intense sex and saying super explicit stuff and painting on naked people, which was all relatively amusing if not a little creepy at times. He’s actually not as bad as everyone else is, especially in the beginning before the eroticism kicks into ludicrous speed. Nice cameos from Joe Pantoliano as a cross dressing sage figure and Steve Buscemi as a thieving garbage man. The more I write about it the more I realize this movie is really strange.

Day 17: Wild At Heart (1990) – Dir. David Lynch

This, for me, is probably the apex of this whole experience. Sailor Ripley is the role Nic Cage was born to play. No one else could’ve done what he did with David Lynch’s twisted take on Elvis Presley. If you haven’t seen Wild At Heart before, stop what you’re doing and watch it immediately. It’s Lynch’s retelling of The Wizard Of Oz. What part of that doesn’t scream “fucking awesome”? The amount of acting/stylistic victories here are astounding. First off, Dern and Cage are perfect perfect perfect as Sailor and Lula. This movie definitely fostered my huge crush on Laura Dern.

Their relationship is the center of the film and they carry it with ease. The scene in which they find hardcore music on the radio whilst driving through Texas and stop to thrashdance in the sunset is an achievement to match any in Lynch’s canon. Willem Dafoe absolutely murders it as dentally challenged villain Bobby Peru, and Grace Zabriskie has a nightmare inducing cameo as a crippled mono-browed hitwoman. Diane Ladd (Dern’s actually mother) also steals scenes like pennycandy as Lula’s deranged protective mom. I watched the Lime Green Set version this time, which had over an hour of deleted scenes which were also all really great. Extremely hard, if not impossible, to top this one.

Day 18: Honeymoon In Vegas (1992) – Dir. Andrew Bergman

Talk about shifting gears. A lighthearted and absurd comedy with Cage, James Caan, and the bane of my existence, Sarah Jessica Parker. I’m sorry, but I just do not get it with her. Her presence almost ruined Ed Wood for me, which is a movie I otherwise love, so I guess I’ve always just held a grudge for that. Anyway, in this one Cage ends up indebted to Caan for a lot of money and basically ends up whoring out his girlfriend to him to pay off the debts. They try to play it off as really funny, but it is actually sort of uncomfortable at times. It does have a great ending. Cage, dressed up in a light-up Elvis costume (right after Wild At Heart no less) skydiving over Las Vegas to scoop up his love from the villainous Caan. Nice Work.

Day 19: Amos & Andrew (1993) – Dir. E. Max Frye

I had watched Eve’s Bayou earlier in the day, so this actually turned into a double dose of Sam Jackson day for me. There are worse things in the world. He actually did this movie right after Jurassic Park, and he looks exactly like he does in that movie, which is a look he doesn’t exactly sport often. Nice. So, Andrew Sterling (Jackson) is a Pulitzer winning author who moves to a white neighborhood, and on his first night is mistaken by the racist cops as a robber. Then they try to blame his near death at the hands of a rookie officer on Nic Cage. Hilarity ensues? Meh. The movie kinds of sucks, but Cage and Jackson are both top notch actors so the scenes between the two of them are not half bad. Nic Cage calls everyone “bro” which is a definite plus. His name is Amos. lulz.

Day 20: Deadfall (1993) – Dir. Christopher Coppola

Holy fuck was I excited to watch this. Near the top of my list of batshit crazy Cage performances that I knew existed but hadn’t been blessed to see up to know. Who knew the rest of the movie would be as odd. Michael Biehn is on super duper autopilot as the conman protagonist. Cage, Charlie Sheen, and Angus Scrimm are the definite stars here. Cage plays a criminal lackey named Eddy, and boy howdy what a performance, complete with mustache (again) and fucking absurd bowl cut wig. He does not say one thing normally in this movie, flowing in and out of accents and mannerisms like a proto-Nicki Minaj. Lots of writhing on beds and yelling. Slits a dudes throat. Gets face fried off in hot oil. Game, set, match. Charlie Sheen in confusing cameo as billiards hustler. Angus Scrimm with robotic claw arm. Aaaaaaand scene.

Day 21: Red Rock West (1993) – Dir. John Dahl

An underrated gem. This is actually a movie I recommend a lot to people who say they’ve never seen a good Cage performance. All in all a very solid movie. That whole opening sequence, with Cage shaving and doing one armed push ups by his beat up car on the middle of a loooong stretch of glimmering highway. Westerns, motherfucker. Cage actually reels it in here, delivering one of his quieter performances and letting Dennis Hopper chomp away at the scenery. Which he does. And it’s great. This movie really captures that feeling of being trapped in a situation, as Cage finds himself in a web of lies that stem from one silly little mistake. Thematically actually sort of similar to A Serious Man, now that I think of it. Cage also rocks a Canadian tuxedo for the entirety of this movie.

Well there you have it, another week another bunch of winners. Gonna really start getting into the meat of his blockbusters next week with The Rock and Con Air (another favorite). Plus, his Oscar winning performance in Leaving Las Vegas. What do y’all think of this weeks films?

All Posts: Intro, Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10.

- Whole Milk