{"id":1382,"date":"2019-02-11T00:35:17","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T00:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/?p=1382"},"modified":"2019-02-11T03:36:11","modified_gmt":"2019-02-11T03:36:11","slug":"2018-the-year-of-the-cage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/11\/2018-the-year-of-the-cage\/","title":{"rendered":"2018: The Year of the Cage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Nicolas Cage in Mandy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Everyone\u2019s favorite actor to love or hate recently announced<\/a> that he might be retiring in the next few years to focus on directing. The announcement came towards the beginning of 2018\u2014one of the best years Nicolas Cage\u2019s career has seen in a long time. Though it will be nothing short of tragic to see him go, it\u2019s fitting that what could be the last leg of his acting career might also be his most memorable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cage rose to new creative heights in 2018. He may not rank in\nannual power lists or headline Bruckheimer blockbusters like he used to, but\nthat kind of success is fleeting for anyone. The success Cage currently has is\nthe kind that lasts\u2014though it\u2019s now more appreciated by a passionate few rather\nthan an indifferent many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cage\u2019s recent appearances in multiple lower-budget films\nhave given him room to experiment and grow. When he\u2019s not working under a\nmicroscope manned by powerful agents, managers, and producers, Cage takes his greatest\nrisks. Sometimes they pay off, sometimes they don\u2019t\u2014but there\u2019s nothing else on\nEarth like watching him try. Perhaps he needed to drop off the A-List in order\nto become the Nicolas Cage he was always meant to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a Hollywood career spanning nearly forty years, Cage has experienced multiple ups and downs. If, indeed, his acting career is reaching its end, then 2018 proves it could very well be on a high note. Wildly varying in quality, the eight films in which he appeared last year range from forgettable genre efforts to major animated hits to instant cult classics\u2014and everything in-between. Whether or not the final products match the talents of Hollywood\u2019s most inventive and charmingly bizarre actor, there\u2019s no denying that they all at least benefit from Cage\u2019s wholehearted and off-kilter efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mom & Dad poster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1. Mom & Dad \u2013\nU.S. Release Date: January 19, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cage started 2018 off with an appropriately insane bang in Mom & Dad. <\/em>Written and directed by\nBrian Taylor (one-half of Cage\u2019s Ghost\nRider: Spirit of Vengeance <\/em>directorial team sans Mark Neveldine), the film\nis an under-ninety-minute blast of chaos that Cage seems to be perfectly at\nease representing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film\u2019s premise is simple: parents everywhere are suddenly\nand inexplicably overtaken by the urge to brutally murder their offspring. Human\ninstinct has turned on itself, and all the world\u2019s children are forced to\nsurvive against their now-bloodthirsty parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mom & Dad<\/em> is every bit as insane as it sounds, moving at an adrenalized pace (not unlike the Taylor\/Neveldine Crank <\/em>films) that is as involving as it is exhausting. It works on a variety of levels–first and foremost as an action\/horror blend full of shocks, scares, and suspense. It\u2019s also an intelligent and astute satire about the conflicted feelings and loss of identity behind the life of any parent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nicolas Cage in Mom & Dad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cage\u2019s performance is an unhinged, schizophrenic roller coaster.\nReminiscent of the ingenuity and energy of his early work, Cage utilizes madcap\nvocal techniques and a disciplined, silent film era-like use of his body to\nconvey the madness of his character. It is a truly demented representation of\nthe parental id coming to life. His eyes bulge, his voice cracks, he barks like\na dog, he takes far too much pleasure in curling his fist into a ball right\nbefore attacking\u2026 All of Cage\u2019s insane ideas over the years seem to make some\nform of an appearance in Mom & Dad.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a liberating performance in a film that is as thoughtful as it is bombastic. Like such early classics as Vampire\u2019s Kiss <\/em>or Wild at Heart, Mom & Dad <\/em>is a film that not only demands Cage\u2019s presence, it is elevated to entirely new heights because of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Looking Glass poster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

2. Looking Glass \u2013\nU.S. Release Date: February 16, 2018 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Looking Glass<\/em>, Cage\nplays a man who has recently relocated to a small desert town where he and his\nwife (Robin Tunney) are set to run the local motel. Hoping to restart their\nlives after losing their daughter in an accident, they instead find themselves\ncaught up in a murder mystery involving voyeurism, prostitution, small-town\nsecrets, and police corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking Glass<\/em> is a bit of a letdown considering the potential dream pairing of Cage and River\u2019s Edge <\/em>director Tim Hunter\u2014but it\u2019s not a bad movie. Taking it solely for what it is, the film is a solid and atmospheric thriller that rises above its low-budget trappings. Hunter creates a particularly strong set-up where the stifling aura of the small town slowly envelops Cage\u2019s character and creates a paranoid, though often quirky, sense of impending doom for the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nicolas Cage and Robin Tunney in Looking Glass<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The set-up makes the film\u2019s weak climax all the more disappointing, however. A generic throw-down between good and evil ends abruptly with far too many underdeveloped ideas for the film to pass of as intentionally ambiguous rather than undeniably sloppy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cage helps make up for it with his performance. He is as\nequally aroused as he is horrified by the mystery that takes over his life–and\nthe conflicting dynamic is portrayed with thought and typical passion by the\nactor. He also gets to let loose in a way Nicolas Cage only can from time to time,\nmost notably in a scene where he hits a guy with the butt of his gun in a bar\nfight, then struggles to smoke the cigarette in his hand afterwards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, Looking Glass<\/em> has enough going for it to be worth your time\u2014even if it isn\u2019t the noir masterpiece it could have been considering the talent behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Humanity Bureau poster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

3. The Humanity\nBureau \u2013 U.S. Release Date: April 6, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Humanity Bureau <\/em>is\na surprisingly watchable science-fiction thriller about a futuristic world in\nwhich a government-controlled group (see title) decides who is \u201cproductive\u201d and\nwho is a \u201cburden to the system\u201d. The select few who are deemed productive get\nto survive in a resource-depleted world\u2014even fewer of them with wealth and privilege.\nThe many who are deemed a burden get shipped off to a mysterious place referred\nto as New Eden, which, as we come to discover, isn\u2019t nearly as heavenly as it\nsounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film struggles with budget restraints, sure\u2014particularly in its forgettable and clumsy attempts at action. Where it succeeds, however, is in its ideas, its characters, and its cast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nicolas Cage in The Humanity Bureau<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Playing a representative of The Humanity Bureau who has a\nchange of heart, Cage exhibits his character\u2019s inner conflict beautifully. The\narc of his character is well handled with nuanced emotions instead of becoming\neasily\u2014and sloppily\u2014maudlin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with many of his recent performances, Cage conveys a type of introspection in The Humanity Bureau <\/em>that he never perfected in his youth. His chemistry with actors Sarah Lind and Jakob Davies (who portray the endangered mother\/son catalysts for Cage\u2019s spiritual awakening) is relaxed, effortless, and as just as effective as some of the loudest and most intense moments on his resume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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211 poster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

4. 211 \u2013 U.S. Release\nDate: June 8, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cage supposedly wanted to make this film ever since he first\nread the script in 2014. Whatever happened to that script between then and the\nfilm\u2019s release is a mystery. Perhaps breaking his ankle on set sent the\nproduction into disarray\u2014though it\u2019s doubtful the accident could have had such\nan impact. 211<\/em> is the kind of movie\nthat\u2019s so inherently bad you simply can\u2019t picture it existing any other way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 211<\/em>, Cage plays\none of many cops who interrupt a bank robbery being pulled off by mercenaries\n(one of whom is portrayed by Cage\u2019s first-born son, Weston). The film is nothing\nif not ambitious, as it sprawls through multiple subplots about the\nintersecting lives of the different characters involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

211<\/em> attempts to do far too much with too few resources–and next-to-nothing succeeds about it. For a film with so many characters, it would be nice to care about any of them. For a film with so much action, it would be nice to see it executed in any other way than a series of random, generic shots that struggle to edit together with any kind of cohesiveness. If the filmmakers had accommodated their budget by excising characters or set pieces, it might have had a chance at some form of success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nicolas Cage in 211<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cage is the movie\u2019s only saving grace\u2014though he often appears\nat a loss on what to do throughout most of it. Surrounded by a cast of largely\ninexperienced actors, Cage is primarily stoic throughout most of the film, quietly\nreacting to performances that simply aren\u2019t there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strongest scene in the film is a quiet one in which Cage\nhas a conversation with a teenage ride-a-long (Michael Rainey Jr.) about\nbullying. The actors listen to each other, react, and have a nice, human moment\nof connection that isn\u2019t forced or clumsily awkward. If only the rest of the\nmovie didn\u2019t do the exact opposite of this one standalone scene\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cage has seen far better days than 211, <\/em>but the great thing about his career is that it can survive abysmal attempts like this and immediately go onto much better things like it never even happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Teen Titans Go! to the Movies poster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

5. Teen Titans Go! To\nthe Movies \u2013 U.S. Release Date: July 27, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cartoon Network\u2019s hit animated series– which put a new\ncomedic spin on superhero sidekicks– got the theatrical treatment last year\nwith Teen Titans Go! To the Movies.<\/em> A\nminor cult family hit, the movie is a silly and entertaining experience that\nsimultaneously spoofs and celebrates superhero movies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tired of being slighted, Batman\u2019s forever sidekick Robin\ndecides he deserves to headline his own feature movie. He and the other Teen\nTitans use time travel to rid the world of superheroes for their own gain\u2014with\npredictably disastrous results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the movie, Cage hilariously voices an arrogant, vain, and slightly douche-y version of Superman. He condescends to Robin when explaining what a real superhero is and why he\u2019ll never be one, laughs a maniacal Nicolas Cage laugh when Robin is humiliated at Batman\u2019s latest movie premiere, and sports his own John Williams-scored musical theme as his cellphone ringtone. Cage reportedly had a blast <\/a>playing the role, which is as obvious as it is contagious to the film\u2019s audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nicolas Cage voices Superman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Comedic value aside, Teen Titans Go! To the Movies <\/em>finally allowed Cage to realize his long-held dream of portraying the Man of Steel. As many know, one of the biggest disappointments of his career happened in the late-90\u2019s when Cage\u2019s and director Tim Burton\u2019s Superman Lives<\/em> was cancelled shortly before the beginning of production. While Teen Titans Go! To the Movies<\/em> probably isn\u2019t the best representation of what he and Burton were going to do with their legendary unmade, it at least offers some closure for fans and, one can hope, for Cage himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fun fact: Cage\u2019s second-born son, Kal-El, was named after Superman. Kal-el also makes a vocal appearance in the film as a young Bruce Wayne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mandy poster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

6. Mandy \u2013 U.S.\nRelease Date: September 14, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mandy <\/em>is the\nsimplest of stories told in the most complex of ways–a B-movie with art film\naesthetics. Cage plays Red, a lumberjack who lives an ethereal life in the woods\nwith his artist girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough), Mandy. Their world is\nshattered when Mandy dies a brutal death at the hands of cult leader Jeremiah\nSand (Linus Roache) and his followers. Red then takes vengeance, and the film\nbecomes a brutally psychedelic head trip\/revenge fantasy\/meditation on loss\nthat is as much an exercise in style as it is symbolic of\u2026 well, something <\/em>bigger than itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mandy <\/em>lives in its\nown reality and works with its own logic. It\u2019s a death metal poem brought to\nlife: passionately violent, intensely focused, and beautifully aggressive in\nits execution. On an emotional and aesthetic level, it makes perfect sense. On\na logical one, there are a number of routes to take, but they all lead to\ninterpretations that are as ambiguous as Mr. Sand\u2019s sexuality. It\u2019s a wholly\noriginal experience with a singular vision by cowriter\/director Panos Cosmatos.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What other actor alive could exhibit these qualities more\nthan Nicolas Cage?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-producer Elijah Wood (Cage\u2019s costar in the underrated The Trust<\/em>) first offered him the role of Jeremiah Sand\u2014the Christian acid worshiper\/cult leader\/rapist\/murderer\/wannabe-musician. While Cage would have been an interesting choice, he was wise to hold out for Red. His presence is simply too familiar to be as effective and disturbing as Linus Roache\u2019s (a relative unknown) is as Jeremiah. Within the dynamics of the film, Cage would have been too much of a good thing as the villain. As the \u201chero\u201d of a film whose logic and design is as bent as this one, however, he\u2019s just right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nicolas Cage in Mandy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Like Mom & Dad<\/em>,\nMandy<\/em> feels like a culmination of\nstrengths developed by Cage in his early work. His performance in Mandy<\/em> expands upon this by drawing on the\nmaturity and stillness he discovered much later in his career, as well. The\nNicolas Cage of today knows how to hold back as much as he knows how to let loose\u2014and\nthe film provides him with plenty of opportunities to do both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Mandy<\/em>\u2019s first half, everything about Cage\u2019s performance is internal. When he\u2019s at work, he\u2019s quietly focused and determined\u2014doing a man\u2019s man job with stoicism and integrity. When he\u2019s alone with Mandy, he\u2019s more peaceful and playful\u2014but always grounded and quiet in his reactions. He watches Mandy with a gaze that would almost read as expressionless if his eyes weren\u2019t so full of awestruck wonder at the sight of her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the film rises in intensity and insanity, Cage\u2019s performance matches it twofold. His already-classic breakdown after Mandy\u2019s murder, his bug-eyed Bruce Lee homage after snapping a man\u2019s neck, his Nicolas Cage-twanged line delivery of \u201cyou ripped my favorite shirt!\u201d in the middle of a brutal fight, pronouncing himself a god while crushing a man\u2019s skull\u2014 there are enough gargantuan moments of pure off-the-wall craziness in Mandy <\/em>that it would make the actor\u2019s mid-20\u2019s-cockroach-eating-self green with envy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mandy <\/em>is the best of many worlds when it comes to Nicolas Cage. It not only highlights where he\u2019s been and where he\u2019s at, it points to where he\u2019s going and what he could still accomplish.  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse poster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

7. Spider-Man: Into\nthe Spider-Verse \u2013 U.S. Release Date: December 14, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some months after the release of Teen Titans Go! To The Movies, <\/em>Cage\u2019s vocal talents appeared in yet\nanother animated feature about superheroes. In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse<\/em>, he voices Spider-Man Noir\u2014a\ndarker, black-and-white take on the web slinger who comes from the time of the\nGreat Depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Into the Spider-Verse <\/em>is a clever, gorgeously animated effort that features a new Spider-Man (Mile Morales as voiced by Shameik Moore) taking over the reigns. In this story, Miles crosses paths with Spider-Men from other dimensions (Spider-Ham, Spider-Gwen, Peni Parker, Peter Parker, Peter B. Parker, and Cage\u2019s Spider-Man Noir) to fight a common enemy. While the film is groundbreaking in its presentation (it looks like comic book art brought to life), it focuses too heavily on yet another Spider-Man origin story–and not enough on its inventive selection of side characters\u2014to be something truly special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nicolas Cage voices Spider-Man Noir<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Though Cage is underused, he still manages to stand out.\nCage brings humor to the humorless and literal-minded Spider-Man Noir by\nplaying him with a dry, ironic wit. He has fun with the character\u2019s\nnear-monotone and over-serious line deliveries. The brooding tough-guy act is\njust overdone and just over-serious enough to bring laughs, but not so much\nthat he becomes a one-dimensional joke. The only real fault to the character,\nif there is one, is that you can\u2019t help but crave more of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, it\u2019s great for Cage\u2019s name to be attached to any blockbuster of Into the Spider-Verse<\/em>\u2019s size since it pays the way for more mind-blowing efforts like Mandy <\/em>or Mom & Dad. <\/em>One could also hope, with the notice and praise he has received for such a minimal role, that we might just get to hear Cage voice his very own Spider-Man Noir-centered movie in the not-too-distant future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Between Worlds poster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

8. Between Worlds \u2013\nU.S. Release Date: December 21, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between Worlds<\/em>\nrevolves around a woman (Run Lola Run<\/em>\u2019s\nFranka Potente) who is able to contact spirits in the afterlife when she\nherself is near-death. While trying to help her close-to-dying daughter\n(Penelope Mitchell), a hapless truck driver (Cage) intervenes. Due to his\ninterference, the daughter\u2019s spirit is stuck in the afterlife while the femme\nfatale ghost of Cage\u2019s deceased wife uses her body as a host. A very confused\nCage eventually beds both (all three?) of them. Needless to say, Cage\u2019s wife\nisn\u2019t in a rush to return to death and decides to capitalize on her opportunity\nfor a second life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between Worlds <\/em>is\nevery bit as sleazy, schlocky, and silly as it sounds–but it does manage to\nclose Cage\u2019s impressive year on an appropriately bizarre and outlandish note.\nWhile it is a clumsy film that fails to tell an involving or cohesive story, it\nsucceeds by hosting a set of memorable and bizarre characters brought to life\nby some lively, if somewhat undisciplined, performances\u2014with Cage\u2019s predictably\nbeing the most off the rails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a technical standpoint, Between Worlds <\/em>feels like a student film. Many shots don\u2019t edit together particularly well and there is a rushed, unrefined nature to most of its staging. Also like a student film, however, there is an earnest and passionate charm to Between Worlds <\/em>that prevents it from being a completely wasted effort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Penelope Mitchell and Nicolas Cage in Between Worlds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All of the actors give fresh, vivacious performances that\nare odds with the film\u2019s awkward presentation. Writer\/director Maria Pulera has\na genuine gift for pulling spontaneous and playful moments out of her\nactors\u2014she just needs a little guidance and practice elsewhere. In spite of its\nmany faults, the film still maintains a quirky, colorful charm at its core that\nis no doubt a benefit of her unique touch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cage is as wild as he\u2019s ever been in Between Worlds. <\/em>It doesn\u2019t appear that the word \u201cno\u201d was something he heard too often while making it. He plays the character of Joe with a goofiness that is usually reserved for comedy, but commits to his tragedy so fully that Cage still manages to create a complete and satisfying dramatic character out of him. His softer scenes with Potente are breezy and fun, showcasing Cage at ease with an actress with whom he shares a genuinely palpable chemistry. He also gets to go to some extreme levels of Nicolas Cage-ness, particularly in a bizarre montage where he has sex with his wife (and the body that hosts her spirit) while reading from a book of poems called Memories<\/em> written by none other than\u2026 Nicolas Cage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cage appears to be having a lot of fun in Between Worlds. <\/em>While it\u2019s not a\nparticularly good movie, it is an interesting and memorable one made all the\nmore so by Cage letting lose and seemingly not caring about the consequences. At\nthe end of the day, isn\u2019t that all we want from a Nicolas Cage movie, anyway?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everyone\u2019s favorite actor to love or hate recently announced that he might be retiring in the next few years to focus on directing. The announcement came towards the beginning of 2018\u2014one of the best years Nicolas Cage\u2019s career has seen in a long time. Though it will be nothing short of tragic to see him […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-feature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1382"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1417,"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1382\/revisions\/1417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}