Shoot him again, his soul's still dancing

February 3, 2021 2:36 PM

With Sion Sono's US debut "Prisoners of the Ghostland" premiering in Sundance, it's time to provide a definitive ranking of Nicolas Cage's craziest performances.
posted by sapagan (11 comments total)

The article doesn't even mention Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. If he's shot past that performance half a dozen times since then, I really need to catch up!
posted by lefty lucky cat at 3:00 PM on February 3, 2021 [6 favorites]

It's not definitive, nor is it a ranking--they're not in order of crazy. It's a sampling, with ratings. Fail.
posted by goatdog at 3:46 PM on February 3, 2021

Vampire's Kiss got only 8 1/2 demented Cage faces & I was disappointed, but after reading the description of Mandy which got 9, I understand. Also looking forward to Colour Out of Space with 9 1/2 and the new one with 10. Cage is not mellowing with age; awesome!
posted by ASCII Costanza head at 4:29 PM on February 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

I want to see this movie NOW. Sion Sono and Nicholas Cage working together? This is gonna be amazing.
posted by LindsayIrene at 4:49 PM on February 3, 2021

I will take the bait and say I'd swap the ratings for The Color Out of Space and Mandy, but that may be just down to Mandy itself influencing me ... I think it was the more fucked up of the two movies.

Mandy also ruined a few seasons of Vikings for us: Every time King Ecbert was on screen, I'd whistle a few bars of "Amulet of the Weeping Maze," because I couldn't un-see Jeremiah Sand.
posted by mph at 4:50 PM on February 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

Man what an unbelievably miserable user experience that site is. Every screen length of material interrupting the article with a screen length ad for their shit, regularly cutting between the movie and the rating. Not to mention the rating isn't given in numbers, just heads, so if I really care how crazy they thought Vampire's Kiss was well, guess I get to count it myself.

Anyway I hope the new movie is good Cage elevates just about everything he's in.
posted by graventy at 5:08 PM on February 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

Slight derail, but can I just gush about how fucking brilliant Mandy is? Such a great job establishing tone and creeping horror and just plain weirdness. I always complain that horror movies are never scary, but Mandy stuck with me a long time. Nick Cage is perfect for it, as I think the film is even more bonkers than Nick Cage; usually it's Cage bringing the crazy, but he's almost a stabilizing presence in that movie.
posted by zardoz at 5:33 PM on February 3, 2021 [5 favorites]

Why the hell isn't Never on a Tuesday here?
posted by BiggerJ at 5:52 PM on February 3, 2021

zardoz, there's a pretty great discussion of Mandy over on Fanfare if you want to gush some more.
posted by treepour at 6:25 PM on February 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

what an unbelievably miserable user experience that site is. Every screen length of material interrupting the article with a screen length ad for their shit

Every now and then I read something like this and it takes me a second to remember that refusing to browse the Web without uBlock Origin active is just better, and not merely a protest stance based on the deeply held belief that the advertising industry is primarily to blame for the ongoing ruination of everything that's ever been wholesome and good in the entire history of human civilization.
posted by flabdablet at 9:18 PM on February 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

Uh, excuse me, listmakers:

DEADFALL or GTFO
posted by Saxon Kane at 1:49 PM on February 10, 2021