Nicolas Cage

In preparation for finally watching Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant (09), starring Nicolas Cage. My top 20 favorite Cage films. My favorite actor.

20. Wicker Man (06)

This is a sequel. I've heard the original is actually good. This is not. It is one of the best "so bad it's good" movies ever made. So, So bad. Cage punches countless women and pretty much has a flip out the entire movie. "NOT THE BEES!!!"

19. The Rock (96)

So cool, dude.

18. Trapped in Paradise (94)

Cheesy but nice Christmas movie.

17. Snake Eyes (98)

Pretty good action/thriller.

16. Amos and Andrew (93)

Sam M.F. Jackson and Nic Cage.

15. Honeymoon in Vegas (92)


14. Wild At Heart (90)

Crazy David Lynch film. Elvis-like Nicholas Cage in his favorite snake skin jacket. It has a Wizard of Oz thing going. William Dafoe is a scary bad guy. Crispin Glover is "MAKING SANDWICHES!!!!!!!". Laura Dern is a babe, and very sexy.

13. City of Angels (98)

I couldn't tell you how many times I've watched this film and turned it off right when she raises her arms and closes her eyes on her bike. It's such a nice movie. It makes me feel real good. When the angels watch the sunrise, I can almost feel it on my own face. The movie takes huge efforts to make the viewer feel the feelings being felt. Trying to use more senses then just sight and sound.

12. Con Air (97)

The accent is SO good.

11. The Family Man (00)

In my top 5 Christmas films. I watch it every year. It's not perfect but I love to watch it. I saw Cast Away in the theater a week before I moved to Zimbabwe. I saw The Family Man in the previews for the first time. All I could think about while the movie Cast Away was playing was how I really wanted to watch The Family Man. I was 10 hours from a movie theater for the next 6 months and thought about those previews the whole time.

10. Face/Off (97)

One of my first R rated films. John Woo... (shooting two guns at the same time while jumping in slow motion).

9. Peggy Sue Got Married (86)

The best of Cage's accents. What on Earth was he thinking?

8. Leaving Las Vegas (95)

Cage looks awful. Really really great acting. Plagued by the 90s, but a heart braking movie.

7. Rumble Fish (83)

Directed by his Uncle Francis Ford Coppola. He wore a gang jacket his Dad (Francis' brother) wore in New York in the 50s.

6. Raising Arizona (87)

One of the only actually funny movies Cage has done.

5. Racing with the Moon (84)

Sean Penn and Nicholas Cage in a movie together. This movie is great because it has 10 scenes that are in my favorite places to see in movies. Bowling alley scenes in the the early 1940s!, a roller rink scene with girls, a secluded lake on a nice day with a pretty girl, hanging around railroad tracks, a tattoo parlor, an ice cream parlor, a 1940s high school, a movie theater, a bar, and a pool hall with tough guy sailors. Great American film.

4. The Weather Man (05)

I've never laughed so hard in a theater. Every time he got hit with something, I lost it.

3. Vampire's Kiss (88)

Cage is completely insane in this film. In the commentary he discusses with the director how he was practicing method acting at the time and trashed his hotel like in the his apartment in the movie. He never broke character while shooting. He actually ate 2 live cockroaches on camera. YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS MOVIE!

2. Valley Girl (83)

Favorite 80's movie, like, for sure.

1. Adaptation (02)

In my top 5 favorite films of all time. Written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze. Starring Nicholas Cage and Nicholas Cage. His greatest work.