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Happy Birthday to Nicolas Cage
Happy Birthday to Nicolas Cage!
The famous actor turns 50 years old today.
Although he and his career have basically imploded and taken a nosedive in the last 7 years, Nicolas Cage is still one of my favorite actors of all time.
Unfortunately he has disgraced us all with the absurdity and awfulness of The Wicker Man (2006), Ghost Rider (2007), The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010), Season of the Witch (2011), Drive Angry (2011), Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011), and The Frozen Ground (2013).
However, let us not forget the jewels that he has bestowed upon us with:
Lord of War (2005),
The Weather Man (2005),
National Treasure (2004),
Matchstick Men (2003),
The Family Man (2000),
Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000),
Bringing Out the Dead (1999),
Face/Off (1997),
Con Air (1997),
The Rock (1996),
Leaving Las Vegas (1995),
Kiss of Death (1995),
and Raising Arizona (1987).
The man can still act. Every once in a while he gets his act together and creates something that is reminiscent of the Nicolas Cage of old. I still watch his films with a shimmer of hope because one day he could turn it all around and return to greatness. One day he just might make his comeback. He is not getting any younger, but 50 years old is something to celebrate. Happy Birthday Nic and thank you for the excellent movie watching experiences!
Click on the links below to read my Nicolas Cage movie reviews:
Kick-Ass 2 (2013)
Kick-Ass 2 (2013)
After being surprised at how much Kick-Ass (2010) actually kicked ass, I was excited to see this sequel.
This time around Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has teamed up with a group fellow wannabe superheroes that he inspired to dress up and fight crime. Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is out for revenge on Kick-Ass and has gathered a group of so-called super villains to destroy him and everyone he knows.
The movie was written and directed by Jeff Wadlow and the rest of the noteworthy cast includes Chloe Grace Moretz, Morris Chestnut, Jim Carrey, Clark Duke, John Leguizamo, Lindy Booth, Claudia Lee, Donald Faison, and Garrett M. Brown.
I did not like this movie as much as the first one. At times, it was pretty tacky. Ass was kicked and laughs were had, there was a lot of quality action, but it just was not as good as it could have been. It was less believable and more predictable.
With the addition of Jim Carrey, I thought that for sure Kick-Ass 2 would be funnier than Kick-Ass. I was wrong. There were a few more laughs, but not because of Carrey. His role was not big enough to make a difference. Most of the other new characters in the film were not developed enough.
Moretz stole the show in the first movie and she was still probably the best part of this one, but she did not get the opportunity to kick as much ass as she did in the first film.
The film concentrated a little bit too much on the drama that the characters were having at school and at home instead of concentrating on them fighting crime. This made the film a little slower at times and less enjoyable.
Even though I didn’t like a few aspects of the movie, it was still entertaining enough to have fun watching. Almost all sequels are not as good as their predecessors, but maybe I just went into this film with expectations that were too high. The story went a slightly different direction than I anticipated, but I still laughed and had a good time.
I rate this movie a 6.5 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Rent.
Trailer for Kick-Ass 2 (2013)
Kick-Ass 2 (2013) (click on the title for my full review.)
Kick-Ass (2010) exceeded my expectations. Kick-Ass 2 appears like it could be concentrating a little bit more on the humor side of things. With the addition of Jim Carrey, the sequel is bound to be funnier than the original.
In the sequel, Red Mist changes his name and wants revenge on Kick-Ass for what he did in the first film. Red Mist gathers his own group of bad guys to take on Kick-Ass and his new Superhero buddies.
The film is written and directed by Jeff Wadlow and the rest of the noteworthy cast includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Morris Chestnut, Lyndsy Fonseca, Donald Faison, and Clark Duke.
After the first film won me over, I think that the sequel deserves a chance.
The film is set to release on 8/16/13.
Kick-Ass (2010)
Kick-Ass (2010)
I delayed seeing Kick-Ass for 3 years. Honestly, at the time that it came out, it appeared like it would be jam-packed with gratuitous amounts of stupidity. I was fed up with superhero movies being the trend and given the fact that Nicolas Cage was a part of it made me worried. Cage is one of my favorite actors, but at the time that he made Kick-Ass he was taking any and every movie role offered to him. He was having money problems and he needed to get out of debt. During that time, he systematically dismantled his image and his career by force-feeding the world 11 movies over the course of 3 years. I thought the title was pretty lame and I was very skeptical to say the least.
The movie is about a nerdy high school kid (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who one day decides that he wants to be a superhero. He dresses up like a superhero and therefore thinks that he is one. Fighting crime proves to be much more difficult than he anticipates and he gets in way over his head.
The film is directed by Matthey Vaughn and the rest of the noteworthy cast includes Nicolas Cage, Mark Strong, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Michael Rispoli, Clark Duke, and Jason Flemyng.
After writing off Kick-Ass three years ago, I never really thought twice about it until I learned of the upcoming sequel a couple of months ago, Kick-Ass 2 (2013). I heard from a few different people that Kick-Ass was actually pretty awesome. I decided to give it a chance.
The movie was actually pretty bad-ass. The soundtrack set the tone quite nicely with a couple of different songs by The Prodigy. Later it transitioned to Elvis Presley and even Ennio Morricone.
Nicolas Cage was better than I expected he would be. The film was during his low point, but his character turned out to be moderately entertaining.
Mark Strong was a superb hard-ass. He played his part perfectly.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson was alright, but it was the young Chloe Grace Moretz that stole the show. She sure kicked some ass.
I was shocked at how much I enjoyed this movie. It was far better than I originally anticipated. There is a bit of language, blood, raunchiness, and violence, but overall it was mildly funny and supremely amusing. It was a well-acted and clever, kick-ass journey into an almost believable world where superheroes exist.
I rate this movie an 8 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Buy.
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