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HOME arrow THE HITLIST arrow tMF TOP FIVE: Best Nicolas Cage Movies
tMF TOP FIVE: Best Nicolas Cage Movies Print E-mail
Written by Jeremy Welsch   
Saturday, 06 September 2008

The most striking thing I found watching this is that Cage plays two characters,  twin brothers in fact, and with nothing more than nuance makes each brother easily distinguishable on screen.

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Remember when Nicolas Cage made good movies? Yeah, it took me a minute too. After spending most of his career in the 1980s playing quirky characters (Valley Girl, Moonstruck), he hit superstardom in the mid and late 1990s with blockbusters like The Rock, Con Air and the Gone in Sixty Seconds remake. In the last few years, though, he pulled an Eddie Murphy on us, leaving his memorable and likable career in the dust to make way for movies that have no business being viewed for anything but punishment value – if that. (Note: Just because the National Treasure movies made a ton of money doesn’t mean they sucked any less).

Nic Cage shows off his latest hairpiece in the week’s only wide release, Bangkok Dangerous. If the trailer and early word are any indication, this won't be the one to pull him from the ashes. That being said, I want to take a trip down memory lane to remember the good old days.

tMF TOP FIVE: Best Nicolas Cage Movies
By Jeremy Welsch

#5 – Face/Off (1997)

This is what happens when insanity meets stylized elegance. The plot of this movie is preposterous in every sense of the word but director John Woo gives us his best American film by evening things out with his trademark style. Cage plays a decent villain, but his emotion carries the film as an FBI agent trapped in a killer’s body.

#4 – Bringing Out the Dead (1999)

Tucked away between Casino and Gangs of New York, this is one of Martin Scorsese’s most overlooked films. It is different than most, but the real shame is that it is very, very good. Cage plays a burned out Hell’s Kitchen paramedic attempting to deal with the traumas of the job. He becomes completely absorbed in his character, to haunting effect. I definitely recommend going back to check this out. It was better than even I remembered.
#3 – Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

One of two Nicolas Cage Best Actor Academy Award nominations and so far, his only win. This one is a tough watch. As difficult as it is to see his character drink himself down a path of self-destruction, we know exactly where it ends before we get there. It is in your face without being preachy, and probably the best work he will ever give us as an actor.
#2 – Raising Arizona (1987)

A cop who can’t get pregnant, jail break cousins, baby stealing, swingers, a madman on a motorcycle and an ex-con who wants to make his wife the happiest woman in the world. Proving the Coen Brothers could do the bizarrely madcap with the best of them (more on that next week), but also showing us a different Cage to the one we have been used to seeing. Probably the most purposely funny Cage movie to date.
#1 – Adaptation (2002)

Speaking of bizarre, try this on for size. Cage plays the actual screenwriter of the movie, Charlie Kaufman and his completely fictional twin brother Donald who attempt to adapt an inadaptable book to a movie. On top of being one of my all-time favorites, Adaptation is one of the most original movies I have ever seen. The most striking thing I found watching this is that Cage plays two characters, twin brothers in fact, and with nothing more than nuance makes each brother easily distinguishable on screen. No surprise that this one earned him his second Academy Award nomination.
Sound off: Tell us what you think and as always, if you have an idea for tMF Top Five, email jeremy [at] themovie-fanatic [dot] com and your idea could be featured on a future list!

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Comments (6)

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whatever
nic cage is awesome.

up ursss
lyon , September 06, 2008
...
He was heartbreaking in Leaving Las Vegas.

Now, all I can say is Just Say No to Ghost Rider 2, Nic. Please.
tracygee , September 06, 2008
nic cage
Lets not forget Matchstick Men.
fin , September 06, 2008
...
I think his performance in Red Rock West was good.
steven , September 06, 2008
...
I actually thought both The Weather Man and Lord of War were good, and those came out over the last few years, but nobody bothered to see either one of them.
Jayson , September 06, 2008
...
Matchstick Men is one of my favorite movies and I (not a Nicolas Cage fan) really liked him in it! And Adaptation was just amazing!
Elle , September 07, 2008

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