Renfield (2023) - Review

I hope this month's lineup of movies has been enjoyable for you as it has been for me. There have been some hurdles that have come my way to complete this month's themed project, but I have tried my best to overcome them and deliver this project to you. I will be returning to non-New Orleans set movies after this post, and will be as consistent as possible as my semester winds down these final months. Enjoy!

Zandalee (1991) - Review

Zandalee is a romantic tragedy starring Judge Reinhold, Nicolas Cage, and Erika Anderson. Reinhold is a former poet, Thierry Martin, who has taken up work at his father's former company and abandoning his artistic pursuits. This is a point of contention with him and his wife Zandalee (Anderson), who notices the lack of passion Thierry has for his life and for her as he pursues maintaining his father's legacy. Johnny Collins (Cage), an artist and former colleague of Thierry, enters their life and begins ongoing romantic liaisons with Zandalee. The film focuses on these three as they move through the next seasons of their lives, dealing with the consequences of their circumstances.

Zandalee is a heartbreaking study into the lives of people who have lost their aim in life. Reinhold's Thierry is a conflicted soul who has taken up a profession that is contrary to his artistic nature, which drains his passions for the things that should mean the most to him - most importantly his wife. Anderson's Zandalee still has the passion for her husband, who continues to neglect her sexual desires, and is similarly tortured about how her circumstances have changed. This leads her into the arms of Thierry's friend Johnny, who since the moment he lays eyes on Zandalee has pursued her relentlessly. Johnny's lifestyle of continuous hedonism and debauchery acts as a rift between the married couple with no clear discernable goal for the remainder of his life. The tension between the three members of the love triangle carries through all of their interactions, not even just between each other. The progression of the characters through this tension and their realization that their lives are falling apart shows the raw skill that each actor brings to their role. The chemistry that Reinhold and Cage have is strong in their first and last reunion in a film since Fast Times at Ridgemont High a decade earlier. Reinhold's pent up anger in Thierry's newfound, buttoned-up persona and Cage's anarchic antagonistic role are perfect complements to one another as their conflict comes to a head. Likely due to the character driven nature of the story and the continuous ratcheting up of the tension, Zandalee feels much longer than its hour and thirty nine minute runtime, however that is not to its detriment. Even the brief appearances of Steve Buscemi as a ne'er-do-well on the streets of New Orleans leads to a moment where comedy meets tragedy, when his playfulness extends to the same sense of somberness that is pervasive throughout the movie. Because of the highly sexualized nature of the film, it is difficult to recommend to anyone and everyone. Zandalee is a gem nestled deep within Cage's filmography. It is not a normal occurrence for Cage to engage in a study of love, grief, and loss, and I wonder if he will enter this deep and fundamental aspect of the human condition later in his career. 

Stolen (2012) - Review

Stolen is a 2012 action/heist movie starring Nicolas Cage, Danny Huston, Josh Lucas, Malin Åkerman, M.C. Gainey, and Sami Gayle. Will Montgomery (Cage) is a bank robber who has just been released from prison after 8 years. He was the only person in his crew (Åkerman, Gainey, Lucas) to have been captured on a heist where the $10 million dollars was burned before Will was captured. The otehr members of his crew were able to make it away from the scene of the crime before Will was nabbed by Agent Harland (Hutson) of the FBI. Upon his release from prison, Will learns that his presumed dead ex-crewmate, Vincent (Lucas) has kidnapped Will's estranged daughter, Alison, (Gayle) and wants his share of the money he presumes is still in circulation. Will must not only try and find Vincent to save Alison, but come up with Vincent's share of the lost money years prior with the help of the remainder of his former crew. 

To call Stolen a heist movie is almost disingenuine. The movie hardly spends time on the act of burgaling into a location and retrieving money. The movie posits Will as the world's best bank robber, and really goes hard to sell it by showing the ease at which he and his crew set up for a score and get accomplish their goals. There isn't any anxiety as to his capability to not only infiltrate a location, but exfiltrate without a hitch - him being captured is only a result of one of his crewmates deviating from the plan and leaving him in a desperate situation. The real meat of the movie deals with Vincent and Will's destruction of NOLA during Mardi Gras and evasion from teh FBI. There is a sort of warmness between Will and Agent Harland that is refreshing - it almost feels as though they are in a brotherly relationship the way they interact, but that does not distract from the fact that Will does violate the terms of his parole in his pursuit to find his daughter. Lucas' Vincent is a shell of his former self, and has spiraled into madness leading to kidnapping a minor to get to Will and the money he suspects is still available. Everything seemed grounded in this movie except for this character. Yes, the motivation is completed in the introduction scene of this movie, but this character seems better in place in the Batman universe as the Joker more than he does a washed out bank robber. 

I remember watching this movie when it was released on DVD, driving to BestBuy to see if they got it in stock the Tuesday night it was supposed to be. I was expecting an unhinged Nic Cage and was disappointed at the time, but my feelings on the movie has changed quite a bit as I watch it again. I do not think that this is a particularly noteworthy movie, but it is enjoyable for Lucas' anachronistic performance alone. Toward the end of the movie, I wanted to measure the distance that Cage travels on foot; most of the movie is Cage running through various neighborhoods in NOLA in a jacket and long pants, only out of breath when he crashes a car and pulls himself from the wreckage.  If you do not come in expecting a zany Cage, you might come out on the other side enjoying this bad movie a little bit.

Grand Isle (2019) Review

Grand Isle is an action/thriller starring Nic Cage, KaDee Strickland, Luke Benward, and Kelsey Grammer. A new father, Buddy (Benward) is down on his luck to find a job to provide for his family. He is offered a fairly lucrative contracting job just outside of  NOLA to fix a stretch of fence before a hurricane comes in. The owners of the house are Walt (Cage) and Fancy (Strickland) a couple that are in a toxic marriage. Walt is a Vietnam war veteran who can't seem to get over the terms of his dismissal from the Marines, and Fancy is a woman who is hung up on building a family despite her body's inability to conceive a child. Caught in the middle of the hurricane, Buddy must survive the night at the couple's house while Fancy tries to seduce him and Walt is antagonistic for a variety of motives. Detective Jones (Grammer) is a hard-boiled interrogator who is trying to piece together why Buddy murdered an individual despite Buddy's pleas of innocence.

I started watching this movie with very low expectations. I had not heard of this movie until I was scraping data for my checklist, and that threw up a red flag for teh quality of the movie I was going into blindly. I found myself surprised about the structure of the story and how it would tie together near the end; at some point, I had forgotten about the A-plot of Buddy being interrogated. The story was presented as a whole block of flashback with no voiceover, allowing the audience to be engrossed into this young man's story of the harrowing night before. The acting was also good in a technical sense: the characters' motivations were clear from the performances and nothing on the surface of being inconsistent was actually lacking. The couple, Walt and Fancy, were introduced as toxic or unstable - individually as well as being paired together. Walt is the perfect character for Cage to use as an outlet for his famous zaniness - a jealous, volatile, disabled vet trying to live up to the glory days he never had. The only reservation I had after the movie had ended was that I was being left to want for more. Once the interrogation ends, there is no cat and mouse to conclude the movie. There is no suspense in the "Will they or will they not believe Buddy" and there is no suspense as to the fate of Walt and Fancy - the movie ends twice, essentially, and became burdensome to watch after the first conclusion, with almost 10 minutes or so left to wrap up any loose ends for the second ending. I was pleasantly surprised with the movie and am glad that I watched it. I can't recommend that someone go out of their way to watch Grand Isle, but it was more pleasant for me to watch than it had initially let on.

Wild at Heart (1990) - Reivew

I included Wild at Heart in this collection of "New Orleans" setting Nic Cage movies after finding it in a list online. There is a sequence that takes place in New Orleans, however that scene is brief. I nevertheless placed it in this sequence of my project because it was watched as part of my initial list of movies based in New Orleans.

Seeking Justice (2011) - Review

Seeking Justice is an action/thriller starring Nic Cage, January Jones, Guy Pearce, and Harold Perrineau. Nic Cage plays Will Gerard, a high school English teacher who tries his best to mentor hostile students and has a strong bond with his coworker Jimmy (Perrineau). His wife, Laura (Jones), a string musician gets sexually assaulted one night after practice and leaves Will to make a choice given to him by a stranger, Simon (Pearce), who promises that he has the resources to catch and make the rapist pay for his crimes. When Simon comes to collect on his favor for helping Will, Will becomes involved in a conspiracy involving himself in increasingly dangerous situations seeking justice for other individuals. 

I enjoyed this movie. The story is increasingly farfetched, but the tension and paranoia that it builds is done fantastically. As the movie progresses, Will finds himself not being able to trust anybody as he is trying to absolve himself of the allegations of murder and getting to the core of what this organization is, and who is all involved. I didn't feel that many of the twists were contrived- as the mystery unfolded, the clues were doled out almost painfully slow but only fuels the desire even more fierce for everything to unravel. The pace at which the movie isolated from paranoia, first from Laura after her assault, then from Will after he is asked to murder who he thinks is a paedophile, but turns out to be a journalist. I applaud the movie's resisting of temptation to wrap up their story in a nice little package - the cast, including Pearce and Perrineau, do a wonderful job at showing just how fragile trust and loyalty is in the face of adversity and having to make difficult choices. I remember liking this movie around the time it came out, and I don't think that feeling has changed much. I wouldn't, however, say that this movie is a shining star in Cage's pantheon, like Face/Off and Moonstruck but I do recommend this movie for anyone interested to watch - the only thing I would warn against is the atrocious goatee sported by Cage the entire 105 minute runtime.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) - Review

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is a crime drama starring Nic Cage, Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer, and Alvin Joiner (Xzibit) and directed by Werner Herzog. The film follows the corrupt Lieutenant Terence McDonagh (Cage) who is hopelessly addicted to various narcotics to cope with the pain of an injury sustained while working during Hurricane Katrina. His corruption is enabled by his police partner Det. Stevie Pruit (Kilmer), who struggles with violent tendencies that get in the way of his own police work. Frankie (Mendes), is a sexworker and frequent fling for McDonagh who is an unstable supplier for his drug habits. McDonagh shows that he is a capable investigator as he is trying to manage his life seemingly crumbling around him due to his addictions as he is trying to solve the murder of a Senegalese family who have crossed the drug lord "Big Fate" (Xzibit).

Bad Lieutenant remains puzzling to me, even after rewatching it nearly ten years after my first exposure. There are elements of the movie that I really like, such as the sprawling corruption that McDonagh finds himself navigating not only to fuel his addictions to various narcotics, but his ongoing gambling debts as well. The portrayal of this addiction by Cage oscillates between larger than life and grounded deep in terra firma, and Cage is a man who is right for the job. There are a few sequences that border on the surreal that are explained by him being high at the time which are welcome to break up the harsh reality; these moments really act as a kind of black comedy, distracting even for a moment from the seriousness of the events of the film that come before them. I was not a fan of the way the movie started with what seemed a polished edit of the scene in the jail where McDonagh is deliberating whether to save an inmate from the rising flood waters of Hurricane Katrina, and shifting to almost a documentary style shooting. This seemingly drastic shift could be seen as anachronistic and jarring serving as a detriment to the quality of the movie, but as I sit with the movie more, I see it as an expression of Terence's state of mind as he becomes more encumbered by his drug use as time goes on; in other words, his perception of the world is unapologetically shown to the viewer as time progresses. 

But what is it that bugs me about the movie? I think it has to do with the lack of closure that it provides. At the end of the movie, McDonagh is at the same place ethically as he was at the beginning. I do not want to provide an edict that all movies must provide closure - some stories require that tension and ambiguity with the viewer to maintain its impact. It may just be my own personal sense of justice that gets in my way of sitting with the ending, as I chafe trying to prove why my sense of justice for this officer is better than the eventual portrayal on screen. Do I want him to be held accountable? Do I want him to become clean from his vices, like everyone around him? I certainly do. But I think the film achieves its goal of making the viewer uncomfortable by the continued promotion of corrupted individuals and how they are able to circumvent punishment by the law because of the positions they abuse. I think that this movie is required viewing for those who are interested in Nic Cage and his career, only because I think there is a greater need for discourse surrounding movies that leave the viewer unsatisfied. Take Inception as an example. Does the totem stop spinning at the end of the movie? Because it is not shown on screen, as Leonardo DiCaprio's Cobb walks away cutting the scene away from the conclusion of whether he remains in a dream. That isn't the point. The point is he is finally able to join and enjoy his children. What is the point of Bad Lieutenant? I think the point is that no matter what, some corrupt officials may never be found out, instead to be rewarded for their usefulness. Regardless, I believe that this movie can bring us into an aspect of human life that is challenging and unrewarding. And that is okay.

The Runner (2015) - Review

The Runner is a 2015 political drama starring Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen, Peter Fonda, Sarah Paulson, and Wendell Pierce. The movie focuses on a fictional Louisiana congressman, Colin Pryce, who is bogged in scandal as he navigates fighting for his constituents after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While fighting to get their fair compensation and assisting in cleanup efforts, his affair with the wife of a local fisherman comes to light. Deborah (Nielsen), his wife, starts to distance herself from Colin to salvage her career, as does his campaign manager and long time friend, Frank (Pierce). Only Kate (Paulson), a childhood friend and campaign consultant, sticks by Colin's side as he decides to put his head down and work for the people that he has grown up with and served for years. Colin continues to fight political pressures and attacks on his motives for doing pro bono legal work while spending seemingly lost time with his father (Fonda), another disgraced former politician.

The Runner succeeds in portraying the struggles that face a politician of what seems to be a national representative for a population that is expected to take the lumps of the malfeasance of mega corporations. Cage's depiction of a disgraced member of not only Congress, but of his local jurisdiction really felt strong as he navigates what is best for him, his family, and his political career moving forward. That is as far as I will go in terms of attributing strengths to the movie. The Runner seems burdened by having to follow Colin Pryce through his moments of self-reflection and rediscovery. It doesn't do a great job of highlighting exactly why I should care about this politician in particular - the citizens of his district are more compelling of following their stories than I really felt Pryce earned this distinction. Even toward the conclusion of the movie, I really didn't care about the politics of it all. Everyone is portrayed as people who are willing to compromise their values, which I can concede is true of politicians in real life, but the movie spends so much time building Colin up as the "underdog" fighting for his people only to squander that hope at the end, revealing that he has compromised everything he stands for, just as his father and wife predicted he would.

I agree with others who do not recommend this movie, concluding that it is disappointing in itis delivery and at this point is meant for people like me - who are willing to dredge through polluted waters to try to find meaning in something.

New Orleans October - Blog

Just a glimpse into what the
month has in store for us!

So this happened by happy accident. It took me a week to finish watching The Runner, due to assignments taking their priority, and once I did, I started watching Seeking Justice.  The Runner was simply next in my list of ascending order in runtime, but Amazon suggested that I watch Seeking Justice when that slog was completed. It didn't take me very long to see that I was watching two movies in a row set or filmed in New Orleans. So I did what anyone else would do: I decided to find all the movies in New Orleans that were still in my queue and post reviews all month of October long! 

I have seven movies identified that take place in New Orleans - the two mentioned above and five others, so I will be trying to figure out a way to release those reviews over the course of the month. I do know that Halloween falls on a Tuesday, so the regularly scheduled review will be Renfield in honor of Nic Cage finally playing an actual, honest to God vampire, Dracula himself! I will probably miss some movies, but I will watch more movies and post them during the month to the best of my ability (workload permitting). 

Seeing traffic statistics does help me keep motivated to do this work, so thank you for continuing to visit my project as it comes along!