Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) - Review

Credited as "Brad's Bud" 

Fast Times at Ridgemont High is a year in the life snapshot of a group of characters hoping to find love the way their culture tells them they should, among other day to day struggles they find themselves in. Judge Reinhold and Jennifer Jason Leigh play Brad and Stacy Hamilton, respectively, an older brother who is facing the reality of life outside of high school as the end of his term is staring him in the face, and a younger sister who desires to experience sex and intimacy like her friends but needs help finding out what that means to her. Brian Backer plays a shy and awkward teen, Mark, who is trying to get the attention and approval of Stacy with the help of Robert Romanus' Mike Damone, a sleazy ticket scalper who tries to take advantage of any situation he's in to turn it to his benefit. Sean Penn portrays "the stoner", Jeff Spicoli, who thinks he has found a way to live the easy life at others' expense, most often his overqualified history teacher. Forest Whitaker even stars as this high school's star football player.

Fast Times remains a classic, even 40 years later. This movie is a testament to the fact that no matter how much the world changes, the struggles and desires that teens face remains the same. The movie zips through a school year and a variety of situations that never seemed to go too slow, or too quickly. The pacing is wonderful, and it never feels as though scenes were crammed in or removed to come to a satisfying conclusion. I was surprised to learn that the story came from Cameron Crowe, writer of other classic films (Say Anything..., Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, Vanilla Sky, etc.) - of which Almost Famous, my father introduced to me far earlier than I could have enjoyed it. Fast Times strikes the fine balance between being about nothing, but about everything at the same time. As a final note of praise for Fast Times, I really found one of the final scenes in the movie involving Brad and Stacy outside of an abortion clinic very heartwarming. I appreciated the fact that Brad was nonjudgmental and non-moralizing of his sister and her situation, but decided to love her and give her what she needed in one of the most difficult moments in her young life. 

The movie has a few non-speaking appearances for Nic Cage, his earliest in his listed credits on Wikipedia and other information sources. I included this movie in my project not just because the actor was present for a few frames, but also because the movie is still really good. It may be slow toward the beginning, but the movie does come to full steam and stay there until the final moments. Fast Times is remarkable in the way it delivers the story, but also the talent that came together to produce the final product. Not everyone had an illustrious career after this movie, but there are a surprising few that have contributed their tremendous talent to this film and many others in subsequent decades.

Moonstruck (1987) - Review

Moonstruck is a 1987 romantic comedy film starring Cher, Danny Aiello, and Nicolas Cage. Cher plays Loretta, a 37 year old widow living with her Italian family in Brooklyn Heights. She and Danny Aiello's Johnny get engaged before he must fly to Italy to be present for his mother's impending death. Before he leaves, he asks Loretta to help him reconcile with his brother Ronny (Cage) so that he appears at their upcoming wedding. While trying to reconcile the siblings, Loretta begins to fall in love with Ronny, and must figure out what she really wants for love. Meanwhile, various members of her family are grappling with their own understanding of love and how that affects their lives. 

I am an absolute sucker for movies that show a slice of life. There is minimal exposition, and it is fun to learn more about the characters as they go on about this moment the movie selected. The movie walks its way through a normal day for Loretta and her various family members before throwing in complications that show both how normal and abnormal the family is. The dialogue is real and actually funny at times, which is not the primary intention that modern movies have grown accustomed to. Moonstruck explores some complex themes, like love, family, and guilt/shame in a very human way. As stated above, the characters have to navigate their issues on screen and come to their own conclusions and it is charming to see them all grow and discover the relationships that mean the most to them- even in such a time frame as short as a few days. Not only do Cher and Cage give fantastic
performances, but the supporting cast does as well. It is really difficult to manage that feat, regardless of what era of film you observe.

Moonstruck is one of my favorite movies of all time. I think that it is one of the more perfect movies that I have ever come across. It is a movie about romance that shows perspectives of love and life with love, allowing someone to empathize with at least one of the characters. In an earlier review I stated that there are few movies that I am willing to watch again given enough time in-between, however this movie I have seen on my shelf many times over the years and I not only have a fondness for it in the moment, but I lament that there are few opportunities that I have to watch it. I truly do recommend that anyone watch this movie if they haven't already. Not only are the themes simple and universal, the performances of anyone on screen tend to suck you into the action. Even being removed from the release of the movie by almost 40 years and I have never visited anywhere near the setting's location, it breeds feelings of nostalgia and familiarity. This lends to the timelessness of the movie; and I am certain that this movie will hold up in this way for many more years to come.

Trespass (2011) - Review

Trespass is a 2011 homme invasion movie starring Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman, Ben Mendelsohn, and Liana Liberato and is the last film directed by Joel Schumacher. Nicolas Cage stars as Kyle Miller, a diamond broker, Nicole Kidman as his wife Sarah, And Liana Liberato as the daughter Avery. The family seems normal, yet dysfunctional - Kyle obsessing over his work, Sarah trying to manage the teenage daughter all by herself, and Avery trying to live her life to the fullest while she is still young and protest her parents telling her otherwise. Ben Mendelsohn leads a group while they lead a home invasion to steal diamonds and cash from the well-to-do Miller family. Nothing is as simple as anyone had planned, and the two groups find themselves at odds while trying to get what they want at the expense of the other parties. 

This was a long 90 minutes, and I do not mean to compliment anyone. Less than 20 minutes into the runtime, the home invasion starts. While Nicolas Cage's Kyle Miller is doing everything he can to stall the would be thieves, the thieves have competing sets of loyalties and goals that they are trying to achieve, further complicating the robbery. This would be a normal part of a movie in this genre, but the movie has to think of contrivance after contrivance to string the viewer along. No information about the family is exposed upfront, leaving the backstory woven into revelations later in the movie - one red herring here, one explanation there, etc. It becomes very tiresome soon after the first 30 minutes of the movie. Even more damning to this film's credit is the fact that I didn't care what happened to anyone after a certain point - the only characters that garnered any sympathy from me were Kidman and Liberato's characters. When I find it really hard to sympathize with the main characters, and the movie is trying really hard to have you do so, something along the way has gone horribly wrong. It has been a while since I have reviewed the classic Nic Cage "freakouts" because I find that to be quite reductive, but in a movie that is driven solely on his ability to act absurd to string the villains along, it shows hope of delivering any payoff but fails when you're wanting the invasion to end. Even the more memorable lines of the movie is stated with such deadpan that might have to do with the character's exhaustion, but I had high hopes of witnessing the "etymology of the word diamond" monologue that I had a sort of Mandela effect placed upon it; I had thought that Cage would have delivered that line in a Deadfall-esque manner. (Edit: Deadfall is a 1993 Michael Biehn movie that Cage stars as a secondary antagonist. His character's blowups in that movie are quite legendary in my household). All in all, Trespass may be good for one viewing if you were really hard up while looking for another home invasion movie. Otherwise, it is a hard pass for me recommending to anyone.

The Old Way (2023) - Review

 The Old Way is Cage's first tradiitonal Western. He plays a former outlaw, Colton Briggs, who at some point after his introduction in the beginning scene settles down and starts a family. When a batch of outlaws come by his ranch, led by the son of an accused man shot to death by Briggs, they murder his wife for retribution for Brigg's past. Briggs and his daughter Brooke (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), set out to find the men who  took their wife and mother from them.

Watching this movie reminded me of the other movies that Cage has had a role in from Saban Films: it feels overproduced. While the film makers capture the spirit of the western, the production value of the movie is way too distracting. By all means and measures, the movie looks great, but it lacks imperfections or grit to what is seen on screen and how the characters progress. Cage is wonderful in his role as an otherwise cold and unfeeling robot of a man, hiding his true feelings from his daughter after the death of his wife, and struggles with the notion that he has to still care for his daughter while returning to his lawless past. There is a point in the movie where he realizes that his daughter may have the same emotional deficit as himself, but tries to impress upon her that she must feel emotions for other people's sake if she wants to navigate the world. In this way, the acting by Armstrong progresses in quality as her character is continually allowed to feel emotions and manipulate those around her. There are a few points in the story where I felt that it went beyond cliché and into something different, but there was not enough time to sit and get to know the full cast - whenever something became interesting to me, the plot moved right along, knowing that its runtime was catching up to it. Given a larger script and allowing the characters to really fill the screen might have eliminated some hesitation that I have to really beam about the end result. The Old Way is a good movie, one that you can see had potential to be even better.

The Trust (2016) - Review

The Trust is a 2016 heist film starring Elijah Wood and Nicolas Cage. They both play Las Vegas Metro Police, working with evidence collection and  that are honestly mediocre in everything that they do. After a lengthy investigation, Lt. Stone (Cage) is determined to find the cash source for a drug dealer who has been suspiciously let out on bail. He convinces his partner, Sgt. Dave Waters (Wood), to come along with him in his plans to rob a secret compartment in the back of a convenience store for a large payout. This heist will definitely change their careers, just not how they expect.

I found the experience of watching The Trust very enjoyable. The general incompetence or mundane nature of the job that Wood and Cage's characters are engaged sets the tone for what will happen later in the movie. Even in the planning stage of their heist, things do not go as planned and as smooth as they had hoped, leaving them to either go into the job not as prepared as they hope and forcing them to take risks that they had not foreseen. Neither men are masterminds that have every angle thought out, they are regular people who have gotten in over their heads, which is a delightful turn of the genre. The tension rises dramatically over the course of the movie as the viewer watches Dave come to grips that he is far in above his head and that there is no turning back from what he and Jim do. I recommend this movie not as an example of high cinema, but as a movie that acknowledges that heists are messy and not as polished and sexy as an Ocean's Eleven or Fast and Furious. It manages your time well as the viewer and never wears out its welcome; giving you more and more until even the final scene of the movie. Focusing more on the economy of movie that you will encounter, there isn't much fluff. It is a tight experience that respects you all throughout. This is a title that is worth watching if you are intimidated by the deluge of low-quality movies that Cage has attached himself over the years. 

G-Force (2009) - Review

G-Force boasts a star-studded crew of Zach Galifianakis, Will Arnett, Bill Nighy alongside the voice acting of Sam Rockwell, Penelope Cruz, Nicolas Cage, Tracy Morgan, and Jon Favreau. The movie centers around a secret squad of animal special agent hopefuls raised and trained with FBI resources. After a failed attempt at gathering evidence from Nighy's Leonard Saber, a former weapons dealer turned legitimate home appliance businessman, the crew of 3 guinea pigs and one mole (Rockwell, Cruz, Morgan, and Cage respectively) must regroup and determine the best course of action to take Saber and his criminal partner Mr. Yanshu from taking over the world with the chips in all Saber home appliances. 

This movie is a very complex movie for children. I was constantly astonished at the technical aspects of the movie that don't lend well to children following the plot. As a movie for adults, however, it doesn't break past its attempts of appealing to children. The themes of family and trust are strong, as well as a fairly complicated love triangle plotline that would go over a child's head. I was very intrigued as to what the studio process might have been as I watched more and more of the movie, and I can't puzzle it out; the best that I can do at the present moment is determine that Disney had started production on the movie, filmed the live-action scenes requiring the main cast of actors being present, and spent most of their time in voice acting and computer animation. Having spent so much money in the process, they had to ship the project in order to fill some sort of theater dominance. But that is all speculation, and can enjoy the polished sound mixing and computer animation that Disney can offer. While there are moments that shine bright in the movie, but cannot provide much more to anyone else but children beside cute animals being voiced by veteran actors. I have seen this movie years prior, and had remembered various beats of the film, but my opinion of the movie stands: G-Force is very mediocre, and no amount of polish can save it from that state.

Dying of the Light (2014) - Review

Dying of the Light is a 2014 espionage film starring Nicolas Cage and Anton Yelchin. Cage plays a veteran CIA intelligence analyst, Evan Lake, who is diagnosed with a form of dementia that promises that his career has neared its end. Lake is determined to stay on as an agent because of his belief that a terrorist that the Agency has since declared killed in action is still alive somewhere in the world. An office friend, Milton (Yelchin), is tipped off on information that the terrorist may still be at large and assists Evan in tracking him down so that this chapter of Evan's life can be closed before it is too late. 

The movie tackles some intense themes, as Evan Lake is a "hoo-rah", patriotic CIA agent determined to finish the job that he was reassigned off of years later. His dementia diagnosis and Agency pride feature heavily throughout the film as many characters express their concern for his health and general competence to do his job. It was sad to see Anton Yelchin in this movie, as his death in 2016 cut his promising career short. His performance walking the line between wanting the best for his friend while risking his career is very touching throughout the runtime. It is a shame to see such talented individuals give their hearts to something that is very incredibly boring. I found myself looking away from the screen all throughout the movie despite my dedication to give it a fair shot. The only redeeming parts of the movie are the aforementioned performances; everything falls flat on its face as being very uninspired. There's not much more to say about the movie as there really isn't much substance to it. I understand that there was controversy surrounding the movie before its release due to the director unable to make edits to the movie without studio interference, so I can only chalk this up to this very unfortunate incident marring what could have been a very humanizing story. But we may never know, so I have to just pass judgement on the product we did receive.

Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) - Review

Gone in 60 Seconds is a year 2000 heist movie featuring Nicolas Cage, Christopher Eccleston, Robert Duval, and Angelina Jolie. Cage plays Raymond "Memphis" Raines, a retired and reformed car thief who is thrust back into his former life after his younger brother Kip runs afoul of Eccleston's British gangster Raymond Calitri. Memphis must steal 50 cars in 72 hours in order to save not only his brother's life, but his own as well. Memphis and his crew, put together by Robert Duval's mentor character, and including Angelina Jolie, must do this job while evading a Long Beach, CA grand theft auto unit that is intent on stopping Memphis and his crew.

There is something nostalgic about Gone in 60 Seconds. Watching this movie transported me to a childhood that I have long since forgotten. Whether it intended to or not, the movie captured the late 90s, early 2000s aesthetic like a time capsule. The frosted tips, the genre, the look, the feel - this movie has it all. And this is to the movie's benefit. Well, maybe besides the frosted tips. As I am not particularly a car enthusiast, the allure of the cars didn't really do anything for me - but the way that the characters interacted with and spoke about the cars was very convincing and made me care about not only the plot but the characters as well. In some sense, it does the Fast and Furious family loyalty story better than the more popular franchise, a film that would have been in development during the same time frame. The cat and mouse game that the detectives play with Memphis's crew is quite enjoyable - the movie very rarely has the two groups intersect and it seems that the police are always just one step behind determining the true intent of the group until the climax. Overall, I would say that the movie is very polished. There are some points in the film, particularly how the climax is resolved, that seem very contrived, but fail to diminish the way the tension is built and portrayed in the movie. 

My Review Process

I didn't have a blog scheduled to run in August, so I wanted to slow my reviewing of movies down a tad this week to give myself time to think of something. I had initially thought of posting one review a week, save for the extra posts for when my wife wanted to watch something out of sequence on my list of "to-do" for this project or for when a movie comes out in theaters and I am able to to catch it in the midst of my busy-ish schedule. But the hope of one per week was dashed against the rocks when I realized that despite two titles I want to review at certain times, I would be reviewing movies for over two years. I like doing this project, don't get me wrong, but there are certain things that I would enjoy doing even one year into the future that this project would get in the way of: the start of my new career, potentially parenthood, among other things not even thought of quite yet.

I started this project during a month-long break from school earlier this summer, and I was watching movies at a fairly fast clip. I wouldn't even put words into a document until I had about three reviews waiting to be written. Oh, but never more than three. I never have even considered uploading information about four or more movies into my head and not reviewing them for this blog. Watch-Watch-Watch-Write 2 reviews -Watch-Watch-Write 3 reviews-Watch-Write 1 review, etc. The process is fairly inconsistent in that manner, but it helps me contextualize Nic Cage's movies with each other, even if they have no other connection (year, quality, etc.) than the actor himself. I also try to give a fairly short synopsis of the movie in question, followed by one or two sections that make up the subjective portion of the review. This helps me get the reader up to speed on the jist of the movie if they haven't seen it, explain what potentially drew me to this movie before, my feelings about it, and if those feelings have changed over time. I don't think I'll ever get to the level of professionalism of a Siskel and Ebert, as that is not where my passion in life lies, but I do want to produce a product that people can relate to themselves and maybe trust me to give them some decent movie recommendations. I even produce reviews, if I am so inclined, from movie recommendations from friends. 

I am writing this blog on July 14th, posting this Aug. 3rd, but I have scheduled reviews out until Oct. 31st at this point to make sure I can accomplish this task in a manner that satisfies my stated goal of doing this as quickly as possible. Just as I am zooming through my courses at school to become an authority on my studied subject, I aim to be some sort of authority on Nicolas Cage's filmography. I used to be self-conscious of my older brother making jabs at me for allowing myself to watch low quality movies so easily, but that doesn't matter to me as much anymore. I appreciate the wisdom that he was trying to teach me: not wasting my time with movies that have no meaning or bearing on how I view the world or that are hardly enjoyable. But I feel as though my niche has always been giving the lesser known and lesser quality a shot, knowing that I will rarely find the diamond still caked with dirt, but a diamond nonetheless.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010)

The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a 2010 live-action fantasy film starring Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Alfred Molina, and Monica Bellucci. Balthazar Blake (Cage) has been tasked by Merlin to find a worthy successor to his magic, a person who is the only one able to be powerful enough to vanquish his enemy Morgan le Fay, after Horvath (Molina) breaks away from Merlin and joins forces with le Fay. The two evil sorcerers end up killing Merlin, but find themselves trapped in a magical containment device with the third apprentice, Veronica (Belluci), for 1300 years. In the current day, Balthazar finds Merlin's successor in Dave (Baruchel), a physics-oriented university student who wants nothing to do with Balthazar after a brief interaction with Balthazar led to a childhood of ridicule. Horvath has escaped his imprisonment and is bent on reviving his old master to destroy the world - Balthazar and Dave must team up so that Dave can become Merlin's true successor.

That plot synopsis is a lot, and it was a lot to take in and place on top of the knowledge of the many adaptations of Goethe's Der Zauberlehrling that have made their way into modern popular culture, the more ubiquitous of which are Disney's adaptations as animated shorts in Fantasia and Fantasia 2000. To make this a feature length film, the writers had the task of connecting centuries of magical lore together to make some semblance of connective tissue around the expectation of recreating the animated short in a non-offensive way. There is a tension between Dave chasing after love and Balthazar trying to teach him as much magic as quickly as he can before Morgana is released, and another tension of Dave's studies into science and being thrust into a magical world - of both, the characters realize that there is no true dichotomy between the two choices and that a third choice exists. The combined efforts of Cage and Alfred Molina make the criticisms of the tenuous plot almost moot as the energy the two bring to their roles as mortal foes is spectacular, both of these seasoned actors really chew on the scenery in a positive way. Baruchel slotting into the awkward, apprehensive hero role. The special effects for the movie are extremely polished, something that I would not expect less from Disney. I couldn't find much to criticize on this movie, except maybe that the story is a bit too involved and complicated for its intended audience. I wouldn't mind adding this movie to a list of movies that I would actively rewatch, a list that isn't necessarily that long as I get older and more particular with my time.