I Get It

By Thomas Willett

A few years ago I watched Adaptation and I thought that I got it. I thought that I had finally broken through the barrier to respect Nicolas Cage. My previous assumption found him to be a digressional b-movie actor. My friends (notably one Matt Benson) have defended his work, and with exception to a handful of films, I just ignored them. However, Adaptation was the gateway to me respecting his work and giving him more of a chance. I almost blew it right away by watching Ghost Rider. Since this incident, I have seen a bit more of his work and kind of thought “I get it.”

I enjoyed Kick-Ass and even considered him the better actor over Jay Baruchel in the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. When I got invited to a midnight screening of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, history repeated itself. I got in the mood by watchinbrg Raising Arizona for the third time and realized just how much I loved it. It can be seen as tragic that Cage would use this zany behavior for bad roles later in life, but for now, the Coen Brothers had a great character. It made me think “I get it.”

Walking out of the midnight screening, Matt Esposito turns to me and says, “I think that Nicolas Cage is just messing with us at this point.”

The one Matt Benson said, “That’s pretty much his career” without the slightest hint of his branded hipster irony.

I’ll admit that I tried to get in the mood for this movie. I even found some of the scenes in the trailer cool. My friends liked Neveldine and Taylor’s Crank films (listen to Monday’s show for my opinion), and if they were as off the wall as those trailers implied, I was ready to just accept action for action’s sake. I left the theater contemplating how crazy directors with a crazy actor couldn’t make a crazy movie. I don’t get it.

This is where I got thinking about the root of fandom. I am a very picky fan who doesn’t support anyone fully unless I can see potential. I’m not even talking in good projects. There was something in Bronson that has made me track Tom Hardy’s career. He’s in a McG film with Reese Witherspoon. Not exactly the path I would choose, but I will see it when it lands at a Redbox. He is a charismatic actor and even in the dull movie Warrior, I found some interesting quips. Now to see if he does anything productive with his newfound fame is what I find interesting.

My select fandom may seem weird and too organized with totem pole style obviousness, but I feel that it will help improve my critical eye instead of dismissing a performer because one movie sucked. In fact, it can even help to increase your horizon. As someone who enjoys seeing all Judd Apatow directed or produced works, I saw Bridesmaids. I wasn’t wild about the story, but I formed a trust with Apatow. I think that it helped me to discover the delightful Chris O’Dowd, who played a very charming police officer in the film. Because of that, I have become interested in his other work, thus discovering the IT Crowd and possibly wishing he was in more works (his Imdb implies this will be a busy year for him). It was all thanks to Apatow’s name.

Let’s take this back to Nicolas Cage and let me show you the antithesis to everything that I just said. It’s true that I really enjoyed Raising Arizona. I even liked Valley Girl. However, those two performances don’t seem like stretches when my history, though brief, consisted of watching National Treasure commercials and finding the concept asinine. His choices seemed bogus and at that stage I hadn’t seen much to make me think more of him. Yet when I did, I immediately saw something that turned me back against him.

I am not a fan of someone if they’re just chosen to play loony characters in uneven stories. I experienced that with Chris Farley, who I never liked because I felt he played the bumbling fat guy too much. I didn’t feel that there was any necessary depth to make me like him. Similar to Cage, I have seen work that I liked him in, but that’s a diamond in the rough thing as of now. Of course, that’s only been 10 movies.

Usually 10 is substantial enough to judge an actor on, but I have realized that I haven’t seen enough to actually justify myself when I say “I get it” just like I didn’t get Arnold Schwarzenegger as the buff action guy until Matt suggested Commando and I saw it work properly. This is why despite my shifting opinion of Nicolas Cage, I still see some potential. Will I watch all of his movies to clarify just how much he has and how much even Sean Penn agrees that he is wasting? No. I cannot fathom watching movies that are factually worse than Ghost Rider. I don’t have that in me.

You can call this blasphemy, but as I have become more immersed in cinema over the past few years, I have realized that I have to kill some of my babies. I cannot just watch movies anymore because the premise looks funny. I need names, directors, or writers who will grab me. They have to either totally work or totally fail for me to give it a chance. I’m developing a critical eye that makes me want to see what it is that makes cinema interesting. Sitting through Extreme Movie just to see Michael Cera’s limp cameo justifies why research and knowledge of cinema is important to the viewer. What have I done with Extreme Movie since then? It hasn’t improved my lifestyle one bit. I used to be able to justify watching the more insignificant of the bad movies, but because of stuff like Extreme Movie, I have to use my brain. I’m too critical on even the most lowbrow of movies. It’s fun to try and analyze what level of dumb humor works.

Now that I’m back against Nicolas Cage, I look at what makes me a fan of some people. I actually want to spend time with these characters. I actually am curious to see what the performers do next. For the most part, the films that Brad Pitt released with David Fincher, Terry Gilliam, Guy Ritchie, Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brothers has made me respect him for life. He does interesting, diverse roles and doesn’t always play the same guy. It makes me find him talented, even though as a kid I thought he was just a pretty face. I find his diverse levels of energy interesting. Nicolas Cage? Not so much. I will not deny that he can be ambitious, but I just can’t risk several bad movies to prove it.

I’m a fan of movies. I try to be as open minded as possible. In fact, that can arguably be why I chose this subject instead of making one last rant about the Oscars (the Artist will win big). It’s an interesting thing to be a fan. I’ll admit that I am not the most versed, but I have improved. Still, I have some bias, but that’s mostly because I have some notions that haven’t been tested yet. Did you also know that I haven’t seen an Angelina Jolie movie that I liked? Her work seems underwhelming to me. Maybe if I see Girl, Interrupted, things will change. I think that’s the fun of being open minded about cinema: the risk factor. It’s possible that in a year’s time I will justify renting a Nicolas Cage movie and confidently say “I get it.”

I wish Nicolas Cage all of the luck in achieving that.

You can read Thom’s blog every Wednesday and hear him on Nerd’s Eye View every Tuesday and Thursday at nevpodcast.com . Send your thoughts to nevpodcast@gmail.com. You can also read Thom’s movie reviews for Cinema Beach at