Say what you will about Nicolas Cage’s films, but you can never accuse the man of phoning it in. Over the course of his 40+ year career, Cage has starred in Oscar-nominated prestige flicks, direct-to-video schlock, crowd pleasing blockbusters, introspective indies, and everything in between. Throughout it all, he’s remained dedicated to his craft, making interesting choices that may seem absurd to some but are always informed by his deep knowledge of cinema history.
In a Reddit Ama, Cage said, “I think many of the choices I’ve made have been inspired by film stars from the silent era, as well as cultural expression of performance like Kabuki and some of the Golden Age actors like [James] Cagney, so I don’t know how to say I’ve done something new because those elements are always on my mind.”
What you may call a “crazy Cage performance” is just an...
In a Reddit Ama, Cage said, “I think many of the choices I’ve made have been inspired by film stars from the silent era, as well as cultural expression of performance like Kabuki and some of the Golden Age actors like [James] Cagney, so I don’t know how to say I’ve done something new because those elements are always on my mind.”
What you may call a “crazy Cage performance” is just an...
- 4/23/2022
- by Nick Harley
- Den of Geek
The Cage Bird Sings: Gormican Gifts Nic Cage Meta Fan Fiction in Jaunty Caper
Not since Spike Jonze’s send-up of John Malkovich’s pomposity in Being John Malkovich (1999) has such a strangely tender homage sought to self-reflexively commend celebrity as in Tom Gormican’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent curious reputation, unspooling reality tinged meta analysis on the film industry enrobed in what amounts to a zany spy spoof. Going along with its somewhat neutered agenda, there’s much to enjoy, particularly for fans of the enigmatic star prone to histrionics and exaggeration across an oeuvre filled with significant peaks and expansive valleys.…...
Not since Spike Jonze’s send-up of John Malkovich’s pomposity in Being John Malkovich (1999) has such a strangely tender homage sought to self-reflexively commend celebrity as in Tom Gormican’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent curious reputation, unspooling reality tinged meta analysis on the film industry enrobed in what amounts to a zany spy spoof. Going along with its somewhat neutered agenda, there’s much to enjoy, particularly for fans of the enigmatic star prone to histrionics and exaggeration across an oeuvre filled with significant peaks and expansive valleys.…...
- 4/21/2022
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
In our Q&a series Last Call, we get down to the bottom of every last thing with some of our favorite celebs - from the last time they were starstruck to the last song they listened to. This week, Lily Sheen takes our call.
Lily Sheen was uniquely qualified for her role in "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent." The actress plays Addy, the fictional daughter of Nicolas Cage, who plays a fictionalized, meta version of himself. Sheen's real parents are actors Kate Beckinsale and Michael Sheen, but she tells Popsugar they're nothing like the movie's fake Nic Cage.
"I feel very lucky to be able to say I didn't have this exact upbringing," she says. "I think what was really interesting for me as an actor was to be able to create this character who was kind of this bizarro world version of myself. If my life had...
Lily Sheen was uniquely qualified for her role in "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent." The actress plays Addy, the fictional daughter of Nicolas Cage, who plays a fictionalized, meta version of himself. Sheen's real parents are actors Kate Beckinsale and Michael Sheen, but she tells Popsugar they're nothing like the movie's fake Nic Cage.
"I feel very lucky to be able to say I didn't have this exact upbringing," she says. "I think what was really interesting for me as an actor was to be able to create this character who was kind of this bizarro world version of myself. If my life had...
- 4/20/2022
- by Victoria Edel
- Popsugar.com
How much do you love Nicolas Cage? We have gone on record with our own Cage idolatry, of course, but it’s a question worth considering in regard to the original Valley Guy, the man who raised hell (and Arizona) and modeled snakeskin jackets, the onscreen consumer of live cockroaches, the Oscar-winning actor, the rider of ghosts and hater of bees — on a scale of one to “scraping at the doorrr!!!,” where does your unconditional worship rank?
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent — so named because A Heartbreaking Work of...
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent — so named because A Heartbreaking Work of...
- 4/20/2022
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
A good stretch of Hollywood history saw the movie-making capital go full force on the religious epic, which almost always featured a spectacularly huge cast, budget and runtime. For every "King of Kings," there was a "Greatest Story Ever Told" right behind it. If one adaptation were produced in the silent era, a sprawling Technicolor remake would usually follow a few decades later ("The Ten Commandments"). Of course you can't speak about this specific period without addressing the mighty reign of "Ben-Hur" on the big screen.
General Lew Wallace's 1880 novel "Ben: Hur: A Tale of the Christ," a faith-based story of brothers...
The post The Original Ben-Hur Action Sequences Were More Dangerous Than You Think appeared first on /Film.
General Lew Wallace's 1880 novel "Ben: Hur: A Tale of the Christ," a faith-based story of brothers...
The post The Original Ben-Hur Action Sequences Were More Dangerous Than You Think appeared first on /Film.
- 4/6/2022
- by Matthew Bilodeau
- Slash Film
2021 marks another year of Nicolas Cage’s unflagging commitment to star in virtually any film his agent offers him. And par usual, Cage brought his idiosyncratic A-game to each film that starred him. This year was a particularly vibrant crop of Cage performances: “Wally’s Wonderland,” “Prisoners Of The Ghostland,” and “Pig” (which some think earns the actor an Oscar nom).
Read More: ‘The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent’: Here’s Your First Look At Nic Cage As Nic Cage With Pedro Pascal
As always, though, the Cage train keeps on rolling, and next year brings four more films to his expansive catalog.
Continue reading ‘The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent’ Trailer: Nic Cage Stars As Undercover Nic Cage In April at The Playlist.
Read More: ‘The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent’: Here’s Your First Look At Nic Cage As Nic Cage With Pedro Pascal
As always, though, the Cage train keeps on rolling, and next year brings four more films to his expansive catalog.
Continue reading ‘The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent’ Trailer: Nic Cage Stars As Undercover Nic Cage In April at The Playlist.
- 12/14/2021
- by Ned Booth
- The Playlist
V2 Escape From Hell plays like an old-fashioned, vibrantly propagandistic 1950s World War II thriller about how a daredevil Russian aviator thwarted Hitler’s last-gasp attempt to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat during the final desperate months of combat. Visually, thanks to ever-advancing CGI, this is a pretty convincing display of vintage aeronautic action that would have been very tough to recreate today using actual planes. War story and gamer aviation fanatics should eat this up.
Speaking of gamers, the makers of V2 are proudly promoting the fact that this is the first film being offered in both horizontal and vertical versions — that is, one way for the public keen to experience it the traditional way, on cinema or big TV screens, and the other for younger viewers or the merely attention-bereft who prefer watching bits of it like combat snacks on their mobile phones.
For the record,...
Speaking of gamers, the makers of V2 are proudly promoting the fact that this is the first film being offered in both horizontal and vertical versions — that is, one way for the public keen to experience it the traditional way, on cinema or big TV screens, and the other for younger viewers or the merely attention-bereft who prefer watching bits of it like combat snacks on their mobile phones.
For the record,...
- 5/5/2021
- by Todd McCarthy
- Deadline Film + TV
‘Emperor’ Review: A Runaway Slave Joins the Raid on Harpers Ferry in Forgotten Tale of Black Heroism
As statues to Confederate heroes are torn down around the country, the question of whom to honor in their place poses an intriguing challenge — one that writer-director Mark Amin seems to have anticipated with his abolitionist adventure movie “Emperor.” Essentially a filmic monument to a scarcely documented American hero, “Emperor” tells the virtually unknown story of Shields Green, a descendant of African royalty who was born into slavery and later escaped, making it to freedom before risking his life in the attack on Harpers Ferry.
When history books speak of that famous raid, they tend to focus on John Brown, the white militant who planned the action hoping it would incite a slave uprising in the South — which gives an accurate but incomplete picture. “Emperor” re-centers the telling, broadening this early “white savior” story to include the Black men who joined the cause — or, in the case of Frederick Douglass,...
When history books speak of that famous raid, they tend to focus on John Brown, the white militant who planned the action hoping it would incite a slave uprising in the South — which gives an accurate but incomplete picture. “Emperor” re-centers the telling, broadening this early “white savior” story to include the Black men who joined the cause — or, in the case of Frederick Douglass,...
- 8/15/2020
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
After Tim Burton’s disastrous 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes, nobody had particularly high hopes for 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I mean, super-intelligent apes taking over San Francisco sounds a bit ridiculous, right? But then the film landed and blew away everyone who saw it. At the core of the movie was Andy Serkis’ astonishing motion-captured performance as Caesar, a chimpanzee struggling with scientifically-granted smarts and beginning an ape revolution.
After that, things really took off, with Matt Reeves’ Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes making new technological strides forward as well as telling a powerful science-fiction story. The trilogy is very highly regarded and there were expectations that we’d continue to follow this story of the apes conquering Earth. As recently as last August, in fact, we heard that future installments would be set...
After that, things really took off, with Matt Reeves’ Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes making new technological strides forward as well as telling a powerful science-fiction story. The trilogy is very highly regarded and there were expectations that we’d continue to follow this story of the apes conquering Earth. As recently as last August, in fact, we heard that future installments would be set...
- 2/17/2020
- by David James
- We Got This Covered
Exclusive: Paris-based producer Alexa Rivero will co-produce Amit Dutta’s The Invisible One through her newly-established production company Altamar Films.
Rivero worked as a line producer on Asghar Farhadi’s The Past and was also production manager on films such as Javier Fuentes-León’s Undertow (2009) and Mehdi Ben Attia’s The String (2009).
She will produce The Invisible One with Mumbai-based Anjali Panjabi, who executive produced Pakistani filmmaker Sabiha Sumar’s Good Morning Karachi and line produced Mira Nair’s segment in omnibus film Words With Gods.
The Invisible One received Hubert Bals funding for script and project development in 2012 and has been selected for this year’s Co-production Market at Film Bazaar. It tells the story of a young man who moves to the big city and is forced to rent a room built on top of a tree.
Rivero worked as a line producer on Asghar Farhadi’s The Past and was also production manager on films such as Javier Fuentes-León’s Undertow (2009) and Mehdi Ben Attia’s The String (2009).
She will produce The Invisible One with Mumbai-based Anjali Panjabi, who executive produced Pakistani filmmaker Sabiha Sumar’s Good Morning Karachi and line produced Mira Nair’s segment in omnibus film Words With Gods.
The Invisible One received Hubert Bals funding for script and project development in 2012 and has been selected for this year’s Co-production Market at Film Bazaar. It tells the story of a young man who moves to the big city and is forced to rent a room built on top of a tree.
- 11/21/2014
- ScreenDaily
Still from Gigola
Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival 2012 will screen ‘Country Focus – France’ package of two feature films and six short films portraying diverse queer expressions in contemporary French Cinema.
The festival will screen Gigola directed by Laure Charpentier and Le Fil (The String) directed by Mehdi Ben Attia.
Gigola is an exploration of the gay underbelly of Paris in the 1960s through the eyes of a suave lesbian hustler; and Le Fil is a bitter-sweet romance that’s plays on the class difference between a rich young man and a handsome young labourer.
Consul General of France in Mumbai Jean-Raphaël Peytregnet said, ‘It is a great honour that France is the country of honour at Kashish 2012. I wish this edition of Kashish festival great success and intend to be part of this prestigious festival for a long time.’
‘The films in this section are innovative in form, sensitive...
Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival 2012 will screen ‘Country Focus – France’ package of two feature films and six short films portraying diverse queer expressions in contemporary French Cinema.
The festival will screen Gigola directed by Laure Charpentier and Le Fil (The String) directed by Mehdi Ben Attia.
Gigola is an exploration of the gay underbelly of Paris in the 1960s through the eyes of a suave lesbian hustler; and Le Fil is a bitter-sweet romance that’s plays on the class difference between a rich young man and a handsome young labourer.
Consul General of France in Mumbai Jean-Raphaël Peytregnet said, ‘It is a great honour that France is the country of honour at Kashish 2012. I wish this edition of Kashish festival great success and intend to be part of this prestigious festival for a long time.’
‘The films in this section are innovative in form, sensitive...
- 5/15/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Cristian Mercado, Manolo Cardona in Javier Fuentes-León's Undertow The 23rd edition of image+nation, Montreal's lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender film festival, will kick off with a screening of Javier Fuentes-León's Peruvian drama Contracorriente / Undertow at the Cinéma Impérial on Thursday, Oct. 28. The World Cinema (Dramatic) Audience Award winner at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and Peru’s 2011 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar submission, Undertow features a love triangle with supernatural undertones: a married fisherman is in love with another guy. The film is described in the festival's press release as "Ghost meets Brokeback Mountain." Image+nation comes to a close on Nov. 7 with a screening of Medhi Ben Attia’s Le fil / The String, a Franco-Belgian comedy-drama starring Antonin Stahly-Vishwanadan (the son), veteran Claudia Cardinale (the mother), in addition to a dose of social commentary.
- 10/28/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Movie|Line offers up pre 1970s horror movie suggestions for Halloween
/Film James Franco making another poetry film. From behind the camera this time.
McN Halle Berry's Frankie & Alice to get Oscar qualifying release. Have I ever told you how much I hate the one week qualifier rule? "Yes. Shut Up," the readers shout in unison. I'm just sayin' movies should be eligible only if the year of their real release. It's the only way a calendar year 'future history!' eligibility system actually means anything.
Serious Film wonders where the critical bar is set for Best Picture nominees in the wake of the cool response to Hereafter. As some of y'all know I don't put much stock in rotten tomatoes scores as Oscar signifiers (partially because all positive or all negative scoring (the dread thumbs!) is an inherently flawed system for reflecting worth and even true opinion. Unless...
/Film James Franco making another poetry film. From behind the camera this time.
McN Halle Berry's Frankie & Alice to get Oscar qualifying release. Have I ever told you how much I hate the one week qualifier rule? "Yes. Shut Up," the readers shout in unison. I'm just sayin' movies should be eligible only if the year of their real release. It's the only way a calendar year 'future history!' eligibility system actually means anything.
Serious Film wonders where the critical bar is set for Best Picture nominees in the wake of the cool response to Hereafter. As some of y'all know I don't put much stock in rotten tomatoes scores as Oscar signifiers (partially because all positive or all negative scoring (the dread thumbs!) is an inherently flawed system for reflecting worth and even true opinion. Unless...
- 10/26/2010
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Antonin Stahly and Salim Kechiouche
Remember last year's Meryl Streep movie It's Complicated? It had nothing on The String, the new foreign-language film by writer-director Mehdi Ben Attia, just out on video.
Malik, a closeted 30-year-old man, is the product of a French mother and an Arabic Tunisian father. When his father dies, he returns from France to Tunisia, to live with his wealthy mother, who is eager to marry him off to a woman. But Malik immediately has his eye on Bilal, the hunky handyman who works for his mother.
But the Tunisia of the film is a homophobic, classist, and racist place, rife with government corruption. Is it even possible for a rich, mixed-race aristocrat to love another man, especially one from a "lower" class — even if that lover turns out to be a secret, self-educated artist who, unlike Malik, has long accepted that he's gay?
As a drama,...
Remember last year's Meryl Streep movie It's Complicated? It had nothing on The String, the new foreign-language film by writer-director Mehdi Ben Attia, just out on video.
Malik, a closeted 30-year-old man, is the product of a French mother and an Arabic Tunisian father. When his father dies, he returns from France to Tunisia, to live with his wealthy mother, who is eager to marry him off to a woman. But Malik immediately has his eye on Bilal, the hunky handyman who works for his mother.
But the Tunisia of the film is a homophobic, classist, and racist place, rife with government corruption. Is it even possible for a rich, mixed-race aristocrat to love another man, especially one from a "lower" class — even if that lover turns out to be a secret, self-educated artist who, unlike Malik, has long accepted that he's gay?
As a drama,...
- 10/11/2010
- by Brent Hartinger
- The Backlot
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