Now I'm Stan Lee plus Strasberg?

I'm the luckiest girl at the prom this year!

Of the movies I12 mentioned the Die Hard film is the only one that I know I'll see, so far anayway.

Has anyone seen or heard anything about Nicholas Cage's new movie, Next? I've only just saw previews yesterday. I'm not a big Cage fan, but the movie sounds like it might be good. Something about a nuclear bomb in L.A. Anyone hear anything else about it?


TIS

Yes TIS, it's called Next directed by Lee Tamahori (Along Came A Spider, Die Another Day and xXx: State of the Union). The plot follow's a Las Vegas showroom magician Cris Johnson who has a secret which torments him: he can see a few minutes into the future. Sick of the examinations he underwent as a child and the interest of the government and medical establishment in his power, he lies low under an assumed name in Vegas, performing cheap tricks and living off small-time gambling "winnings." But when a terrorist group threatens to detonate a nuclear device in Los Angeles, government agent Callie Ferris must use all her wiles to capture Cris and convince him to help her stop the cataclysm.

Here's a link for more info. I'll probably wait for the DVD myself.

Trivia: Nicolas Cage had a small cameo in Rob Zombie's spoof trailer Werewolf Women of the SS as Fu Manchu in Grindhouse

Cage's fascination with Vegas is only eclipsed by his obsession with Elvis.

Cage is a tad over-rated. Not a bad actor, but the bulk of his filmography is rather unimpressive. However, Adaptation. is absolutely brilliant.

The Weatherman was pretty kickin' too.

Nicolas Cage kind of runs hot and cold for me.

Movies of his that I liked (in no order):
-Honeymoon in Vegas
-Leaving Las Vegas
-The Rock
-Con Air
-Face/Off
-Gone in Sixty Seconds
-Lord of War
-The Weather Man
-World Trade Center
-Ghost Rider

Movies of his that I didn't like:
-8MM
-Bringing Out the Dead
-The Family Man
-Adaptation.
-Matchstick Men
-National Treasure
-The Wicker Man

But to look at actors who hardly do bad movies, look at Edward Norton or Matt Damon (he's been convincing me lately).

I did see Leaving Las Vegas and as much of a downer as the film was, he was very good in it.

For whatever reason, I also liked ConAir. Many of his characters are a little too much "off the wall" for my taste. Don't know what his first movie was but "Peggy Sue Got Married" had to be close to his first movie (or maybe Raising Arizona??? :p). Anyway IMHO he started out playing "oddball" characters and it sort of stuck.

But back to this new movie. Checking I12's link, I see under filming locations that some of it is flimed in my area (more or less), and at "Morongo" which is an Indian Casino in my area.

If anyone sees this movie, please post your opinion, as I'm curious.

Thanks
TIS

Well yeah, Edward Norton is fantastic. My favorite actor, actually.

It's just funny though, because you and I seem to have a complete opposite taste in Cage films.

I fucking love Adaptation. I'm a huge Charlie Kaufman/Spike Jonze fan, and I feel as though Adaptation. is even better than Being John Malkovich, which seems to be widely accepted as their masterpiece. I love both though.

Honestly, my favorite Cage movie is HONEYMOON IN VEGAS, as silly as it is. Kind of funny because I loathe Sarah Jessica Parker.

I'm not a huge fan of Sarah's either pizzaboy but I haven't reached the point of loathing yet. As sad as it is, I've yet to see Raising Arizona. Maybe I'll pick it up at work tomorrow.

LLC, I know this is off topic but aren't you a big Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas fan? I've seen it twice and it's never done anything for me. I don't hate it, but on the same token don't see why it's so great (and I do love Depp and Del Toro). I'm thinking about borrowing it from my friend tomorrow. Maybe 3rd times will be a charm, right?

I forgot about Honeymoon in Vegas, yea that was ok too (although the Vegas backdrop brings any movie up a notch IMHO

I remember I had wanted to see 8mm when that was out. I never saw it at the movies, but it's been on tv and I just couldn't get into it.



TIS

I need to give that another shot too. I think I've only seen it once all the way through. I've been a bigger fan of Joaquin Phoenix since Walk the Line

This might be sexist but I'm gonna mention it anyway. If Hollywood could sell Sarah Jessica Parker as beautiful, they could sell anyone. I think Ernest Borginine is much prettier.

I never watched Sex and the City but the only thing that would compel me to would be Kristin Davis. For 42 years old, she's still beautiful!

I did her.

No 'Moonstruck' or ' City Of Angels' on your list?

You lucky dog

Never saw them

Being Irish is no excuse for never seeing MOONSTRUCK. Take it home from work tomorrow. And that's an order!

You want me to see a Cher movie? Really the only movies she made that were decent were Mask and Mermaids (an ex-girlfriend made me watch it with her and it was pretty decent).

Looking at the list, I've seen more Cage movies than I thought I did. I forgot about The Rock which was't too bad, as well as Moonstruck and Gone In Sixty Seconds.

A few of these movies, Bringing Out The Dead, Matchstick Men and Wicker Man, all "sounded" like they might be good but were in and out of theater so fast, I assume they were flops.


TIS

Why yes. Hunter S. Thompson is my favorite writer, a huge influence on my writing, and even my philosophy in life, and even fashion (that is, wear the weirdest fucking thing you can find, and make sure it under no circumstances matches). Fear and Loathing is my favorite book, and my favorite film. I tumble over laughing with each read/viewing.

I think where people go wrong with Fear and Loathing is this; they assume it should follow some sort of linear path, which is absurd, if you know anything about Hunter or his writing. The book itself is very unorganized... In fact there is one chapter in which they "lost" the transcript, and so, they simply transcribed the original tape recordings (Hunter often spoke his narratives into a tape recorder, and would type them up later... Sometimes even record actual conversations with people, that would later go into his articles and books) so they just typed up a verbatim script-styled version of the tape recording. Fear and Loathing isn't meant to really have a beginning, middle, or end. It's supposed to have a cohesively in-cohesive narrative.

Another thing is, I remember Capo's initial complaint that it was self-indulgent, and the moment the film realizes this, it thinks it can get away with whatever it wants, and that's when it starts to go downhill. Well, fuck, Hunter was a self-indulgent man, and he knew this, and this showed up in his writing. The very idea of gonzo journalism is a bit self-indulgent, no? The film is the best possible adaptation of Hunter's writing that I can imagine.

But I think the biggest fault is that people just don't get it. They watch the film, miss the subtext, and just assume it's a film about excessive drug use. This is most certainly not the case. The film is more or less about the generation that was lost in the crossover from the sixties to the seventies. From what I understand, this was a momentous change. The sixties were a time of liberal political uprising, and the liberal community found itself very close-knit. It seemed people were taking drugs for the reason of self-exploration, the music was there live up to a cause, and protests were a regular habit. People set out to make a difference. The 70s, on the other hand, marked the death of the hippies. The treachory of Nixon (*cough*tool*cough*) and Vietnam had proven to depress and maybe even dismantle the cause. Beyond that, recreational drug use was no longer about the trip, but instead, about just getting as fucked up as possible. I think this theme can be best summed up by the "Wave Speech" which occurs just after the scene in the Matrix Club, in which Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers makes a short cameo, and begins to lick LSD off of Johnny Depp's arm.

Beyond that, there is the whole American Dream aspect. There is a great deleted scene that would have served as an alternate ending (but would have also broken the beautiful flow of the end of the film) in which Duke stumbles upon a bar in the middle of the desert, which is ran modestly by an old man and his daughter. After proceeding in being his regular self-loathing being, Duke says something to offend the old man, and makes an ass of himself. It is then that he removes the glasses he's been wearing the entire film, and Depp explained it best himself, the glasses had been blocking him off from the rest of the world, from people emotions, and so on. As he sits there, after having made a fool of himself, he realizes, they spent the whole film on the strip, trying to find the American dream, when all along, it was just sitting out here in the desert. It's a great sequence, and would have really added something to the film, but at the same time adding it to the film may have ruined the great flow they create at the end.

Keep this in mind, and try to give the film a third, unbiased chance. I hope you enjoy it.

Personally, I can't stand her. The real stars of the movie are Brooklyn and the Italian-American experience. It's great in spite of her.

PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED ?

VALLEY GIRL ?

Wasn't he in Fast Times At Ridgemont High also????


TIS

You hit the nail right on the head. From the few viewings I've had of it, it's just a druggy movie (which I HATE!). To me, it's not entertaining to see someone get stoned or high in virtually ever scene of a film. In fact, it's rather depressing for me. But that is my problem, I just didn't get it and it was rather weird with all the drug use and such.

Yes he was TIS as "Brad's Bud"

And he was credited as Nicholas Coppola for the only time in his career.

Speaking of name-changing....

I'm sure Nic Cage's kid Kal-El will be desperate to change his name as soon as he grows up.

Of course, thats not as bad as bad as say Jermaine Jackson's "Jermajesty" or Jason Kee's "Inspector Pilot" in retrospect.

Yeah. Well, I don't mind drug use, so long as there is some intelligence behind it. And Fear and Loathing is an intelligent, and hilarious movie, I feel.

Where as, I don't get the Cheech and Chong series. It's not funny, and it's not entertaining. Just moronic.