Multiple viewings and hours of sober reflection have led us both to believe that Con Air is a bad movie. The plot is contrived, the accents are awful, and it’s perhaps the least “Cagey” performance in Cage’s entire career. And yet, maybe based on star-power alone, it remains a classic which simply must be watched.
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A shocking discovery was made as we attempted to rewrite the cheesy classic, Con Air: It’s actually way harder than you think to fix this movie. Does that mean that the plot is actually better thought-out than we first assumed? Or is the fundamental idea so flawed that it’s simply impossible to film if you respect your audience? Or perhaps it’s simply a lack of imagination on our part? Any way you view it, we had to get real silly to make this one work, but we had a lot of fun in the process.
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We kicked off the back half of Season of the Cage with perhaps his most mainstream film of all time, Con Air. Does that mean it’s inoffensive? No. Is it one of Cage’s more impressive acting jobs? Also, no. Is it even a good film? Again, no. But that also doesn’t mean it’s not a fun movie to watch. Jim loves it, A.Ron probably doesn’t, but you should decide for yourself as you listen to us make jokes over it.
We’re back with a review of Charlie Kaufman’s 2002 “look-mom-I-wrote-myself-into-this-movie-about-orchids” classic, Adaptation. It’s a real noodle-bender which features one of Nicolas Cage’s finest performances. Fitting, since it puts a bow on the Summer portion of Season of the Cage.
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Despite containing perhaps Nicolas Cage’s finest performance, and being one hell of an interesting movie, we manage to turn the livewatch for Adaptation into nearly two hours of jokes about missing teeth, monkeys, and a man who loves to fuck orchids. Enjoy the show!
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Turns out that the discussion presented in our review of Adaptation was about half of what we actually recorded. In typical fashion, we digressed quite a bit into topics that we’ll call “creatively related” to the movie; what Dan Harmon has to say about creative writing, episodic vs. serialized TV, our creative hangups and methods for overcoming them. As Club Bald Move members, you get to enjoy the entirety of our extended Adaptation discussion.
The fifth episode of Amazon’s The Romanoffs has something to say, but we’re not sure what it is, if it’s worth saying, and if Matthew Weiner is the right spokesperson for the message, which seems to be; the worst thing you can be accused of is accusing somebody else of something they didn’t do. Regardless of how we felt about the themes at play, the presentation left a lot to be desired as well, featuring clunky dialog and either stagey acting and/or bizarre editing choices or both. You know, hallmarks of Mad Men, the series that made Weiner famous.
The Season of the Cage continues with another of Nicolas Cage’s best films, The Weather Man (2005). He plays a well-payed Chicago weather man who would have the perfect life if only he could make his father proud, get the job of his dreams, win back his ex-wife, and stop ruining the lives of his children. Will Cage’s raging summer ever end? Yeah, of course it will, so enjoy it while it lasts.
It’s time to rewrite The Weather Man. We think we can do it without Guy Ferrari’s help this time. That might be a mistake. Instead of one well-plotted sequel like we got with The Rock, this time we venture off in two completely different directions and develop two pitches, neither of which can probably live up to the excellent work of Steve Conrad. But you be the judge. Let us know what you thought on our forums.
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There’s truly nothing better in this life than to see a man who takes himself oh so seriously be blasted in the face with soft tacos, frosties and a third-gallon of cherry soda. I can’t conjur the words to express the joy. Luckily, thanks to our Livewatch of The Weather Man, I don’t have to! Sync up your copy of the movie and watch along with us.