Amos & Andrew (1993) and Deadfall (1993)

As a whole, Nicolas Cage’s career isn’t easy to map – he’s not like other actors who had to wallow in shitty roles for years before their big break, but he’s also not some guy who got huge overnight. His early years are a string of pretty solid, increasingly successful flicks (with a few misses)

Zandalee (1991) and Honeymoon in Vegas (1992)

Zandalee (1991) and Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) don’t have much in common. One’s an erotic thriller, the other a light screwball comedy. One wants to be artsy and cool, the other is fine being what it is. One is a slog and absolutely unwatchable, and the other is so light and breezy that after you’re

Vampire’s Kiss (1989)

The movie Say what you will about Vampire’s Kiss (and I’m prepared to say a lot), but it’s not boring. No, far from it. It’s a film so unpredictable, so jarringly incoherent and tonally offbeat that you can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen next. The end result might not be something that feels

Moonstruck (1987)

The movie What is Moonstruck about? Is it about Loretta Castorini’s attempts to reverse her bad luck, to acquiesce to tradition in order to live a life of stability? Is it about the tragedy of Ronny Cammareri? It is it about the destruction of old-world traditions in the age of modernity, as exemplified by the

Raising Arizona (1987)

The movie Raising Arizona is a film that moves forward regardless of where you are with it. It’s not for the patient or those looking for a film to guide you gently from point to point – it’s for the anti-Terrance Mallicks of the world, those looking for energy and heavy stylization. From its montagy

Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)

The movie Peggy Sue Got Married starts in a weird place – immediately after the opening credits, the camera zooms out from a television commercial starring “Crazy Charlie” (a makeup-aged Nicolas Cage), a zany TV salesman, and ends at a behind the back view of Peggy Sue (Kathleen Turner) looking in the mirror and getting

The Boy in Blue (1986)

The movie It’s hard to make a boring sports movie – so long as you have some action shots of the sport being played, a montage, and a rise-fall-rise underdog plot, it’s easy to make a decently exciting (not original but whatever) movie. There’s a tension inherent in the sports movie formula, one that exists

Birdy (1984)

The movie It’s hard to talk about Birdy without making it sound ridiculous. The frame story takes place in a military mental hospital during the height of the Vietnam War; after a tour in Vietnam, the main character, Birdy (played by Matthew Modine) has had a mental breakdown and believes himself literally to be a

Racing with the Moon (1984)

The movie In its hour-and-forty-nine-minute run time, we never actually find out what ‘racing with the moon’ means. We learn about the trials and tribulations of Henry ‘Hopper’ Nash (an uncharacteristically sweet Sean Penn) as he juggles his new relationship with supposed ‘Gatsy Girl’ Caddie Winger (Elizabeth McGovern) and his friendship with alcoholic rapscallion Nicky