Poor Nicolas Cage
A Case Of Having To See It To Believe It
After The Wicker Man received the worst reviews of Nicolas Cage's career so far, I began wondering if it was the end of this once-reliable actor's fragile stint as an arguable A-list star. Coming off the success of National Treasure, his next two films The Weatherman and Lord Of War suddenly bombed within weeks of each other in September 2005; both were decent movies that were simply shafted by their studio, but without a strong marketing campaign each proved he needed more than his name to get people through the door. Then came the Ghost Rider delays, a sign of poor quality and lack of studio confidence if ever you see one. The Wicker Man seemed like the nail in the coffin given what people were saying about it.
But until today I didn't realise just how bad The Wicker Man really was. I haven't seen it yet, but I've seen enough, courtesy of this YouTube "highlight" reel (below). Watching it you have to consciously remind yourself that this is not a comedy, and any serious movie that requires that effort from its audience is in trouble. No professional screenwriter should have ever even dreamt up any of these scenes - ever - let alone written them on paper. And to think that the producers, director and financially-paranoid studio executives must have all read them and thought "super", and then Nicolas Cage, who'd done a movie like Adaptation, read this script and was convinced to sign a commitment to make this movie. What a world we live in.
"NOT THE BEES! ARGGGGHHHH! MY EYES! ARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHflblaghflhfludh!!!!"
We're (less violently) shaking our heads with you, Mr. Cage.
After The Wicker Man received the worst reviews of Nicolas Cage's career so far, I began wondering if it was the end of this once-reliable actor's fragile stint as an arguable A-list star. Coming off the success of National Treasure, his next two films The Weatherman and Lord Of War suddenly bombed within weeks of each other in September 2005; both were decent movies that were simply shafted by their studio, but without a strong marketing campaign each proved he needed more than his name to get people through the door. Then came the Ghost Rider delays, a sign of poor quality and lack of studio confidence if ever you see one. The Wicker Man seemed like the nail in the coffin given what people were saying about it.
But until today I didn't realise just how bad The Wicker Man really was. I haven't seen it yet, but I've seen enough, courtesy of this YouTube "highlight" reel (below). Watching it you have to consciously remind yourself that this is not a comedy, and any serious movie that requires that effort from its audience is in trouble. No professional screenwriter should have ever even dreamt up any of these scenes - ever - let alone written them on paper. And to think that the producers, director and financially-paranoid studio executives must have all read them and thought "super", and then Nicolas Cage, who'd done a movie like Adaptation, read this script and was convinced to sign a commitment to make this movie. What a world we live in.
"NOT THE BEES! ARGGGGHHHH! MY EYES! ARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHflblaghflhfludh!!!!"
We're (less violently) shaking our heads with you, Mr. Cage.
posted by Steve @ 4:45 PM
1 Comments:
At 10:44 AM,
Reel Fanatic said…
Unfortunately, all signs just point to Ghost Rider blowing all kinds of chunks ... the only movie I have liked Mr. Cage in in many years is World Trade Center
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