Current Events > Nic Cage's movie is actually pretty good:The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

(+) Yeah! (+)

It's good.

Longlegs is terrible and Nicholas Cage's terrible acting ruins any chance it had.

You say this like Cage isnt a good actor

Yeah, that movie was so good. A lot of people sleep on Nicholas Cage because for a while he was signing up for just any shitty movie he could. Made him seem like a bad actor, but it was just bad movies.

Nah his acting was fantastic in Longlegs. Nailed the unhinged, creepy psycho.

You probably have the same problem that some others do: The fact that it's Nic Cage killed your suspension of disbelief

There are often lists of the great living male movie stars: De Niro, Nicholson and Pacino, usually. How often do you see the name of Nicolas Cage? He should always be up there. He's daring and fearless in his choice of roles, and unafraid to crawl out on a limb, saw it off and remain suspended in air. No one else can project inner trembling so effectively. Recall the opening scenes in "Leaving Las Vegas." See him in Scorsese's "Bringing Out the Dead." Think of the title character in "The Weather Man." Watch him melting down in "Adaptation." And then remember that he can also do a parachuting Elvis impersonator ("Honeymoon in Vegas"), a wild rock 'n' roller ("Wild at Heart"), a lovesick one-handed baker ("Moonstruck"), a straight-arrow Secret Service agent ("Guarding Tess") and on and on.

He always seems so earnest. However improbable his character, he never winks at the audience. He is committed to the character with every atom and plays him as if he were him. His success in making Charlie Kaufman a neurotic mess and Donald Kaufman a carefree success story, in the same movie, comes largely from this gift. There are slight cosmetic differences between the two: Charlie usually needs a shave, Donald has a little more hair. But the real reason we can tell the twins apart, even when they're in the same trick shot, comes from within: Cage can tell them apart. He is always Charlie when he plays Charlie, always Donald when he plays Donald. Look and see.

Roger Ebert

So plain and simple he started becoming less strict about about roles he took. What I really liked was he talked about openly knowing some movies werent great but he still gave his full effort and never phoned it in. He treated it respectfully and was truly a working actor.

It's a funny movie yeah. The scene where they are tripping on acid is hilarious.

He is loooong past the days of putting in time and developing a character. He does his little song and dance and collects a paycheck.

Aren't they all? Like when was the last time you saw a performance by like, Pacino that wasn't just old man making jokes at his own expense

No, most aging actors are not putting out pathetic garbage. Pacino is a shameful example of what not to do.

Haven't seen anything with Pacino since Ocean's 13 but I thought he was good in that.