#60 Wild at Heart

#60 Wild at Heart

Year: 1990

Director: David Lynch
MPAA Rating: NC-17

Epic Co-stars: Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, Crispin Glover

Running Time: 125 mins
Cage Time: 95%
Cage Kills: 2
Cage Flip-outs: 2

James' Review: Have you ever thought to yourself 'I love Natural Born Killers, but I wish it had a bit less social commentary on the US media, slightly more ridiculous characters, a hell of a lot more Cage, and was just a bit more weird'?  If you have, consider yourself in luck.  And if you haven't then you probably haven't seen Natural Born Killers (you should see it, it's great).  Overall, Wild at Heart is pretty tame by Lynch's standards; the story is generally coherent, the characters are recognizable throughout the film, and at no point do we see a giant skinless deer.  Despite it's relative tame demeanor, it still provides plenty of excellent (non-tame) Cage along with Lynch style subject matter that many "Cage Fans" (I'm not sure if you should be offended by this or not, so go ahead and get offended but if you're the type who gets offended a lot  then you probably shouldn't be reading this in the first place) will be able to get behind.

It's a good thing Nic Cage wasn't around in the 50's because James Dean wouldn't have stood a chance. 

Sailor Ripley (Cage) and Lula Fortune (Laura Dern) are star-crossed lovers with the entire wide world ahead of them.  Unfortunately, part of this wide world turns out to be a total creeper with a knife who needs to be set straight (beaten to death) by Cage which ends up landing him 2 years in the slammer.  Upon his exit, his always faithful sweetheart is right there to pick him up and give him a snakeskin jacket along with two years of pleasure all at once.  Unfortunately (again, they tend to wind up on the unfortunate side of things quite often) Lula's mother,  Marietta Fortune, also wants a piece of the Cage and decides that if she can't have him nobody can.   Before we know it Cage (who has just kicked the shit out of yet another guy) and Fortune hit the road to get out of town while being tracked by a PI and the mob, both of who have been hired by the wonderfully vindictive Marietta Fortune to eliminate Sailor Ripley.

"Big Tuna" or bust.

As young lovers often do, they soon find themselves short on cash. They head to the town of Big Tuna, Texas where Cage can reunite with some of his rather un-savory 'ol buddies to try and scrape up a little extra cash.  Enter one of the best supporting actor roles we've seen in a Cage movie thus far:  Willem Dafoe (playing Bobby Peru, one of the creepiest mob bosses you've ever seen).  But wait, is the wonderful and charming (as Lula finds out in a rather spectacular way) Bobby Peru really on their side?  Or does he have his own motives in mind?...

Cage makes love in public with his clothes on...

Throughout the film we are constantly presented with a rather (intentionally) blatant juxtaposition of Sailor Ripley as a classic gentlemanly heartthrob, and a savage animal who can't be controlled by himself or anyone else.  In addition, many of the characters are  eccentric to the point of being charming, even when they are anything but (i.e.  Bobby Peru (Warning this scene is a wonderfully creepy and violent HUGE spoiler so only watch if you won't ever watch this movie, or you don't care about spoilers, but just want to some excellent Cage on Dafoe action)).  Even the locations seem to have an eccentric quality that helps Lynch create a world that is fun to watch even if it is beyond the realm of anything believable.  

... and in private with his clothes off.

The previously mentioned eccentric juxtapositions may have been devised by Lynch, but it was fully executed (flawlessly) by Cage.  In Wild at Heart, Cage not only shows his range as an actor, but shows his ability to put this range into a single cohesive character.  He wears a snakeskin jacket, has perfect hair, tons of sex, drives a convertible, kicks ass, takes names, kicks more ass, protects his woman, kicks the shit out of people, and sings songs by Elvis.  What more could anyone ever really ask for?

I think this is from the film but I can't be sure.  Regardless, this picture is too good not to post. 

Movie quotability:

• "Rockin' good news" (slaps ass)
• "This is a snakeskin jacket! And for me it's a symbol of my individuality, and my belief... in personal freedom."
• "I guess I started smoking when I was about....  4.  My mom had already died from lung cancer."
• "I swear baby, you've got the sweetest cock."
• "Man I had a boner with a capital O."

Plot Holes:

• This is a David Lynch movie, so the whole thing is a plot hole.
• They never stop for gas.

	CAGEamatic	Cinamatic
Skyler	Acceptable	Dreadful
Shauna
James	3.61/5	3.85/5
Martine	!Half watched the CAGE!

#54 Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Brokenhearted

#54 Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Brokenhearted

Year: 1990

Director: David Lynch
MPAA Rating: PG

Epic Co-stars: Laura Dern

Running Time: 50 mins
Cage Time: 4%
Cage Kills: 0
Cage Flip-outs: 0

Skyler's Review: 

For this one, we didn't know what to expect. I mean, its a David Lynch musical with Nicolas Cage in it. No one could possibly know what to expect. Unfortunately, Nicolas Cage is only on screen for 2 minutes and is not present for any of the trippy "dream sequence." Essentially this 50 minute film starts with a phone conversation where Nicolas Cage breaks up with some chick. This takes 2 minutes. The rest of the movie is   supposed to be what is going on inside the subconscious of the girl. It is very dark in there, which makes sense, breaking up with Cage would be very dark.

This beautiful face graces the screen for only 2 minutes.

Once the musical starts, you realize that the bass line starts is identical to the music in Twin Peaks. This makes sense since it has the same composer and singer, Andre Badalamenti and Julee Cruise. The musical continues with ten songs.

Here is a succinct summary of action during the ten songs:

1. Naked chick, twisted. Some actor playing Nicolas cage floating through her mind.
2. Flying around chick gets eaten by a car.
3. Midget from Twin Peaks saws a log.
4. Chick is flying around in a spotlight.
5. Sounds of cats mating and a large dancing 10 foot tall demon.
6. A guy narrates and searchlights look for the naked chick.
7. Midget recites the conversation from the beginning while a guy plays clarinet.
8. Chick sings a song from Twin Peaks from the trunk of a car.
9. Naked dead babies float about.
10. Chick floats around in spotlights singing another Twin Peaks song.

Some weird "skinned deer" dances on the stage. It's weird.

You can find this on Youtube. It's weird, so I would suggest watching it when you can't fall asleep.

Movie quotability:

• "I just said juxtaposition, write that down." -James

Plot Holes:

	CAGEamatic	Cinematic
Skyler	Poor	Troll
Shauna
James	1.44/5.00	1.71/5.00
Martine	!Dozed off in the Cage!