Showing posts with label ART. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ART. Show all posts

#45 Adaptation.


#45 Adaptation
Year: 2002
Director: Spike Jonze
MPAA Rating: R
Epic Co-stars: Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, that guy from Office Space
Running Time: 114 min
Cage Time: 
Cage Kills: 
Cage Flip-outs: 1
Skyler's Review: 
Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) is writing a screenplay about the Orchid Thief and wants to stay true to the book and not snesationalize it with sex, action, love, just for the sake of Hollywood.

I'm already ruining this review. I can't spell. Without those red squiggles, I can't spell a thing. I'm so pathetic. No one will want to read this review. But maybe that is OK, since I am keeping with the movie. Who cares about the audience. If the audience doesn't like it they can read some other blog. It's not my responsibility to write garbage just because the average internet user has the equivalent of a 2nd grade education. I do want them to like me, though.

This movie is worth watching if just for seeing TWO Nicolas Cages on screen.

Dr. Cage also plays Charlie Kaufman's fictional twin brother, Donald. Donald lays around all the time on the ground, and wants to also become a screenwriter, but wants to go to a costly seminar about screenwriting that almost sounds like a scam. Charlie says this is stupid, because a seminar will never help you write something new, which should be the goal for all writers.

 This isn't going well. This isn't interesting at all. I wanted to write something interesting and original, and I'm just sitting here and can't even think about how to recap this movie. I can't find an anmiated gif for this review. I'm terrible.

The story Charlie is writing is about a man (named Laroche) who goes into the swamps in Florida and poaches orchids. He takes Seminole tribe members with him to try and avoid the law, saying that the natives are allowed to poach plants. The goal for Laroche is to poach the 'ghost orchid', which is very rare. Then he plans to cultivate them and sell them for a bunch of money. Then if people can buy the ghost orchid in stores, the flower would be better protected from poachers by decreasing its rarity. Also, you can make drugs.

Why don't girls look at me the way they look at Nicolas Cage. Is it because I'm bald? Women just like confidence; how can I have confidence if I am bald? Maybe I can grow a mustache. I think women like mustaches, or at least a certain kind of woman. I wonder if I would know what to do with the kind of woman that likes mustaches. What if I can't grow a mustache?

The meta-Cage of this movie is amazing. Not only is there Nicolas Cage playing two people (Charlie and Donald), but at one point you get to see Nicolas Cage play Donald acting as Charlie. Good stuff.

Laroche is all about passion and collecting. All he wants is orchids. Before that, he was obsessed with other things. At 10 years old he collected turtles  until he gave up on them and trashed his collection. Then at 17 he collected fish, then one morning woke up and said "fuck fish" and now won't step foot in the ocean. Then he moved on to collecting something else.

If I can just end this review with an exciting animated gif, people will still like it. It doesn't even need to fit with the rest of the review. The audience won't care. I'll find a gif. That's what this needs.

As some point in the movie, we realize that the movie is a meta-movie, because the movie that is playing out is the screenplay that Charlie is currently writing. This becomes clear when Charlie has a breakthrough about how to start the movie. He repeats an echo of what we actually see as at the start of the movie. Toward the end, Charlie writes something and then we see it happen on screen.

This is obviously not from the movie, but is pretty awesome.
Movie quotability:
  • Maybe if I were happier my hair wouldn't be falling out?
  • You are what you love, not what loves you.
  • I can't believe I got shot.  Isn't that fucked up?
Plot Holes:
  • None.


CAGEamatic
Cinematic
Skyler
Exceeds Expectations
Exceeds Expectations
Shauna
James
4.80/5
4.50/5
Martine
!Stayed in the CAGE!

#25 Rumble Fish


#25 Rumble Fish
Year: 1983
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
MPAA Rating:
Epic Co-stars: Laurence Fishburne, Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke
Running Time: 94 min
Cage Time: 5%
Cage Kills: 0
Cage Flip-outs: 0
Martine's Review: 
Wow, I didn't know what to think when watching this one.  It's like the filmmakers were trying to blow my top with all of the artsy-farts black and white film and strange camera angles.  But after you sort through all of said artsy-fartsiness all your left with is a stagnant story line, a few poorly executed metaphors, and some boobs.   


In a nut shell, here's how things go down:  The 1983 version of James Franco (Matt Dillon) kisses the 1983 version of Julia Stiles (Diane Lane).  Things seem to be going okay between the two, but you can kind of tell that Julia Stiles is losing interest because James Franco is sort of a loser.  James Franco (Rusty James) is the leader of a crappy gang with Nic Cage who is sortof a nice boy caught up in the wrong crowd and the 1983 version of Jonah Hill (???  Maybe Jonah Hill's grandpa or something) smoking cigarettes.  Together with the help of a rival gain they reenact the 1983 video "Beat  It", but without the music.  Then Mickey Rourke (The Motorcycle Boy) rolls in looking like a child and steals the show.  It turns out that poor Rusty James has been living in his brothers shadow for years and is generally a miserable bastard with no meaningful relationships.


Nobody messes with the Wild Deuces!  Except for me.  After checking out that pant/belt combo I'll mess with this little troublemaker anytime!
Cut to Rusty James' family life!  Rusty James' mom left when he was yougn and his dad (Dennis Hopper) is a total worthless drunk.  The Motorcycle Boy (Rusty's brother) has just returned to town from a hiatus in California, but isn't quite living up to the legend he left behind; you guessed it, total drunk.  Oh and one other problem of Rusty's that I forgot to mention before, turns out he's a total drunk...  From here the film gets stuck some sort of purgatory where all of these people act miserable, realize they are miserable f-ups, and then are miserable due to their miserable realizations.  Some deep stuff is thrown in there about being your own worst enemy in life and some colors are flashed on the screen at key times to keep your brain in motion, but none of it really carries enough weight to compensate for the fact that Nic Cage is in less than 10% of this movie.

Now lets put aside from all the extremely mediocre parts of this film and concentrate on what really matters: my delicious little Cage man.  In the precious few minutes he is in this film, Mr. Cage does a wonderful job at both acting, and looking like a hot little piece of MILF bait.  His hair is very tall and feathery and his little teenage attitude of not giving a crap about anything makes me want to give him a spanking in order to straighten him out a little bit.  I didn't really like that he was #2 in the gang and was taking orders for Rusty James, but in the end I think we'll all agree who the bigger man is.  Despite this movie being pretty lame in most regards, everyone (including Cage) does a pretty damn fine job in the acting department.  It's just the script their acting out that leaves much to be desired.  Overall I would say only the die-hard Cage fans need to see this film and not those of us who were just looking for a quick fix.

Cage is a tough little punk with an ego as big as his hair.  So bad it's good.



Movie quotability:
  • "Something something something Rusty James Rusty James."
  • "You've got a bad habit of getting attached to people, man." 
  • "What are you doing? That must hurt!"
  • "He looks really old, like... 25 or something."
  • "You fuck other girls and all you do is shit on me!"
  • "Hey what are you gonna do?  Work me over with your night stick?"
  • "Black and white TV with the sound turned low."
  • "That was me at my 5 year old birthday party.  I was good lookin' even back then."
  • "Nobody wants to be killed."
Plot Holes:
  • Random cabin has HUGE liquor cabinet.
  • Random smoke pours down streets for no reason.
  • Equal amounts of black people and white people attend the same carnival.
  • People in this movie actually believe being color blind means seeing black and white.
  • Cops shoot guy for killing Betas from pet shop, but don't care when second guy steal.
  • A hundred people show up in the middle of the night to see who 


CAGEamatic
Cinamatic
Skyler
Dreadful
Dreadful
Shauna
James
3.78/5
2.75/5
Martine
!Tapped out (early) of the cage!