Nicolas Cage dials it down in Looking Glass

From my 2.17.18 Variety review: "Nicolas Cage continues to pad his resume with VOD-centric B-movies of wildly varying quality, demonstrating, if not discerning taste, then a prodigious work ethic that would have served him well as a Warner Bros. contract player during the 1930s and ’40s. Looking Glass, the latest in his seemingly endless parade of low-rent star vehicles, is notable mostly for showcasing a relatively restrained performance by the often manic actor. During almost the entirely of this derivative melodrama, a slow-burn scenario about strange doings at a second-rate desert motel, Cage tamps down his trademark tendency toward ravenous scenery chewing. He remains admirably disciplined even during scenes in which one of his co-stars is prematurely giving the game away by doing everything short of screaming, 'I’m the mad killer! I’m the mad killer!'" You can read the rest of my review here.

Before there was Left Behind there was... Left Behind

While watching The Remaining -- a fitfully exciting indie thriller best described as a Christian horror flick -- I couldn't help thinking about Left Behind. No, not the upcoming Nicolas Cage movie due in theaters Oct. 3. Rather, I mean an earlier film drawn from the same source material -- a series of popular books by Tim F. LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins -- but produced on a significantly smaller budget.

As I wrote in my original 2001 review:

Kirk Cameron, all grown up since his days on TV’s Growing Pains, plays Buck Williams, a TV news reporter who always manages to be where the action is. In the opening scenes, he just happens to be in Israel, interviewing a scientist who has found a way to grow food in arid land, when Iraqi fighter jets suddenly darken the sky.

Fortunately – well, OK, miraculously – the invaders are blasted to kingdom come even before the Israeli air force can launch a counterattack. Later, our hero is aboard a commercial airliner piloted by workaholic captain Rayford Steele (Brad Johnson) when the long-awaited, Biblically-prophesized “rapture” occurs. Dozens of passengers (including every child on board) simply vanish from the plane, leaving behind clothing, frantic parents and discombobulated fellow flyers. Tens of millions of similar vanishings occur throughout the world, though Left Behind -- obviously hampered by budgetary restraints -– can offer only fleeting glimpses of the collateral damage caused by this phenomenon.

Steele returns to his Chicago home to find his deeply religious wife and their young son are among the missing, and his college-age daughter, Chloe (Janaya Stephens), is terribly upset. Slowly, reluctantly, Steele begins to suspect that his wife, their son and millions of other folks have been brought to heaven by God to avoid the horrors of “end days.” (Not to be confused with End of Days, which millions of people managed to avoid without God’s help.) Williams takes a different route to solving the mystery of the missing millions. But he reaches the same conclusion after he links a couple of international bankers and a possible Antichrist to that notorious hotbed of ungodly and one-worldly activity, the United Nations.

Aimed squarely at that segment of the Christian community that eagerly (perhaps impatiently) awaits the Final Judgment, Left Behind is a pulpy melodrama that does a reasonably efficient job of preaching to the converted. (To damn it with faint praise: It’s much better crafted than The Omega Code, a similar doomsday drama about the emergence of the Antichrist.) Trouble is, it’s no great shakes as secular entertainment.

As it turned out, the 2001 Left Behind proved to be a career game-changer for Cameron, who has gone on to star in several other Christian-skewing dramas -- including Fireproof, which, no joke, was one of the highest-grossing indie releases of 2008. Will the new Left Behind have a similarly salutary effect on Nicholas Cage's career? Well, the Lord does work in mysterious ways...

Here's what The Rapture looked like back in the 2001 Left Behind:


And here's a glimpse at what the new Left Behind has in store for us:

From Toronto: Trespass

Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman and Joel Schumacher -- together again for the first time. The last time Cage and Schumacher collaborated, the result was a movie -- 8mm -- that I admired, but many people despised. And when Schumacher last directed Kidman -- well, OK, you have to admit that Batman Forever was better than Batman & Robin, right? Anyway: They're all involved in Trespass, and you read my mostly positive Variety review here.

For those who simply cannot get enough of Nicolas Cage...

A new site where Nicolas Cage is everyone, and everyone is Nicolas Cage. The possibilities are endless. (Hat tip to reader Movie Gal, the lady with the drawling talk and the sashaying walk.)

The Lone Ranger rides again?

After reviving the swashbuckler with his fabulously successful Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, producer Jerry Bruckheimer may be setting his sights on reintroducing a classic Western hero, The Lone Ranger. Does this mean Johnny Depp -- or Nicolas Cage, star of Bruckheimer's National Treasure franchise -- might be donning the mask? Or will they go with an unknown like they did back in 1981 when... oh, wait, maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea.

'Ghost Rider' spooked by critics?

From Lou Lumenick comes word that Ghost Rider will not be screened in advance for critics (just like the last Nicolas Cage flick, The Wicker Man). Trust me: This is not a good sign. Can another Golden Raspberry Award nomination be in the offing?

Pre-game peeks

From the look of the pre-game commercials, looks like Oscar winner Nicolas Cage will burn up the screen this month, and Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg will do some serious ass-kicking in March. But would Eddie Murphy's Oscar chances be helped if folks didn't see commercials for his next film? (Is that the lamest Super Bowl posting on line today, or what?)

They got Razzied

Basic Instinct 2 and Little Man grab seven nomiations each as the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation announces this year's contenders for the anti-Oscars known as Razzies. I don't know about you, but I'm putting my money down on "Sharon Stone's Lopsided Breasts" to win the Worst Screen Couple prize. And I wouldn't be surprised if Nicolas Cage gets Razzied as Worst Actor for The Wicker Man. Which raises a question: If the latter does occur, would this make Cage the only actor in history to have an Oscar and a Razzie to his credit?

Golden Raspberries

("Oh, God! Not another Razzie nomination!")

The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation -- dedicated, as always, to dishonoring the worst in cinema -- has released nominating ballots for the 27th annual Golden Raspberry Awards. And while write-in entries are allowed, preliminary nominees are listed in all Razzie categories.

The "hopefuls" (or perhaps that should be "hope-nots") for Worst Screen Couple include "Nicolas Cage & His Bear Suit" in The Wicker Man (a great choice, actually), "Tim Allen & Any Juvenile Super Hero" in Zoom, and "Sharon Stone's Lop-Sided Breasts" in the ill-starred sequel that Razzie-Dazzies refer to as Basically, It Stinks, Too. Potential nominees for Worst Picture include The Da Vinci Code, Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, Material Girls, BloodRayne -- and, of course, Basically, It Stinks, Too. And in the brand-new category of Worst Excuse for Family Entertainment, you'll find the holiday-season offerings Deck the Halls and Santa Claus 3: The Escape Claus.

But don't look for perennial Golden Raspberry favorite Sylvester Stallone among the Worst Actors (a line-up that does include Nicolas Cage for Wicker Man, David Morrissey for Basically, It Stinks, Too and -- gasp! -- Sean Penn for All the King's Men) or Worst Directors. (Do you really have to be told that Uwe Boll appears in the latter group for BloodRayne?) Razzie officials admit in their latest newsletter that, much to their great surprise, they actually liked Stallone's Rocky Balboa -- a flick they had assumed would be Worst Picture material. " "[W]hen Rocky finally hefts those barbells again," they write, "runs up the Philly Museum of Art's steps, and starts 'working on some hurtin' bombs,' we found ourselves suckered in. And when Rocky breaks down crying over the loss of his beloved Adrian, we found ourselves misting up -- and for once, not with tears of laughter."

Of course, none of that stopped the Razzie-Dazzies from nominating two of Stallone's co-stars, Burt Young and Milo Ventimiglia, for Worst Supporting Actor. But, then again, you wouldn't expect too much sentiment from these guys, wouldn't you?

If you'd like to cast your very own Golden Razzie ballot, click here for membership info. Final nominees will be announced Jan. 22, and winners will be dishonored Feb. 24 (the night before that other L.A. awards show).