Latest / Cage Match: A Roundabout Way of Meeting Nicolas Cage / Con Air vs Raising Arizona | Pig vs Vampire's Kiss

Transcript

Con Air vs Raising Arizona | Pig vs Vampire's Kiss · Cage Match: A Roundabout Way of Meeting Nicolas Cage

0:01
Oh, God. Oh, my God. It was all a dream. He was
0:23
in the shower the whole time. No. Those are the
0:27
worst. Fucking dynasty. Just thinking about it.
0:31
Yeah, for real. Was that Dynasty? Probably. I
0:35
can't remember. My pop culture references are
0:38
going to be all fucked up tonight. Well, good
0:41
thing you don't have to have too many pop culture
0:43
references. You just need four. I have one of
0:47
them right here. That's true. Oh. I don't like
0:52
coconuts and that doesn't do anything for me.
0:54
You know, I don't like coconut either, but in
0:55
the spirit of this, I'm definitely going to house
0:57
one of those snowballs. Yeah, there is absolutely
0:59
nothing about a snowball that I find attractive
1:01
aside from the pinkness of it. Yeah. And the
1:05
chocolate cake. But I'm not a huge fan of the
1:07
hostess frosting like same. So, yeah, you know,
1:12
we're just going to get through it. I'll take
1:14
one to the mouth and that's fine. This is now
1:16
a snack cake podcast. Yeah. When was the last
1:19
time we made that joke? Oh, changing what the
1:21
podcast is? Yeah. That's a good question. I feel
1:24
like we've been kind of on it these last few
1:26
rounds. Doing our work? Boo. Fucking cowards.
1:32
I love how it's taken us three years to get good
1:34
at this, and we're literally two episodes from
1:36
the end. Yeah. It's still arguable about whether
1:40
we're good at this or not, too. Fair enough.
1:43
But we are still here and less distracted. I
1:48
mean, for those listeners out there, you are
1:51
going to hear these in strange order, I suppose,
1:53
because this is going to come out and then the
1:56
next episode, I think, is going to be gunslingers
1:59
if we can track that shit down. And then it's
2:01
going to be the Nick Cage Universe D &D game
2:04
part one and two and then the surfer and then
2:08
the finale. So that'll be interesting. Oh, you're
2:12
splitting the game up into two episodes? It was
2:15
quite long. Yeah. plus there are two there's
2:18
like a good in -between point that i think we
2:20
can you know last time on cage match i'm pretty
2:25
sure you like inserted one of those while we
2:27
were playing and i was like thrown back for a
2:30
second i was like oh that's probably his natural
2:31
breaking point like emotionally yes i mean i
2:39
will say that the first time i heard daryl do
2:41
the peter low voice i lost my shit uh yeah That
2:45
was pretty incredible. Man, I was just watching
2:49
some YouTube stuff today. And this is going to
2:52
tie back in a second. And I was watching a scene,
2:56
a Norman Reedus scene from the new Bike Riders
2:59
film. Tom Hardy motorcycles and Australia shit.
3:05
And Norman Reedus has the most Bobby Peru teeth
3:09
ever in that thing. They're tiny and they're
3:12
moldy and it's gross. Ew. Yeah. It was very hard
3:16
to watch that scene, but it was nice. Emotionally,
3:19
like loyally. Did I tell you guys when I was
3:23
acting in college, I played a like down south
3:27
racist in the play called The Foreigner. And
3:30
as a Chiefs fan, that probably wasn't too hard.
3:32
Really big stretch. I know. I feel like I knew
3:36
this about you. Yeah. The director had me use
3:38
that stuff that makes your teeth look absolutely
3:40
fucking disgusting. You just paint it on. I wish
3:44
I had a picture of it. I don't think I have a
3:46
picture of it anymore, but it was repulsive.
3:48
It's like grease makeup for your teeth. Yeah,
3:50
really, really gnarly. They look so fucking bad.
3:53
I don't like it. I never had to do anything like
3:56
that. Well, play more racist. I'll try. I hate
4:04
being typecast, though. Yeah, right. I played
4:07
I played a villain. I think four out of the five
4:10
plays that I was in. Which is kind of amazing.
4:14
I was a villain, I think, only once. I was Henri
4:18
Labise in Victor Victoria. Oh, nice. The French
4:23
club owner. Yeah, cool. Honestly, playing a bad
4:27
guy is pretty amazing. It's pretty great. Like,
4:30
there's something so fun. The bad guys have the
4:33
most fun. There's, like... The bad guys are always
4:36
the character who has a plan, who has a goal,
4:39
who wants to fucking do something. And the hero
4:42
just shows up and fucks that shit up. Yeah. Catches
4:47
the breeze. What an ass. Yeah. Speaking of fucking
4:52
shit up, welcome back to Cage Match, calling
4:54
a roundabout way of meeting Nicolas Cage. My
4:55
name is Sean, here with my co -host. Nick. Thank
5:00
you for fucking that up. I'm Nick. And our producer.
5:04
Peter, hello. Thank you for not fucking that
5:06
up, Peter. Yeah, you're welcome. Hey, I got my
5:09
name right. You did. Yeah. No jicks here. No,
5:12
I checked. And this is, did I say this is Cage
5:17
Match calling around about Wade meeting Nicolas
5:18
Cage? You did. I did. Way to fuck that up. So
5:21
Sean is working off of very minimal sleep for
5:24
you, dear listener. Yeah, I got two 20 minute
5:27
naps today after like two and a half hours of
5:29
sleep last night. You should be able to fucking
5:31
go. I've been up since 2 .30am. Yeah. Woo. I
5:34
had a shot of espresso before hitting the mic.
5:37
So I'm going to crash hard at some point. Did
5:40
you boof it? Yeah. But coffee. No. Have you tried
5:45
brown and brown amphetamines? For the sake of
5:51
my job, no. Reasonable. On this podcast, we.
5:57
have watched 64 Nicolas Cage films bracket style
6:00
and have gone round after round to now the final
6:06
four skin, the top four movies. We're going to
6:09
discuss them and we're going to decide what the
6:11
final two are today on Cage Match. Calling a
6:16
roundabout way of meeting Nicolas Cage. With
6:18
your hosts, Sean and Nick and me, Peter. Nice.
6:22
I don't like this. Now you're just fucking with
6:26
me. I'm sleep deprived. This is perfect. I don't
6:29
know where I am. We can do whatever we want.
6:31
It is the ideal time to start doing that. Well,
6:34
so I think it makes the most sense to just kind
6:36
of kick it off from the top of the bracket where
6:39
we started. And it's going to be action versus
6:41
comedy. Sure. So it's a Con Air up against Raising
6:45
Arizona, which, you know, both of them. have
6:49
action and both of them have comedy so of the
6:52
two head -to -heads that we're dealing with today
6:54
this is the one that makes more sense yes uh
6:58
nick you suggested some uh prompts if you will
7:01
do we want to like yeah so there's a couple things
7:04
that we're uh looking at in you know talking
7:09
about these four rather different films uh because
7:14
you can't like compare an action film to a comedy
7:17
necessarily and say which one's better because
7:21
they're doing different things so we're looking
7:23
at some of our what is definitely better though
7:25
well well let's debate yeah so we're looking
7:29
at some of the the core items that we set out
7:33
to uh figure out what was the uh really the meat
7:39
of this podcast and like finding the cagiest
7:43
like best kind of nicholas cage film so we're
7:47
looking at uh our caginess you know if you've
7:51
gotten this far and you haven't figured out what
7:52
that is it's you're more yeah this is your first
7:55
episode of cage match you chose poorly it doesn't
7:58
get better i will say in terms of caginess uh
8:02
that much like the fucking whims we decide what
8:06
is good uh does change drastically uh movie to
8:10
movie right uh generally caginess we would describe
8:16
as his uh eccentricities yeah the the bug eyes
8:21
the freak outs yeah you know the big motions
8:24
the you know the and emotions the caginess of
8:27
it all uh within the film you know we're gonna
8:31
look at the performances how well that conveys
8:35
what it needs to in the film you know just yeah
8:38
you know look we're not like film critics we're
8:41
we're gonna do the best we can but This isn't
8:45
science. The originality of the film and of the
8:50
performance. We'll look at that. As well as a
8:53
general effectiveness of the film in reaching
8:56
its goal in the film to audience touchiness.
9:04
Touchiness? Yeah, perfect. And you say we're
9:09
not professional film critics. Yeah, I know.
9:11
We're professionals. Yeah, so those four categories,
9:16
we're just going to kind of talk them out and
9:19
use that as a diving board? Yeah, I mean, so...
9:28
Jumping off point. A jumping off point, so I
9:30
think that... A jumping off board that you put
9:32
into a pool. Ooh, a jumpy board. A jumping off
9:35
board. Hmm. It's the next big thing. It'll catch
9:39
on. So, Con Air. Yeah, what's this movie about?
9:46
Convicts in the air. It's got show tunes. It's
9:50
amazing. No, it doesn't. It is amazing though.
9:53
It does have that Lynyrd Skynyrd song. It does.
9:58
That's not Lynyrd Skynyrd. No, it is not. Although.
10:03
fucking there we go without you this would make
10:08
such an amazing broadway musical in the vein
10:12
of like spider -man turn off the dark or like
10:13
the king kong musical like taking like yes it
10:16
would a fucking yeah i just wouldn't want it
10:19
to get canceled that's the problem with those
10:21
ones yeah that's true those are all the ones
10:23
that failed we have to see it immediately i want
10:28
i want cyrus the virus's big number yeah Do you
10:31
remember when there was the Evil Dead musical?
10:34
Evil Dead? No, just Evil Dead. Oh, there was
10:37
Evil Dead, the musical. Yeah. I never saw it.
10:41
No, no one did. It like performed in Toronto
10:44
and closed. That's really disappointing because
10:46
I bet it was good. I bet it was great. Yeah.
10:49
Yeah. Got to get to more theater. So, Connor,
10:55
Nicolas Cage plays Cameron Poe, who is. arrested
10:59
and sentenced to seven years in prison after
11:01
killing a man in self -defense. Still such bullshit.
11:05
Like, I hate that part of it. I mean, I get it.
11:07
He has to go to prison. That's the whole point.
11:08
But like, it's so dumb. His hands are deadly
11:11
weapons. You should have known better. He's held
11:14
to a high standard. It's a good thing that guy
11:18
took the knife off the ground when he ran away.
11:20
Yeah, because then there was no way to prove
11:23
that Nicholas. Otherwise, this would have been
11:24
a very short movie and very different. Yeah.
11:27
it it does bother me though that at the end he
11:30
just gets to like go off with his wife i'm like
11:32
there's paperwork to sign like he's going back
11:35
to prison because like he just like left if i've
11:39
learned anything from watching jack reacher is
11:42
it's that he can just fuck shit up and leave
11:45
and it's okay because he you know did it in the
11:49
name of good right and also because the powers
11:52
that be probably won't report his involvement
11:55
Also, just being a giant motherfucker who is
11:57
super imposing. Yeah. Yeah. Alan Rickson's a
12:01
huge dude. I mean, Nick Cage is pretty big in
12:03
this. Like, this is this is this is swole cage.
12:07
We're getting up there. Yeah. Have we ever talked
12:10
about how tall Nicholas Cage is? No. No. Oh,
12:14
my God. Who's going to Google that first? I I'm
12:17
going to guess that he is. Six foot one. Oh,
12:22
that's it. Yeah. OK. Yeah. So he's 5 '11". Yeah,
12:25
exactly. No, I think he's probably going to come
12:27
in at like six foot true, but maybe like six
12:32
foot higher. Yeah. Yeah. Six foot even according
12:35
to the Googles. OK, so still 5 '11", but yeah.
12:39
OK, so, hmm. All right. I found I found a flaw
12:43
with with face off. John Travolta is two inches
12:47
taller. John Travolta is that tall? With his
12:52
lifts, apparently. Yeah, apparently. Jesus Christ.
12:55
And he kind of has a pompadour some of the time,
12:57
too. Yeah, that gives you extra height. I've
13:01
told you guys the story about how I saved my
13:02
ex -girlfriend from Scientologists. Oh, yeah.
13:05
Yeah. Okay. Yeah, fuck. That's an interesting
13:09
cult, for sure. Cults are interesting, just in
13:12
general. This is now a cult podcast. What's your
13:16
favorite cult? What's my favorite cult? Yeah.
13:22
Probably the. Sean, we're losing you. We're losing
13:29
you. It's almost as if this was a comedy podcast
13:34
at one point. Yeah. OK, I'm thinking about cults.
13:39
I like that hillbop comet cult. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
13:44
Also, that was a 1997 thing. Yeah. A lot of shit
13:48
happened in 97. I think I got to go true to my
13:51
roots and go with the the Oregon cult. Yeah.
13:57
That makes sense. What were they called again?
13:59
The. But they did some wild. Rajneesh. Yeah.
14:03
The Rajneesh. Yeah. Rajneesh. Rajneesh. That's
14:07
such a fun word to say wrong. Yeah. Rajneesh.
14:12
I'm trying to poison the the water in Portland
14:15
with salmonella. That was pretty good part. Yeah.
14:20
and all the firearms what about you manson you
14:22
a manson guy no i'm not a manson guy uh fucking
14:25
jim jones is fucking jonestown's wacky fucking
14:29
they killed an orangutan in that one yeah oh
14:32
man yeah the family had a pet orangutan like
14:35
if you if you listen to uh is that was that one
14:39
of those where like he used to be a door -to
14:41
-door ape salesman or whatever monkey salesman
14:44
yeah sorry yeah totally a career yeah it was
14:50
dude the fucking 70s was a wild time was it the
14:54
70s i don't remember all the people who didn't
14:56
live in the 70s right okay so door -to -door
15:00
monkey salesman was a job at one point in this
15:02
nation's history we live in the worst possible
15:05
time you can claim anything is a job i suppose
15:08
i mean if somebody transacts money for a thing
15:10
you do like there you go if we went out and got
15:15
monkeys today we could still be door -to -door
15:18
monkey salesman we would just be very... Unsuccessful?
15:23
Urgent monkey salesmen, because we don't want
15:25
to get caught with these monkeys. Or killed by
15:27
them. Yeah, or killed by them. Well, we keep
15:29
them in the trunk, obviously. Oh, good, trunk
15:31
monkeys. God, it's safe. Nice. Come on. These
15:34
monkeys are priced to move. Con air. This movie
15:40
has, like, almost no caginess to it. It's a pretty
15:45
straight action performance. He is kind of a
15:49
blank canvas upon which bad things happen, and
15:52
he reacts with violence. Yeah, I mean, he gets
15:56
to be a badass in response. Violence and sarcasm.
15:59
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeehaw. Oh, yeah. But that's
16:07
like, I just rewatched this two nights ago, and
16:11
I'm just like, he has so little to say in this
16:15
film. It's not bad. Like he serves the role of
16:21
like fucking brick shithouse. What to do with
16:26
the violence that saves the day. But there is
16:29
a definite lack of a personality in Cameron Poe.
16:33
What is the sound that we are hearing? Yeah,
16:36
I don't know. That's my voice. Well, what is
16:40
this horrible noise? Yeah. It's just the heat,
16:45
but it was. It sounds weird and rattly. Yeah,
16:50
maybe the fridge. Also, don't try and open that
16:53
fridge because the handle will just fall off.
16:55
Oh, sick. I'm going to do it. Yeah. Sorry, John.
16:59
And then I'm going to find out in the fridge.
17:01
There you go. Nice. But how is he going to open
17:04
the door to get the handle out? I'll trick him.
17:06
I'll put the handle on the wrong side. He'll
17:09
pull the fridge over. We should just switch his
17:11
door. No, you got a turtle backpack. You got
17:14
to turn it inside out. Yeah. Yes. That is still
17:18
one of the best pranks. Was that Seth who told
17:20
us that? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, that was so
17:23
fucking good. It's like the most harmless prank
17:26
that is incredible. Nick said he was going to
17:30
buy me a backpack just so he could do it to me.
17:32
Yeah. I could do it to a purse, though. You could
17:35
do it. You could definitely turtle a purse. Don't
17:38
turtle my purse. yeah so there isn't a whole
17:41
lot for the caginess but uh performance you know
17:45
like kind of like i said it's pretty standard
17:47
action performance it doesn't i don't think it
17:51
goes out of its way to be good his accent's not
17:55
good so points points lost on that one um but
18:00
it's also like an iconic performance like put
18:06
the bunny in the box Well, and I mean, it's one
18:10
of those things. It's like. He is true to the
18:13
character. Yeah, no, he definitely was playing
18:15
Cameron Poe and there's no like debate about
18:18
it. But yeah, it's it's not like he's asked to
18:20
do much. No major acting, you know? No, there's
18:25
no like. Deep dives and feelings or no, I do.
18:30
I do. I do love the accent. I do love the subtlety
18:34
of just. he doesn't have a lot of lines but the
18:37
ones he does does have are like they're fun um
18:41
like when garland is giving uh his reasoning
18:44
why um one dude's like like how laughter like
18:50
actually hurts this guy billy bedlam um and all
18:53
he does is goes just says hi he's like hi garland
18:56
yeah like it's pretty good and like it would
19:00
be great except like the fucking i'm gonna prove
19:04
to you there is a god is the dumbest line and
19:08
i hate it it is a dumb line that's easily the
19:11
worst line in the entire fucking movie there's
19:14
no reason for it it's like he's not shown as
19:16
being religious or spiritual even beyond just
19:20
being from alabama right right but outside of
19:25
that it's like yeah no i mean he never like does
19:28
any kind of prayer or anything like that when
19:30
he's in prison like i don't know no I still maintain
19:34
he's not that smart considering he thought, you
19:36
know, his fucking four -year -old daughters was
19:39
writing those letters. I mean, somebody could
19:43
have been doing dictation. That's how each one
19:48
of those letters ended. Dictated. Dictated, not
19:52
read. Yep. Would make the most sense. But yeah,
19:58
no, I don't think Cameron is a particularly smart
20:02
man. He never needed to be. He's just a, you
20:06
know, retired army ranger. And I don't recall
20:12
them having an IQ test as an entrance in the
20:15
ASVAB. What the fuck was that? The ASVAB? You
20:20
never took the ASVAB? No, I just heard a fucking
20:23
terrifying noise on my end. Oh. Oh, well, we
20:27
can't we can't take any more breaks. You have
20:29
to just live with the horror. Yeah. In your home.
20:32
We'll tell you if something comes up behind you,
20:34
though. I mean, I can see if anything's coming
20:36
up behind me. Oh, that's true. That's a vampire
20:38
and it's not seen on camera. Maybe. Although
20:43
I think vampires would show up on digital cameras
20:46
because. I think they didn't show up in. earlier
20:52
ones because of the mirror in an slr camera right
20:56
so if you had a mirrorless cam yeah so i think
20:59
that would be the difference here and i was thinking
21:02
about it i think not to start talking about vampires
21:06
or anything but it's a vampire podcast now the
21:09
reasons that they like don't show up in mirrors
21:12
is because mirrors used to be lined with silver
21:14
right which was their bad bad feels it all makes
21:19
sense yeah Way to get to the bottom of vampires.
21:22
Yeah, I do a lot of thinking about vampires when
21:24
I'm just sitting at home. So hot. All right,
21:29
moving on. Yeah. So, you know, overall, I think
21:32
this movie does a great job of being an action
21:34
film. Yeah. Like if you look at if you look at
21:37
any aspect of this movie too long, it falls apart.
21:40
But if you're just there for the ride, fucking
21:42
great. Which is exactly where it needs to be.
21:48
But. There's no like deep themes. You're not
21:51
going to walk away from it thinking about anything
21:53
other than how cool it is. I still maintain this.
21:58
This movie has this movie's weakest point was
22:02
the fact that the script was like not finished
22:05
and was kind of being written on the days just
22:08
because they have such great archetypes for characters
22:11
and great people playing them. And most of them
22:15
have nothing really to do other than just be.
22:19
one -dimensional bad guys where you have a garland
22:23
green who's there for mild comic relief but is
22:27
set up to be so much more um cyrus the virus
22:31
really fun villain could have done a little more
22:34
with um so just and you know yeah it definitely
22:38
suffers from having too much good stuff what
22:42
is that am pm yeah yeah too much good stuff or
22:46
yeah it has a lot of good stuff just none of
22:48
it's focused yeah exactly because you can't because
22:50
there's just too much it's like oh you want to
22:52
give diamond dog some time okay but sorry we
22:54
need to focus on swamp thing for a minute you
22:56
know yeah i mean the movie's already damn near
23:00
two hours or whatever so it it gets a little
23:03
disheveled yeah by trying to include so much
23:06
but you can't cut out people because it's a fucking
23:08
airplane like you have to have a full ass airplane
23:11
of characters yeah i mean you can cut out moskowitz
23:15
yeah Yeah, I think he got removed cleanly from
23:24
the script and pinball. I like how pinball went.
23:28
I mean, you're never going to make me sad about
23:30
having a Dave Chappelle corpse doll. That is
23:33
so fucking funny to me. Every time I see it in
23:36
that like slow falling through the sky, I just
23:39
lose my shit. It is so funny. I just love that.
23:42
It's like a slightly ashy looking Dave Chappelle.
23:45
I always forget he's in this movie. I've watched
23:48
this movie five times in three years and I always
23:51
forget he's in this movie because I don't want
23:52
to fucking think about Dave Chappelle. Fair enough.
23:55
I'm glad he always dies and relatively quickly.
23:58
It takes me back to like the, you know, the old
24:01
school TV shows, the sitcoms that were on when
24:03
we were, you know, in our late. Early years,
24:07
you know, whatever it is, and like where they
24:09
would just ragdoll someone and it would not even
24:12
look at all like a real person, just like a body
24:14
flies across the screen. It's like that is just
24:18
pillows in a sack, you know? Yeah, well, I had
24:20
friends. And they were in college. I was fucking
24:24
not because I was a bum for a while. But they
24:27
were all like, you know, fucking actors and filmmakers.
24:31
And they wanted to be like the next whitest kids,
24:33
you know, like sketch comedy troupe. And one
24:37
of our one of the bits we came up with was because
24:39
we had no budget was, hey, you forgot your hat.
24:42
So we had just like. a dummy like a pillow dummy
24:45
guy so anytime someone had to take a fall down
24:48
some stairs to go out a window it would always
24:50
be proceeded with hey you forgot your hat we'd
24:51
throw a hat we'd hand the character hat and then
24:54
cut to like the dummy going out a window wearing
24:57
that hat excellent it was the only good idea
25:02
we had anything else on con air um phil uh are
25:10
so are there any themes in this film uh i would
25:13
say no um i would even say like cameron poe doesn't
25:17
even go on a hero's journey he's not at all a
25:20
different person at the end of this film he doesn't
25:22
grow or change in this film like no he just shows
25:27
you who you are throughout the course or shows
25:30
you who he is i mean maybe he shows you who you
25:34
are i don't know maybe this movie changed somebody
25:37
But it changed. It changed fucking Cyrus the
25:40
virus into a flat headed dead guy. Yeah, it changed
25:46
Dave Chappelle into a slightly body double. But
25:52
yeah, like there's no there. I mean, we're told
25:55
in the first three minutes who this character
25:58
is, and we are not surprised by anything he does.
26:01
No, he he just lives up to it the whole time.
26:05
He should have done more with his Spanish lessons,
26:07
though. And it's origami. Yeah, origami, too.
26:10
Big loss. Big fail. Now, hold on. I did find
26:13
him using his Spanish. Remember when he is he
26:19
meets up with Santino's or Sandino's in the hangar?
26:25
He says something along the lines of like. Hold
26:29
it, essay or whatever. Yeah, or like comprende.
26:32
Yeah. Essay or something like that. He uses two
26:37
Spanish words poorly. But no origami. No origami.
26:42
Unless you want to consider how he folded up
26:44
Dave Chappelle to drop him. I think he used the
26:49
foot method. Oh, OK. Oh, just also one thing
26:54
I want to add to in terms of like performance,
26:56
because it is about Nick Cage, but also I think
26:58
it should be about like. the whole of nick cage
27:01
in the film and this is very much a um ensemble
27:06
ensemble film like i think everyone almost everyone
27:11
else is given more to do and succeeds at it in
27:14
this film um or at least was given something
27:17
more fun to do you know back to the original
27:19
conversation of like being the bad guy is more
27:21
fun you know playing that role is way more fun
27:24
and when you've got 20 bad guys right there's
27:26
20 people having a great time Like, you know
27:29
who is not a good character? Baby -O. Baby -O.
27:32
Oh, yeah. He's like, I have diabetes. I'm going
27:36
to fucking die. I'm going to try and be a hero,
27:38
but I'm really hurt and dying from diabetes.
27:41
I'm going to show you God does exist. Yeah. It's
27:47
true. Baby -O, they got history. He helped Baby
27:50
-O get his diabetes. He helped Baby -O get his
27:54
diabetes. And with that, Raising Arizona. Yeah,
27:58
let's move on. Yeah. Fucking, this is a movie
28:02
where Nick Cage is a kidnapper. Baby -napper,
28:06
steals babies. By profession, he is a convenience
28:11
store robber. Yeah. Unarmed robber. in terms
28:17
of our original bracket there wasn't like we
28:22
i thought we went into this thinking nick cage
28:25
has done a lot of comedy he has not um most of
28:29
a lot of good comedy most of what we have in
28:31
comedy is our our dramas uh for the most part
28:35
uh a couple romantic comedies um or just fucking
28:40
weird like kind of yeah they're kind of dark
28:43
comedy Yeah, it kind of fits for him. It makes
28:46
sense that that's the route that he ended up
28:48
going for comedy. Yeah, he's definitely got a
28:50
dark comedy face. Like it's not a Seinfeld face.
28:54
But it's it's definitely a face that when it
28:57
says something funny. Or when something sad happens
29:00
to it, it's also funny. Yeah, I like that. Yeah,
29:04
I think that's why we get along. Because I have
29:07
a sad, funny face. It's the nicest thing you've
29:11
ever said to me. But, I mean, this clearly deserved
29:18
to be categorized as the best comedy because
29:21
it's the funniest. Well, it's funny because it
29:26
was actually, it was a number two seed, which
29:28
I'm trying to look back at what was our number
29:30
one seed in comedy. Adaptation. Adaptation. We
29:36
were so much younger then. All right, so caginess
29:40
on this one is way easier to diagnose. Yes, it's
29:44
a very good amount of caginess. The only thing
29:48
I think that holds back. Like really giving it
29:52
like a. Top accolades is the fact that it was
29:57
more of a Cohen decision than Nicolas Cage decisions.
30:04
It is a very like the character, like my notes
30:07
I wrote down that, you know. it is a very monotone
30:12
even character for the most part which works
30:15
for a coen brothers film like this is very much
30:17
a coen brothers character it's yeah it's you
30:20
know he is the straight man in this movie for
30:23
the most part like you he has his moments uh
30:26
when he starts driving by uh convenience stores
30:30
that aren't even on the way home like he's got
30:32
some amazing lines um i was thinking about the
30:35
scene when they're trying to take the picture
30:37
on the couch he just we're fitting a pop here
30:40
but it's about to go trying to get her attention
30:43
get her focused on it and it's like he is you're
30:47
right he's he's pretty like monotone one level
30:49
but there's all these things that are sort of
30:51
like bubbling under the surface that yeah you
30:53
know you see there's that one scene where he
30:55
like i can't remember what it was but he just
30:56
like gnashes his teeth like i don't remember
31:00
what makes him do that but this is this is something
31:03
i did want to get into later but i mean we can
31:04
talk about it with all the films is These four
31:07
films specifically really show how great of a
31:11
physical actor he is. And that's something I
31:13
don't think people ever talk about. People also
31:16
don't watch all of his movies in the course of
31:18
like eight months. That's fair. Yeah. But like
31:24
he's he's got such a great like physical presence
31:28
and control. in his acting and like even when
31:32
he has a more sedate character he still brings
31:34
so much that character just by how he moves what
31:41
i'm saying is nick cage is a great actor yeah
31:44
exactly no i mean i think it shows through on
31:47
this one for sure it is interesting that he did
31:49
have like the issues with the coens and didn't
31:51
like their directing or not that it's that they
31:54
didn't want him to do what he wanted to do which
31:57
at that point in his career like Kind of everyone
32:00
was just letting him do it. You know, he had
32:02
been in Peggy Sue where he got to be the crazy,
32:04
you know, Muppet voiced. Well, he was in Peggy
32:07
Sue directed by his uncle. By his uncle, right.
32:09
He was in Valley Girl where he was like, you
32:12
know, the beefcake. But he got to be weird in
32:14
that, you know. As a total unknown. That was
32:17
his first name or first film under the name of
32:20
Cage. So, I mean, it's interesting because he'd
32:23
been given some leeway. Or was granted some leeway
32:27
because he just forced the hands. Yeah. And then
32:30
to get into a situation where the directors were
32:31
like, no, we need this from you. Yeah. And that's
32:36
a pretty big thing from the Coen. Sorry, Sean.
32:38
When that's like their second film. For sure.
32:42
So I mean, not just their second. I mean, yes,
32:45
it is just that it is their second film. But
32:46
those the Coen brothers. I mean, that is. Has
32:50
grown to continue to be kind of their. flavor
32:55
of acting they i totally seem like such meticulous
32:59
uh directors who want who have a very specific
33:02
vision and that's awesome but when you have an
33:04
actor who likes to make a lot of decisions like
33:08
in front of the camera um i could see that being
33:11
a personality clash um yeah because yeah nick
33:14
cage likes to leave it all on the fucking floor
33:17
and i can see That pairing being one where he'd
33:23
have to restrain himself a lot, which is not
33:25
something that we've ever heard he likes to do.
33:29
Yeah. You know, he just wants to explore the
33:35
the human condition. Yeah, there you go. In all
33:39
of its various facets. Usually with a very high
33:43
nasally voice. Yeah. You know what? It's because
33:46
people with high nasally voices are actually
33:49
living the best life. so sorry about it yeah
33:53
but yeah um so we've made it it's it's a you
34:02
know highly uh eccentric film he gives a really
34:08
great performance of it um a lot of that is definitely
34:15
due in part to the coens but is in no way detracting
34:23
yeah subtracting from what he provided so it's
34:27
just you know i think one of his strengths in
34:29
this and in most stuff but like in this is he
34:33
does have a very i guess this just goes back
34:37
to his physical acting but he can disappear into
34:39
a role really well like even when you see like
34:42
see that it's nicholas cage like the way he holds
34:47
his face the way he moves like he he doesn't
34:50
no two movies outside of like the cheap um doing
34:55
for tax purposes stuff like he does embody those
34:58
characters really well and kind of you forget
35:00
you're watching you can forget you're watching
35:02
nick cage a lot of the time whereas like a george
35:05
clooney i'm like that's george fucking clooney
35:07
yeah he when he's passionate about a role he
35:10
he's on and yeah um this you know he gave a great
35:14
performance uh you know be it directed into this
35:18
performance or not like He nailed it, man. He's
35:21
consistently the character. He is H .I. McDonough.
35:24
It's his best talking work. Accent work, I think
35:32
we've seen. It's his best wordy talks. Yeah,
35:37
outside of Boston Cop in Sorcerer's Apprentice.
35:42
It's his best accent. In terms of like theme.
35:50
You know, there is some talk about, you know,
35:52
there's something to be read in here about. No,
35:57
my brain is gone now. I'm falling asleep. That's
35:59
OK. We also jumped the originality. Oh, yeah.
36:03
Factor, which we didn't talk about with Con Air
36:06
either, but it's a prison escape film. So we've
36:09
had those before. It's a 90s action film starring
36:12
Nicolas Cage. Yeah. the original arizona does
36:15
have kind of its own originality it's not i mean
36:18
it's it's a heist it's the you know people wanting
36:21
a baby all those kinds of good comedy of errors
36:23
um it's a heist film uh just the instead of money
36:27
it's a baby um yeah but then the baby's worth
36:30
not a large amount of money even for like the
36:35
time like yeah i'm like fucking uh nathan arizona's
36:39
lowballing that baby well he's a businessman
36:41
he's shrewd He also has like a store selling
36:46
unpainted furniture. I don't think he's like
36:48
everyone in it, as we might hope. But they have
36:52
a fountain. They I mean, you want a fountain?
36:55
I could get you a fountain. Maybe. But it's when
37:00
I was looking at this, I was like, well, how
37:03
many how many films are out there about people
37:05
stealing babies? And I was like, film like this
37:08
is me Googling film. Couple steals baby. uh this
37:13
movie didn't even show up in like the top whoa
37:17
like two pages of google what were the top movies
37:20
it's all horror films oh so like in terms of
37:24
horror and thrillers and it's like oh okay well
37:27
i mean the activity exists in film but in a comedic
37:32
sense it's less prevalent what was that william
37:35
brothers movie was that little man does that
37:38
count I don't think any Wayans brother movie
37:42
counts as a comedy. Fucking Blank Man is a classic.
37:47
Blank Man. I will say, like, I think for the
37:53
time and for the Coen brothers career, like,
37:55
yeah, this is this is this is a huge thing. This
37:59
is a huge movie. This is something we people
38:01
I don't think have really seen before. And I
38:05
think within the scope of the rest of their work,
38:07
it does inform pretty much everything going on
38:09
from here and maybe isn't as original now. But
38:16
for the time. It's it's a standout. It definitely
38:21
stands out. In the world of like comedy and especially
38:27
in the Coen brothers. Not discography, but filmography.
38:34
Yeah. Case in point, everything that came after
38:36
this. Right. Yeah. So that, that is very true.
38:40
And, you know, moving on, you know, it, it fucking
38:44
crushed what it did. Like it, it was a terrific
38:49
cup. That was a weak ass bird. Was that you?
38:52
Or was that taco? Did taco just die? I had a
38:56
shrimp burrito. That's not coming up. Great.
38:59
Just one shrimp burrito. I could go for some
39:07
more shrimp now. Peter, when are we shrimping
39:10
again? I got to come down to Portland. Let's
39:13
shrimp it up. Oh, we shrimping? We sucking toes?
39:15
We shrimping, baby. Come on, boys. Yeah, I got
39:17
into it now. I came around to it. Nice. You been
39:23
hanging out with dancers? Oh, God. Get some of
39:26
them ballet toes. Sick. Fuck. I hate it. They're
39:32
so tiny. They're tiny. You need a bunch in there.
39:34
Well, they're tiny because they're all impacted.
39:37
I was thinking about like Sergeant Hatred from
39:39
the Venture Brothers and how he loves Princess
39:41
Tiny Feet or whatever. Yeah. Let's not talk about
39:47
Sergeant Hatred on this podcast, please. Yeah,
39:49
fair enough. He's problematic. So, I mean, at
39:53
this point, it feels like you guys kind of don't
39:56
have more to say on this one, unless you really
39:59
want to put a button on it. um i mean if like
40:03
if there's a theme in here it's about like you
40:06
know personal redemption like hi and um and you
40:12
know get together at kind of their lowest and
40:15
keep kind of getting lower until you know they
40:18
have to grow up like there's an arc here they
40:21
you know they go on a journey and they become
40:24
better people for each other and just as people
40:28
at the end of this i mean even um John Goodman
40:31
and. And Forsythe, like even at the end of this,
40:36
like this, having met this baby, decide that
40:40
they're not ready to be free, that, you know,
40:43
they still have to like. Change themselves and
40:47
return themselves to prison. Through that same
40:52
poop hole. Yeah. And babies don't fix relationships.
40:57
You think any other prisoners got out through
40:59
the poop hole? I mean, it seemed like a pretty
41:01
well -manned poop hole at that point, but. Yeah,
41:04
I think there were eyes on that poop hole. I
41:08
just hate the sliminess of that mud when it's
41:11
in his mouth and it just looks like. It's so
41:14
gross. Yeah, that's not all poop. I love that
41:17
the first thing they do is just go fucking use
41:20
a whole can of pomade. Absolutely. Those guys
41:24
know how to fuck for sure. Yeah. Are we are we
41:29
doing this? Yeah, let's I think let's make it
41:31
make a choice and let's. Raising Arizona. I mean,
41:37
Raising Arizona definitely has. My vote on this
41:42
one, too. Yeah, it's. Clearly. I think just a.
41:48
A superior, superior film to watch now. It has
41:52
it has more to say. Anybody who wants to watch
41:55
an action film. fucking watch con air that one's
41:58
going on me so much just don't watch anything
42:00
else any like i mean any of these final four
42:03
movies go watch like we're not absolutely whatever
42:07
goes forward from this point on like all of these
42:10
movies are fucking great yep i agree raising
42:15
arizona boom love it we got it so pig pig pig
42:22
bill I fucking love this movie. I do, too, man.
42:27
Every time I put this on, I'm like, I so I had
42:31
one of my new friends over last week to watch
42:34
a Nick Cage film. Humblebrag. I thought I would.
42:38
Yeah, that's right. I have a friend, but I my
42:42
my plan was to be like an asterisk asterisk on
42:46
that until we see them. But that's fine. My plan
42:49
was I'm going to introduce I'm going to introduce
42:51
my new friend to Vampire's Kiss. We're going
42:53
to we're going to test this friendship out the
42:55
gate. And of the four movies, I could suggest
42:59
the only one he'd seen was Vampire's Kiss. No.
43:04
And I'm like, all right, we're friends. Let's
43:06
watch Pig. And we did. And he absolutely loved
43:10
it. Yeah. So Pig. It's about a man who doesn't
43:17
fuck his pig. Yeah. It's true. He likes cast
43:22
iron and cold baths. Yeah, a nice river bath.
43:30
A good quality hobo glove. Takes me back to high
43:36
school. D cell batteries. Yep. Were those D's
43:40
or C's? Probably C's. Yeah. The sweet smell of
43:45
cassette tape. uh when we get back into the the
43:49
conversation here um again it's just like con
43:53
air it does not have a cagey performance uh if
43:59
you wanted to stretch it there's one moment where
44:01
he yells at a guy and steals his bike oh i would
44:05
say there is the breakdown at the end it's silent
44:09
but like again physical acting like you i don't
44:12
think there's fucking agony there i wouldn't
44:15
argue that that's a cagey moment i would say
44:17
that that's an emotional performance moment good
44:19
acting moment yeah okay which is a whole separate
44:24
category of our conversation yeah no i mean this
44:29
is i mean this is him disappearing into a role
44:33
this is him becoming robin feld like this for
44:36
sure yes you know he describes this as his favorite
44:39
film this is one of his best roles robin feld
44:43
just isn't a freak out character in my opinion
44:49
yeah yeah as far as like his acting and everything
44:52
goes spot on it's beautiful um i mean we could
44:57
just move right into performance he does a great
45:00
job um everything he does he does terrifically
45:09
there's a lot of this film where he doesn't do
45:12
stuff like he i mean it's not like con air where
45:17
he's just along for the ride but he is such a
45:20
like placid like driven character that he also
45:25
just doesn't speak a lot so it's it's all on
45:30
him to yeah like convey that with his body language
45:35
yeah the nuance of that is pretty impressive
45:38
which is great i mean just scenes off the top
45:41
of my head that are just purely physical is when
45:46
he goes in with when he goes into the tent with
45:48
the dumplings and he just like he just walks
45:52
in and just like or when he get, you know, when
45:55
he's writing his name on the on the cardboard
45:59
and just commanding the room, just like the way
46:02
he moves in this just. It's. Everything about
46:08
it is so powerful. Yeah, it's a very top performance
46:11
kind of performance. role for him. Just don't
46:17
expect monologues to drive that performance.
46:23
It's just not that film. He's not a loquacious
46:27
character. It's a very naturalistic performance
46:31
and a very naturalistic film. The conversations
46:33
seem quite real. It doesn't play so much as a
46:41
performance a lot of the time. I would say some
46:44
of the conversations feel pretty scripted, especially
46:47
like his takedowns. But it's not scripted bad.
46:53
It's just like, oh, you know, clearly somebody
46:56
wrote this. It's not the hermit from the woods.
47:00
Just having these well thought out. But that's
47:04
not who he is. That's the only reason those takedowns
47:07
work is because he did command something. Yes.
47:11
You know, I'm not saying that he. Isn't a commanding
47:17
presence, but conversations and stuff like that
47:22
don't just flow off smoothly, especially when
47:24
you've been living in the woods for 15 years.
47:28
Fair enough. So it's terrifically written. It's
47:32
terrifically acted. It's, you know, just also.
47:38
Not. the slice of reality but it's no but you're
47:43
saying like there's no monologues and that's
47:45
what i'm talking about like there's conversations
47:48
i'm no yes i'm these are different points but
47:53
yes do you want to talk about the story like
47:57
originality of the story is that next yeah i
48:01
mean we might as well it's on the docket i guess
48:03
i mean this is clearly a very personal film to
48:09
the director and writer. I'm still amazing. That's
48:11
the first time likes no director. Um, I absolutely
48:16
love how much like suspense this movie can build.
48:20
Um, and how much it gets you to care about, like,
48:23
there's this big mystery about who is he. And
48:26
ultimately it's no one we would know about as
48:29
viewers, but the film does such a great job of
48:32
building up this legend that Robin felt. It's
48:36
like, that means nothing to the viewer but just
48:40
the way it's portrayed in this movie and treated
48:42
it's like that's powerful and that it still feels
48:46
like a reveal even if you don't know who that
48:50
is yeah well i mean robin felt's not a real person
48:53
so far as i can tell it's but in the world of
48:56
the film yeah he was a big deal and um this film
49:02
for just like a 90 minute film does a great job
49:05
of packing all of that in uh in terms of like
49:11
originality yeah i mean higher than normal uh
49:17
somebody took something from somebody and they
49:19
want it back uh i remember when the trailers
49:23
for this came out everybody was like oh it's
49:26
nicholas cage but it's like uh john wick but
49:32
with a pig clearly it's not that not even sort
49:35
of But. But it's still like has it still has
49:40
that suspense. I mean, we've watched it enough
49:42
times now where, you know, he's not going to
49:44
go fucking ham at any point. But my first time
49:46
watching through when he's sitting with his dad,
49:48
I'm like, this could go badly. Yeah, for for
49:54
a completely. I'm saying actionless, but I'm
49:59
just saying, like, there are no fights aside
50:01
from him getting punched up in a basement. Yeah,
50:06
it doesn't have your more traditional conflict
50:11
for what we would think when we originally set
50:16
out to watch this film. But yeah, you know, it's
50:21
a I think it's a fairly. Solid story that, you
50:26
know, we just hadn't explored before. It has
50:30
elements that are shared, but I mean, fucking
50:32
everything has elements. Yeah. It's hard to come
50:35
up with something that is truly original at this
50:37
point, but so this, this does a good job of stepping
50:40
away from all of the previous, like who stole
50:44
it, give it backs. Yeah. In having a rel like,
50:48
I think this cage doesn't throw a fucking punch
50:51
in the whole film physically. Right. So for a
50:56
protagonist to get through it. peaceably great
51:01
i like to see that i mean i think where this
51:06
movie really succeeds is i mean what we're going
51:08
to talk about next is its theme and its effectiveness
51:10
of telling that story because you know fucking
51:15
pig's a metaphor it's about you know him like
51:19
i was thinking about the while writing my notes
51:21
for this i was thinking about one of his last
51:22
lines in the film when he's with the mirror in
51:24
the diner and he says like if i never went looking
51:28
for her In my mind, she'd still be there. Could
51:33
be talking about a pig. Could be talking about
51:34
the life he left in Portland. At the beginning
51:38
of this film, he cannot listen to the tape of
51:41
his wife. It's too much. Somewhere in his mind,
51:45
his wife died, he left. But the place he left,
51:50
the world he left, in his mind, still lived there.
51:53
Some part of her was still there. That's gone
51:56
now. The restaurant's gone. Yeah, like the persimmon
52:01
tree, you know, his home has new people living
52:04
in it. Like everything he left is gone. And the
52:08
last connection he has to his wife outside his
52:11
memories are gone until and at the end he gets
52:16
home. He finally puts on that tape like this
52:18
does like such there's it's so effective in like
52:23
telling that story and watching that growth and
52:26
seeing his journey throughout. also mirrored
52:30
with amir's father who also lost his wife and
52:33
is trying to hold on to that but in a much more
52:36
aggressive way it's he's not trying to ignore
52:40
his hurt he's not trying to just keep the memory
52:44
he's trying to keep her at the loss of everything
52:46
else in his life like this is such a powerful
52:50
film and i just i can't get enough of it every
52:53
time i watch it i get like more from it I don't
52:57
know much to add to that. I mean, honestly, it's
52:59
like every time I put this movie on, I have a
53:00
very good emotional response to it. It's like
53:04
it makes me sad. It makes me happy. I feel things
53:08
when I watch it. It's filmed beautifully. It's
53:10
directed well. The script is great. Performance,
53:13
I think, is very solid. There's not a ton to
53:17
praise or critique on his performance because
53:22
it is the character is made to be. medium you
53:26
know because he's coasting um so it is fitting
53:30
what this you know what the task was certainly
53:35
but yeah all right let's table that one for right
53:40
now yeah let's talk about the craziest fucking
53:44
movie that we have in the bracket yeah i mean
53:48
fucking if you've seen a nick cage meme you've
53:51
seen this one fucking for sure yeah i described
53:55
this movie to people the other i was trying to
53:58
describe this movie to people and like they're
53:59
asking me about uh the time this came out like
54:01
it's like which nick cage movie is it and i just
54:03
did the fucking bug eyes and they're like oh
54:06
like ah that one i know that yeah yeah exactly
54:12
like you've seen this one an iconic performance
54:16
by mr cage uh definitely the one that like defines
54:24
or epitomizes caginess caginess like yeah this
54:29
is turned to 11 where yeah this is where it was
54:33
born uh like there were others before it but
54:37
this is its final form this is i mean this was
54:42
his testing ground right like he got to try truly
54:44
anything because the director was just like I
54:46
don't know, whatever. Yeah. Nobody will probably
54:49
ever watch this. So do your thing, brother. Yeah,
54:52
this is these were my notes for Cajuness turned
54:55
up to 11. Really fucking goes for it. Does it
54:57
work? Yes. Yeah. And, you know, that was right
55:02
into the performance because he could have done
55:04
all of that and not earned it with the rest of
55:09
the film. But my God, like holding this movie
55:13
together. With all that other like fucking bizarre
55:17
shit that he does. And making it work like the
55:23
character. He doesn't lose Peter Lowe. No. And
55:28
I think that's what's just wild to me is like.
55:31
When he's fucking eating bugs or catching pigeons
55:37
or losing himself in the mirror, you know, all
55:40
that kind of shit. Talking about being horny
55:41
from bats. It's. It's like, oh, yeah, this tracks.
55:47
It is. Yeah, it is a like we were talking about
55:51
with Raising Arizona. Nicolas Cage likes to make
55:54
choices and he makes a lot of choices in this
55:56
film. This is all choice. This is all choice.
56:00
He walks off stage left like a kitty cat. Yeah,
56:05
he crawls off stage. Yeah. In that regard, though.
56:10
It's the old like that. That performance is the
56:13
only thing that keeps this movie together. I
56:15
agree. I think that the movie in general is thin.
56:19
I think the concept is like a little fun and
56:22
interesting, a little horny, but like there's
56:26
not a ton of meat on that bone, right? Like if
56:28
you didn't have this performance, this would
56:31
be like the tiniest footnote in history. Like
56:35
no one would think about it. No one would care.
56:38
Yeah. Like Maria Conchita Alonso would be like,
56:42
yeah, I did this one weird movie one time, you
56:44
know? What else would anyone say about it? But
56:48
because it's him at fucking 11, it is something.
56:52
I mean, it is the movie. It is the movie. Exactly.
56:56
But that means that the movie isn't much. It
57:00
is the descent into madness. Sure. For a man.
57:07
It is just an exploration of how, you know, these.
57:14
big business like uh he's not in wall street
57:18
but in sure that's sort of like giant white cult
57:22
uh white collar culture uh especially in his
57:26
middle management yeah just can beat a person
57:30
down and drive them to lengths that they never
57:35
would have expected uh and rabies yeah uh theoretically
57:39
if he even ever got bit by the bat You fucked
57:43
that bad. Yeah. Oh, well, and here's my thing
57:46
going to like, this only works because of Nick
57:49
Cage's performances. Everybody we've talked about
57:52
this movie has had a completely different read
57:55
on what the story was or wasn't. Like, it is
57:59
not structured well. It is not told well. And
58:04
if it weren't for this performance, like no other
58:08
performance in this movie stands out as particularly
58:11
good. They exist at about the same level as Nicolas
58:17
Cage's performance if you stripped away the insanity.
58:22
Exactly. If it was Nicolas Cage playing Peter
58:27
Lowe with the same affectations but straight,
58:30
that's about what you get from everybody else.
58:34
But that's really not the point at hand. I mean,
58:39
it is important, but... From Nicolas Cage's performance.
58:44
Great performance. It's fucking nines, man. Yeah.
58:46
So he crushes it. And, you know, like you said,
58:49
he makes the movie. Yeah. He makes an entire
58:54
film that has existed for 35 years ish. All movies
59:01
have existed for an amount of time. It is culturally
59:05
relevant. 35 years later. I don't know if that's
59:09
true. You literally reference the meme every
59:12
time we talk about it. That's cultural reference
59:14
or relevance. Not in terms of like fucking a
59:18
cinema, not in terms of a cinema. Meme culture
59:21
in like high art, I would not put in the same,
59:25
necessarily equate to the same thing. Well, that's
59:28
the problem. We have to talk about movies like
59:30
Pig versus Vampire's Kiss in this. So we had
59:33
to break him down to the base. This is the weirdest
59:35
one. I mean, it's the hardest challenge because
59:37
they are very dissimilar movies, you know? Yeah.
59:40
Like in Pig, he is put into a movie that is very
59:45
good. Structurally, it's sound. Script, it's
59:47
sound. Music is beautiful. Like everything is
59:51
really well done. And he's also very good. And
59:54
in Vampire's Kiss, he's in basically a bad movie
59:57
that should be schlock and like chucked in a
59:59
bin somewhere. He made it into something that
1:00:03
isn't that. Yeah. Yeah. But I, I mean, I would
1:00:07
also say, yes, Robin is not an, a crazy caricature,
1:00:10
but that is an amazing role. And I don't know
1:00:14
that necessarily anyone does it better than Nick
1:00:17
Cage. Like he, I still say Nick Cage makes that
1:00:20
movie as well. Well, we're going to have pig
1:00:23
two with Rob Lowe. Oh, okay. So we've had Rob
1:00:28
Highs and now Rob Lowe's. Fuck. So the originality
1:00:34
of Vampire's Kiss. It's we do. I don't know.
1:00:39
It's a it's a movie about a guy going insane.
1:00:41
Yeah. And just kind of losing his grasp on reality.
1:00:45
My kind read on the theme is, you know, middle
1:00:49
management, like not going anywhere like but
1:00:52
because he is. His ego can't allow him to just
1:00:57
be middle management. So when he starts to lose
1:01:00
it, he starts to he goes down that rabbit hole.
1:01:03
It's like, well, clearly he has to be special.
1:01:05
Clearly, there's something important about him.
1:01:07
And that would normally manifest in like a massive
1:01:10
ego or like an American psycho type situation.
1:01:14
But for him, it's vampirism. But it's also important
1:01:17
to think about, like, because you did bring it
1:01:19
up, like Patrick Bateman could run because Nick
1:01:22
Cage. walked this one you know or like started
1:01:26
that that sprint like american psycho wouldn't
1:01:29
exist in the way it does if not for something
1:01:32
like this no it's pretty clearly informed the
1:01:36
performance of uh christian bale uh and but you
1:01:40
know in themes you know i'll i'll go with you
1:01:42
there it's it's definitely themes of excess of
1:01:45
abuse um the loss of touch with yourself uh in
1:01:54
an attempt to live up to an ideal of others and
1:01:58
also just like wanting more greed gluttony yeah
1:02:02
so and america america yeah absolutely like this
1:02:08
is capitalism and it's feeding off of the people
1:02:13
that are supposedly building it up too so yeah
1:02:19
I mean, this is this is the hardest one. This
1:02:22
is the biggest challenge for us, right? I mean.
1:02:26
I. I don't think it's a I think it's a fun movie.
1:02:31
I'm glad I've watched it. I'm glad I've watched
1:02:33
it a few times. I will watch it again. But it's
1:02:37
not a good movie. It is. I'll hold on. I'll ask
1:02:41
you a question real quick before you finish this
1:02:42
thought. Which movie did you want to show your
1:02:46
new friend out of all four movies when you first
1:02:50
got them back to your place? It was Vampire's
1:02:54
Kiss. You told us in the story ten minutes ago.
1:02:56
I mean, no, I know. You chose that over all of
1:02:59
them. Not because it's the best movie, because
1:03:01
it's the weirdest movie. Well, part of this experiment
1:03:05
is also not his best film because we left Academy
1:03:09
Award winning Nicolas Cage back like two rounds
1:03:12
ago. Yeah, but I mean, again, Robin Feld is an
1:03:16
astounding character and Nick Cage does a great
1:03:18
job with it. Again, it's the wackiness of Vampire's
1:03:21
Kiss is what makes it. I don't think it's the
1:03:23
better film and I don't necessarily think it's
1:03:25
the better performance. It's the crazier performance,
1:03:28
but I don't think it's the better performance.
1:03:30
I'm going to take the opposite stance. I think
1:03:33
Vampire's Kiss is the most informative of Nicolas
1:03:37
Cage as a pop culture icon and as. uh like vampire's
1:03:44
kiss was a springboard for his career i found
1:03:46
the word it was springboard oh yeah not diving
1:03:49
board yeah not a diving board of anxiety and
1:03:52
hatred uh but a springboard for his career and
1:03:57
it you know of the films i will throw in vampire's
1:04:03
kiss in any mood it's a film that i could present
1:04:11
to Somebody at any time. If I'm talking about
1:04:15
like. Not even just between the two films. If
1:04:19
I have to. Sit down with somebody to watch a
1:04:23
Nicolas Cage film. It. It. It might be Con Air
1:04:30
or Vampire's Kiss. Now, I'll I'll concede that
1:04:34
Con Air is not going forward. This is where it
1:04:37
comes down for me is I can't recommend Vampire's
1:04:40
Kiss to just anyone. hmm like they're like i
1:04:44
like i would do we did john do vampire's kiss
1:04:50
did he watch this ever uh i think that john has
1:04:54
watched vampire's kiss um but no we had lauren
1:04:57
freeman on yeah one person i can't remember and
1:05:02
uh i'm just using john as an example because
1:05:03
john is always maintained he refuses to like
1:05:05
indulge anything that is bad um But like, I know
1:05:11
a lot of people who just wouldn't be interested
1:05:14
in this movie for a lot of reasons and would
1:05:19
never give it the chance it deserves. Like, this
1:05:22
is a harder movie for me to recommend in most
1:05:24
situations. Well, no, this isn't a bad movie,
1:05:28
though. It is a bad movie. No, that's the problem.
1:05:31
It's not a bad movie. And when we talk about
1:05:33
it like it's a bad movie, it's just because we
1:05:36
don't. like some of the surrounding elements
1:05:40
of it. But when you look at the movie as a whole,
1:05:42
it is, in my opinion, a very important piece
1:05:46
of Nicolas Cage's filmography. And it's important
1:05:49
for people to see it because it does reflect
1:05:52
like what he was building up to before that.
1:05:56
And it created so much more of his career. It
1:06:00
doesn't it doesn't reflect anything, though.
1:06:02
It's a vampire. Fair, but that only matters if
1:06:06
someone cares about that arc of his career and
1:06:09
not just a standalone film. Yeah, I don't know.
1:06:14
This is going to be a Peter decision. I don't
1:06:19
actually know that I am going to take that role.
1:06:21
This is a really tough one because my feeling
1:06:25
is that my favorite movie from this entire experience
1:06:28
is Pig. So to have it lose. feels wrong do i
1:06:35
think that nick has really valid arguments for
1:06:39
vampire's kiss yes i watched it again tonight
1:06:42
and it was fucking amazing i still really love
1:06:45
that movie i i we're at a bit of an impasse because
1:06:51
i don't want to just be like i pick you know
1:06:54
i can tell you that i also did a poll from past
1:06:57
guests who have seen both of these movies and
1:06:59
pig Beat out Vampire's Kiss. Does that make a
1:07:04
difference? I don't know. Like I could be swayed
1:07:06
either way on these movies. It's really, really
1:07:08
complicated and really challenging. I think that
1:07:11
the themes around sexual assault and things like
1:07:14
that in Vampire's Kiss make it not as approachable
1:07:16
as something like Pig, which is basically just
1:07:19
it's sad if you've lost somebody, which everyone
1:07:23
kind of has. So. I think Vampire's Kiss is. without
1:07:31
doubt one of his most unhinged wild over -the
1:07:35
-top human crazy bananas whatever fucking performance
1:07:41
that has ever existed he's never done it again
1:07:43
he's never had the no boundaries you know opportunities
1:07:47
to do it which makes it worth seeing no matter
1:07:52
what like you have to you have to watch it and
1:07:56
the stuff that's hard in it just It's it's a
1:07:59
theme that you just have to accept in vampire
1:08:02
films. Fair enough. And, you know, you think
1:08:05
about American Psycho, like there's a lot of
1:08:07
sexual assault in American Psycho, too. And that's
1:08:10
regarded as, you know, a piece of cinema masterpiece
1:08:14
or whatever, which I disagree with. But, you
1:08:16
know, that's not the point. Candidly, will either
1:08:21
of you concede one or the other? No, I'll give
1:08:24
it to Pig. Pig's a phenomenal film. So I don't
1:08:27
disagree with anything Nick says. I just I think
1:08:31
the better we have that recording just loop it.
1:08:35
Yeah, we're going to cut out all of this and
1:08:37
we're just going to be like, I like Vampire's
1:08:39
Kiss. I agree with everything Nick says. I just
1:08:43
think everything about Pig is just so much better.
1:08:48
OK. I like the the run up of Raising Arizona
1:08:54
and Pig. I think it'll be a great. A great selection,
1:08:59
you know. What if we just place Vampire's Kiss
1:09:03
into Pig in the middle? Oh, we just fight club
1:09:06
it. We just run long. Shoot scene. Like one or
1:09:09
two frames every once in a while. No, I mean,
1:09:12
like we've got a great, a great lineup here.
1:09:15
And, you know, Vampire's Kiss made it all the
1:09:19
way. despite and that's everything despite the
1:09:23
mandys of it all despite fucking just uh wild
1:09:26
at heart like it's it's so amazing this movie
1:09:29
the movie is the weirdest of the weird is terrific
1:09:32
from a nicholas cage standpoint i love it yeah
1:09:35
this movie is fucking astounding it is a great
1:09:38
film and i where i can i do recommend it yeah
1:09:42
you know i'm gonna go back and i'm gonna say
1:09:45
that guy on the airplane who caught me watching
1:09:48
it said it's one of his favorite films too so
1:09:51
it is great like good on you airplane guy who
1:09:55
watched the movie over my shoulder without sound
1:09:57
if we didn't if we didn't have to make a decision
1:10:00
uh i wouldn't want to throw any of them away
1:10:04
to be fair nothing's getting thrown away it all
1:10:07
still exists and you can come to my house and
1:10:09
watch it now you could also for the double header
1:10:11
instead we can run everything at two times speed
1:10:14
which is how i've watched most of these movies
1:10:16
throughout this experience you're not even allowed
1:10:18
to coordinate this now all right well i've been
1:10:21
fired for this enjoy editing the episode you
1:10:24
fuckers well it was that was a nice podcast we
1:10:29
had there nick run who the patreon people are
1:10:34
Bill. Oh, good. You got one. Nathan. Yeah, you
1:10:39
got Nathan. Good. We are in one of their houses
1:10:42
right now. John. No. You're not supposed to let
1:10:48
them know. It's supposed to be a mystery. Like
1:10:51
that time we recorded in Hayden's room. We've
1:10:53
talked about that ad nauseum. I don't know that
1:10:55
he's never he's never he's never questioned it.
1:10:58
No, he hasn't. Which proves Hayden doesn't listen.
1:11:03
Did the story of him not wiping ever make it
1:11:06
onto the podcast? Yes. I'm almost positive it
1:11:11
did. If not, I definitely have the raw audio
1:11:14
of that. After he helped you move and he went
1:11:16
to poop and he was like, that's from Nick. And
1:11:18
you're like, I didn't bring toilet paper down
1:11:20
yet. He's like. Quiet. Shit. That's how that
1:11:25
went down. You know. You splash enough water
1:11:29
on it and you're fine. That's why we wash hands,
1:11:32
right? You okay there, Peter? I think I might
1:11:39
have pneumonia right now. Oh, that's so good.
1:11:42
I'm glad I'm here with you. You can't get pneumonia
1:11:44
from me. Well, you don't know how I kiss. Yeah,
1:11:49
when it gets deep, you can get there. I'm all
1:11:51
the way down there. Now I'm just thinking about
1:11:53
that fucking gif of the cherries on the tongue.
1:11:55
Oh, I love that gif. It's your favorite, I know.
1:12:00
But yeah, shit. So that's going to be a cool
1:12:02
double header. We have to figure out what our
1:12:05
sequencing is going to be, but I think that's
1:12:07
going to be enjoyable for everybody. If you are
1:12:10
interested in coming to that show, there are
1:12:11
still tickets available. So reach out to me.
1:12:17
But yeah, thank you all for listening. You have
1:12:19
made it this far. And if this is your first episode,
1:12:21
you're dumb. And if it's your 84th episode, you're
1:12:26
also kind of dumb. But we love you more? I don't
1:12:30
know. This is the only episode I'm going to suggest
1:12:32
to people because it's the only one where we
1:12:33
sound intelligent. Debatable. Yeah, you can find
1:12:39
us on social media, cage underscore match underscore
1:12:40
pod or on Patreon. If you want to support us
1:12:44
at the end, the brain death of our podcast, why
1:12:48
not? You can find us at Cage Match Pod or Cage
1:12:50
Match. Cage Match. Yeah. And special thanks to
1:12:54
our Sparkle Buddies, Josh, Sean, Josie, Rico,
1:12:56
Matt, Adam, and Bill. And to our Cage Dancers,
1:12:59
Ira, Sean, Freeman, Lance, Nathan, and Cameron.
1:13:04
You fucked me up. You gave me an extra bill.
1:13:07
I like how Nick didn't put didn't name drop Josie
1:13:11
when we were trying to come up with like fucking
1:13:12
patrons. Yeah, I know. Like one of our earliest
1:13:15
patrons. What? We always say Bill's name like
1:13:17
a thousand times. We do say a lot of Bill. Bill.
1:13:20
Oh, I do have some. I do have some this week
1:13:23
in cage news. Hit us. Well, it's Spider -Verse
1:13:27
news, but he's going to be in the next Spider
1:13:28
-Verse. We got a release date. Oh, 2027. Nice.
1:13:33
That's a year. Yeah, that'll feel two years.
1:13:37
It'll feel not that far away at some point. June
1:13:40
2027. I'm like 83 % sure I can live that long.
1:13:47
That's pretty good odds. Pretty good. I don't
1:13:50
know. Fucking every day I watch the news, that
1:13:52
number goes down a little bit. Yeah, you're not
1:13:56
wrong. Yeah. I mean, you could still be alive,
1:13:59
but you'll probably be in a different country
1:14:01
at that point. And not because I want to be there
1:14:05
because they sent me there. Yeah. God. I'm trying
1:14:08
to stay the fuck out of the sun. I'm fucking,
1:14:10
I'm not trying to fucking, I'm trying to be a
1:14:12
day walker as much as possible these days. Get
1:14:14
that really, really fucking thick sunscreen that
1:14:17
I had. Oh yeah, that baby block. White face.
1:14:19
Yeah. The dresses aren't helping, I will say.
1:14:24
At least you're in Portland. Yeah. Go around
1:14:27
with blood on your face. Or salsa. Ooh. Salsa
1:14:33
face. It's been a long day. No shit. Get some
1:14:37
sleep. You're fucking telling me. All right,
1:14:41
let's turn this shit off. I love you guys. Bye.
1:14:51
Bye. It says 6 -2, so, you know. Damn, he's a
1:14:59
fucking big dude. Yeah. He's kind of like a brick
1:15:03
shithouse, too. I mean, in like a fat pudgy way,
1:15:07
but yeah, he's broad. Yeah. Yeah. Like he seems
1:15:10
like he would take up a lot of space in an elevator.
1:15:13
Yeah. You don't want to, you don't want him in
1:15:15
the middle seat of the airplane. No. Mainly because
1:15:18
you're sitting next to John Travolta. Fuck you,
1:15:22
John Travolta. Well, who knows? Gunslinger might
1:15:28
be complete ass. So most certainly that movie
1:15:31
is going to be complete ass and surfer probably
1:15:33
be not bad. Yeah. Or at least weird enough that
1:15:36
it's like... Yeah, I have high hopes for Surfer.
1:15:39
I want Nick Cage to be... I don't know why he
1:15:43
really wants to be in Westerns now, but... Because
1:15:45
Westerns are cool. I agree. It's a great action
1:15:49
piece for an older man. It's true. You don't
1:15:53
have to be athletic or good at anything. But
1:15:55
this is going to be his third Western, and this
1:15:58
one looks to be the worst. uh i god i have to
1:16:02
go re -watch the trailer i can't imagine that
1:16:05
it could be worse than the old way that movie
1:16:08
was such dog shit except for eustace yeah clint
1:16:12
howard and then what was the other one fucking
1:16:18
the one that like didn't have any barely had
1:16:20
any dialogue just nick cage staring like off
1:16:23
into the middle distance the buffalo one oh yeah
1:16:27
uh Bison boys. Yeah, bison boys. Wow. Butcher's
1:16:35
Crossing. Yeah, Butcher's Crossing. We got there.