Se afișează postările cu eticheta Nicolas Cage Award. Afișați toate postările
Se afișează postările cu eticheta Nicolas Cage Award. Afișați toate postările

joi, 12 februarie 2026

Spider-Noir (2026)

"With No Power Comes No Resposibility"

The Nicolas Cage is back with something cool in black and white (and color) but I'd rather see it Noir as in the title. Premieres May 24th on Amazon Prime as in in collaboration with Sony, who's only Marvel character they got rights too...



From the looks it's more of a Sin City / Frank Miller, The Spirit / Will Eisner. 

Breendan Gleeson is the villain.

Hopefully this will rock, as gamebased Fallout TV series did, or DC / HBO recently two interesting spinoffs, The Penguin and The Peacemaker and Marvel/ Disney did mega meta Wonder Man.





duminică, 4 ianuarie 2026

Top films of 2025

Tough cookie, lost count of how many films I've seen. Less than probably any year. Over 200, less than 300 ? More ? I started to put them on Letterboxed starting late October but still didn't catch up with the rest.

***

Top of the series is here and films from 2024 are again a problem, The Brutalist and The Substance should've make the 2025 list, as there still are some of 2025 which I haven't seen yet (Hamnet,-saw it,. did not like at all- Resurrection, Sound of Falling ?). Marty Supreme would make Top 5 but I've seen it in Januaray 2026. 

Top Ten  soundtracks here. 

Just caught up with Park Chan-Wook's No Other Choice that makes the list. It's limited in Romanian Cinemas now, so try to see it on the big screen, it's worthy.



Kinda disappointed with Romanian Cinema this year too. I liked Kontinental '25 and that's it. Could 've been also Jude's Dracula but he made it such an intentional mess and duration wise a whole calvary...

But disappointments of the year: the new Running Man by Edgar Wright. And the last Mission: Impossible. Hopefully...Oy...


Top 5 -alphabetically:
all that's clickable as links are my "reviews"

Eddington -Ari Aster
O agente secreto-Kleber Mendonça Filho
One Battle After Another -Paul Thomas Anderson
Sinners -Ryan Cooglar
Sirat -Oliver Laxe


Marty Supreme -also in Jan. 2026

Almost Famous ;) -also alphabetically:

Ballad of a Small Player -Edward Berger
Bugonia -Yorgos Lanthimos
Caught Stealing -Darren Aronofsky
Frankenstein -Guillermo del Toro
In the Hand of Dante -Julian Schnabel 

Nouvelle Vague -Richard Linklater
Nuremberg -James Vanderbilt
The Materialist -Kelly Reichardt
Tornado - John McLean
Train Dreams- Clint Bentley
Warfare -Alex Garland & Ray Mendoza




Nicolas Cage Award of the Year:  The Surfer  (d. by Lorcan Finnegan) 2024 !


Horror:

28 years Later-Danny Boyle 
Together -Michael Shanks
Weapons -Zach Cregger
Good Boy- Ben Leonberg
The Monkey-Osgood Perkins
Dangerous Animals -Sean Byrne
The Gorge -Scott Derrickson
The Long Walk -Francis Lawrence
The Substance -2024, Coralie Fargeat
Keeper -Osgood Perkins

Comedy:
even weaker as it is, still good fun !!!
This is Spinal Tap 2:  The End Continues by the late Rob Reiner....
Bunny -Ben Jacobsen 
an indie, punkish NY film in the best way, kinetic, quirky, funny, dark comedy, punkimprovised, irreverent. Cool punk songs too.


Documentary:

Soundtrack for a coup d'etat -2024-Johan Grimonprez
the doors -When You're Strange- - Tom DiCillo, from 2009 but remastered in Cinema limited
pink floyd at pompei -1972. Adrian Mabel, remastered in Cinema limited
Devo -2024, Chris Smith   -netflix
Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius) 2025/ Questlove   -netflix


Catch-Up -Four Aces:



The Childhood of a Leader -2015 Brady Corbet

Finalmente l'alba - Saverio Costanzo -2023, on which I wrote: 

Rome and Cinecitta 1953. More like a drreamlike story, a false thriller, homage to Fellini and La Dolce Vita, Notti di Cabiria, and linked to a real muder cold case known as the Italian Black Dahlia. Interesting slow film, in the Venice Competition in 2023. Modern beat score, strange and eerie. Song Last Nite by The Stokes (2011) on the end credits. 
3 1/2 out of 5

vineri, 11 iulie 2025

The Surfer (2024)

 “Don’t live here, don’t surf here”.

Another Nic Cage for Acting president, method of madness award ;)

Australian-Irish The Surfer was Cages first official Cannes fest selection in 34 years (after 1990's Wild at Heart!).

Mandy was in Quinzaine. Also Dog Eat Dog. 


A cross of Wake in Fright with The Wicker Man (one of Cage's most insane films is the remake of the cult British film of 1973), it's a psychedelic drama, unfolding in the Australian surfing territory.

Great score by Francois Tetaz, all reminiscent of Ennio Morricone's sound. 


Written by Thomas Martin, who took a cue from the short story that based 1968's Burt Lancaster's The Swimmer. 

Directed by Lorcan Finnegan who debuted with an interesting curio back in 2019, Vivarium. 

But the most interesting thing in it is Julian Mc Mahon, recently passed away at 56 :( He's the main attraction in the film, as Scally, the macho guru of the beach, dressed all in Red.

Sight and Sound review here. 

8 out of 10 / 4 out of 5 

marți, 13 mai 2025

Mimì - Il principe delle tenebre (2023)

Mimì - Il principe delle tenebre / Mimi-Prince of Darkness is the debut feature film of Brando De Sica (Italian film Royalty, son of Christian-De Sica and nephew of il grande Vittorio), which was shown in the competition of Dracula film Fest last October in Brasov, Romania. It also won in Sitges. The premiere was in the Locarno film fest in the summer of 2023. Other awards followed.

It's a very spcial film, in the vein of  George A. Romeo's Martin, Nick Cage's Vampire Kiss,  a bit of Les Morsures de l'aube, a bit of  Låt den rätte komma in, etc. The genre he proposes is self-titled Napoletano Gomhorror neomelodico. A very specific Napoletan (including lots of pizza) film, very stylish with nods to the vampire genre, Nosferatu F. W. Murnau film, Hammer pics, giallos.

It's a combo of comedy, drama, doomed teenage love story and  coming-of-age horror. The protagonist Mimi is a misfit with a  handicaped foot, a (Tim) Burtonesque character,  coming straight from Tod Browning's Freaks box (here a Pizza box ;) mixed with Italian realism and mostly surrealism. And pizza ;) 

Great sound design by the director himself. And score (by Pasquale Catalano) and soundtrack (songs from Fabrizio de Andre to Four Tops, Halloween House, etc) . Reminded me a bit of the feel of the new horror wave by Tilman Singer, Cuckoo, from last year fodder.

It streams now on MAX worldwide. Also in Romania. 


4 out of 5, 8 out of 10 !!!


miercuri, 12 martie 2025

The Monkey (2025)

I said/wrote before that Osgood Perkins' films are creepy, the atmosphere there is hard to breathe, tense, uncanny. There is something unpleasant about them. Longlegs tho was overrated, it came to me sold as the horror of the decade, century, millennium, etc. While it's not the case the film is ok, a superior thriller, veeery creepy and Nicolas Cage performance of the year 2024. Also being highly successful Perkins was asked to do The Monkey, a long belated project, adaptation of an old short story by  Stephen King, published in the anthology Skeleton Crew (1985) . The Monkey was first in print in the November 1980 issue of Gallery magazine. Then, revised and updated, in 1985's Skeleton Crew (story # 3). Inspired by the old classic The Moneky Paw by W. W. Jacobs., but with more twists and shouts.


King's original Monkey played the cymbals as the toy monkeys do. However due to Disney's copyright of the Monkey cymbal playing (from Toy Story 3), the Monkey plays now the drums !!! It's called the -Organ Grinder Monkey, "lifelike", there is no grinder and no organ, actually organs get grinded :)
King's original story was a simple one, and not a real funny one. Osgood (who also has a cameo in the film as Uncle Chip :), changed most of it, the scope, the deaths, the atmosphere, the characters and the vibe, giving it a most dark humor side, the forte of the film starring Theo James (The Gentlemen series) in a dual role, the twin brothers. The duration is pretty cool too (a tight 98 minutes), and so are the references, from King's novels (The Shining, Misery), to the Maine location (also Kings') and the Psycho (motel, stuffed birds, creepiness) and even Vertigo. The ending rises the value of the film at least a Notch. Osgood kinda exorcises himself on this one, big time ("and there was a pale horse whose named..."). Read his bio and see what I mean here. 

Results, a great little film that I hope will not be transformed into a lame franchise-James Wan produced the film through his Atomic Monster banner, surely there will be more drums to bang. 

7 out of 10 / 3 1/2 out of 5 !

marți, 7 ianuarie 2025

Top films 2024

(wherever is a link I wrote about 'em), 

still have to see The Brutalist and some more to come. 

The top in Romanian about films in cinemas in 2024 here 

 the series of 2024 here

and my Top films of 2023 here. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

# 1 across the aldmovieland: Furiosa (A Mad Max Saga)


then:

Anora- also the comedy of the year


From 2023 as seen in 2024: 
io capitano 




animation:
Flow

muzical:
joker folie a deux
Oddity
Sting
& Late Night with the Devil (but from 2023) 

Thriller:
Strange Darling (production year 2023)
LaRoy, Texas (2023 also)

& more:


The Apprentice -best performance of 2024, Sebastian Stan (not the one from a Different Man, kind of Elephant man 2024)

The Bikeriders -flawed but still...

action but with a soul and a message (maybe too much even) but cool: Monkey Man (on that budget chapeau bas Dev Patel !!!)


Guilty pleasure film of the year: John Woo's own remake of THE KILLER


Nicolas Cage Award of the Year: Longlegs (not seen The Surfer yet)


Bonus: a grand barf for the grand guignol of The Substance (will see it again in theaters soon and conclude)-Later Edit, yep, much better, I swallowed the last 1/2 hr. ok)

Romanian film of the year:
Anul nou care nu a fost / The New Year that never Was


Documentary: 
Mrs. Buica (from 2023, but saw in 2024)
Alice On & Off / Isabela Tent

Disappointment of the year: Megalopolis :(

Worst film of the year/cash-in: Gladiator II (again, Ridley Scott :( after Napoleon in 2023, and so on...)
 

sâmbătă, 7 septembrie 2024

Longlegs (2024)

 Longlegs does not have such looong legs, falls short in some aspects.

Or the advertising has been so huge, "the best since this and that", serial , it's not even about serial so much.

Takes elements of not only The Silence of the Lambs but a combo of Lambs with Manhunter/Red Dragon, Zodiac, Se7en, X Files, Carrie< Carrie's mom, Rosemary's and Omen, too much Satan and Satanism for me, I'd rather go with Late Night with the Devil or Oddity or Maxxine (that being a fun film as opposed to this one, bleak, dark and all tense), of recent horror fare.

No one mentions David Lynch and the Twin Peaks vibe, or a Lost Highway kind of creepiness.

It's set in the mid 90's in Oregon and it follows a female FBI agent (Maika Monroe, who gives everything to the screen), investigating a 30 years old odd killing spree of a mysterious character known as Longlegs (Nicolas Cage in one of his career high), with which she seems to have a strange connection.

Inspired by the Satanist craze of US in the Nineties, and a real creepy case (see here). 

It's a heavy film, filled to the max, volume of scares and movie tricks to do that amped to the max. 

It's Osgood Perkins' fourth feature film, and all of them are horror films. I've seen them all in time, Gretel and Hansel (2000) is espcially a retelling of that creepy (this is the main word of this review ;) fairy tale, more like a nightmare, very stylish and scary. Did I say creepy ? Osgood is the son of Anthony Perkins, the legendary star of Psycho, but he seems to live and dream in that (creepy creepy) House up the Hill. 

The music is by Osgood's brother, Elvis, under the pseudonym of Zilgi ! Creepy music ? Yes ;)

But music plays a greater part on the plot, from T. Rex (Bang a Drum, from which the film quotes directly & two more Bolan songs), to Lou Reed, Bowie and even a weird connection to Duran Duran's Rio. Plus Longlegs himself seems to be a failed rock musician. He also kinda sings in it !


Definetly the Nicolas Cage Award of 2024 !!!

6 out of 10 / 3 out of 10 

-for A splendid Nic Cage (some would say Creepiest-a cross of Marilyn Manson and Mickey Rourke's worst lifting), great costumes too, absolutely fantastic sound design, photography gimmicks.

I didn't go for the subliminal s**t, too many tricks of the trade. Absolutely fantastic 'cos such a low budget and indie film has such universal success (budget 10 mill. $, BO 'til now Ten times more!!!) , bravo Oz and Good ;) 


marți, 9 ianuarie 2024

Top films of 2023

Tough year. 4 me...saw way less movies and series than in 2022, almost like half !!! but it was a much better year for films IMO. More 2023 tops to come-series, soundtracks, albums & concerts. 


Killers of the Flower Moon-Martin Scorsese

& Oppenheimer -Christopher Nolan, 

I would put these two ex aqueo I guess there are very important films that will stay on. Cillian Murphy should win his Oscar (but there's the Giamatti factor and I go for that), as Nolan, Downey jr., Gorranson and all involved. It already started well, all Critics society, Golden Globes, BAFTA and Guilds awards included. For Killers it's again Scorsese's losing streak (Irishman style).

----------------------------------------- not seen yet (at that date): 

The Zone of Interest, Perfect Days, Monster (saw it in Feb. 2024 and it's not my cup of cinema), Io Capitano, Poor Things. Waiting for them in theaters, yet. 

*Later Jan. 28th Note: Just saw Perfect Days, in the cinema, an Ozu film by Wenders :), and it would've made the top of the top, it's clearly one of 2023's best films and more than that. My review here. 

**Later later note -Feb. 13-saw Poor Things in the cinema, it's a curio and a stunt but fascinating nonetheless arthouse shock Cinema ! My review here.

***Later later Later note (Feb. 20th) -The Zone of Interest, clearly one of the year's best, a true masterpiece of avant-garde and essential cinema. My review here.
-----------------------------------

*Kaurismaki's Fallen Leaves -I wasn't so impressed, it's the same film all over again, but with lesser cultish actors, liked better Le Havre and The Lights of Dusk. I mean, good, warm, heartfelt, uberminimalistic, but same tour of Aki's pub we know so well. Also, didn't do much with the dog....and the fact they watch The Dead don't Die :( when on the posters there's so much better films...

& the rest: 

Xmas film if there was one: The Holdovers-Alexander Payne-Paul Giamatti and Payne at their best. 

guilty pleasure? Babylon -though technically it's from 2022, saw it in 2023, January. My review here.

Action film of the year: Sisu -Jalmari Helander 

Sequel/franchise; Indiana Jones and the Dialof Destiny -James Mangold

Psychotronic film of the Year: Nu aștepta prea mult de la sfârșitul lumii/Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World by Radu Jude. Just saw this apocaly-pic (in the cinema sense ;) in a theater, with people, and so I had to change /add this item to the Top. More on this here.

***

Mentions for acting: May December -Todd Haynes -Julianne Moore & Natalie Portman (& for the Michel Legrand theme from The Go-Between)

Ferrari - Michael Mann- might be Adam Driver's best part and most restrained, or at least of recent date.

& Saltburn -Emerald Fennell -Barry Keoghan, which I loved in The Banshees of Inisherin (my top film of 2022), and a proof he will make a good Joker !

One-character piece film of the year- Inside-Vasilis Katsoupis -with a most brilliant Willem Dafoe.


Curio of the year: Beau is Afraid-Ari Aster (& my review here).

Super-hero flick: Guardians of theGalaxy vol. 3 (James Gunn) & my Review here

Film romanesc/Romanian film: Libertate-Tudor Giurgiu (at the time i had no Jude screening) -here's the review in Romanian, and here in English !


Thriller: The Killer-David Fincher, if Fassbender's character would've listened  to a different band than The Smiths I would've liked it better-like if he listened to The Pixies for ex ;), -also discovered a really cool comix through this ! -my review here  


Musical of the year-Wonka (also prequel)

Animation-The Boy and the Heron-Hayao Miyazaki

Horror -When Evil Lurks / Cuando acecha la maldad, Demian Rugna -Argentina

Nicolas Cage Award of the year: Sympathy for the Devil. 

Dream Scenario , I saw in cinema and wasn't too impressed, Cage did it before in Adaptation, it's like a sort of Beau is Afraid 2 (no wonder Ari Aster is involved), film ain't too funny and loses breath fast, rather liked him in Butcher's Crossing, with his shaved head. 


Comedy:  Beau (mostly, when he is not afraid :), Next Goal Wins -Takia Waititi with a great Michael Fassbbender, also having the time of his life, The Holdovers. 


Disapointment of the year -Napoleon-Ridley Scott, totally miscast , out of breath, all over the place but nowhere where it should be. Beau is not Nap...

*** gotta mention Paul Schrader's Master Gardner -which even played in Romanian Theaters for about...a week :( , I saw it in 2023 but the film is from 2022, premiered at the Venice film Fest. It's Schrader's best since Auto Focus (2002) and Better than The Card Counter and First Reformed, his last two films which were also wriiten by Schrader. A great Joel Edgerton performance too. 

Documentary of the Year (4 me): 

Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan (2020, Julian Temple)  -because I saw it after Shane died...




marți, 15 august 2023

Sympathy for the Devil (2023)

The great contender for The Nicolas Cage Award of 2023 is this thriller in which The Cage eats and chews scenery more than Gary Oldman in the 2003 Tony Scott BMW film Beat the Devil with James Brown. I mean Cage is great as Dracula in Renfield but that movie sucked :( bigtime also. 

The only bummer with Sympathy for the Devil (2023)is it features no Rolling Stones song. Not even a cover. Well, the director, Yuval Adler, said it would've cost more than is post production budget...It has a great song and a great moment in Fat City by Alan Vega, Alex Chilton and Ben Vaughn from their Cubist Blues Sessions that reminded me of the vibe and the score in Wild at Heart (1990) though.


Cage opposite restrained Joel Kinnaman

Definetly a real summer (& winter) treat ! 
TBC






sâmbătă, 14 ianuarie 2012

Seeking Justice (from Nic Cage)


interesanta traiectorie-filmul, numit initial intrigant dar cu noima, The Hungry Rabbit Jumps, regizat de Roger Donaldson (al carui ultim film pe ecrane a fost The Bank Job) in New Orleans ! a iesit mai intii in Europa (Italia 1st).

In Anglia s-a numit Justice, in Suedia a iesit direct pe dvd.
si in SUA iese in martie si se va numi Seeking Justice. La noi, Seeking Justice e Justitie pe cont propriu. Interesant cum au promovat filmul, in stilul anilor 70 al celor cu Bronson, in fiecare tara alt poster, alta data de lansare, alt titlu, alte culori (in Franta Le Pacte, in Italia Solo per vendetta !)

L-am vazut la cinema Pro care poate fi numit cinema-ul Nicolas Cage, avind in vedere ca am vazut acolo in ultimii ani toate marile creatii :) ale lui Nicu Cusca, ambele Comori nationale, Bangkok Dangerous, Ghost Rider si anul trecut mega-terciul Season of the Witch. Dar mi-a placut Cage in Drive Angry 3D si abia astept sa vad Ghost Rider 2, din cauza regizorilor si faptului ca-i filmat la noi. La Seeking Justice m-a atras mai ales faptul ca e regizat de Roger Donaldson, australian, care la vremea lui a facut filme bune (No Way Out), a facut si proaste (cum ar fi remakeul la The Getaway pe care l-am revazut partial pe TV asta seara), dar e efectiv mai bun ca majoritatea regizorilor cu care lucreaza mai deunazi Cage (exceptindu-l pe Herzog care a scos din el un rol care merita mai mult un Oscar decit Leaving Las Vegas-in Bad Lieutenant). Si cel mai mult m-a deranjat in film chiar el, pentru ca nu-l pot crede ca profesor de scoala care preda literatura, devenit apoi The Fugitive meets Law Abiding Citizen, Death Wish Charlie Bronson, insurat cu o hottie ca January Jones, care e violoncelista asa cum sunt eu fotbalist la Steaua.

Deci povestea e cam asa, lui Cage-Nick Gerard, ii e violata nevasta (Jones). Un tip ciudat si ras in cap (Simon, aka Guy Pearce, effectively creepy) vine sa-i propuna ca grupul sau de vigilante sa-l razbune. Cage accepta dar in viitor va trebui sa faca un serviciu grupului. Parola e the hungry rabbit runs. No biggie crede Cage-Gerard, dar the plot thickens si intram in genul conspiracy thriller, paranoia, si man on the run, the fugitive. Very seventies, si ajutat de locatia atmosferica din New Orleans post Katrina, noua Gomorra americana. Acum, mai e un clenci, cu filmarile in Louisiana, probabil scutiri de taxe, pentru ca Nic Cage a facut acolo nu mai putin de 4 filme in ultimii 2 ani (Bad Lieutanant: Port of Call - New Orleans , Tresspass, Drive Angry si Seeking Justice !). In plus Millennium au un studio acolo (ei au produs filmele, minus Justice!0 si bineintles, Cage e la el acasa, una din multele sale resedinte pentru care tot face la filme, e in New Orleans ! e, si la chestii de genul asta mi se ducea mintea cind il vedeam pe el predind la delicventi juvenili si tinindu-se de mina cu diva din Mad Men si X Men (First Class) ! Daca ne mai gindim ca pentru asta a primit 12 milioane de $ (dupa imdb), simpatia-mi mai scade un pic !
dar stati linistiti, ca a mai filmat un action thriller, Stolen, tot pentru Millennium/Nu Image si tot in New Orleans. Aici ii rapesc fiica...so original :)
Ce sa zic, sanatate, ca tot a fost ziua lui (pe 7 ianuarie Nicu a implinit 48 de ani !) un clip senzational de funny cu el am postat mai demult aici !

Scenariu interesant de Robert Tannen, story de Todd Hickey, care imi apare dupa imdb ca DOP si regizor de documentare !!!
Merita vazut pentru o replica de la final a lui Xander Berkeley (care are replica vietii lui de actor, si o da bine), cu rapel la un clasic, nu deconspir aici !
mai are o urmarire trepidanta pe autostrada, printre masini, o scena de intilnire in superdome (parerea mea ca-i facuta cu CGI si green screen)si un showdown intr-un mall abandonat, care arata la fel de creepy ca cel din Dawn of the Dead.
Mi-ar fi placut mai mult daca era Guy Pearce in rolul lui Cage, sau Russell Crowe (similar in inferiorul The Next Three Days de anul trecut), sau stiu eu, Liam Neeson, dar el face destule din astea, in anii 80 Rutger Hauer, sau Mickey Rourke, in anii 70 Clint, sau Bronson, sau Steve McQueen, in anii 60 James Coburn, sau Steve Mc Queen :), in anii 50 Bogie, so on...
Dar e cel mai profi film al lui Cage de la Kick-Ass incoace (si ala nu-i filmul lui), vreo 7 clase peste Trespass, anteriorul sau film, facut cu Joel Schumacher, o duda sinistra, si cred ca distribuitorul american (Anchor Bay ???, wtf, compania de dvduri s-a lansat in distributie in sali ?), asteapta succes de la Ghost Rider 2, care iese in citeva saptamini, care ar putea relansa interes in jurul personalitatii disfunctionale a lui Cage.

2 1/2 din 5,
potential de revizionare: la tv, cind n-ai ce vedea !
cronica din empire: 2 stele