Reaction Shots

 Be aware: SPOILERS AHEAD for “Pig”! You read this at your own risk! Every once in a while, Nicolas Cage comes along with a performance to remind us that he is a great actor.  Every once in a while, a film comes along that you want to tell everyone to go see. Every once in a while, those two elements converge.  In a career littered with remarkable performances, Cage delivers a massive, beautiful, reflective, and introspective turn here. He plays Rob, a former chef whose presence inspired awe and reverence in some, and dismissal in others later into the film. Too often, Cage is thought of as an over-the-top performer, a guy who will take any role, and sadly regarded as undisciplined. Nothing could be farther from the truth: he knows the roles and the movies he takes, he’s also said quite frankly that he can’t stand to not work. But he has no illusions; his direct-to-video work is pretty much just that. However, he commits to those roles as much as to anything like “Adaptat...

The Cave: Foundry and Foundation of the MCU Last Christmas, I watched “ Iron Man 3 ”, in the mood for a Shane Black/Robert Downey, Jr. movie that wasn’t “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” and it is a Christmas movie after all! But also, it’s because I feel it is one of the few Marvel movies that retains the authorial voice behind the film and doesn’t wholly succumb to the Marvel House Style. I watched it again a few months ago and it remains my favorite of the Iron Man series. So what about the first two? “Iron Man 2” remains on the lower tier of the MCU; it’s bloated, unwieldy script by Justin Theroux is executed with bewilderingly inert direction from Jon Favreau so much so that it threatens to obscure much of the fine character turns by the performers (even then, since when does Sam Worthington have to be reduced to mugging?) The One That Kicked It All Off is swell, though. It’s a tight script, with economic if not thrilling action scenes, and a lack of catharsis in lieu of transparently layi...

The Coen Brothers’ “Idiot Trilogy” or better, tetralogy (although, for my purposes here, it is and shall remain a trilogy omitting “Intolerable Cruelty”), are three shaggy mutt tales that shake the dog as much as the audience. Christ, they’re funny. I’ve already gone over “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and “Burn After Reading” and that leaves just one. And for five years, I was very “meh” on that one. Despite protestations from dear friends and family (my sister remains the Coen Whisperer - I detested “The Man Who Wasn’t There” until I saw it in repertory again and something clicked…listen to your older sister, she is very wise, is the lesson here.) That leaves us with “Hail, Caesar!” My first reaction upon seeing it was semi-enthusiasm which for a Coen Bros.’ movie is a rare thing. It was too cute, too shaggy, too…too unfocused for me. At the time . I don’t know what changed in my perception or my perspective and while, like “Burn After Reading”, I still don’t consider top tier, like...