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Bad Lieutenant: Good Cop Gone Nuts

BuzzSugar — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:30:49 -0800

Nicolas Cage has said, "There's a very fine line between Method actor and schizophrenic." In Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, he teeters that line maniacally, with an ever-increasing slur and crooked swagger. Cage plays Terence McDonagh, a detective in post-Katrina New Orleans investigating a drug-related murder and his personal threshold for cocaine and heroin.

The first news of Bad Lieutenant was puzzling: famously extreme director Werner Herzog re-imagining a 1992 cult movie, also called Bad Lieutenant, but shifting the action to New Orleans and casting Nic Cage in the Harvey Keitel role opposite his Ghost Rider costar Eva Mendes. Weird.

But in fact, Bad Lieutenant is Herzog's second surprisingly accessible movie in as many years, following 2007's Rescue Dawn. And Cage is brilliant in a role seemingly made for him, so read more.

The noirish, pulpy, desperate, and often hilarious film opens with a good deed: McDonagh dives into a Katrina-flooded jail cell to save a prisoner's life, in the process injuring his back and subsequently getting hooked on Vicodin and then far harder drugs.

As a degenerate cop in a washed-out city, Cage makes Denzel Washington's Training Day villain look like a Boy Scout. He slithers through the streets, confiscating drugs to snort with his prostitute girlfriend (Mendes), hooking up with a drug kingpin played by Alvin "Xzibit" Joiner, and fending off a rising tide of self-created trouble. "Being courteous is really getting in the way of my progress," he croaks before one of his more disturbing moral lapses.

In post-Katrina New Orleans, Herzog has found the perfect setting. He never lets the city look pretty or even charmingly decayed, and he populates it with iguanas and alligators and snakes and fish. At every turn, McDonagh is confronted by cold-blooded animals, as he careens between the call of duty and the cold-blooded instinct of his addiction. It's impossible to ignore the reptilian symbolism, and the effect is perfectly bizarre. Despite its darkest moments, Bad Lieutenant is a remarkably good trip.

Photos Courtesy First Look Studios

Movie Preview: Kick-Ass, Starring McLovin'

BuzzSugar — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:30:00 -0800

Everyone was rumbling about director Matthew Vaughn's pet project, Kick-Ass, at Comic-Con this year, and now we finally get a peek at the official trailer. For those of you who aren't fanboys, let me explain: The film is based on the Marvel comic about a loner teenage boy (Aaron Johnson) who decides to become a superhero - despite the fact that he doesn't have any actual powers. That's when he teams up with Damon Macready (Nicolas Cage) and his daughter, Mindy (Chloe Moretz), aka "Hit Girl." ('Cause, you know, she's an 11-year old hitman.) Christopher "McLovin'" Mintz-Plasse also plays a role in their posse as "Red Mist."

I've heard it's a cheeky slant on the superhero genre, but that it's also pretty gory. The trailer seems to balance the line between a fun teen underdog tale and an assassin-style takedown, which will be incredibly entertaining to watch if done right. We don't get to see Cage's face in the preview, but Clark Duke (Dale from Greek) is in there! I'm looking forward to seeing more footage as we near the release date (April 16th), but till then, check out the video and tell me what you think when you read more.

Movie Preview: Astro Boy

BuzzSugar — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 13:30:46 -0700

Back at Comic-Con I was treated to a sneak peek at Astro Boy, Summit's CG-animated film based on the Japanese TV series. At the time, the movie was overshadowed by New Moon anticipation, but I finally got a chance to see the cool, futuristic trailer without distraction.

Freddie Highmore voices the title character, a boy robot who's been engineered to perfection with all kinds of fun gadgets. Things seem to be going fine for Astro and his pals (including Cora, voiced by Kristen Bell) until the evil Dr. Elefun (Bill Nighy) decides the robo-boy would be a perfect addition to his army. Just like geeksugar, I've got a soft spot for robots, so I'm diggin' this pint-sized superhero. Check out the trailer and let me know if you agree.

To see the trailer, just read more.

What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:30:08 -0700

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue.

Knowing
Oh, Nicolas Cage. He's always making these movies that I never want to pay for in the theater, but who am I kidding? I will watch them when they come out on DVD. Knowing is the kind of disaster movie that's perfectly fun to stick in at home and watch with a couple of friends.

The movie follows a schoolteacher named John Koestler (Cage) who discovers a time capsule containing shocking predictions that come true. He eventually figures out that his family will play a part in an upcoming apocalypse. Rose Byrne also stars in this movie.

Special features include audio commentary with director Alex Proyas, a making-of featurette, and a featurette about visions of the apocalypse.

32%

Another new DVD selection up next, so read more.

Push
As the splat below indicates, this movie didn't get great reviews but I still think it looks like an OK action flick to watch while vegging out at home.

Here's how Netflix describes the plot: "On the run from the Division, a dangerous government agency that uses people with psychic abilities to do their bidding, telekinetic Nick Gant (Chris Evans) and clairvoyant Cassie Holmes (Dakota Fanning) team up to find a third psychic who can help them destroy the organization. But when the Division picks up their trail, it sends a powerful agent (Djimon Hounsou) to stop them at all costs."

Special features include audio commentary with the director and actors, deleted scenes with director's commentary, and "The Science Behind the Fiction" featurette.

21%

Movie Preview: Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne in Knowing

BuzzSugar — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 06:30:41 -0700

Opening March 20, Knowing features Nicolas Cage as a teacher whose son finds an old document with a bunch of numbers on it in a time capsule at his school. Turns out the numbers represent a series of creepy predictions, some of which have already come true. But one of the predictions for the future has the teacher worried that he and his family are about to face something terrible.

The trailer looks a little on the generic side, with Cage doing his best as the worried, stressed-out father who's just trying to figure it all out while making impossible promises to his son. I like the mysterious puzzle aspect of it, though, and maybe it'll turn out to be kinda neat.

Does this action-thriller appeal to you? Or not so much? To watch the trailer, read more.

Photo courtesy of Summit Entertainment

Buzz News Roundup, 9/22

BuzzSugar — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:30:43 -0700

Kathy Griffin's Emmy-winning My Life on the D-List has been renewed for a fifth season. - Hollywood Reporter
Speaking of Emmys, Sunday's Emmys broadcast was one of the lowest-rated ever, with 12.24 million viewers. - AP
Rachel Bilson has landed a role in the indie romance Waiting For Forever. - Variety
The Green Hornet movie, starring Seth Rogen, has nabbed Kung Fu Hustle director Stephen Chow. - Zap2It
Taylor Swift's new song off her forthcoming album, White Horse, will be featured in this Thursday's season premiere of Grey's Anatomy. - Billboard
Prison Break star William Fichtner and ER alum Sherry Stringfield will play the leads in TNT drama pilot Night and Day. - Zap2it
Nicolas Cage will reteam with director Dominic Sena for the supernatural thriller Season of the Witch. - Variety
New York's Reality TV School might get a reality TV show of its own. - Portfolio

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Nicolas Cage Tops a Slow Weekend Box Office

BuzzSugar — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:45:46 -0700

Well, the Fall movie season came in with a whimper. According to Variety, "The first weekend after Labor Day is always sluggish, but this year the frame was affected by the start of the NFL football season and was particularly dreary." Bangkok Dangerous came in at No. 1, but it only earned an estimated $7.8 million and narrowly beat Tropic Thunder, which earned an estimated $7.5 million.

The House Bunny came in third place, followed by The Dark Knight in fourth and Don Cheadle's thriller Traitor in fifth place. Interestingly, Hamlet 2, which received major buzz at this year's Sundance Film Festival, is not doing too well in theaters and has only grossed an estimated $4.3 million over the two weekends it's been out.

Kind of a bummer of a weekend, but don't worry-next week The Women and Burn After Reading hit theaters! Who's excited?

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Buzz News Roundup, 8/1

BuzzSugar — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:29:57 -0700

Lisa Bonet has joined the cast of Life on Mars as the main character's girlfriend, Entertainment Weekly reports.
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Colin Firth is joining the next film version of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.
ComingSoon reports that Mike Myers is writing the fourth Austin Powers movie.
Billboard has details about the first album from The Verve in more than a decade.
Law & Order creator Dick Wolf is working on another project about lawyers for NBC, Zap2it reports.
The action-fantasy film Prince of Persia, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, has been pushed back a year and will now open Memorial Day weekend 2010, Variety writes.
The Hollywood Reporter has the news that Nicolas Cage and director John Carpenter will team up for prison thriller Scared Straight.
According to ComingSoon, the script for the dramedy Ivy Chronicles, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, is being written by Aline Brosh McKenna, who wrote the screenplay for The Devil Wears Prada.

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MGM Plots, Like, Totally Musical Remake of Valley Girl

BuzzSugar — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:32:24 -0700

Whoa, do you remember this movie? I do - but barely. But now that I'm looking at this poster from the 1983 comedy, can we just stop for a minute because holy cow, look at Nicolas Cage in this poster. The skinny tie, the bare chest, the hair. . . I'm. . . out of words.

Anyway, today there's news that MGM plans to do a "musical remake" of the super '80s-rific film. According to Variety, "The musical will utilize the Romeo and Juliet story of the original Valley Girl and sport classic '80s songs."

Wow. It's possible that I've never been quite so curious about a project as I am right now about this one. Will this work? If it's super campy and tongue-in-cheek, maybe? Or perhaps it will end up being a straight-to-DVD sort of thing? Just. . .wow.

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Roman Polanski Film Gets Swinton, Brosnan, Cage

BuzzSugar — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:41:00 -0700

Roman Polanski's next project has brought on a recent Oscar winner, a man who portrayed James Bond, and. . . a Ghost Rider. Polanski will direct an adaptation of the Robert Harris political thriller The Ghost, with Tilda Swinton, Pierce Brosnan and Nicolas Cage set to star. Variety has more:

Cage will play a ghostwriter hired abruptly to finish the memoirs of an ex-British prime minister after the first scribe turned up dead. The ghostwriter's research leads him to uncover skeletons in the pol's closet that put the writer's life in danger. Swinton will play the wife of the former prime minister (Brosnan). Her marriage is crumbling, and she falls for the writer.

This actually sounds like something Michael Clayton director Tony Gilroy would have done an excellent job directing, but obviously I'm equally curious to see what Polanski (you know, Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, The Pianist) will be able to do with it.

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