I like me some Nicolas Cage. His quiet-loud-quiet-loud style has worked for and against him throughout his career, but I’m more inclined to remember the good times rather than dwelling on, say, Bangkok Dangerous. Actually, Cage is one of those guys (for me anyway) who’s always worth watching, even in a bad film. Not in an ironic, my-hair-is-a-bird kind of way, either. Does he sometimes act so hard he threatens to PISS BLOOOOOOD!?!?!?! Of course! But nobody does that quite like him.
This looks like a winner though. David Gordon Green took a step back in the right direction with Prince Avalanche (now streaming!) and I’m excited to see him return to the south, working on a smaller, more personal scale. If I had to do that shitty thing that reviews used to do and compare this to two movies (it’s Wing Commander meets Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time!), I’d say this looks like Shotgun Stories and Mud. And hey, those are two excellent Jeff Nichols movies (he and Green are buds) so I’m stoked.
Also, it’s nice that someone let Peter Sarsgaard take his Green Lantern make-up home when they wrapped. He looks to be putting it to some good use here.
April 11, 2014. Mark your phone calendar.