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Con Air- Nicholas Cage

post #1 of 90
5/15/09 at 10:03am
Thread Starter 
Say what you want about Jerry Bruckheimer flicks, but I bet we all can quotes lots of lines from this one.

In fact, I'd bet that when Cage dies somebody will a picture of that Hillbilly photo of him in a ponytail on his gravestone with the captions

"I am going to show you God does exist."

Oh and lets not forget, it also brought not one but two versions of "How Do I Live" on the airwaves.

Never a dull moment here.
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post #2 of 90
5/15/09 at 10:31am
It's a terrible movie, wrapped in irony, which never even approaches the excitement or insanity of something such as Bad Boys 2.
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post #3 of 90
5/15/09 at 10:53am
The whole movie is worth it for the ridiculously overdone way they kill off Malkovich.
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post #4 of 90
5/15/09 at 11:05am
One part Great cast of characters one part ultra cheese fest and you have this wonderful brain death inducing film.
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post #5 of 90
5/15/09 at 11:40am
Watching a Cage double feature of this with The Rock works better than any testosterone injections ever could.
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post #6 of 90
5/15/09 at 11:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike Marshall View Post
It's a terrible movie, wrapped in irony, which never even approaches the excitement or insanity of something such as Bad Boys 2.
It is terrible, but wrong reasoning. Con Air is second only to Bad Boys II in terms of gloriously sadistic lunacy. Bay is a better director than West, but the script, dialogue and actors are what make Con Air work, especially since Cage is playing Elvis if Elvis were in a Bruckheimer movie. Also, Cusack. Meaney. Malkovich. Chapelle. Buscemi. MC Gainey. And it's just a fucking funny movie. I mean, Poe's letters to his kid? Malkovich's sing-songy "My birthday's on Juuuulllyyy fourteenth?" Come on, that's "so bad it's great" type material.

I watched it a lot when I was a kid, and while I've outgrown the kind of actioneer like it that I watched all the time, it's still one of those "always catch if it's on cable" type of movies. I have a soft spot a mile wide for it. I know it's bad, although I think it is smarter than a lot of people give it credit for. I'm not going to apologize for that. But it's because of pussies like me that we lost Vietnam.
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post #7 of 90
5/15/09 at 2:09pm
Con Air, much like The Rock and Bad Boys have the ultimate in Hans Zimmer/Michael Bay wailing guitar scoring. And yes I know Con Air was directed by Simon West.

Still amazes me that Cusack was in this movie. The hell was he doing there?
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post #8 of 90
5/15/09 at 2:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by EdHocken View Post
Still amazes me that Cusack was in this movie. The hell was he doing there?
On any other day, that might seem strange.
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post #9 of 90
5/15/09 at 5:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by EdHocken View Post
Con Air, much like The Rock and Bad Boys have the ultimate in Hans Zimmer/Michael Bay wailing guitar scoring.
Agreed. My personal favorite is "What do you think I'm gonna do? I'm gonna save the fucking day."
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post #10 of 90
5/15/09 at 5:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by EdHocken View Post
Still amazes me that Cusack was in this movie. The hell was he doing there?
Hungry perhaps?
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post #11 of 90
5/15/09 at 5:32pm
Cusack's a pretty versatile actor. I suspect that he took this gig to prove to himself (and to others) that he wouldn't embarrass himself in a mainstream action film. He was great in this, and he looked like he was genuinely having a good time.
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post #12 of 90
5/15/09 at 5:41pm
[horrible southern accent]Put...the...Bunny....down[/horrible southern accent]
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post #13 of 90
5/15/09 at 5:55pm
The only movie were Danny Trejo plays what he was always born to play...a rapist.

Also, Buscemi playing Hannibal Lecter's son... Hilarious.
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post #14 of 90
5/15/09 at 7:24pm
"Cy-"
"Onara."
*Flicks cigarette into gasoline*
"ARRRGHHH!"
*cue explosion in the background while the cast walks in slow motion towards the camera*
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post #15 of 90
5/15/09 at 7:27pm
The trailer is ridiculous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px8U9fx8TXw
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post #16 of 90
5/15/09 at 7:42pm
Best cast for a mediocre action movie ever.
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post #17 of 90
5/15/09 at 10:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RathBandu View Post
But it's because of pussies like me that we lost Vietnam.
For some reason, I was under this impression that this was some well-known quotable back in the day and used it twice in two very awkward exchanges with people who told me they were in some branch of the military. One of them just looked genuinely insulted while I tried to explain it was from "Con-Air" and the other got fairly defensive and tried to explain why "pussies like him were the reason why people like me have their freedom". I have since come to understand that Con-Air wasn't as big a staple of popular culture as I'd believed.
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post #18 of 90
5/15/09 at 10:47pm
The close-up of one of the cons callously trampling over the diabetic black guy's insulin, followed by the close-up of the diabetic black guy yelling "HEY BRO GET OFF MY INSULIN!" is one of the top 5 comedy moments of all 90s cinema.
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post #19 of 90
5/15/09 at 10:49pm
This is the movie that made me a HUGE fan of Nick Chinlund. I thought he was creepy in The X-Files, but this is where he really gets to shine as Billy Bedlam. Even if his screen time is limited.

Love what Malkovich says to Trejo.

"Anyway I despise rapists. To me you're between a cockroach and that white stuff that accumulates at the corner of your mouth when you're really thirsty. BUT in your case I'll make an exception.

*Trejo smiles contently*
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post #20 of 90
5/15/09 at 11:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by EdHocken View Post
Con Air, much like The Rock and Bad Boys have the ultimate in Hans Zimmer/Michael Bay wailing guitar scoring. And yes I know Con Air was directed by Simon West.

Still amazes me that Cusack was in this movie. The hell was he doing there?
Please! He's a well-oiled machine! He can do it all!

Oh, and CON AIR's wailing guitar scoring was done by Zimmer bitches, Mark Mancina and Trevor Rabin. So, you're actually not wrong. Why am I even talking? I never plan that far ahead.

SWING Looooooooooow! SWEET Chaaaaaaariooooot...

EDIT: Probably because I saw this movie at a younger age... but if given the choice, I'd watch this over Bad Boys II.
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post #21 of 90
5/16/09 at 12:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Syd View Post
The music in that trailer is glorious.
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post #22 of 90
5/16/09 at 12:26am
I love it when movie trailers actually get to use its own original music from the film. That doesn't happen much at all anymore.
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post #23 of 90
5/16/09 at 11:25am
I loved that they quoted Dostoyevsky in a fucking CON AIR trailer.
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post #24 of 90
5/16/09 at 10:23pm
You guys got me watching the flick again. So...
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post #25 of 90
5/16/09 at 11:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by santi-freak View Post
I loved that they quoted Dostoyevsky in a fucking CON AIR trailer.
Got to get those English majors in the seats.
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post #26 of 90
5/17/09 at 12:00am
Nooj, I really hope there are more of those coming.
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post #27 of 90
5/17/09 at 12:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by PMR View Post
Best cast for a mediocre action movie ever.
This.

I remember creaming when I saw the trailer. There's no way it could be bad, right?

RIGHT?

If you know me on here, I'm all about enjoying some action junk for the sake of action junk, but I have certain criteria that this movie fails quite miserably. Namely, action. The action bits in this flick are so poorly concieved and executed it's really a fucking shame. The gauntlet sequence could have been a showstopper. Jesus, I wish Michael Bay would have directed this, and I'm not sure I've ever typed or uttered that sentence in my life.

Nah, irony doesn't cut it on this one. Not enough to chew on. I will admit I liked the touch of Buscemi loose on the streets of Vegas at the end.
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post #28 of 90
5/17/09 at 2:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post
Cusack's a pretty versatile actor. I suspect that he took this gig to prove to himself (and to others) that he wouldn't embarrass himself in a mainstream action film. He was great in this, and he looked like he was genuinely having a good time.
I think they were trying to expand upon his action scenes from Gross Point Blanke; few as they were. They were looking for a glimmer of hope to possibly have him as a leading man in the future. Unfortunately, that never really happened. I think he is highly underrated.
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post #29 of 90
5/18/09 at 11:57pm
This movie is on the verge of being awesomely terrible. I don't think it quite reaches those heights, so it comes off as bad but interestingly so at times.
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post #30 of 90
5/19/09 at 7:14am
The only two things I really remember from this film are Cage's outrageously bad weave and Malkovich dying something like 199 different deaths at the end. Con Air seems to be one of those films (like the recent Shoot 'Em Up) that always seem much, much better when described, but fails to deliver once it's put in front of you. West has no imagination, he's like the Powerman 5000 to Bay's White Zombie*, they share similar DNA in a roundabout way, but it's all in the execution.







*Not a fan of either band really, just thought I'd pull that out of my ass.
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post #31 of 90
5/19/09 at 9:49am
I have a friend who genuinely believes this is the greatest film ever made. I used to house share with him so as a consequence I have seen it many, many times.

One of the best bits for me is when they are loading all the convicts onto the plane and Cusack’s character lists just how evil they all are.


Plus who doesn't love Steve Bushemi switching from totally normal to talking about wearing a girls head as a hat for three states.
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post #32 of 90
5/19/09 at 2:13pm
Is this the movie that ruined Nicolas Cage and Sean Penn's friendship?
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post #33 of 90
5/19/09 at 2:15pm
Are you referring to when Penn said that Cage was more of a performer than an actor?
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post #34 of 90
5/19/09 at 2:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by User_32 View Post
Is this the movie that ruined Nicolas Cage and Sean Penn's friendship?
That was Snake Eyes.
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post #35 of 90
5/19/09 at 6:55pm
Steve Buscemi's Garland Greene is the ultimate gun that doesn't go off.

Nicolas Cage's southern accent makes him sound like a retard.

The film starts off in the most hilarious way, and fails to live up to the precedent of awfulness.
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post #36 of 90
5/19/09 at 7:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pop Zeus View Post
Steve Buscemi's Garland Greene is the ultimate gun that doesn't go off.
So true. Dave Chappelle was a hoot given his screen-time and ultimate demise.

___

IMO: If JCVD had played his cards right and wasn't on that China white, this was the closest thing of a Van Dammage to be produced by Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer.

Poe and Boudreaux, just too similar.
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post #37 of 90
5/19/09 at 7:24pm
Van Damme starring, and sporting his Hard Target look in Con Air would have been one of the greatest things ever.

At least we got great dialogue like this:

"Fuck you trailer trash!"

"HEY, my momma lives in a trailer!"
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post #38 of 90
5/19/09 at 7:39pm
Fate, destiny, the space-time continuum, what have you, must course-correct so that JCVD can perform the kick he was clearly meant to deliver.



And just because...
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post #39 of 90
5/19/09 at 8:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rene (Mr.Eko) View Post
Van Damme starring, and sporting his Hard Target look in Con Air would have been one of the greatest things ever.

At least we got great dialogue like this:

"Fuck you trailer trash!"

"HEY, my momma lives in a trailer!"
HA! That's funny you brought that up Rene... I was thinking of the Yancy Butler and Boudreaux trade-off:

Why'd your mom call you Chance?

___

nooj -

They would have to pay Jean Claude greatly for his tradmarked spin-kick...

Cage, god love him, just could not do the spin-kick justice - thus fate lead him to NEXT.
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post #40 of 90
5/19/09 at 8:31pm
"B-caaaahz, mah mama tuk waaaahn."

I just kinda assumed that a stuntman did the spin kick, the way Poe seems to be covering his face strategically.
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post #41 of 90
5/19/09 at 8:44pm
Also love the "HA!" Tommy Rosales does when he puts the silencer on his pistol.

"Well HOO-RAY for the sounds of fuckin' silence!"
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post #42 of 90
5/19/09 at 8:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcnooj82 View Post
Are you referring to when Penn said that Cage was more of a performer than an actor?
That's the one. Found the article too.

http://www.people.com/people/archive...127825,00.html

"The door to our friendship is now closed,"

They're like the A-list version of the two Coreys.
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post #43 of 90
5/20/09 at 4:07am
Compared to the Gone In Sixty Seconds - Ghost Rider - Next stuff he's done since that article, I'd dare say his work in those two big summer 1997 action flicks was actually the high point in his action hero resume. There was The Rock as well but he was kind of playing more of a mismatched lab rat in that one.
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post #44 of 90
5/20/09 at 11:57am
one of the things I love most about this movie is Malkovich as an over the top psychopath delivering lines like:

"The last thing Casey Poe is ever going to smell will be my STINKING breath!"

and

"Mention this on the radio and the next wings you will see are going to belong to the flies buzzing above your ROTTING corpse!"

But my favorite exchange is:

Grissom: (to the head guard) Excuse me, stewardess! What's the in flight movie going be today?

Guard: Well, we've got a nice double bill lined up for you, Cyrus. The first one is called "I'll never make love to a woman again" followed up by the award winning "No More Steak for me Ever."

Cyrus: funny fucker, ain't ya?
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post #45 of 90
5/20/09 at 1:05pm
My favorite breakdown I have seen of the film is basic cable classics.

PART 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcU21qWWoAE

PART 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJB_r...eature=related
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post #46 of 90
5/20/09 at 5:08pm
"Other actors jumped on the bandwagon. Nick Nolte complained to USA Today that Cage had become a one-dimensional actor; Stephen Baldwin told the New York Daily News, "I don't enjoy [Cage's] movies."

One of these things is not like the other...
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post #47 of 90
5/20/09 at 6:33pm
Wasn't Stephen Baldwin actually IN Con Air at the beginning?
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post #48 of 90
5/20/09 at 7:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith F View Post
"Other actors jumped on the bandwagon. Nick Nolte complained to USA Today that Cage had become a one-dimensional actor; Stephen Baldwin told the New York Daily News, "I don't enjoy [Cage's] movies."

One of these things is not like the other...
Nick Nolte thought Cage was one-diamensional? Hilarious!
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post #49 of 90
5/20/09 at 8:31pm
I think I've purged Con Air from my system. I'm done. I figured Dave Chappelle would be easy to do, since he's got character... but man, I had a hard time with him. I still can't get him right. I have several failed attempts at him.
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post #50 of 90
5/20/09 at 8:37pm
M.C. Gainey is amazing. I might have to avatar-ize the winking Cage.
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