Nicolas Cage Films RANKED

One year into COVID-quarantine has done wonders for my “to-watch” list. Since January 1st I’ve watched 233 films. Some of these are rewatches (there’s something nice about revisiting HARRY POTTER and THE LORD OF THE RINGS around the holidays), though the majority are new-to-me. That is – I’ve been seeking out films which have escaped me over the years for one reason or another. This has been supported by Letterboxd which I can’t recommend highly enough if you’re a fan of cataloging your movies.

In any case, as I was dusting off the shelves I thought it would be fun to focus on a specific artist and run through their filmography – you know, get real up-close. In February I picked none other than everyone’s favorite cinematic enigma Nicolas Cage. Heading into it I assumed I had seen at least 50% of his movies. I’m no stranger to his Direct-to-TV adventures thanks to my Hulu-with-Ads subscription. Boy did I underestimate how prolific this man is. I was dismayed to find out I’d seen a mere 12% of Nic Cage’s movies. This could not stand.

So I buckled up, and for the better part of the month I did nothing but watch his movies during my downtime. Some were legitimately difficult to find, especially the earlier ones which are out of print. Unfortunately this meant breaking out the wallet when content wasn’t available through my toolbelt of streaming services. In total I spent somewhere in the ballpark of ~$300 dollars. Items that I couldn’t simply purchase through streaming services were hunted down via price-gouged-eBay-DVDs (one of which made up 20% of my total spend on the Cage-ology, yikes). Despite the cost it was worth it for the achievement. Never say I’m not committed.

With the right expectations, most movies featuring Nic Cage are great in their own right, but some definitely stand head-and-shoulders above the rest.