#cageclub: The Nicolas Cage Podcast

Visit our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cageclub In 2015, we had an idea: we were going to watch every Nicolas Cage movie and record a podcast about each. After finishing in 6 months (at an irrational pace of 3 movies per week), we moved on to cover the movies of actors like Keanu Reeves, Charlize Theron, and Shia LaBeouf. Here's the thing: we have so many more ideas for podcasts! We're launching shows for Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise in early 2019, and dropping seasons of Cinemakers from time to time, but we have a spreadsheet with dozens of show ideas, many of which feature terrible punny titles. We'd love to keep sharing our love of movies with you, the sweet weirdos who love these actors as much as we do. This Patreon can help give us the ability to begin even more shows and talk about even more movies. Here's the best part: you can even help pick what we watch!

Snake Eyes opens with the greatest sequence in any Nicolas Cage movie. (Is this true? Maybe.) Cage is on fire and the suspense is hard to beat. It's a shame, then, that the rest of the movie never quite captures that energy. In this episode, we re-watch the movie that inspired our love of film conspiracies (you've got to have at least five people... it's a requirement!) while we also admire Brian De Palma's filmmaking style, Carla Gugino's affinity for genre pictures, and the weirdest (and slowest) shot to ever be placed under closing credits. Stay tuned for a brand new game: Can Mike Manzi complete the Beastie Boys lyric?! Note: Our #CageClub Revisited episodes are meant to be listened to while watching the movie we're discussing, a la a director's commentary. If you want our more "insightful" episode about this movie, head into our archives!

Mike has been itching to watch Season of the Witch again since first watched it, and since we're out of spooky Nicolas Cage movies for October, here we are! Cage's character in this film, Behmen, is considered by some to be his worst character of all-time, but are things really that bad? Honestly, it's tough to say, because we started playing a new game on this episode that distracted us almost entirely from the movie. If you've ever wanted to half-watch Season of the Witch while listening to us try to have the other guess a Nicolas Cage movie with the film's most obscure details... boy, do we have a podcast for you! Note: Our #CageClub Revisited episodes are meant to be listened to while watching the movie we're discussing, a la a director's commentary. If you want our more "insightful" episode about this movie, head into our archives!

It’s been more than 20 years since the death of Superman Lives, but Nicolas Cage finally got his chance to play Superman in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies! While he’s far from the center of attention here (that honor belongs to the Boy Wonder), it’s clear that the writers and directors of this film cared that he got a chance to play the part, as his character (and the rest of the film, really) is littered with in-jokes and references and homages to the universe that means so much to him.

We were so excited to watch Mandy (and then watch it again, and again, and again...) that we couldn't wait to do a Revisited episode. Recorded the night after the movie hit VOD, our Revisited episode of Mandy (which was actually recorded before we recorded our original episode!) comes immediately after we had finished watching the movie for the first time. Joined by Brian Rodriguez of High School Slumber Party, we dive headfirst into the world of weird and wonder that is this movie to talk about Cage rage, Cage memes, and why Nicolas Cage never actually "went away," contrary to what much online writing suggests. Also, because the movie is two hours long and we have time to kill, we also figure out what Nicolas Cage Monopoly would look like. Enjoy! Note: Our #CageClub Revisited episodes are meant to be listened to while watching the movie we're discussing, a la a director's commentary. If you want our more "insightful" episode about this movie, head into our archives!

Mandy is widely considered by many to be Nicolas Cage's best movie in years. While we know he's made a handful of great movies since his last critical darling... we probably agree with the sentiment. Mandy rules. It's a gorgeously intense (and intensely gorgeous), drug-fueled journey through a land of madness. To join us on this adventure, we welcomed back into the fold a co-host of Monkey Club (RIP Monkey Club), Christian Larson, who last joined us for Seeking Justice. This is the point in the write-up where I normally ask, "Will our guest like it more than the last movie he watched with us?", but here's a spoiler: all three of us loved Mandy. We hope you did, too.

You know that expanding brain meme, where each level of consciousness relates to an even greater level of awareness? Some people think Top Gun is great, but Fire Birds is the equivalent of someone pulling a full Lucy and using 100 percent of their brain. Like Nicolas Cage in the film, Fire Birds is the greatest! Sure, it may be nothing more than shameless propaganda to encourage young boys and girls to join the military, but who cares? There are helicopters! Video games! Semi-blind periscope driving on populated roads! What more could you ask for? Note: Our #CageClub Revisited episodes are meant to be listened to while watching the movie we're discussing, a la a director's commentary. If you want our more "insightful" episode about this movie, head into our archives!

National Treasure: Book of Secrets is bigger, more sprawling, and more successful than its predecessor. But is it better? We're once joined by the Hoff Bros., Kyle and Brian, to journey around the world as we kidnap the President of the United States and discover the lost city of gold beneath Mount Rushmore. Adding Ed Harris and Helen Mirren are really big additions for the franchise, but who would the franchise have added if we had ever made it to a third National Treasure movie? Who's on your Mount Rushmore of actors? And lastly (and most importantly), how good would Jeff Goldblum have been as the President? Note: Our #CageClub Revisited episodes are meant to be listened to while watching the movie we're discussing, a la a director's commentary. If you want our more "insightful" episode about this movie, head into our archives!

National Treasure is, arguably, Nicolas Cage's biggest movie of all-time. But when you're watching it for a second, third, or fourth time, how does it hold up? We brought in the Hoff Bros., Kyle and Brian, to talk about history, sexism, and stealing the Declaration of Independence. Is Riley a role model? How good or bad of a villain is Sean Bean? And why oh why won't Nicolas Cage let Diane Kruger talk? All of this -- and much more! -- on this episode of #CageClub Revisited. Note: Our #CageClub Revisited episodes are meant to be listened to while watching the movie we're discussing, a la a director's commentary. If you want our more "insightful" episode about this movie, head into our archives!

What is there to say about Face/Off, the biggest, boldest, and best (?) of the three movies in Cage's action trilogy, that hasn't already been said? Just like the last #CageClub Revisited episode (Leaving Las Vegas), we had to step up our game and cover one of Cage's all-time biggest films for two guests new to our podcast universe... including one who'd never seen either movie! (We fixed that in a hurry.) With nearly two and a half hours of absolute wonder -- and 10 face waterfalls -- Face/Off is nothing if not an exercise in excess, majesty, and wonder... and we love each and every damn frame of it. Note: Our #CageClub Revisited episodes are meant to be listened to while watching the movie we're discussing, a la a director's commentary. If you want our more "insightful" episode about this movie, head into our archives!

On this (and the next) episode of #CageClub Revisited, we were joined by two (!!) guests brand new to the CageClub universe, so we know we had to step our game up. We kicked things off with Leaving Las Vegas, the film Nicolas Cage won an Oscar for, and the one Elisabeth Shue was robbed of an Oscar for. (Next episode, we'll go even bigger -- both literally and figuratively -- with Face/Off, so you'll want to come back for that.) We obviously love Nicolas Cage around these parts, but there's something truly special about seeing the movie that the world finally saw and appreciated his greatness in. Note: Our #CageClub Revisited episodes are meant to be listened to while watching the movie we're discussing, a la a director's commentary. If you want our more "insightful" episode about this movie, head into our archives!

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance takes everything from the series' first movie, throws it out the window, then mimes pissing on it with fire. And that's why we love it. Though even this movie (which is half an hour shorter than the original) tends to drag at times, it has clear goals, frenetic action, and a style that perfect meshes with the world of Ghost Rider, all in a way that only Neveldine and Taylor can offer. Also: can you believe that Idris Elba is in this movie? For real! It makes total sense that someone like Christopher Lambert would show up here, but Stringer Bell?! Note: Our #CageClub Revisited episodes are meant to be listened to while watching the movie we're discussing, a la a director's commentary. If you want our more "insightful" episode about this movie, head into our archives!

In revisiting Ghost Rider, Joey and Mike spend much of the episode wishing they were watching Spirit of Vengeance instead. As per tradition, we talk about re-casting the Batman universe within the scope of the actors we cover on the network, long for a future sequel where Nicolas Cage has to go on "one last ride" as Johnny Blaze, and ridicule the least believable scene in cinematic history. Note: Our #CageClub Revisited episodes are meant to be listened to while watching the movie we're discussing, a la a director's commentary. If you want our more "insightful" episode about this movie, head into our archives!

We're headed back down to the Big Easy (once again) to revisit Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. Joining us on this episode is Kyle Reinfried (of P.S. I Love Hoffman and the upcoming Foodie Films!) to break down his favorite Nicolas Cage movie and get introduced to CageClub Bingo. No matter what happens, just remember: there ain't no iguana. Note: Our #CageClub Revisited episodes are meant to be listened to while watching the movie we're discussing, a la a director's commentary. If you want our more "insightful" episode about this movie, head into our archives!

#CageClub came from a place of love. In our hearts, we believed that not only was Nicolas Cage a good actor, but that he made (almost exclusively) good movies. Then, there's 211, which Joey has ranked as the worst (and his least favorite) Nicolas Cage movie of all-time. In honor of this truly horrendous movie, we welcomed Walt Hickey, who proved the endless depths of his Nicolas Cage fandom with The Five Types Of Nicolas Cage Movies, which he wrote for FiveThirtyEight's terrific Hollywood Taxonomy series. In this episode, we talk to Walt about the five types of Nicolas Cage movies, which ones he loves, and which ones he hates. Also, there's some talk about 211, which we're very sorry about. Want more Walt? Follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/walthickey Catch him on the Not Her Again podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/not-her-again/id1288435159?mt=2 Subscribe to his daily newsletter at numlock.news

Today's #CageClub Revisited was a very special episode, which is why we knew we had to opt for a big movie. What better way to welcome a reporter and photographer from the Bergen Record and NorthJersey.com into CageClub HQ than by showing them the 2006 classic The Wicker Man? This episode doubles as both a commentary for The Wicker Man and also a bit of an oral history of the CageClub Podcast Network, as Mike and Joey talk about the movie while also bringing reporter Chris Maag up to speed on how they got to where they are. Note: Our #CageClub Revisited episodes are meant to be listened to while watching the movie we're discussing, a la a director's commentary. If you want our more "insightful" episode about this movie, head into our archives!

In this episode, we once again lament our decision to watch the "lesser" Cage films, rather than re-watching classics, while also doubling down on our dedication to this project. Also, Joey realizes that this completes the trifecta of terrific Nicky Whelan/Nicolas Cage team-ups, which makes this movie an instant classic. But above all else, here's the bottom line: any time Cage and Dafoe team up, you know the #CageClub Bingo cards are going to fill up quickly. Note: Our #CageClub Revisited episodes are meant to be listened to while watching the movie we're discussing, a la a director's commentary. If you want our more "insightful" episode about this movie, head into our archives!

Are you ready to Pay the Ghost... again? We dive back into the movie that wrapped up Phase One of #CageClub, and wonder just what price we have to pay to pay the ghost once and for all. In this episode, Mike and Joey catch up on the latest Cage news, hope for a future with good voiceover Cage, and wonder if Joey's new house is haunted. Note: Our #CageClub Revisited episodes are meant to be listened to while watching the movie we're discussing, a la a director's commentary. If you want our more "insightful" episode about this movie, head into our archives!

As we revisit Stolen, we talk about Simon West’s penchant for including stuffed animals in his movies and Nicolas Cage’s questionable parenting style. We also talk about short-lived (but wonderful) TV shows like Trophy Wife and The Grinder, which only leads to more talk of Malin Akerman. As always, this episode is filled with impressions a-plenty, including one from Joey that’s apparently... good? Mike says it’s good, but you be the judge! Also: will Joey finally find a red sports car to complete his bingo card? Note: Our #CageClub Revisited episodes are meant to be listened to while watching the movie we're discussing, a la a director's commentary. If you want our more "insightful" episode about this movie, head into our archives!

The Humanity Bureau has been available in the U.K. for nearly a year, but we hadn’t tasted the forbidden fruit. We held out, waiting for its stateside release. Maybe we should have kept waiting. But every new Nicolas Cage movie is a treasure, so Mike and Joey brought in Lindsay Gibb of Winona Forever to talk about the dystopian future of a movie that appears to have the budget of a SyFy original.