Joe.

Be warned this film involves a very powerful performance from Nicolas Cage, a statement you probably don’t hear very often. The only other time, recently anyway, would have possible been for his portrayal of real life policeman Glenn Flothe in The Frozen Ground (2013). 

In David Gordon Greens latest outing, filmed and set in Austin Texas, Cage plays Joe (2013) of the title. Joe is an ex con, he’s the boss of a gang of men that illicitly poisons trees for a living, Joe is also a mess, he drinks and smokes to much. Although Joe has anger problems, which got him his jail sentence of 26 months after he knee capped a policeman with a gun, he has a heart of gold, treats his worker’s fairly, his whores kindly and befriends the young 15 year old Gary after giving him a job. Gary’s family consists of his alcoholic father who regularly beats him and his mother and a sister who has stopped speaking due to circumstances that are only hinted at.

Joe and Gary chill.

We are again in Winters Bone (2009) and Out of the Furnace (2013) territory, the lower echelons of society where the American dream involves large quantities of alcohol, sudden violence and beaten up 4 wheel drive trucks. Beyond the outward appearances there’s a lonely man who works and plays hard and who befriends and builds a relationship with a 15-year-old boy who accepts responsibilities well beyond his status. These two unlikely human beings form a bond, which is the backbone of the movie, and bring to it an emotional edge  that goes beyond the characters outward appearances. As I have said Cage is excellent as is Tye Sheridan, who you may have seen in The Tree of Life (2011) and as Gary in the award winning Mud (2012). This adaption of Larry Browns 1991 novel of the same name has characters you have no trouble in believing in and is a movie that has grit and bite and is rich in atmosphere, which is greatly helped by the director’s regular DOP Tim Orr.  Highly recommended.

A rather sad footnote to this movie concerns Gary Poulter who was found dead in a shallow body of water before the film was released. It was Poulter that played Gary’s alcoholic bullying father Wade and was a real life homeless person who suffered from alcoholism and also was diagnosed with cancer. His performance was a case of art imitating real life!

Trespass.

Nicole Kidman and Nicolas Cage play husband and wife.

If Joel Schumacher latest straight to video film had been made in black and white in the late 1940’s or early 1950’s it would have been deemed a very acceptable B-Movie thriller but instead Trespass (2011) is famous for being the fastest movie to be released on home video after its initial theatre release. The previous record had been 29 days, Trespass made it in only 18 but the director has been quoted as saying that although the best place to see a movie is on the big screen he is not concerned about his films going virtually straight to DVD or VOD as long as people watch them, because, as he say’s, that’s the reason he makes films in the first place.

Nicole with Ben Mendelsohn.

The story involves a family of three, Kyle Miller the father (Nicolas Cage) who would appear to be a very successful diamond dealer, the extraordinarily beautiful Sarah (Nicole Kidman), Kyle’s wife who is an architect/designer who works from home and their teenage daughter Avery, played by Liana Liberto (Trust (2010). All three share a lavish house that has been designed by Sarah and has a security system that would put a bank to shame. Invading their rather clinical existence are four desperate criminals looking for a fortune in diamonds and cash. How did they get in and what’s their connection to this rather emotionally distant family?

The loving family?

Ms Kidman can do no wrong in my eyes but Cage is truly a great lump of an actor completely unconvincing in a number of the roles he plays and I’m afraid that Schumacher film is no exception. Thankfully the calibre of the supporting cast, and I would include in that Ben Mendelsohn and Cam Gigandet who play one half of the criminal element, save the movie. It’s standard home invasion fodder that you have no doubt seen many times before with the normal twists and turns, hidden secrets and lies which are revealed about both groups during the films 90 minute running time. Maybe I’m biased but I enjoyed it and yes it does keep you on the edge of your seat to a certain extent.  Give it a couple of months and it will be in the bargain bins, worth a look then.

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans.

“Neither a sequel nor a remake” is how Werner Herzog described his “rethought” of the 1992 cult classic Bad Lieutenant directed by Abel Ferrara. In the original Harvey Keitel plays a cop only known as the Lieutenant who staggers around New York taking immense amounts of drugs and alcohol, stealing from villains, participating in orgies all of which is rapped in a covering of Catholic guilt. In The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans (2009) Nicolas Cage plays Lieutenant Terence McDonagh a man with a permanent back problem acquired when he rescues a felon from a flooded basement cell during Hurricane Katrina. Following the incident his is permanently on subscription drugs with in turn fuels his appetite for more illicit drugs, which he obtains from any and every source he can. A man with a problem, one that matches the size of his gun!

Ignore what Herzog claims; his new film does bear a resemblance to the original with some scenes and situation’s lifted direct from the original movie. The best example is the scene where McDonagh attempts to extract drugs from a couple he suspects of dealing, a scene that can’t stand up to the strength and disturbing nature when Keitel’s Lieutenant abuses two girls for driving without a licence, a scene your unlikely to forget. Compared to Harvey Keitel, Cages portrayal of the out of control police officer comes across as hammy. To be blunt this film is a farcical remake of a cult classic and should not have been attempted by Hertzog or any one else. Another dreadful remake to steer clear of - take my advice watch the original.