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dc_declan's review against another edition
2.0
Save yourself the trouble and just watch the Community episode about Nic Cage instead.
Keith Phipps suffers from being too much of a culture critic — the book is more filled with trivia than insight. It feels like I laid $13 to read 14 AV Club essays strung together. At the end of it, I know little more about Cage the man, and slightly more about Cage’s credits, as though I had spent an afternoon on his Wikipedia page.
Keith Phipps suffers from being too much of a culture critic — the book is more filled with trivia than insight. It feels like I laid $13 to read 14 AV Club essays strung together. At the end of it, I know little more about Cage the man, and slightly more about Cage’s credits, as though I had spent an afternoon on his Wikipedia page.
littlemascara's review against another edition
5.0
Full disclosure: I’ve been married to the author since 2002. But as he would tell you (and as his first reader), I let him know when his work isn’t at five stars (or three…) so this is legit.
I feel like I got to know what makes Nic Cage tick thanks to this book. What I particularly like is the structure — whether on purpose or by accident, Cage has kept approximately two steps ahead of Hollywood trends, sometimes to his detriment, and AGE OF CAGE guides readers through how Cage’s career highs and lows mirror that of the film industry.
Also? FACE / OFF is the greatest movie I’ve ever seen and no one will disabuse me of this.
I feel like I got to know what makes Nic Cage tick thanks to this book. What I particularly like is the structure — whether on purpose or by accident, Cage has kept approximately two steps ahead of Hollywood trends, sometimes to his detriment, and AGE OF CAGE guides readers through how Cage’s career highs and lows mirror that of the film industry.
Also? FACE / OFF is the greatest movie I’ve ever seen and no one will disabuse me of this.
damesies's review against another edition
4.0
Normalizing Cage more so than amplifying his charismatic weirdness, this book deconstructs a cinematic icon as it would any entry from his deep filmography: with a fervent fanboi curiosity paired with a stoic coolness. Made me want to go back and watch Nick’s deeper cuts even if the end of book breakdown of Cage’s films proved there were a lot of stinkers.
thomasindc's review against another edition
1.0
DNF. I got to page 97 out of 220 pages of content in this book, and the writer made me work to get there.
This is a shallow recounting of Cage’s filmography. If you would like pages spelling out summaries of Cage’s films loosely connected by biographies of the various people directing, writing, and casting them, you may enjoy it. Very little of Cage’s personal life is covered. Very little of what informs Cage’s decisions is covered. The writer often suggests things very boldly with not much in the way of evidence — thankfully these are typically opinions, but it still feels odd.
The writing is shoddy. Maybe I’m on high alert for adverbs having just finished Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style and King’s On Writing, but wow! The author loves writing sentences like, “Hugh Wilson never really fit into Hollywood…” (that’s the hum-dinger that made me put the book down). At 97 pages, you could build a little home for yourself with all the “never reallies” in this book. I never really liked that phrase!
You know what else ‘never really’ satisfaction’d me? The pattern of sentences. The writing here feels reportorial, but not in a New York Times or David Simon way. It feels like writing where the author is paid by the word, and the sentences written as such. They are repetitive, and the structure repeats itself over and over again.
I’m annoyed, I’ll admit. Cage’s career is interesting! It beggars belief that this book is so dry and boring. For all the talk of Cage’s karate kicks and high-energy, I’m not sure this book would kick if you hit its knee with one of Gallagher’s hammers.
This is a shallow recounting of Cage’s filmography. If you would like pages spelling out summaries of Cage’s films loosely connected by biographies of the various people directing, writing, and casting them, you may enjoy it. Very little of Cage’s personal life is covered. Very little of what informs Cage’s decisions is covered. The writer often suggests things very boldly with not much in the way of evidence — thankfully these are typically opinions, but it still feels odd.
The writing is shoddy. Maybe I’m on high alert for adverbs having just finished Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style and King’s On Writing, but wow! The author loves writing sentences like, “Hugh Wilson never really fit into Hollywood…” (that’s the hum-dinger that made me put the book down). At 97 pages, you could build a little home for yourself with all the “never reallies” in this book. I never really liked that phrase!
You know what else ‘never really’ satisfaction’d me? The pattern of sentences. The writing here feels reportorial, but not in a New York Times or David Simon way. It feels like writing where the author is paid by the word, and the sentences written as such. They are repetitive, and the structure repeats itself over and over again.
I’m annoyed, I’ll admit. Cage’s career is interesting! It beggars belief that this book is so dry and boring. For all the talk of Cage’s karate kicks and high-energy, I’m not sure this book would kick if you hit its knee with one of Gallagher’s hammers.
graywild's review against another edition
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
I know Nicolas Cage's work but I am not a super fan. Probably have seen around 15 of his films. Most I thought were entertaining but I always think he is an over the top type of actor. The author does a decent job of talking about his films along with a little context about the time and of his fellow peer actors. The author definitely thinks he is a better actor than I think. Nice little read for vacation.
read_byred's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.0
Do you like Nic Cage? Read/listen to this book!
katsherms's review against another edition
4.0
If you like Cage and want a high level career retro, you'll enjoy this one