Season of the Witch

For all its special effects, its Hollywood stars, its humungous Teutonic battle scenes, Season of the Witch reminded me of those old made-for-tv Hammer House of Horror movies. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – low expectations and all that. I’m just not sure that’s the effect the filmmakers were going for. Nicky Cage and…

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Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

In Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, the odious, plastic-faced Nicolas Cage plays corrupt cop Terence McDonagh, half-crippled and half-maddened from the pain of a back injury sustained during Hurricane Katrina. He wasn’t a particularly nice bloke before-hand, and now, addicted to prescription drugs and worse, he’s become a law unto himself in the…

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Bangkok Dangerous

I don’t know why I do it to myself. I only watched the Hollywood remake of Bangkok Dangerous because we’re planning a trip to Thailand later this year and I was curious. It meant of course trying to set aside my qualms about Nicholas Cage, and sitting back to enjoy a panoply of exotic locations,…

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Knowing

I’ve mentioned before how I think Nicholas Cage is the great spawn of Satan, his hairplugs the horsemen of the Apocalypse. He’s as clunky and long-faced as a camel, and no director should ever, ever ask him to run and expect the audience to still take him seriously thereafter. But dammit, he still gets roles…

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Iron Man v. Ghost Rider

Someone up there was making a point; after the local release of the excellent Iron Man movie last week, the MNET Sunday night feature was Ghost Rider, another Marvel Comics superhero, this time starring Nicholas Cage. The story’s set mostly in Texas, though it was filmed in Australia at the Melbourne Docklands film studios and in a…

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Cape Town cranks up Locations & Permitting

Cape Town has had a decade-long reputation as a thriving film hub with a “can do” attitude. However, this season, the sector has been hit by a number of locations management issues that industry insiders are calling a “crisis”. Following an Industry Locations meeting called on 6th December 2007, the Cape Film Commission has responded swiftly and positively:…

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National Treasure

The second installment of Disney’s hugely successful National Treasure franchise entitled “The Book of Secrets”, starts when a missing page from the diary of Lincoln’s assassin implicates Ben’s ancestor in the crime. Determined to prove his ancestor’s innocence, Ben (Nicholas Cage) follows a chain of clues that takes him around some fantastic locations worldwide. Check…

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