The Man, The Trinity, The Cage

Sure, go ahead, laugh at him. Call him crazy, call him broke, call him over-exaggerated, but you don't dare call Nicolas Cage not one of the greatest living actors. This is a dude who consistently brings it with the bizarre, wild, and insane. I first became familiar with Cage when I was in middle school and at the time he was starring in three films that I like to refer to as the Nic Cage Trinity. I'd love these three films so much, I wrote his for an autograph and got it, it's framed and in a box somewhere back in Boston. So today in honor of his new film "Drive Angry 3D," let's take a look at three films of the Trinity of Cage.

Some people sleep on this flick and I don't understand why. Not only do you have Cage rocking a ridiculous white tank top and with a flowing mane, but you also have Cage acting with a truly fine supporting cast. John Malkovich, John Cusack, Ving Rhames, Dave Chapelle, Steve Buscemi, and Danny Trejo round out the action fest. And let us not forget, this is one of the only films that finds Cage engaging in mortal kombat over a stuffed animal rabbit.

Borderline perfect. Yeah, I said it, this is one of the greatest movies ever made, no questions asked. People ask me, yo TPG, why you always defending Michael Bay, and I say, listen hippie, stop taking instagram pictures of your Arcade Fire forums and go watch the got dayum "Rock." Cage, playing nerdy chemist Stanley Goodspeed basically goes from a weakling dork to a full on action Jesus, all because his proximity to Sean Connery and love for The Beatles, his hot wife, and his country. The film contains every action movie requirement. Car Chases, explosions, one liners, drama, latino badass commandos, Tony Todd, chemical weapons, fighter jets, conspiracies, Elton John quotes, and chaos.

I've written about this film before, but man Face/Off really is a piece of work. Revisiting the film recently, I found it to be even crazier than I remembered. Every line of dialogue from Cage and Travolta is delivered with fierce tenacity that almost makes the film take on Greek Opera tones, of course the slow motion doves help as well. Film critics have pointed to this film as the first emergence of Cage's "mega-acting" style which almost defines him now. Check out what the man himself said about his mega-acting style in a recent interview with the website screenjunkies

Yeah, I think that makes sense. I often refer to it as outside the box, as opposed to over the top. The two things mean the same thing on one hand but one sort of celebrates the idea of breaking free and going into other forms of expression, whether they’re abstract or extreme or as this friend of yours calls mega acting. The other sort of implies you’re not being truthful to the part, but see, I don’t know how you measure something like that because life can be extreme and life can be mega.

See, the man is a genius! Even The New York Times calls him "mathematically the greatest actor int he world today" All you haters out there, reveling in his youtube video (posted below) should ask yourself the following question: What other actor brings as hard as Cage does in a variety of genres? No one? Well maybe someone, but you'll have to wait til next to find out who. Til then, drive angry folks.