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A Fresh Look At: Natural Born Killers (1994)

Face Off: Nicolas Cage’s 10 Best Performances

by Jakob Johnson on August 24, 2014

4. The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans (2009) – Directed by Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog’s film about corruption and crime in a post-Hurricane Katrina-stricken New Orleans is an exercise in unease and uncomfortability. Typical of a Herzog film, the plot is relatively simple and plays second-fiddle to an array of distinctly mad, sweaty, and strange characters. Cage plays Terence McDonagh, a drug-addicted police sergeant with serious chronic back pain and a prostitute girlfriend. In many of his films, Cage adeptly embodies his characters, but in “The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” he truly perfects that talent. As McDonagh, Cage is hunched over, wearing an ill-fitting suit, and perpetually wearing a mask of distaste. He is, as the title would suggest, a bad person—abusing his position of power in a variety of scenarios. In what could only be best described as a feverish, crack-tainted haze, Cage embraces Herzog’s notorious style—something that could potentially be alienating to viewers (and something that likely has, as this film is pretty divisive among audiences). Whether or not one may be a fan of Herzog, or even Cage, it would be worth watching “The Bad Lieutenant” if just for the unhinged performance that leaves audiences feeling like they’ve just experienced a bad trip.

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(All Features), Features, Issue #17, Lists
AdaptationBringing Out the DeadFace/OffjoeLeaving Las VegasMatchstick MenNic Cagenicolas cageRaising ArizonaThe Bad LieutenantThe Weather ManWild At Heart
Adaptation, Bringing Out the Dead, Face/Off, joe, Leaving Las Vegas, Matchstick Men, Nic Cage, nicolas cage, Raising Arizona, The Bad Lieutenant, The Weather Man, Wild At Heart
About the Author
Jakob Johnson
Jakob Johnson
Jakob is a full-time student, full-time aspiring filmmaker, and part-time contributing member of society currently residing in the barren wasteland known as "Central Pennsylvania." On most days, you can find him hunched over a laptop—surrounded by a horde of cats—attempting to have a voice in the cinematic world.
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Becoming Self-Aware: 10 Meta Movies about Artistic Process

by Maximilien Luc Proctor on December 8, 2014
On the surface, movies general tend to focus all of their primary efforts on relating a narrative arc in a way that keeps viewers engaged – from academically-minded cinephiles to families that just want to be entertained in the dark for an hour or two. Surprisingly, films which make no direct reference to the act […]
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