Nicolas Cage

Andrew O'Hehir measures Nicolas Cage twice across two years and through one director. In 2000 he offers a judgement on the playing, calling the meaty excess Cage brought to Face/Off a pitch other actors cannot reach; by 2002 he has turned it into a label, writing that Cage is now established as a John Woo regular. Two other writers look in different directions. Geoffrey Macnab finds the angel in City of Angels played deadpan and attractive, close to a silent-era star. Kevin Jackson, on Bringing Out the Dead, likens his face to a Christ out of some battered El Greco. No award stands in his name, but two Independent Spirit nominations do, one in 1996 for Leaving Las Vegas and one in 1990 for a film that is not among our titles.