A Game to pick The Best Nicolas Cage film

My friend Scott and I played this game nearly two years ago. I only just found the notes. I have not seen Dream Scenario yet and am not sure, new release wise,the list would be any different if played today. Butcher's Crossing looks pretty amazing. I did see Wild at Heart again for the first time since it came out recently and thought it was an amazing.

The game we played to determine the best Nicolas Cage films is based off of the Incinerator podcast. The premise is two people make individual top twenty lists on any given topic (for instance vampire films). The host takes a look at the lists and sees what titles the two players have in common. Let's say the players have 8 in common picks. Each player must now pick 6 out of the 12 they did not have in common and submit those. That makes up a top twenty list. There is an engineer who adds five films that he/she feels are lacking from the list and that makes a top 25.

For this game we had 9 in common. Mom and Dad, Mandy, Color Outside Space, Face Off, Pig, Joe, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, The Prisoner of Ghost Land, The Wicker Man

My wife was the engineer and host; she added a film to make the in common picks an even number that film was Gone in 60 Seconds. Her added five films in addition to that one were Snake Eyes, Raising Arizona, Lords of War, City of Angels and Vampire's Kiss.

My five unique picks/saves are listed here: Firebirds, Army of One, The Runner, Matchstick Men and It Could Happen to You.

Scott's unique picks/saves are listed here: Con Air, Ghost Rider, National Treasure, Willy's Wonderland and Family Man.

That is our top 25.

The players then eliminate films one by one until only one is left standing. But the engineer gets to add landmines. In this game of twenty, we let Scott have 5 landmines that are in play until the top five. Going back to the vampire example, if Near Dark is on a common list, a landmine might be. You cannot eliminate the film at this spot. Please eliminate a film by a male director instead. In addition to the landmines, the engineer has the ability to place one film from the list of 25 safe until the top 3. And there are saves. A player can sacrifice one of the picks on his unique list to save any film for the next round. (Saves for this game were at spot 12 in the 1st round and 6 in the second). We played a game of cine-phile to determine who went first. I won. I like to pick a popular film that I cannot see going higher than ten for my first pick, so it is a bit shocking but keeps things moving.

I chose Face Off, but Scott chose to use one of his saves to keep Face Off a bit longer. To me, it was always Travolta's film. Though he felt the Ghost Rider character to be iconic, Scott sacrificed the film version of it.

25.Ghost Rider (2007)

At 24, Scott picked a film he hated because of the accent work and what it did to the Cage acting myth.Vampire's Kiss had a trivia landmine attached that Scott did not answer correctly. He lost his turn and VK was safe for a pick. I chose Gone in 60 Seconds because the supporting cast is the best thing about it. No landmines and no saves from Scott.

24. Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)

Scott next played City of Angels for the following reasons: "City of Angels. Look, he and Travolta are on competing trajectories and Travolta gets Michael. He has the Michael Landon hair. All Cage has is Meg Ryan and the Goo Goo Dolls. I guess I’m supposed to be moved by this movie, because it’s forbidden love or whatever. But this shit is as boring as Mighty Joe Young or whatever that movie with Brad Pitt is." I really enjoyed Dennis Franz in it but was not hurt by the choice. The movie was save but there was a landmine that required Scott to replace one title with something not on the list. He chose to exchange Snake Eyes for Season of the Witch.

23. City of Angels (1998)

I next chose Lords of War. It is not bad. I just found it boring. Scott did not raise any objection and no landmine.

22. Lords of War (2005)

At 21, Scott played The Runner. Scott thought Cage was great in it but found the film uneventful for long stretches. I liked it but not enough to save it, one of few films where Cage has a sex life! No landmine here.

21. The Runner (2015)

At 20, I tried to play Face Off and Scott felt compelled to use another save. He traded it for National Treasure. I really enjoyed NT so I used my unique pick save, It Could Happen to You to save that one.

20. It Could Happen to You (1994)

At 19, Scott played Matchstick Men because although he vibed with it, the ending pissed him off. I had no objections, and no landmines were attached.

19. Matchstick Men (2003)

I next tried to play Color Outside Space. But my wife used a randomizer to determine her top three pick and Space was it so I could not play it and opted for Raising Arizona. Scott and I enjoyed the zany nature of the film, but for me he had no chemistry with Hunter.

18. Raising Arizona (1987)

Scott played Fire Birds. He enjoyed it but not enough to let it go past this point. I agreed and offered no save.

17. Fire Birds (1990)

I played The Family Man next because it was too sentimental for me. Scott loved it but not enough to save it. No landmines.

16. The Family Man (2000)

Scott next went after Season of the Witch. He found it interchangeable
from other sword films from that time period. I had no problem, but it did have a landmine, not one that affected this pick but one that forced Scott and I to collaborate on our next pick. This counted as my pick. We agreed on The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent since it was more a Pascal film than a Cage film. There was a landmine to UWOMT but not one that affected its placement. It was a trivia question that had a benefit to whoever got it correct but we both got it wrong.

14. Season of the Witch (2011)

13. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)

Scott played Army of One. He had never seen it. I thought Cage gave a great performance; it was my last save, so there was nothing I could do about it.

12. Army of One (2016)

I then tried to play Face Off for a third time, and Scott used his save Willy's Wonderland to keep it, arguing that Cage does his best acting with his voice.

11. Willy's Wonderland (2021)

Scott played Prisoners of the Ghostland next. It was my number one at this point. But again I was out of saves. It has high level weirdness; no landmine.

10. Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021)

I tried to play The Wicker Man here. My wife and I saw it on one of our first dates, but it's not a top ten Cage film. It had a landmine attached that meant if I could answer a trivia question right it would go, and if not I had to pick something else. Turns out The Croods was Cage's biggest box office and not National Treasure, so I had to chose Con Air. But Scott used his save of National Treasure. That is what went here, delightful film.

09. National Treasure (2004)

Scott next picked The Wicker Man.

08. The Wicker Man (2006)

I next tried to play Pig. I have since grown to love this film, so this was a mistake. There was a landmine though that saved the film and Con Air was finally eliminated. Scott next surprised me by finally choosing Face Off.

07. Con Air (1997)

06. Face Off (1997)

The top five looks like this Mom and Dad, Mandy, Pig, Joe and The Color Outside Space, Trivia was done here to determine who gets picks 5 and 2 thereby picking the winner. I won trivia. I picked Pig next; as I said, I was mistaken.

05. Pig (2021)

Scott next eliminated Mom and Dad and Color Outside Space leaving me to declare Joe the winner. At this point in time, I think Wild at Heart and Pig are his best films. It took a while to come around on Pig and Wild at Heart was pretty unavailable when we were playing this game.