Nicolas Cage Movies, Ranked

One man, more than a hundred films, and exactly one volume setting at a time.

Entries
10
Category
Film
Updated
  1. A snakeskin jacket draped over the hood of a convertible on a desert highway, flames reflected in the chrome.

    10. Wild at Heart

    David Lynch · 1990

    Cage as Sailor Ripley, a snakeskin jacket with a man inside, on the run with Laura Dern. It won the Palme d'Or to jeers that nearly drowned out the cheers. Lynch made Cage record the two Elvis songs himself, then lip-sync to his own Elvis.

  2. A plush toy bunny strapped into a seat aboard a prison transport plane, handcuffs dangling from the armrest.

    09. Con Air

    Simon West · 1997

    Cage's hair, a stuffed bunny, Steve Buscemi as a serial killer, and a plane crashed into the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. Two Oscar nominations and a Razzie for Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property. It earned all three.

  3. A rocket loaded with glowing green glass orbs, aimed over the rocky shore of an island prison in San Francisco Bay.

    08. The Rock

    Michael Bay · 1996

    Cage as an FBI chemist and Sean Connery as an Alcatraz escapee, retaking the island from rogue Marines. Tarantino and Sorkin did uncredited rewrites. It made $335.6 million and is in the Criterion Collection, which remains the funniest fact about Michael Bay.

  4. A massive custom battle axe and a chainsaw leaning against a cabin wall bathed in deep red light, a box of macaroni on the shelf.

    07. Mandy

    Panos Cosmatos · 2018

    A 1983 revenge fever dream with a cult, a chainsaw duel, a fake ad for macaroni called Cheddar Goblin, and one of Jóhann Jóhannsson's final scores. It made $1.8 million in theaters and has played in dorm rooms nonstop ever since.

  5. A carved wooden prosthetic hand resting on a floury bakery counter next to a loaf of bread, a full moon in the window.

    06. Moonstruck

    Norman Jewison · 1987

    Cage as Ronny Cammareri, a baker who lost his hand to a bread slicer and now has a wooden one, falling for his brother's fiancée, Cher, over La bohème. Three Oscars, including Cher's. None for the hand.

  6. Two gold handguns crossed on a white chapel floor while a white dove takes off through a shaft of light.

    05. Face/Off

    John Woo · 1997

    Cage and Travolta swap faces, then spend two hours doing impressions of each other. John Woo brought the doves and the slow motion, and it made $246 million. Ebert called the premise utterly absurd and gave it three stars anyway.

  7. A half-empty bottle and a single glass on a motel nightstand, neon casino light bleeding through cheap blinds.

    04. Leaving Las Vegas

    Mike Figgis · 1995

    The Oscar. Shot on Super 16mm for about $4 million, with Cage as a man drinking himself to death in Vegas and Elisabeth Shue matching him scene for scene. For research he binge-drank in Dublin for two weeks and videotaped himself. Thorough.

  8. A small wicker basket of fresh truffles on a mossy forest floor beside an empty pig's rope lead, misty Oregon pines behind.

    03. Pig

    Michael Sarnoski · 2021

    A forager goes after the people who stole his truffle pig, and it turns out to be a movie about grief and one devastating dinner in Portland. Sarnoski's debut, $3 million, 20 days. Cage calls it his best performance. He is correct.

  9. Two identical typewriters side by side on a cluttered desk, one with a blank page, one with a full stack, a potted orchid between them.

    02. Adaptation.

    Spike Jonze · 2002

    Cage plays Charlie Kaufman and his invented twin Donald, who shared a real Oscar nomination for a script he did not exist to write. Cage got a Best Actor nod; Chris Cooper won. The rare film where twice the Cage is the restrained option.

  10. A pack of disposable diapers dropped on a convenience store floor beside a nylon stocking and a spilled box of coins, police lights flashing through the window.

    01. Raising Arizona

    Joel Coen · 1987

    Cage as H.I. McDunnough, an ex-con who steals a baby for his cop wife, Holly Hunter. A $5.5 million movie with a diaper-heist chase that never really stops. Cage pitched ideas on set and the Coens ignored all of them. Everyone was right.

Honorable mentions

  • A pair of cheap plastic vampire fangs on an office desk beside a single cockroach and a rotary phone.

    Vampire's Kiss

    Robert Bierman · 1989

    A literary agent becomes convinced he is turning into a vampire. Cage uses a Transatlantic accent borrowed from his father and ate a live cockroach instead of the scripted raw egg. It grossed $725,131 and supplied half the internet's reaction images.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A wire-mesh helmet filled with angry bees lying in a field of tall grass, a giant wicker structure in the background.

    The Wicker Man

    Neil LaBute · 2006

    A $40 million remake of a folk-horror classic that made $38.8 million, drew an F CinemaScore and five Razzie nominations. The bee scene was cut from theaters and restored on the unrated DVD, where it found its true audience: people laughing.

Every list.
On tap.

No newsletter. Point your AI at our public MCP server, or follow the RSS feed. New lists show up in both.

Get the MCP RSS