Rattling The Cage

My very good friend Joel Szaefer is back again to talk about another Nic Cage action flick he saw as a very small child. THE ROCK (1996) stars Nic Cage, Sean Connery, Ed Harris, and David Morse. Set on Alcatraz island (the titular Rock -- or is it? We're not so sure), Nic Cage plays Stanley Goodspeed, an FBI chemical warfare expert forced out of the lab and into the action when a reluctant villain, General Hummel (Ed Harris) takes tourists hostage and threatens the city of San Francisco with chemical weapons. Sean Connery plays a former British spy and the only man to ever successfully escape Alcatraz. The feds need him to sneak back into the former prison, so he's paired with Goodspeed. Hijinx ensue.   Talking points: delicious-looking baubles; childhood movie criticism; women in '90s action movies; inexplicable mining operations; and a short digression about a previous episode's movie (THE FAMILY MAN).   Support the podcast and get early episodes and behind-the-scenes extras by visiting: https://linktr.ee/rattlingthecage

A gunslinging outlaw comes out of retirement to enact revenge, and he brings along his 12-year-old daughter. I talk about the Western genre, nostalgia, and more while discussing the 2023 movie THE OLD WAY. Support the podcast in a new way! Check out: https://linktr.ee/rattlingthecage

In this episode, Caroline looks at the 2000 film THE FAMILY MAN and wonders what genre it really is. Talking points include the Simpsons, child-free lifestyles, and demons.    Follow us on Twitter Instagram Facebook

I watched The Wicker Man and I'm so disappointed... in you! Talking points: memes, communes, etymology, and hammers. 

My very good friend Joel Szaefer joins me to talk about his childhood favourite, the very kid-appropriate movie, Face/Off. We talk about Greek myths, genre-bending, and face-licking. 

1994's GUARDING TESS starring Shirley McLaine and our man Nic Cage is a charming odd-couple movie that twists into a thriller Caroline didn't see coming (despite it being in the Comedy/Thriller category. Go figure.). I talk grief, the CIA, Freud, and more in this episode. 

2022's THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT is such a fun, witty movie that Caroline refuses to spoil anything for you in this episode — you gotta see it for yourself. This movie is like if Rattling The Cage's core mysteries were addressed on screen but left you with more questions than answers (and lots of delight). Talking points include: uncanny reflections, sequinned pillows, fictionalized selves, and Kevin Costner.

"We know he's in on the joke, we're all on the same page at this point and he can just do whatever he wants -- and it's up to us if we want to bask in it." -guest Don Buley summing up the Nicolas Cage experience perfectly   Rattling The Cage Podcast is BACK with a new format! Check out the first episode in forever with guest Don Buley of Hex Grid Heroes. We're talking about the 2020 movie JIU JITSU! There are audio issues with this eppy but that's only because it's been almost two years since I've recorded a podcast, so please bear with me as I get back in the saddle. Enjoy!   Follow Hex Grid Heroes on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hexgridheroes Follow Rattling The Cage on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rattlingcagepod Support Rattling The Cage and get extras at https://ko-fi.com/diezyn/

Nicolas Cage, as directed by Richard Stanley, in an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's short story about a mysterious alien entity that wreaks mutative havoc on a family? Sign us up! Follow us on Twitter Facebook Full show notes and visuals on rattlingcagepod.com

Nic Cage plays Rayford (RAYFORD?!), a commercial pilot who finds himself, and most of his passengers, stranded mid-air when the Rapture happens. In our review, hear why this may be the worst Cage movie of all time, or at the very least, the most evil. Follow us on Twitter Facebook Full show notes and visuals on rattlingcagepod.com

Our hosts are divided on Mom and Dad, a dark, wish-fullfilment movie about solving the American Dream doldrums with infanticide. Follow us on Twitter Instagram Facebook Full show notes and visuals on rattlingcagepod.com

How will our intrepid hosts feel about a slice-of-life dramedy about a privileged weather man balancing a skyrocketing career with a crapstorm of a personal life? Spoiler alert - we freaking loved it. Follow us on Twitter Instagram Facebook Full show notes on rattlingcagepod.com

Could it be that this barely-heard-of anti-buddy cop heist movie sparked the critical Nicolas Cage resurrection we're currently enjoying? Tune in to find out! Follow us on Twitter Instagram Facebook Full show notes on rattlingcagepod.com

We'd seen the memes, we'd heard the lines, but for both of our hosts, Con Air was a brand new experience. This live episode comes to you from an event co-hosted with Odyssey Records! Follow us on Twitter Instagram Facebook

The year is 2004. Hot off the heels of the enormous popularity of Pirates of the Caribbean, Disney has decided to cast Nicolas Cage as the lead in their new adventure franchise, for some reason. Get back to simpler times, where artifacts of history hold clues to a treasure, and we all just basically act like 9/11 never happened. Check out full episode notes at rattlingcagepod.com Follow us on Twitter Instagram Facebook

Huge thanks to London's Hyland Cinema for hosting us for live episode, following a screening of Mandy. And thank you as well to everyone who came out to the movie and stuck around for the conversation!

We were invited to participate in the 2018 Forest City ComiCon, and had a blast talking about notorious pre-MCU Marvel adaptation Ghost Rider.

Time for the infamously GIF-able Cage movie that bombed at the box office and -- as we discuss -- deserves another look.

We dug deep to find the on-screen debut of a young, teenage Nicolas Coppola, in the never-picked-up pilot episode of a musical teen dramedy called The Best of Times. It's got everything you'd expect from a series boasting a full understanding of adolescent America - it's got angst, it's got lust, it's got... Crispin Glover?!   Check out rattlingthecagecast.com for full show notes.

We've been talking about what we perceived as the Nicolas Cage action movie phase of the 90's and it turns out, that's not quite what Snake Eyes is. Caroline and Dylan are a house divided as we try to figure out whether Snake Eyes is campy fun or a slog that doesn't know how to do what it's trying to do. Check out full show available here and at netflakes.ca.

It's Nicolas Cage like you've never seen him before. Namely because you don't see him at all. We decided to find out what it sounds like when Nic Cage gets behind the mic and gives voice to a grieving father who builds a robot to replace his dead son. And [spoiler warning], we were pleasantly surprised. Be sure to check out full notes at netflakes.ca.

Let's jump back to a classic of the Nic Cage canon, Raising Arizona. Not only does Cage become a live-action cartoon as H.I. McDunnough, matched only by an equally wild performance from Holly Hunter. A correction: Dylan's a dummy and mistakenly said Inside Man when he was actually talking about A Serious Man. And yet that's still not the dumbest thing he said about Coen Brothers movies. Looking at you, Ladykillers defender. Check out full show notes on netflakes.ca

We joked about it, then we thought about it, then we did it. Welcome to the pilot episode of Rattling the Cage, the podcast where hosts Caroline Diezyn and Dylan Clark-Moore (that's us!) will bring our unique brand of criticism to the works of the one and only Nicolas Cage. Our first movie on the chopping block is 2011's madcap grindhouse flick, Drive Angry. Check out full show notes at netflakes.ca