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Highlights of the Nic Cage renaissance

Dream Scenario

Cage is fantastic in this 2023 cancel-culture satire as Paul, a boring professor who mysteriously begins showing up in the dreams of people worldwide. Paul becomes a celebrity, then a pariah, when his avatar begins physically attacking people. Max

Pig

This slow-burning, curiously moving 2021 drama features one of Cage’s top all-time performances. The star plays a hermetic truffle hunter who leaves the Oregon wilderness behind to find answers when his prized truffle-hunting pig goes missing. Hulu

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Cage went full meta here to play Nick Cage, an actionmovie star who, out of financial desperation, accepts a $1 million appearance offer from an obsessed fan who’s played wonderfully by Pedro Pascal. Things get wild when Nick is forced to be the action hero he’s been on screen. Starz Butcher’s Crossing

Cage is the reason to watch this flawed, brutal 2022 Western. He’s menacing yet subtle as an Ahab-like buffalo hunter who leads a mad mission to bring home a massive haul of pelts. Hulu

Color Out of Space

A career loaded with overthe-top performances tacked on a worthy addition with this B–horror movie based on an H.P. Lovecraft story. Cage plays an alpaca farmer who flips out while battling an alien force that manifests as an unearthly color. AMC+

Mandy

“Cage rage” is an inescapable force in this extraordinary midnight horror movie from 2018. Once again, Cage is delightfully unhinged—this time as a chainsaw-wielding lumberjack seeking revenge on the cult that murdered his girlfriend. Shudder