I like more than a few of his roles. Costner he is not.
The fact is, though, that he went bankrupt and will literally take any role at all right now.
That's because he's a loon of a certain kind -- Kahlil? Really? -- who makes poor personal decisions -- Whatshername Presley? Really?
He named his son Kal-El (not Kahlil) which was Superman's birth name on Krypton. Go figure.
On July 14, 2009, the Internal Revenue Service filed documents in New Orleans in connection with a federal tax lien against property owned by Cage in Louisiana, concerning unpaid federal taxes. The IRS alleges that Cage failed to pay over $6.2 million in federal income tax for the year 2007.[31] In addition, the Internal Revenue Service has another lien for more than $350,000 in unpaid taxes dating from 2002 to 2004.[32] Cage filed a $20 million lawsuit on October 16, 2009, against his business manager, Samuel J. Levin, alleging negligence and fraud.[33] The lawsuit states that Levin "had failed to pay taxes when they were due and had placed [Cage] in speculative and risky real estate investments 'resulting in (the actor) suffering catastrophic losses'."[33] Cage is also facing separate lawsuits from East West Bank[34] and Red Curb Investments for unpaid, multimillion dollar loans.
Samuel Levin filed a counter-complaint and responded to the lawsuit in a filing stating that he warned Cage that he was living beyond his means and urged him to spend less. Levin's filing states that "instead of listening to Levin, cross-defendant Cage (Coppola) spent most of his free time shopping for high ticket purchases, and wound up with 15 personal residences", Levin's complaint continued: "Likewise, Levin advised Coppola against buying a Gulfstream jet, against buying and owning a flotilla of yachts, against buying and owning a squadron of Rolls Royces, against buying millions of dollars in jewelry and art."[35]
In his filing Levin says that in 2007 Cage's "shopping spree entailed the purchase of three additional residences at a total cost of more than $33 million; the purchase of 22 automobiles (including 9 Rolls Royces); 12 purchases of expensive jewelry; and 47 purchases of artwork and exotic items."[35] One of those exotic items was a dinosaur skull of a Tarbosaurus for which Nicolas Cage paid $276,000 in an auction after winning a bidding contest against Leonardo DiCaprio.[36]
According to Cage, he owned the "Most Haunted House in America", a home located in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana.[37] The home is known as "The LaLaurie house" after its former owner Delphine LaLaurie. The house was foreclosed and sold at auction on November 12, 2009 along with another New Orleans property for a total of $5.5 million, in the wake of his financial problems.[38]
His Bel Air home, which had six loans totaling $18 million on it, failed to sell at an April 2010 foreclosure auction despite an opening offer of $10.4 million, substantially less than the $35 million that Cage had originally tried to sell it for. The home, built in 1940 for $110,000 had been owned by Dean Martin and singer Tom Jones.[39] The home eventually sold in November 2010 for $10.5 million.[40] Another home in Nevada also faces foreclosure auction.[38]
In November 2011, Cage also sold his Action Comics 1 in an online auction for a record-breaking $2.16 million dollars (the previous record being 1.5), to assist paying his tax liens and other debts. Cage purchased the comic in 1997 for $110,000.[41]
In December 2009, Christina Fulton sued Cage for $13 million and the house she is living in. The suit was in response to an order that she leave the dwelling that was brought about by Cage's financial difficulties.[42]
Choices.
From 1982 (Fast Times At RIdgemont High...a movie that he did not figure in) through 1990 almost every movie Cage was in received a positive review according to RottenTomatoes.com
From 2006 through till now (a total of 21 movies) Cage has only had three positively reviewed movies and one of those is the animated "The Croods" (in theaters now). "Kick Ass" was one of the other two and I completely agree it was a great film. I enjoyed "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" and disagree with its poor rating but I pretty much agree with all of the other negative reviews.
In the in between years Cage would have mixed reviews. "World Trade Center" (positively reviewed) was okay. "Lord of War" (also positive) I didn't care for. I liked "National Treasure" (which was panned). I liked "Matchstick Men" (positive) but I tend to enjoy most of the films about con artists. I didn't care for "Windtalkers." One of mrs. trapeze's favorite movies is "The Family Man" which was negatively reviewed. I get a kick out of "Con Air" every time I see it..."Why couldn't you put the bunny back in the box?" and it was panned...go figure. "The Rock," "Peggy Sue Got Married," "Moonstruck," "Raising Arizona," "Honeymoon In Vegas," "Guarding Tess," "It Could Happen To You," all good films. There were others some good some bad but this was also a very good time for him and he must have piled up a ton of money but apparently spent it quicker than it was coming in.
And yeah, he did win an Oscar for best actor in "Leaving Las Vegas." That's about as well rounded a career as most actors could ever hope for.
So now he does whatever comes along just to pay the bills.