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David McK (3188 KP) rated The Equalizer 2 (2018) in Movies
Feb 6, 2021
I read somewhere that this is the first time that Denzel Washington has ever starred in a sequel to one of his earlier films.
The question I have is: why this one?
It's not that good, really, never really holding my attention (despite the presence of Pedro Pascal); full of clichés and with some rathe brutal action scenes.
Still, it is filmed well and Denzel, as always, gives a stellar performance. It's just a pity it's dull dull dull.
The question I have is: why this one?
It's not that good, really, never really holding my attention (despite the presence of Pedro Pascal); full of clichés and with some rathe brutal action scenes.
Still, it is filmed well and Denzel, as always, gives a stellar performance. It's just a pity it's dull dull dull.
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Chris Sawin (602 KP) rated The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022) in Movies
Apr 24, 2022
The performances of Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal. (1 more)
A simple concept wrapped in a ton of adult humor.
Could be a bit too meta at times. (1 more)
The second half of the film isn't quite as good as the first half.
The R-Rated Action Comedy of a Lifetime
Nicolas Cage portrays an exaggerated version of himself in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. In the film, Nick Cage is struggling as an actor. He’s in a crazy amount of debt, he can’t find steady work, and his ex-wife Olivia (Sharon Horgan) and daughter Addy (Anna MacDonald) feel like he’s too full of himself to fit them into his life. Nick contemplates retiring from acting altogether and is intending to do so after an awkward $1 million gig of being on an island as the guest of honor at a birthday party.
But the birthday is for a gargantuan Nicolas Cage super fan named Javi Gutierrez (Pedro Pascal). Javi and Nick become fast friends, but the CIA abducts Nick one evening and informs him that Javi is actually an arms dealer that is responsible for the kidnapping of the daughter of an anti-crime politician. Nick becomes torn between snitching for the government and seeing where his newfound friendship with Javi goes, which revolves around Nick having the most fun he’s had in years.
What makes The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent so entertaining is the bromance between Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal. The two seem like legitimate best friends and there’s essentially chemistry with the two actors as soon as they meet each other on screen. As Nick Cage, the real Cage is totally self-absorbed as the character. He’s blinded by his own interests and what he has going on in his life to really understand or pay attention to anyone else. The whole world revolves around Nick Cage. Meanwhile, Javi is more humble. He has so much Nicolas Cage memorabilia that his room devoted to him could be considered as a museum or shrine to the actor. The two surprisingly have a lot in common and end up being hilarious together.
The first hour of the film is basically the Cage and Pascal show with the two running around like idiots in the best kind of way. Nick and Javi bond over Paddington 2, possibly making a movie together, and doing acid together. The acid taking sequence in general is probably the funniest part of the film, especially with their uncontrollable paranoia and Pascal’s fake laughing.
The remaining 47 minutes is devoted to the two men attempting to kill one another. Nick believing that Javi is this guns dealing madman and Javi discovering that Nick has been working with the CIA. The film snowballs further and further into ridiculous territory and you just gobble it up because it’s so great. The R-rated action comedy is loaded with incredibly detailed movie references and Nicolas Cage being funnier than he has ever been.
Pedro Pascal has dabbled in comedy since leaving Game of Thrones and it has never really worked out. He was the best part of The Bubble, which dropped on Netflix earlier this month, but that’s not saying much since the film was so bad. This is the first time Pascal has gotten to showcase his comedic chops in a film that is legitimately funny, surprisingly sentimental, and enormously entertaining from beginning to end.
Throughout the film, Nick Cage argues with Nicky – the younger and more successful version of himself from Wild at Heart. Nicky is basically the devil on Nick Cage’s shoulder as he encourages him to take more risks and do whatever he wants simply because he is Nick freaking Cage. It’s incredible seeing two versions of Cage argue and interact on screen, but it nearly melts your brain from simply being too awesome for our Nicolas Cage admiring brains to process.
It certainly seems like The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent will have a deeper impact on you if you’re at least somewhat of a fan of Nicolas Cage’s work, but could also be amusing for fans of absurd adult comedies. Pedro Pascal is the humorous wingman we all wish we could have; soft spoken and yet a priceless factor in the overall ludicrous nature of the film. Meanwhile, Nicolas Cage continues to reign supreme as a talented lunatic at the top of his game. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is an outrageous and uproarious expedition into hilarity and absurdity. Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal are an unlikely yet brilliant comical duo that will have you rolling on the sticky movie theater floor with laughter.
But the birthday is for a gargantuan Nicolas Cage super fan named Javi Gutierrez (Pedro Pascal). Javi and Nick become fast friends, but the CIA abducts Nick one evening and informs him that Javi is actually an arms dealer that is responsible for the kidnapping of the daughter of an anti-crime politician. Nick becomes torn between snitching for the government and seeing where his newfound friendship with Javi goes, which revolves around Nick having the most fun he’s had in years.
What makes The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent so entertaining is the bromance between Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal. The two seem like legitimate best friends and there’s essentially chemistry with the two actors as soon as they meet each other on screen. As Nick Cage, the real Cage is totally self-absorbed as the character. He’s blinded by his own interests and what he has going on in his life to really understand or pay attention to anyone else. The whole world revolves around Nick Cage. Meanwhile, Javi is more humble. He has so much Nicolas Cage memorabilia that his room devoted to him could be considered as a museum or shrine to the actor. The two surprisingly have a lot in common and end up being hilarious together.
The first hour of the film is basically the Cage and Pascal show with the two running around like idiots in the best kind of way. Nick and Javi bond over Paddington 2, possibly making a movie together, and doing acid together. The acid taking sequence in general is probably the funniest part of the film, especially with their uncontrollable paranoia and Pascal’s fake laughing.
The remaining 47 minutes is devoted to the two men attempting to kill one another. Nick believing that Javi is this guns dealing madman and Javi discovering that Nick has been working with the CIA. The film snowballs further and further into ridiculous territory and you just gobble it up because it’s so great. The R-rated action comedy is loaded with incredibly detailed movie references and Nicolas Cage being funnier than he has ever been.
Pedro Pascal has dabbled in comedy since leaving Game of Thrones and it has never really worked out. He was the best part of The Bubble, which dropped on Netflix earlier this month, but that’s not saying much since the film was so bad. This is the first time Pascal has gotten to showcase his comedic chops in a film that is legitimately funny, surprisingly sentimental, and enormously entertaining from beginning to end.
Throughout the film, Nick Cage argues with Nicky – the younger and more successful version of himself from Wild at Heart. Nicky is basically the devil on Nick Cage’s shoulder as he encourages him to take more risks and do whatever he wants simply because he is Nick freaking Cage. It’s incredible seeing two versions of Cage argue and interact on screen, but it nearly melts your brain from simply being too awesome for our Nicolas Cage admiring brains to process.
It certainly seems like The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent will have a deeper impact on you if you’re at least somewhat of a fan of Nicolas Cage’s work, but could also be amusing for fans of absurd adult comedies. Pedro Pascal is the humorous wingman we all wish we could have; soft spoken and yet a priceless factor in the overall ludicrous nature of the film. Meanwhile, Nicolas Cage continues to reign supreme as a talented lunatic at the top of his game. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is an outrageous and uproarious expedition into hilarity and absurdity. Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal are an unlikely yet brilliant comical duo that will have you rolling on the sticky movie theater floor with laughter.
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David McK (3188 KP) rated The Great Wall (2016) in Movies
Aug 23, 2020
Ah, right, so that's the real reason for the Great Wall of China.
It's to keep out those pesky Tao Tei monsters that attack every 60 years or so.
Staring Matt Damon, this is a somewhat so-so film that, despite an intriguing premise and some solid visuals (the colour-coded Chinese army), just never really connects at all. Personally, I don't think it helps that the CGI is also somewhat dodgy, while Mr Damon seems to be putting on some sort of weird Irish accent and has little to no spark with either a pre-Mandalorian Pedro Pascal or with Willem Dafoe.
It's to keep out those pesky Tao Tei monsters that attack every 60 years or so.
Staring Matt Damon, this is a somewhat so-so film that, despite an intriguing premise and some solid visuals (the colour-coded Chinese army), just never really connects at all. Personally, I don't think it helps that the CGI is also somewhat dodgy, while Mr Damon seems to be putting on some sort of weird Irish accent and has little to no spark with either a pre-Mandalorian Pedro Pascal or with Willem Dafoe.
Prospect (2018)
7.0
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A teenage girl and her father travel to a remote alien moon, aiming to strike it rich. They've...
David McK (3188 KP) rated The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022) in Movies
Apr 10, 2023
This was a movie that, while I had no real plans to see it in the cinema myself, if somebody had asked me to go along with them I probably would have said "aye, why not?" to.
In this, Nic Cage plays a fictionalised version of himself who is thinking of giving up acting and then accepts a 1 million dollar pay-day from a superfan (the internets current BFF Pedro Pascal) to come and visit him for his birthday celebrations, unaware that the FBI believe that superfan to be a drug kingpin and with the FBI then suborning Cage to spy on said fan.
The rest of the film then plays out as a sort of buddy comedy, with Cage and Pascal (not all as he seems) then finding themselves caught up in various, sometimes ridiculous, situations and as they start using their experiences more and more towards the plot of a film that Gutierrez has dreamed up for Cage to star in.
So, yeah, better than I was expecting and it did even make me laugh once or twice!
In this, Nic Cage plays a fictionalised version of himself who is thinking of giving up acting and then accepts a 1 million dollar pay-day from a superfan (the internets current BFF Pedro Pascal) to come and visit him for his birthday celebrations, unaware that the FBI believe that superfan to be a drug kingpin and with the FBI then suborning Cage to spy on said fan.
The rest of the film then plays out as a sort of buddy comedy, with Cage and Pascal (not all as he seems) then finding themselves caught up in various, sometimes ridiculous, situations and as they start using their experiences more and more towards the plot of a film that Gutierrez has dreamed up for Cage to star in.
So, yeah, better than I was expecting and it did even make me laugh once or twice!