asylum of the furry hat

Why didn't someone warn me that Ghost Rider was a horrifically bad movie? I keep forgetting how much I hate Nicholas Cage - and how bad of an actor he is - until I actually start watching a movie he's in. In fact, the only time I've ever liked him in a movie, was at the beginning of Face Off, when he was the bad guy. For about 5 minutes. Then he became the 'good guy' and my hate for him returned.

See, that's how I judge an actor - by how convincing he/she is in different roles. For Nicholas Cage, he always seems to be 'Nicholas Cage playing a car thief' or 'Nicholas Cage playing a flaming bounty hunter'. Compared to someone like John Tavolta, who when you see him on screen, you - almost - always see the character, not the actor playing it.

I'm using John Travolta as a comparison, because despite what a lot of people say, he really is an outstanding actor. He's also the first actor that I really noticed this about. Don't believe me? Go and watch Phenomenon, Micheal and Broken Arrow (or Face Off), one after the other. Then tell me he can't act. (I actually did watch those three movies in about a five day span, so I know what I'm talking about.)

But back to the fantastically bad Ghost Rider - you can't even lay the blame completely on Cage. The writing was atrocious, and a lot of the other actors were either completely untalented, or extremely talented to be able to pull of that drek and seem mildly believable.

I watch a lot of action movies - even bad and low-budget action movies, and rarely do I find one that is so supremely horrendous that I fast forward through half of it. I often do that for angst-filled dramas filled with pure tripe and idiot characters, but rarely with action movies. Given a choice between Ever After and Bourne Identity I'll choose the second. Pride and Predjudice and Independence Day? ID all the way.

Hell, The English Patient and Doom?...despite all it's faults, Doom! (I might add, that the 'not-worth-the-bandwidth' labelled Doom is still Oscar worthy, compared to Ghost Rider!)

I have seen more Dean Cain and Antonio Sabato Jr movies than most of you are probably even aware exist, and the fact that Ghost Rider is at the bottom of my movie list should tell you something. (However, it does rank just slightly higher than Crank, so I can't call it the *worst* movie, but it's still far below The Punisher which had several non-action things going for it that I liked.)