Bad movies are not a simple matter. There are nearly as many categories of terrible movies as there are for great ones: there are films that are insultingly stupid (Batman & Robin), unintentionally funny (Birdemic), unintentionally, painfully unfunny (White Chicks), so bad they’re depressing (Transformers), and so on. But the most rewarding terrible movies are those we know as “so bad they’re good” — entertaining in their sheer incompetence, best braved in numbers, where the ham-fisted dramatics and tin-eared dialogue become fodder for years of random quotes and inside jokes. And in this spirit, Flavorwire brings you this mont’s installment of our monthly So Bad It’s Good feature: the Nicolas Cage-fronted “reboot” of the evangelical money-printing machine Left Behind.
Few actors have swan-dived from Oscar winner and box-office powerhouse to walking, talking punchline with the swiftness and efficiency of Mr. Cage, who went from fronting big-budget Disney efforts and action flicks as recently as 2010 to cranking out a series of titles you’ve probably never even heard — Trespass, Seeking Justice, Stolen, The Frozen Ground, Rage, Outcast — targeted specifically to home viewing, with perhaps a contractually obligated week in major markets shortly beforehand. Why the sudden shift? Money. Cage’s tax troubles are well documented, a 2009 IRS suit prompting the falling dominoes of bad press, high-profile sales of high-value assets, and acting services available to anyone and everyone with enough cash. These are, by definition, paycheck performances; he’s there as the name on the DVD box or VOD menu, and either sleepwalks accordingly or chows down on scenery.
Read more here So Bad It’s Good: Nicolas Cage Goes Christian in the Bafflingly Misguided ‘Left Behind’
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