Hard to believe but there was a time actor Nicolas Cage was a very hot and in demand Hollywood celebrity.

He starred in “A” movies, whether they were intended to be nothing more than commercial, “fun” summer type releases (The Rock, Con Air, etc.) or critical darlings (Leaving Las Vegas, Raising Arizona, etc.).

Mr. Cage always struck me, even back then, as an edgy, somewhat “out there” kind of guy, but then again, being “out there” is certainly a plus when you’re an actor.

In 2009, things went downhill for Mr. Cage.  He was in trouble with the IRS and, ultimately (and according to the article I’ll link to in a moment), he was assessed some $14 million in owed taxes.

Since then, he’s been on a tear, appearing in movie after movie regardless of quality.  Is it to pay his bills?  I suspect so because in the past 8 years he’s appeared, believe it or not, in 29 films (or close to 4 films a year!).  Most of them are VOD works and few are considered terribly good.

Over at Slate.com, Nate Jones checks some of the many movies Mr. Cage has done since 2009 and offers the following fascinating list:

17 Nicolas Cage Movies You Had No Idea Existed

Many of these films are clearly not worth your time to pursue, much less see.  But there is a perverse thrill in seeing some of the acidic takes on some of the films so I’ll re-post, from the article, the description of the 2017 film Arsenal:

Cage reunites with (John) Cusack again for this revenge tale about a pair of brothers (Adrian Grenier and Johnathon Schaech) going to war against a local mob boss. (That’s Cage, wearing fake nose and a mustache than can only be described as “limp.”) Upon its release, the L.A. Times was confident enough to dub Arsenal a contender for the worst movie of 2017. It came out the first week of January.

Yikes!

Check it out.  I suppose its better than seeing most of those films all the way through.