In a groundbreaking new series Spider-Noir, starring Academy Award winner all around acting impersario Nicolas Cage is about to change up everything that audiences thought they new about Spdier-Man with Spider-Noir! The hotly anticipated series will debut on Prime Video on May 27, in more than 240 countries and territories thereafter, and for a special and unique viewing experience, Spider-Noir will be available to stream two ways, in “Authentic Black & White” and “True-Hue Full Color” for audiences to choose their own adventure to watch.

Watch the all-new “Authentic Black & White” trailer for Spider-Noir:

Here’s the official synopsis:

Spider-Noir is a live-action series based on the Marvel comic Spider-Man Noir. Spider-Noir tells the story of Ben Reilly (Nicolas Cage), a seasoned, down on his luck private investigator in 1930s New York, who is forced to grapple with his past life, following a deeply personal tragedy, as the city’s one and only superhero.

Check out the “True-Hue Full Color” trailer for Spider-Noir here:

Giving an audience a special peek at the Spider-Noir, and the stacked cast lining up for this thrilling new series which includes:

• Ben Reilly (Nicolas Cage) – Back in the day, Ben Reilly was the superhero known as “The Spider”. After a personal tragedy, he stepped away from his heroic alter ego. Only an extraordinary case could call this down-on-his-luck private investigator to drop the ordinary man act and put his mask back on.
• Robbie Robertson (Lamorne Morris) – A dedicated journalist trying to make it in 1930s New York with the odds stacked against him. He is willing to do whatever is necessary for his career as well as his best friend, Ben.
• Cat Hardy (Li Jun Li) – The star attraction at the premiere nightclub in New York. It may seem like she is always looking out for herself, but the truth is more complex than meets the eye.
• Janet (Karen Rodriguez) – Smart, scrappy, and loyal secretary to Ben Reilly. She wants to help her boss and his small business become successful, and she has zero problem speaking truth to power.

As for cage, Spider Noir is the perfect vehicle for him to expressive an all-new side to his noted Nouveau Shamanic style of acting, andf having originally voiced the character of Spider Man-Noir in the critically accliamed Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Cage, who also happens to be a life long comic book fan, is able to really dive into the conflicted sense of justice and duty that power his turn as Ben Reilly, with Cage saying that he approached the character as “70 percent Humphrey Bogart, and 30 percent Bugs Bunny”, believing Reilly was “a spider trying to cosplay as a human.” Inspirations including both Bogart along with Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney also served as an inspiration for the character.

The pure noir feeling that we see with Spider-Noir is also one of the most exciting aspects of the show, and mixed into this bold and dynamic take on the Spider-Man mythos, leads to a very interesting place for the series to grow out of.

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Brace yourself for an all-new take on the classic web spinner when Spider-Noir arrives on Prime Video on May 27.

Image: Prime Video

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A man (Nicolas Cage) returns to the idyllic beach of his childhood to surf with his son. But his desire to hit the waves is thwarted by a group of locals whose mantra is “don’t live here, don’t surf here.” Humiliated and angry, the man is drawn into a conflict that keeps rising in concert with the punishing heat of the summer and pushes him to his breaking point.

Lorcan Finnegan’s setup for The Surfer is deceptively simple: an unnamed man (Cage) returns to the beachside paradise of his youth with his teenage son, seeking solace and perhaps a fresh start. But things go sour fast when he attempts to reclaim his old surf spot – only to be laughed off the beach by a cabal of bronzed, sun-bleached locals who rule the shoreline like a Nietzschean surf cult. Their leader, Scally, played with feral menace by Julian McMahon, is pure Aussie venom in boardshorts, and he makes it clear: Cage’s character isn’t welcome here.

From that sun-drenched humiliation, The Surfer becomes a taut, pulpy battle for dignity and sanity. Cage spirals from laid-back dad to broken man to something far darker, and Finnegan never lets the tension dip. Every frame radiates heat, paranoia, and a sense that something very bad is lurking just beneath the sand.

Visually, this film rips. Cinematographer Radek Ładczuk captures the Western Australian coastline in all its sun-bleached, apocalyptic glory. The film radiates an uneasy nuclear-haze colour palette of burn yellows and sickening yellows, and this draws you further into the general level of unsettling-hypnotic energy that you feel wash over you. The beaches are beautiful, yes, but there’s something off about them. Empty waves crash like drumbeats of dread. Flaming trash barrels dot the night. And Cage, gaunt and twitching, becomes a kind of Mad Max meets Point Break anti-hero: barefoot, bloodied, and slowly baking in his own psychosis.

But make no mistake, this is Cage’s movie, front to back. And he goes FULL Cage. There’s a moment, deep into the third act, where he delivers a sand-caked monologue about freedom, rage, and waves that is so intensely bizarre and brilliant you’ll either laugh out loud or cheer from your seat. Maybe both. It’s the kind of performance that reminds you why we love this man; because no one else would dare go this far into the absurd and still make it feel real.

Tonally, The Surfer walks a tightrope between surrealist thriller and down-and-dirty revenge flick. Finnegan keeps the pacing tight but patient, allowing tension to simmer like an exposed nerve. The script is minimal but razor-sharp, leaning into allegory and masculine archetypes without ever feeling self-important. Underneath the sweltering madness, The Surfer is ultimately a story about ego, ageing, and the primal need to belong.

But let’s be clear: this isn’t a film for everyone. It’s strange. It’s a slow-burning watch. It feels like an anxiety-dripping fever dream on acid. But if you’re a Cage devotee, a fan of sunburnt psychological horror, or just someone who loves watching toxic men tear each other apart in paradise, The Surfer is an essential, blistering ride.

The Surfer is a genre-defying fever dream of heat, hostility, and head trauma. Nicolas Cage is a force of nature, and Lorcan Finnegan lets him off the leash in the best possible way. It’s bold, brutal, and unlike anything you’ve seen this year.

Image: MadMan Films

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Watch the official trailer for The Surfer below:

Here’s the official synopsis for The Surfer:

A man (Nicolas Cage) returns to the idyllic beach of his childhood to surf with his son. But his desire to hit the waves is thwarted by a group of locals whose mantra is “don’t live here, don’t surf here.” Humiliated and angry, the man is drawn into a conflict that keeps rising in concert with the punishing heat of the summer and pushes him to his breaking point.

Filmmaker Lorcan Finnegan is ready to take audiences to the absolute edge with The Surfer, and this is a cinematic experience that has the intensity of fever dream set alight with jet fuel, and Cage absolutely goes for it as he pushed the brink of insanity, and the only result is violence!

There’s definite cult energy radiating through The Surfer, and for audiences who are looking for something extreme, they’ll absolutely find it in this crazed gonzo-psychological-thriller that sees Cage pushing himself to the edge!

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Prepare for utter madness when The Surfer arrives in cinemas later this year.

Image: MadMan Films

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1. I am a massive Nicholas Cage fan, and as such, I was always likely to enjoy what is unabashedly a love letter to the actor, his filmography, and many quirks.
2. You do not have to be a Nick Cage superfan to enjoy this movie. My partner, who knows him best from the ‘National Treasure’ film will attest to that.

Nicholas Cage is a bit of an enigma. Is he the Hollywood action star who appeared in hits like Face/Off, The Rock, and Con Air? Or is he the Oscar-winning dramatic actor from Pig, Leaving Las Vegas, or Red Rock West? A quick scan at the Rotten Tomato scores of some of his late 2000’s films might posit that he might be more accurately described as an actor with an inability to turn down a script, no matter how advisable that might be. So, is Nick Cage a serially underrated actor, or is an internet meme more famous for screaming “Not the bees!” at the top of his lungs?   

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent – directed and co-written by Tom Gormican – is seemingly hard to pin down. At times it’s a riotous buddy comedy, anchored by the palpable chemistry between Cage (playing two – yes you read that right – fictionalised versions of himself) and Pedro Pascal (playing a Nick Cage superfan). At other times it resembles something closer to a spy-thriller, with stunts that wouldn’t look out of place in Gone in Sixty Seconds or The Rock. It also finds time to offer a farcical, yet self-aware, meta-commentary on Hollywood – and Cage himself – in a way that could be described as resembling a Nic Cage fever dream. This film is anything if predictable, and you never really know what’s coming next.

One thing is for certain though – it’s the most Nicholas Cage thing that you’ll ever see. In a role he was born to play (excuse the pun), the film about Nicholas Cage (played by Nicholas Cage playing Nicholas Cage) sees the star often interacting with, yelling at, or making out with, an imaginary Nicholas Cage (a long-haired and sleazy reimaging of him with delusions of grandeur). Then there’s Javi (Pascal), an unabashed Nic Cage superfan who has an entire room devoted to the actor (which features some of the creepiest Cage memorabilia imaginable).

The film also features constant references to a vast majority of his films throughout, and many jokes levelled at Cage’s meme-able public persona. None of this is mean-spirited or cynical, and the actor is obviously in on the joke, revelling in the chance to lean in to embrace his quirky nature. Equally, the film steers clear of some of the sharper elbowed takes on Cage and Cage memedom, which sees him as less of a person and more an abstract target for ridicule.

Based on this assessment it would be fair to assume that your enjoyment of the film would rely on your knowledge of, and attachment to, its protagonist. And yes, for a film that, at times, almost veers into fanfiction territory, those Cage fans (like myself) who have been hanging out for what seemed like forever to finally see it, and absolutely going to love the film.

However, thanks in large part to the dynamic between Pedro Pascal and Cage, their brilliant comedic timing, and ability to deliver genre-savvy dialogue without the grating nod and wink that often accompanies it in other films.

In the hands of a less talented director (or someone with less appreciation of its star), or less committed actors, this film could have played more like 1997’s Spice World (for those of you lucky enough to miss out on sitting through Spice World, take a look – the parallels are there for all to see). Instead, we’re treated to a than the brilliantly entertaining (and oddly emotionally resonant) film that offers a wild and wonderful tribute to the Nicholas “Fucking” Cage.

Image: Studio Canal

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The Croods have survived their fair share of dangers and disasters, from fanged prehistoric beasts to watching their daughter get heart eyes over a new boyfriend. But now they face something that will shake their pack to its core and make them reconsider everything they hold true: another family. The Croods need a new place to live. So, the first prehistoric family sets off into the world in search of a safer place to call home. When they discover an idyllic walled-in paradise that meets all their needs, they think their problems are solved … except for one thing. Another family already lives there: the Bettermans. The Bettermans (emphasis on the “better”) — with their elaborate tree house, amazing inventions and irrigated acres of fresh produce — are a couple of steps above the Croods on the evolutionary ladder. When they take the Croods in as the world’s first houseguests, it isn’t long before tensions reach a breaking point. Just when all seems lost, a new threat will propel both families on an epic adventure outside the safety of the wall, one that will force them to embrace their differences, draw strength from each other and forge a future together.

Picking up after the events of the first film, everyone’s favourite stone-age family, The Croods, who include Grug (Nicolas Cage), Ugga (Catherine Keener),  Eep (Emma Stone), Guy (Ryan Reynolds) Thunk (Clark Duke), Sandy (Kailey Crawford) and Gran (Cloris Leachmen), find themselves coming face to face with an all-new modern world and it soon becomes harder and harder for the pack to stay together. Director Joel Crawford makes this a fun one for the whole family with jokes and laughs that will appeal to both little viewers, along with their parents who are also along for the ride. In addition to the humour which pokes fun at the Croods interaction with the ‘modern world’, the film’s animation is packed full of glorious sights and plenty of colour and it creates a visual spectacle that sucks you into this story of family, and why it’s essential to stick together no matter what.

Casting wise, The Croods: A New Age has a spot on cast with the likes of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener and Ryan Reynolds, and this time they come up against a brand new pre-historic family, who are a touch more modern, with The Betterman’s who consist of Phil (Peter Dinklage), Hope (Leslie Mann) and their teenage daughter Dawn (Kelly Marie Tran). And this conflict of lifestyle and outlook is where the fun begins. As a viewer, it’s great to see Cage and Keener go up against their total opposite characters in the form of Dinklage’s chillaxed Phil and Mann’s high-strung Hope, and their interactions lead to plenty of laughs. Dinklage and Mann are a real hoot to watch in The Croods: A New Age and they infuse their vocal performances with a great sense of character that pulls audiences deeper into the narrative.

Adding more conflict to the narrative is the continuing romance of the Crood’s daughter Eep (Emma Stone) who is now head over heels in love with Guy (Ryan Reynolds), and it’s in this modern setting where things get interesting for these characters. While Guy adapts ‘a little too well’ to his new environment, Eep is a wild child at heart and their romance is tested to the utmost with some hilarious results along the way. Stone once again has a blast in the role of Eep and her chemistry with Reynolds’ Guy is fun to watch. And then there’s her new BFF Dawn (Kelly Marie Tran) whom she introduces to the wild side of life and these two make the most of a pre-historic landscape just waiting to be torn up with uncontrollable adventures.

As a cinematic experience, The Croods: A New Age also mark s a great return to cinema for family-friendly animated movies, and it’s the type of film we could all use after this year. With a tightly paced narrative, great character interactions, whimsical comedy, gorgeously rendered visuals and a thumping score and soundtrack, The Croods: A New Age offers up a great time out at the movies that every member of the family will enjoy. Films that are just straight out fun like The Croods: A New Age have been few and far between this year because of the ongoing pandemic, so to have a movie that’s this fun, and enjoyable, and more so in cinemas, is a reason to celebrate.

The holiday season is fast approaching and there’s no better movie to enjoy over it than The Croods: A New Age. It’s perfect family fun out at the movies in every single way, and the whole family will be smiling with this one.

Image: Universal Pictures 

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In the Pacific Northwest in 1983, outsiders Red Miller and Mandy Bloom lead a loving and peaceful existence. When their pine-scented haven is savagely destroyed by a cult led by the sadistic Jeremiah Sand, Red is catapulted into a phantasmagoric journey filled with bloody vengeance and laced with deadly fire.

The passion project of cinema impressionist Panos Cosmatos (Beyond The Black Rainbow), Panos has a style all his own, and his desire for something that is truly original results in Mandy. As a director, it’s clear that Cosmatos was both in total control of what he wanted, along with being extremely flexible to the performances of his actors around him. The visuals and tone of this monolithic beast of a movie were very much his, but with characters that are as wildly strange and exotic as Nicolas Cage’s Red Miller, Andrea Riseborough’s Mandy Green and Linus Roache’s Jeremiah Sand, it’s clear that there was a partnership between the director and his cast.

As an offering of unfiltered expression to the filmmaking style of the 1980s, Mandy really stacks up. With its use of neon light, tight crash zoom filmmaking, the juxtaposition of full frame wide angles and tight in extreme close-ups, an eerie mix of shadow and light that is complimented by everything from smoke to dust to steam and a dark and a moody synthesized score composed by the late, great Jóhann Jóhannsson, Mandy makes for one hell of a cinematic experience. Dream-like and nightmarish in equal parts, it’s as if Cosmatos’ creation was birthed from some strange, dark corner of the film industry, where convention and commercialism has been banished in favour of utter creative expression.

The resulting picture leaves an imprint on your mind of beautifully rendered surrealist imagery that is bathed in values of red, green, orange, yellow, teal, cyan and purple and where shadows come to life. Through the lens of cinematographer Benjamin Loeb, Mandy’s images take on the masculine, wrath of the gods paintings of the likes of Frank Frazetta, with added acid applied to amp up the hallucinogenic effect on the audience as Cage’s berserker hero does battle with a horde of deranged, fetishist freaks against a backdrop that is slowly morphing from the Shadow Mountains into some future set planetary environment ripped from the front cover of a forgotten science-fiction novel. All of it evokes some kind of teenage power fantasy come to life, and through Cosmatos’ vision and direction it is an utter unique experience.

Taking the central lead is film legend, and the epitome of crazy cool, Nicolas Cage. As Red Miller, a recovering alcoholic lumberjack we get Cage at his most unhinged as he goes on a journey of utter hell and violent resurrection to avenge the women he loves. As a performer, Cage is in love with the form of acting and his ability for self expression has no limits. All of it finds a place of absolute maddening genius here, and this is a savage theatrical showcase played at max volume. Going from A to Z and then back again, Cage’s journey as Red is an insane trip through a barbaric Dante’s Inferno of Cosmatos’ creation. Cage’s commitment to the role is such that you find yourself watching a character that is felt rather than being performed. Red feels so much more realer than just a piece of cinema come to life and his descent down this crazy path of vengeance really takes you for a trip.

Standing next to Red is Andrea Riseborough as Mandy, the love of this broken man’s life who gives him meaning and significance in his tortured world. An almost ethereal creature, watching Riseborough’s performance you feel that there is something different about Mandy, like maybe she has come from some other place and has some sort of alien or other-worldly knowledge that the other’s do not. While Mandy’s moments with Red are fleeting, you do feel the pull of their shared attraction and romance, especially the calming influence that she has over Red. Riseborough, like Cage, is absolutely committed to the film and this commitment builds a character and a performance that you can’t look away from.

While Cage and Riseborough provide the hero and love of this film, it’s Linus Roache’s Jeremiah Sand who provides the film with it’s seething evil. A haunting and decrepit cult leader, with an equally freakish group of followers, Sand is a fiendish villain who has a Manson-like draw over his followers and his otherworldly belief in his divine power definitely frightens you. After his infatuation for Mandy is not returned to him, he sacrifices her in the most foul way and this sends Red over-the-edge. Linus Roache makes for a perfect monster here, and he definitely gets under-your-skin with his creepy and uncomfortable performance and gives Cage a run for his money in terms of sheer insanity.

Be forewarned that it’s probably best that you have a strong stomach for Mandy, because this is one film that doesn’t scrimp on the gore. Fed by his love for 80s cinema, Panos really goes for it with Red’s berseker rage and his weapon of choice turns out to be a demonic battle axe ripped from the visions of every death metal fans wildest dream. And with it, Cage slays! The gore level runs high as he carves his way through the demonic bikers set upon him by Sand with the frenzied energy of a Bruce Lee-inspired superhero. But just as you though it was getting crazy, Cosmatos goes even crazier as he unleashes a insane feat of chainsaw gladiatorial carnage. That’s right, I’m not joking, THERE’S A CHAINSAW DUEL IN THIS MOVIE! I’ve never seen anything like it before and it makes for the most psychotic fight sequence I’ve ever seen on screen.

While Mandy is Cosmatos’ vision through and through it would not have been possible without the eye of cinematographer Benjamin Loeb or the music of the late great Jóhann Jóhannsson. In terms of visual splendour, Mandy has some of the most exuberant and wild compositions I’ve ever seen in cinema, and with it’s full colour spectrum lighting set-ups the hallucinogenic LSD trip of this narrative really comes to life. This film is like a piece of artwork come to life, moving at speed and not stopping for a moment, and it’s the frenzied genius of that makes it all possible. Critical to Mandy’s success is also the hypnotic, meditative and frenzied score of composer Jóhann Jóhannsson which lashes out with it’s synthesized rifts and takes hold of your senses. Both the visuals and the music mold together in perfect unisum and the result is an extraordinary cinematic expression.

Mandy is far and away the craziest piece of cinema I’ve ever witnessed. It’s a gnarly sci-fi, fantasy, fairy tale, horror, action head trip concoction that has been thrown in a blender with a good pouring of acid, and a slather of death metal, and the resulting cocktail is something that goes beyond the idea of originality. Movies like this is few and far between and it is a cinematic journey that true film fans must allow themselves to witness. Watch it and be mesmerized!

Mandy is set to premiere on Wednesday 29 May at 8.00pm on SKY MOVIES ACTION.

Image: SKY TV

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