He’s worked with Francis Ford Coppola, the Coen  Brothers, David Lynch, John Woo, Brian De Palma, Spike Jonze, Oliver Stone, Werner Herzog, and Martin Scorsese. He’s shared the screen with Sean Connery, Ed Harris, John Malkovich, James Gandolfini, Robert Duvall, Harvey Keitel, and Meryl Streep. He has an Academy Award.

And he owes the IRS six million dollars.

I’m talking, of course, about veteran thespian Nicolas Cage. I guess I’m just tired of all the undeserved hate. Is every movie he makes a great movie? Hell no. But you have to respect the man’s work ethic. Within the chest of Nicolas Cage beats the heart of a fanboy. Just look at his resume. As soon as he achieved A-list status, he gave cinema-goes something truly special… what I like to call the Nic Cage Mid-Nineties Action Trilogy. In just two short years he did The Rock – one of the greatest action movies ever made, Con Air and Face/Off – both of which kick major ass. Talk about a hot streak (the gold medal for which goes to Harrison Ford for The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Blade Runner).

But let’s get serious. Nic Cage can act. He can really act. His raw talent shines in films such as Raising Arizona, Adaptation., Matchstick Men, The Weather Man, and (obviously) Leaving Las Vegas. His characters can embody bombastic bravado or crippling neuroses. He can be astonishingly evil or doggedly heroic. And everything in-between. But don’t just take my word for it. In his four star review of Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call, New Orleans, granddaddy film critic Roger Ebert says:

"He's a fearless actor. He doesn't care if you think he goes over the top. If a film calls for it, he will crawl to the top hand over hand with bleeding fingernails."

Is there such thing as higher praise? I think not. Nicolas Cage: the hair ain’t real, but the talent is.