Explore every episode of the podcast Super Serious Film Fest

 OMG! It's a movie with Sean Connery, David Thewlis, and DRAGONS? What could be better? I'll tell you what... A movie without Dennis Quaid. ANY movie without Dennis Quaid. Especially a movie without Dennis Quaid sporting a dime-store wig and an accent to match. But here we are. We've seen the movie and we have thoughts. 

Welcome to super serious film fest, our themed series of movie reviews. This season covers the best and the worst of Nic Cage, the summer and winter of his career, in what we're calling "Season of the Cage".

The Evil Dead trilogy are movies close to our nostalgic hearts. Join us for a discussion of how well the third installment holds up, both to its predecessors, as well as the passage of almost 30 years. Hail to the king, baby.

S2F2: Fantasy kicks off with Conan the Barbarian, a film that helped launch the career of one Arnold Schwarzenegger into the stratosphere. And sure, we can quibble with some of the sillier plot points happening in the margins, and some of the casting, and a lot of the hair and makeup, but Conan is a serious film with some great set pieces, an absolutely magnetic star, and it even manages to land a few points that approach the profound.

We draw the Season of the Cage to a close with its namesake movie, Season of the Witch. Does a movie starring Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Claire Foy, and that guy who played Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire actually deserve a viewing? A.Ron and I certainly have an opinion.

Have you ever seen Nicolas Cage make a phonecall while wearing plastic vampire teeth? Have you seen him shout and gesticulate his way through the entire alphabet? Have you seen him literally say "boo hoo" while crying? No? Then you certainly haven't seen Vampire's Kiss, which is in the running for "Cage-iest" movie of all time.

Multiple viewings and hours of sober reflection have led us both to believe that Con Air is a bad movie. The plot is contrived, the accents are awful, and it's perhaps the least "Cagey" performance in Cage's entire career. And yet, maybe based on star-power alone, it remains a classic which simply must be watched.

We're back with a review of Charlie Kaufman's 2002 "look-mom-I-wrote-myself-into-this-movie-about-orchids" classic, Adaptation. It's a real noodle-bender which features one of Nicolas Cage's finest performances. Fitting, since it puts a bow on the Summer portion of Season of the Cage.

The Season of the Cage continues with another of Nicolas Cage's best films, The Weather Man (2005). He plays a well-payed Chicago weather man who would have the perfect life if only he could make his father proud, get the job of his dreams, win back his ex-wife, and stop ruining the lives of his children. Will Cage's raging summer ever end? Yeah, of course it will, so enjoy it while it lasts.

Welcome to The Rock, and welcome to the first review of Super Serious Film Fest's "Season of the Cage".  Released in 1996, this modern classic stands as one of Nic Cage's, as well as Michael Bay's, finest action movies.  It's not quite the level of Caginess you're probably looking for but the Season of the Cage is just warming up.  Join us next week for The Weather Man.