The following is a public service announcement.
Beware of the Nicholas Cage Syndrome: This affliction can strike without warning or prejudice and will show no mercy on the person suffering from this malady.
Use Case: Nicholas Cage was a man who rose to the heights of his profession due in large part to talent, an ability to inhabit characters and a sound decision-making voice that guided him to pick interesting roles in a variety of quality projects such as "Leaving Las Vegas," "Wild at Heart," "Raising Arizona" and others. 
Cage reached his personal summit with an Oscar win for "Leaving Las Vegas." 
Since that grand stage, however, Cage has been tracking on a downward spiral that has included a vacation from his decision-making senses or a possibly just an overwhelming greed to take the highest paycheck that he is offered. Anyone needing evidence of taking the money over reading a script need only watch "8 MM," "Captain Corelli's Mandolin," or "The Wicker Man" for proof (or better yet - don't.)
It would actually be more personally soothing if the "greed is good" mantra were true, as the thought that Cage suddenly developed dementia and the subsequent brain-scrambling of his most acute decision-making senses nearly paralyzes me with fear.
Then again, Cage's new movie "Ghost Rider" looks like more of the same cinematic crap that he's been prone to churn out the last several years.
The truly irritating thing is that Cage's talent hasn't vanished because he'll throw a great performance in "Adaptation" into the mix, almost as a reminder that he can act his ass off when provoked and armed with the proper material.
But these troubling choices have also spilled over into Cage's personal life if this recent picture is any indication.
Maybe dementia is a strong possibility. If it suddenly starts to seem reasonable to wear black leather pants, awful hair extensions and put black shoe polish in his hair to run errands, then we all need to be extremely wary because the Cage Syndrome is a very real thing.
And I am terrified about the results on such a massive scale.
-BDS
It's funny you posted this because I just watched "8MM" this past week and thought it was the worst acting I had ever seen! I said something like "it's as if he's mumbling his way through it"
But I loved him in other movies like "Raising Arizona" and "Adaptation". What gives? Drugs maybe?
8 MM is a very bad movie that just makes you feel worse about humanity in general. Drugs are always a possibility, but even so, you should still be able to make decent movie choices.
After Matchstick Men and Lord of War I thought Cage had come to his senses, but Ghost Rider looks like a huge step back (I've blocked out "the men", Weather and Wicker). I hate to speculate, but what the ?!#% .... looks awful, hope I'm wrong.
You're right about "Lord of War," and also about "The Weather Man," which several people/critics seemed to like, for reasons that were lost on me.
I think he will continue to burn through several bad ones for every decent projet. We'll see.
LOL that's a funny take on him, I haven't heard of ghost rider yet, but it's not something i'll go out and watch in a hurry.
What pants he is wearing! THey remind me of Joan Jett.
I liked him in raising arizona and city of angels, but not much else.
funny how i was just thinking the same thing while watching gone in 60 seconds a few days ago.
whatever happened to that nic cage? i fell in like with him in city of angels and leaving las vegas. heck, i even kinda liked him in the rock, but it was all downhill from there.
maybe she needs to re-marry patricia arquette so he can start making better movies again...
Carmel - Ha. I like the Joan Jett reference, and he even vaguely looks like her. Just a truly bizarre choice all the way around.
Shrewness - I think the Rock was the turning point actually. That movie was a really good and fun action, no-brainer. The problem was that led to diminishing returns with Con Air and then 60 Seconds and I believe towards the spiral that has transpired since then. At least that's my theory.
This is so true! I was always wondering the same thing.... nicholas is such a damn good actor... yet lately he's been starring in really corny/stupid/high budget films. I mean... I don't know if it was just me... but I couldn't even sit through National Treasure.
On the other hand... I will always be thankful to him for introducing johnny depp to the world of acting.
Mahalo,
Sahar.
Yeah, it seems like mostly a money-grab at this point for Cage, but even when he's at his worst, he's still a lot more watchable than most actors out there.
maybe its a mid-celebritys-life crisis thing. aguilera, jackson, garthbrooks/chris gaines... mmm yep.
Just wanted to let you know on this Sunday I picked up my mail and what to my eyes should appear, but a 2 Dollar Productions T-shirt! Thanks!
Nic Cage has earned the life-time get out of jail free card in my books. He could do any piece of junk and it just don't matter. "I'd take pleasuh in guttin' you, bohoy!"
Lastlife - I forgot about Chris Gaines (and for good reason). That one has to be the worst of all time. Or at least the most misguided.
Sarcastic - No problem. I hope it was never in doubt. Ha.
WhatIgot - He does get a pass, but it's still frustrating to watch him wallow in slop.
Yeah, but not all the time. You could do one cash-out and then one decent movie. He needs a better ratio.
I think he's trying to morph into Elvis or a really, really bad Superman, He's obsessed with both of them.
I've read about the Elvis thing, and he was at one point slated to Superman in a movie, so I think you're onto a very solid theory.