Hmm. I genuinely don’t like Nick Cage post-90s, but this movie changed my opinion. The idea of “John Wick with a Pig” was wonderfully incorrect, and it is all the better for it.
We were definitely laughing throughout, and it felt like the camera was in on the joke. I lived in Portland for a year, and I never realized there was such a ruthless food mafia lurking just beneath the surface, but what a great bit of mythology to weave into the city’s self-aggrandizing legend.
Agreed, wholeheartedly! Both this thread’s title and the trailer made me think I was going to watch Bad Cage’s take on John Wick, which is something I would still love to see, but we were pleasantly surprised to find Good Cage giving us a rare performance in a movie that was well done.
My favorite exchange:
[Amir ]: Well, if the city floods we can always go up to Mt. Hood.
[Rob ]: Hood’s an active volcano.
[Amir ]: Well, I’m not fucking moving to Seattle.
[Rob ]: Fuck Seattle.
I thought the whole thing was great; performances, dialog and setting and it was certainly not what I expected as @Houngan mentioned above.
Not that it matters…I like Portland and Seattle, but have really only visited each. I’d love to move out that way some day and my kids feel about the same.
That exchange got a huge laugh from the audience here in Seattle.
It’s funny/s, but I am of above such silly city quibble rivals. It’s pathetically petty. Especially when one side has an air of superiority.
I’ve lived in Seattle for a decade and also lived part-time (at the same time) in Portland for about a year & a half. The rivalry is more of a sports rivalry, but it’s definitely there. I quite literally changed teams when I moved to Portland! The biggest difference is simply size. I grew up in Austin, and Portland reminds me of the midsize city I grew up with. Seattle, on the other hand, is like a window into Austin’s tech-fueled future growth, including all the food that comes with being a big city, ironically enough.
One thing Portland cuisine does have on Seattle is mac & cheese. Almost every place I went had delicious, buttery mac & cheese that inspired me to start baking my own fancy mac & cheese up in Seattle the way I started smoking my own barbecue to have it taste like Texas. On literally any other food front Seattle kicks Portland’s ass, and Portland has a big little sibling complex about it. I hear “Fuck Seattle” jokingly thrown around a lot in Portland. Up here in Seattle? We pick on Tacoma more often. Portland is the forgotten middle child.
What a strange movie, I am not sure I even mildly liked it, but it was so different that I watched it to the end.
Acting was top notch. One of Cage’s best performances.
Every Sunday morning, I get my weekly chunk of me-time when my wife and son sleep in until noon.
I’m really glad I spent this Sunday morning watching Pig. I knew nothing about it whatsoever except that Nicolas Cage was in it.
When truffles came up at the start of the movie I thought it was going to be about high stakes and murders and those precious truffles. But no, as the movie moves through it’s first Act, it turns about to be about something else.
When Rob tells the kid about how the city was going to be underwater, my first thought was “wait, so they’re not in San Francisco then?” And a little later they reveal what city it is.
I just loved the emotional ride the movie took me on. I was chuckling through most of the movie and crying along with the characters near the end.
There was one scene that seems kind of unnecessary. When Rob goes to see the big boss, his kid goes to see his mom. I thought they were revealing that at the same time, because the boss would say to Rob, she’s not dead. But he didn’t. He knew she was effectively dead. He didn’t deny it.
So the scene was just for us. It was to provide insight. I’m not sure I can articulate exactly what it told us about the boss, but I’m glad it was there.
Yes, this. We really loved it.
Tangentially related, my girlfriend saw The Truffle Hunters recently on one of her many cable channels (she can’t remember which one), and she thought it was very touching and fascinating. Italian with English subtitles.