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Cinematical Seven: Favorite Con Men (and Ladies)
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Romance », Thrillers », Mystery & Suspense », Steven Spielberg », Cinematical Seven »

There's a caveat or two with which I submit this list of our favorite con artists on film, to correspond with tomorrow's NY/LA bow of The Brothers Bloom (our review from Toronto is here; our interview with director Rian Johnson, there).
One: I have not seen the following -- David Mamet's House of Games, David Mamet's The Spanish Prisoner, and
Two: I've seen but don't fully recollect either The Grifters or Nine Queens enough to feel comfortable including them as if I had (I also missed the English-language remake of the latter, Criminal, though I've been told that's for the best). If I were a slier man, then maybe I could fittingly deceive the lot of you, but I'm not, so I won't.
While I don't doubt that the characters in those films would be worthy of a slot on our list, there are still at least seven other con (wo)men in the movies worth shining the spotlight on, and I do hope that you do think that may make do when all's said and done.
Nicolas Cage Will Search for 'The Vanished'
Filed under: Drama », Thrillers », Casting », Focus Features »
Nicolas Cage as a parent? Variety says that Cage has signed up to play "a father who goes in search of his college-aged American-born Muslim son, who's missing overseas" in The Vanished. Cage is 43, so he's certainly old enough chronologically to play the parent of of a college kid. But maybe I'm just fixating on the buck-toothed role he played in his uncle's Peggy Sue Got Married, wherein Kathleen Turner desperately wanted to avoid having him father her child. Or maybe it's Raising Arizona, where he stole another family's quintuplets. Or Leaving Las Vegas, in which he drank himself to death, or Face/Off, where he made John Travolta's daughter think her dad was coming on to her, or the kind of fathers he played in Matchstick Men , The Family Man and The Weather Man.In real life, Cage is probably a wonderful father to his children, but his performances tend to be all over the map, so we'll wait to see how his collaboration with director Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Now) turns out. Does Cage's character in The Vanished disapprove of his son's decision to become a Muslim? I would count on it. Does he love him anyway? Of course. Will he come into conflict with racial and religious prejudice? No doubt.
The Vanished is described as a thriller, but it's being made for Focus Features. That, along with the subject matter, clearly signals the film as possible Oscar bait. (For comparison's sake, Focus's releases this fall are Eastern Promises and Lust, Caution, Reservation Road and Atonement.) Cage will next be seen in the sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets, which hits theaters on December 21. He starts filming Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler in January and moves on to The Vanished in April. I wouldn't be surprised if they're aiming to complete it in time for the Toronto and/or Venice film festivals next September.









