Feb 4 Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Nicolas Cage plays a rogue detective fighting a cocaine war in post-Katrina New Orleans while addicted to white powder himself. An African-American gang is muscling in on the mob’s turf, and a lot of people are turning up dead.

Directed by Werner Herzog, Cage cuts loose with an over-the-top performance that the Toronto Star calls “his best work in years.” His character, Terence McDonagh, is a fearless and intuitive detective strung out on coke, OxyContin, and whatever else is handy. He reigns over the beautiful city’s ruins with authority and abandon, accompanied by a beautiful prostitute (played by Eva Mendes).

“Like a jumpy, coke-fueled Pied Piper, Cage takes viewers to the very precipice of depraved self-abasement, while preserving just enough self-conscious humor to keep from tumbling in.”  — Washington Post