Leaving Las Vegas

WORST! Nicolas Cage: Darnit Nic, didn't you listen to us last year? We hate to put you back in the worst column, but we just don't know what to do with you. Like the members of the Academy who gave Sally Field her second Oscar, we like you! We really like you! And, come to ... morethink of it, so did the Academy, back when they gave you a golden boy for your tortured performance in "Leaving Las Vegas." Throw in some classically quirky accomplishments like "Raising Arizona," "Moonstruck," "Wild at Heart" and "Adaptation," and you'll always be near and dear to our hearts. But after "Bangkok Dangerous" -- a critically panned picture that had the distinction for being one of the lowest-grossing films to ever reach No. 1 -- we're throwing up our hands. But only for this year. We're holding out hope for your work with one of cinema's most interesting filmmakers, the great Werner Herzog, and your sequel (of sorts; Herzog has declared it's no such thing) "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans." The Herzog-Cage combination better pull through, or we'll have to take the classy advice Herzog gave Timothy Treadwell's (aka "Grizzly Man") anguished friend: "You must never listen ... you must destroy it." (Lionsgate)

Kim Morgan is a film writer who runs the MSN Movies blog and has contributed to many outlets, including LA Weekly, Reel.com, DVD Journal, Salon and The Huffington Post. She was a film critic for The Oregonian and served as DVD critic on Tech TV's "The Screen Savers." She's also appeared as guest film critic on AMC's "The Movie Club," E! Television, Reelz, Starz and "Ebert & Roeper." Read her blog at SunsetGun.com.