Inspired by the modern classic, Wings of Desire, City involves an angel (Cage) who is spotted by a doctor in an operating room. Franz plays Cage's buddy who somehow knows a lot about angels.
In order to foil a terrorist plot, an FBI agent undergoes a facial transplant surgery and assumes the identity and physical appearance of a terrorist, but the plan turns from bad to worse when the same terrorist impersonates the FBI agent.
Ben Sanderson, a Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his alcoholism, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.
An American diplomat and his fiancée venture into the sordid underworld of sex and pornography in Budapest, Hungary to find out who is blackmailing them with a porno video taken of them with a prostitute.
Director:
J.S. Cardone
Stars:
Johnathon Schaech,
Lori Heuring,
Bruce Davison
A small, seemingly innocuous plastic reel of film leads surveillance specialist Tom Welles down an increasingly dark and frightening path. With the help of the streetwise Max, Welles relentlessly follows a bizarre trail of evidence to determine the fate of a complete stranger. As his work turns into obsession, he drifts farther and farther away from his wife, family and simple life as a small-town private eye.Written by
Columbia Pictures
Russell Crowe agreed to do the film with Joel Schumacher when the film was slated to be a "dirty, handheld gritty thriller". Crowe had one stipulation to all this and it was the scene where his character is looking at the kiddie porn and throws it in the trash he throws a cigarette so it would start burning inside the trash can. Schumacher agreed. Then out of the blue, Nicolas Cage's agent called Schumacher and told him that he wanted to do the film as well. Schumacher then contacted John Calley at Sony and told him that we can do the film with Crowe as a "low budget, dirty handheld camera thriller" or a much bigger film with Cage. Calley then agreed to do the film with Cage as the lead which eventually lead to a much bigger budget. See more »
Goofs
On the Missing Persons card, Mary Anne Matthews is spelled with a "E" in Anne. It is also spelled this way in the credits. However, on the thank you card to Tom Welles from Mary Anne's mother at the end, the girl's name is spelled without an "E" by the mother. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Airport Announcer:
Welcome to Miami. While in the airport, please observe Florida and local laws which prohibit any smoking in the terminal. Thank you for not smoking.
See more »
Alternate Versions
The film was heavily cut before release to gain an 'R' rating. Joel Schumacher's audio commentary on the DVD points out the multitude of MPAA cuts throughout the film. The cuts include:
Sex throughout the movie. For example, background sexual activity was trimmed under the "no more than two buttock-thrusts rule"
A lot of a conversation between Phoenix and Cage was removed because a bank of TV monitors in the background were showing hardcore pornography footage
Sequences in the underground sex club were trimmed to remove shots of enema porn (which were in fact real)
Come To Daddy
Written by Richard James
Performed by Aphex Twin
Courtesy of Sire Records Group/Warp Records Ltd.
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products See more »
8MM is a very dark, disturbing film that isn't for everyone. Nicolas Cage puts in an excellent performance as a private detective named Tom Welles who is hired to investigate whether a snuff film is real or acted. His journey takes him farther and farther into the realm of pornography. Every minute of this film is suspenseful and riveting. I also found Joaquin Phoenix's performance to be outstanding as well. This movie does a wonderful job of creating a dark mood and exploring the motives and drives behind its characters. One of Cage's best, and a severely under-rated film.
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8MM is a very dark, disturbing film that isn't for everyone. Nicolas Cage puts in an excellent performance as a private detective named Tom Welles who is hired to investigate whether a snuff film is real or acted. His journey takes him farther and farther into the realm of pornography. Every minute of this film is suspenseful and riveting. I also found Joaquin Phoenix's performance to be outstanding as well. This movie does a wonderful job of creating a dark mood and exploring the motives and drives behind its characters. One of Cage's best, and a severely under-rated film.