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Irish Times
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
The Surfer review: Nicolas Cage, after too many wipeouts, catches a great wave
The Surfer Director : Lorcan Finnegan Cert : 15A Starring : Nicolas Cage, Julian McMahon, Finn Little, Nic Cassim, Alexander Bertrand, Rahel Romahn, Miranda Tapsell, Justin Rosniak, Charlotte Maggi Running Time : 1 hr 40 mins 'It will come again. It will be a swell so big and strong it will wipe clean everything that went before it.' So says a character in Big Wednesday, John Millius's masterpiece from 1978. That tale of California surfers – a macho cadre chewed up by the 1960s in Millius's view – exemplifies US culture's tendency to mysticise the business of riding waves. You got it in the underrated TV series John from Cincinnati. Brian Wilson's sacerdotal approach to the activity reached its peak with The Beach Boys album Surfs Up, in 1971. Now Lorcan Finnegan, the Irish director of Vivarium , fattens the theology with a fascinating, weird, freaky drama set in an unforgiving corner of Australia. The poetry is of a more abrasive stripe than Wilson's soothing gibberish. This often brutal entertainment, shot in blotched light by Radek Ladczuk, kicks its protagonist to the brink of death as circling antagonists point and chuckle. READ MORE But we are always reminded that surfing is an exalted way of wasting a man's time. This film wouldn't work if it were about train spotters or stamp collectors. There are some signs of Nicolas Cage, older and more American than seems likely, being shoehorned into the title role, but such is his commitment and presence that no sane viewer will object. Indeed, the film is inconceivable without him. This is how we now roll with the Cagester. He makes half a dozen straight-to-streaming duds and then hits the motherlode with Mandy, Pig ... or The Surfer. Here he plays an unnamed businessman returning, after many years in the United States, to the beach where he surfed as a kid. (It was probably as well not to have Cage attempt an Aussie accent.) He takes his son and his board – a gift from his own father – down to the sea, but is immediately rebuffed by the butch locals. 'Don't live here, don't surf here,' he is tartly informed. This doesn't bode well for his plans to buy a house in the old neighbourhood. What follows has the quality of fantastical nightmare. Our surfer meets an older fellow, now living in his car, who tells him that the gang, led by a charismatic thug, Scally (Julian McMahon), killed his son and his dog. The tough guys steal our hero's surfboard. His car is soon out of action. He cannot charge his phone and, as all his credit cards are stored there, he is unable to buy any food. Out here in the rational world there would be ways of resolving these issues. But the Irish screenwriter Thomas Martin, who has worked on series such as Tin Star and Ripper Street, forges us an allegorical space that abuts the absurd. He admits the influence of John Cheever's story The Swimmer – and of the film version with Burt Lancaster – and, sure enough, there is similar interest in the pressures of masculinity. The current film is, however, considerably more at home to the crunch and squelch of the outsider life. Scally's gang could hardly offer a more obvious stand-in for contemporary alpha-male toxicity, the social-media bully made sunburned flesh. The film does, perhaps, lose the run of itself in a slightly desperate final act that sees the protagonist's resolve weakening in unsatisfactory, inconsistent directions. Some viewers may crave a little more conventional plot from a film that revels in pinballing masochistic chaos. But The Surfer, for all its unpleasantness, offers encouraging evidence that there is still room for existential awkwardness in contemporary cinema. No better, odder man than Nicolas Cage to act that out as the catechism of surfism gains another worthy chapter. In cinemas from Friday, May 9th
NZ Herald
07-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Lotto Powerball: Has tonight's draw made you $8 million richer?
Tonight's Big Wednesday draw comes on the back of a succession of Powerball wins, including a massive $23m life-changing win two weeks ago. Latest draw comes days after $23m winners claim their prize The couple who won $23m via Lotto Powerbal l celebrated their newfound wealth with a simple meal of fish and chips on the beach. The couple, who are from the upper North Island and bought the winning ticket online, bagged the mega-rich prize from the midweek draw. They said seeing '$23,333,333″ on their MyLotto ticket was 'mind-boggling'. 'We're both shocked to our core. It's going to take a while to sink in, and I don't think it will start to feel real until we see it in the bank,' the winners, who wished to remain anonymous, said after claiming the prize. After checking the winning ticket, the man went to tell his wife the good news. 'She could see I was tearful and asked what was wrong. I just blurted it out – 'we've won $23.3 million!' 'We're always joking with each other, so of course she didn't believe me … until I showed her the ticket on MyLotto.' They celebrated with fish and chips on the beach and chatted about their family's future. 'We live a simple life and will continue to – but what we can now do for our children, and our grandchildren – that's what's life-changing.' The couple are the eighth Powerball multi-millionaires this year and their win comes after $5.3m was won by an Otago player last month. All up the pair won $23,333,333 – made up of $23m from Powerball and $333,333 from a split first division prize on April 23. The win was the largest Powerball prize won since December 2024 when a man from New Plymouth won $23.3m. Other Powerball wins in 2025 In 2025, there have been major Powerball wins across the country. In January, a Wellington Lotto player won $7m, with a Taranaki player also snagging $8.3m in the same month. A Hamilton player and Waihī player both picked up $10.5m from Powerball wins in February.
Irish Times
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
The Surfer review: Nicolas Cage, after another batch of duds, hits the motherlode
The Surfer Director : Lorcan Finnegan Cert : 15A Starring : Nicolas Cage, Julian McMahon, Finn Little, Nic Cassim, Alexander Bertrand, Rahel Romahn, Miranda Tapsell, Justin Rosniak, Charlotte Maggi Running Time : 1 hr 40 mins 'It will come again. It will be a swell so big and strong it will wipe clean everything that went before it.' So says a character in Big Wednesday, John Millius's masterpiece from 1978. That tale of California surfers – a macho cadre chewed up by the 1960s in Millius's view – exemplifies US culture's tendency to mysticise the business of riding waves. You got it in the underrated TV series John from Cincinnati. Brian Wilson's sacerdotal approach to the activity reached its peak with The Beach Boys album Surfs Up, in 1971. Now Lorcan Finnegan, the Irish director of Vivarium , fattens the theology with a fascinating, weird, freaky drama set in an unforgiving corner of Australia. The poetry is of a more abrasive stripe than Wilson's soothing gibberish. This often brutal entertainment, shot in blotched light by Radek Ladczuk, kicks its protagonist to the brink of death as circling antagonists point and chuckle. READ MORE But we are always reminded that surfing is an exalted way of wasting a man's time. This film wouldn't work if it were about train spotters or stamp collectors. There are some signs of Nicolas Cage, older and more American than seems likely, being shoehorned into the title role, but such is his commitment and presence that no sane viewer will object. Indeed, the film is inconceivable without him. This is how we now roll with the Cagester. He makes half a dozen straight-to-streaming duds and then hits the motherlode with Mandy, Pig ... or The Surfer. Here he plays an unnamed businessman returning, after many years in the United States, to the beach where he surfed as a kid. (It was probably as well not to have Cage attempt an Aussie accent.) He takes his son and his board – a gift from his own father – down to the sea, but is immediately rebuffed by the butch locals. 'Don't live here, don't surf here,' he is tartly informed. This doesn't bode well for his plans to buy a house in the old neighbourhood. What follows has the quality of fantastical nightmare. Our surfer meets an older fellow, now living in his car, who tells him that the gang, led by a charismatic thug, Scally (Julian McMahon), killed his son and his dog. The tough guys steal our hero's surfboard. His car is soon out of action. He cannot charge his phone and, as all his credit cards are stored there, he is unable to buy any food. Out here in the rational world there would be ways of resolving these issues. But the Irish screenwriter Thomas Martin, who has worked on series such as Tin Star and Ripper Street, forges us an allegorical space that abuts the absurd. He admits the influence of John Cheever's story The Swimmer – and of the film version with Burt Lancaster – and, sure enough, there is similar interest in the pressures of masculinity. The current film is, however, considerably more at home to the crunch and squelch of the outsider life. Scally's gang could hardly offer a more obvious stand-in for contemporary alpha-male toxicity, the social-media bully made sunburned flesh. The film does, perhaps, lose the run of itself in a slightly desperate final act that sees the protagonist's resolve weakening in unsatisfactory, inconsistent directions. Some viewers may crave a little more conventional plot from a film that revels in pinballing masochistic chaos. But The Surfer, for all its unpleasantness, offers encouraging evidence that there is still room for existential awkwardness in contemporary cinema. No better, odder man than Nicolas Cage to act that out as the catechism of surfism gains another worthy chapter. In cinemas from Friday, May 9th
New York Post
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Nicolas Cage ‘could of died' on set of new thriller: ‘Pounded to smithereens'
Wipeout! Nicolas Cage dealt with some choppy waters preparing for his latest thriller, 'The Surfer.' Cage, 61, stars as an unnamed businessman in the Lorcan Finnegan-directed drama that sees his character return home to Australia to buy the beach house he grew up in. 6 Nicolas Cage in his latest thriller, 'The Surfer.' YouTube / Lionsgate Movies 6 Nicolas Cage said that he almost died while preparing for 'The Surfer.' YouTube / Lionsgate Movies But despite the film's title, Cage does very little surfing in the movie – and it's not just because a group of local bullies repeatedly prevent him from entering the water. 'We had things like weather conditions and believe it or not, shark reports and things, all that s–t,' the 'National Treasure' star told Entertainment Weekly. Cage needed to take surfing lessons in preparation for the role because he was 'pounded to smithereens' every time he tried surfing in the past. 6 Nicolas Cage stars as an unnamed businessman who returns home to Australia to buy the beach house he grew up in. YouTube / Lionsgate Movies 'I have surfed, but every time I've attempted surfing, I've been pounded to smithereens,' he laughed. 'I surfed down on Sunset Beach. When I was trying to learn, my teacher gave me a shortboard. I said, 'Look, I want a long board.'' 'I just got pounded and literally got stuck in the rip tide, and they said they saw my board, they call it 'tombstone,' like that triangle top,' Cage continued. 'I'm climbing up the leash as I'm somersaulting, and I could have died.' 'Now I have a young kid,' the future John Madden actor added. 'I don't know if I want to do it anymore.' 6 Nicolas Cage at a special screening of 'The Surfer' in Los Angeles, Calif., on April 30, 2025. Roadside Attractions via Getty Images Still, Cage dreams of spending his time surfing once he finally retires from acting. 'The goal,' he declared, 'is to retire, surf, drink red wine, and eat spaghetti.' Elsewhere during his interview, Cage explained how he and Finnegan were unable to shoot certain scenes because of the 'Face/Off' actor's poor surfing skills. 6 'We had things like weather conditions and believe it or not, shark reports and things, all that s–t,' Nicolas Cage explained. YouTube / Lionsgate Movies 'Lorcan and I talked at length about it,' he admitted. 'He knows that I wish I could have gotten to that point.' Plus, while Cage 'loves the way the movie ends' and 'wouldn't change a frame,' he wanted to recreate a scene from a popular 1979 surfing movie, 'Big Wednesday,' that starred Jan-Michael Vincent. 'I seem to remember in my mind's eye, Jan-Michael Vincent on the board and then the board wiping across the frame,' Cage recalled. 'It was so beautiful in the water with the wiping of the board and then landing on its face in slow motion.' 6 Nicolas Cage said he dreams of spending his time surfing once he finally retires from acting. YouTube / Lionsgate Movies 'I thought, gee, I really want to get that shot,' he said, 'but I didn't have the time to get my skills to the point where we could do it.' As for his only regret filming 'The Surfer,' Cage wished that the paparazzi had gotten fewer shots of him wiping out on his surfboard. 'They didn't get the one shot of me standing on the board,' he quipped. The release of 'The Surfer' on Friday comes months after Cage's ex, Christina Fulton, sued the actor and their 34-year-old son, Weston Cage.
Time of India
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
"I've been pounded to smithereens." Nicolas Cage talks about the new film 'The Surfer' and shares about his experience of getting up on the surfboard
Nicolas Cage , well known for his action-packed scenes in movies, recently accepted defeat against the high tides as he talked about shooting for his latest film as a ' surfer '. The actor shared how getting up on the surfboard and getting hit by the waves again and again was hard and 'blew him to smithereens'. Cage's latest entertaining film, 'The Surfer' Nicolas Cage transforms into a 'surfer' for his latest project, 'The Surfer', where he plays an unnamed businessman who goes all the way back to his home in Australia with the mission to buy back the beach house from his childhood. Contrary to the name, the actor does not do much surfing but still manages to hit the waves on screen. The scene comes at the very end of the movie itself, where, after getting bullied by the townspeople and going into full-blown madness, the actor can be seen touching the waves. Cage shares that he wanted to recreate an iconic scene from an old film The actor told EW in an interview about his conversation with the director of the film, Lorcan Finnegan. He shared that "Lorcan and I talked at length about it. He knows that I wish I could have gotten to that point," revealing that he had hoped to recreate an iconic and well-known surf scene from the movie ' Big Wednesday ' from 1979. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Direct Shopping From Adidas Francchise Store, 60% Discount Original Adidas Shop Now Undo "I seem to remember in my mind's eye, Jan-Michael Vincent on the board and then the board wiping across the frame…. It was so beautiful in the water with the wiping of the board and then landing on its face in slow motion. I thought, Gee, I really want to get that shot, but I didn't have the time to get my skills to the point where we could do it." The actor had trained well for the role and had taken surfing lessons as well to get into the character. The actor talked about all of the challenges that he faced while training for the role. In the interview he shared that "We had things like weather conditions and, believe it or not, shark reports and things, all that s---." Cage also ended up complaining to the interviewer that the paparazzi could not get a shot of him standing up on the surfboard and instead only took photographs of when he fell down. Actor's experience with surfing Nikhil also shared that he has attempted to surf again and again before but has been unsuccessful every single time. He said that "I have surfed, but every time I've attempted surfing, I've been pounded to smithereens. I surfed down on Sunset Beach. When I was trying to learn, my teacher gave me a shortboard. I said, 'Look, I want a longboard.'" He then continued on, saying that "I just got pounded and literally got stuck in the riptide, and they said they saw my board; they call it 'tombstone', like that triangle top.'
