Features, OpinionNic Cage is the Meryl Streep of bats–t-crazy charactersPosted on September 13, 2018 If you want to get at the essence of Nicolas Cage, you’ll find it in his new, bananas revenge thriller, “Mandy.” His whole career may well have been leading up to this moment. Recently, I rewatched 1987’s “Moonstruck,” in which a fledgling Cage turns the volume all the way up in one scene: “I lost my hand! I lost my bride!” his volatile baker character bellows at Cher. Cage’s new movie definitively answers the question: What if he took that moment and turned it into an entire performance, if not a decades-spanning career?