Nathan Rabin's Happy Cast

Nic Cage plays sad dad figures of children (or child figures) facing the threat of violence this week! First up is The Humanity Bureau, another piping hot cup of Redbox dreck with Cage as a renegade agent for a dystopian future agency meant to track the populace's productivity on a dying Earth. Unfortunately, that mostly takes the shape of shoddy green-screen effects, a meandering road trip in a chintzy station wagon, and a cast of Canada's finest day players to play off. Fortunately, things get better in Brian Taylor's zombie-parent horror-thriller Mom and Dad, as Cage (along with Selma Blair) play stressed-out middle aged parents who find themselves the victim of a plague that causes people to murder their offspring. Sure, a good portion of it is a clever "Home Alone meets Dawn of the Dead" scenario, with gore and power tools aplenty. But there's a fascinating strain of adult melancholy in there, with Cage doing some of his best recent work.  Plus, we talk a bit about Nic Cage's latest, the droll, bizarre A