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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Mar 3, 2016 1:27:34 GMT -5
Next Dir. Lee Tamahori Premiered April 27, 2007
When I first heard about Next, it was on a review show on PBS the weekend it premiered. Based on the premise, I was intrigued, but equally disappointed by the cold reception. I mean, it starred Nicolas Cage after all, and had the same director as Die Another Day, so it wasn't a surprise. But when it came to doing this series, I wanted to check it out nonetheless.
Nicolas Cage plays Chris Johnson, a.k.a. Frank Cadillac, a Vegas magician who has the power to see his immediate future. Mainly, he uses this to cheat at casinos and evade the law. The FBI finally catches up to him, though, when agents led by Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore) try to recruit him to find a missing nuclear warhead.
Chris gets away, but not before meeting the literal woman of his dreams at a diner. She’s played by Jessica Biel and, as it turns out, isn’t completely turned off by the jowly, wild-haired stranger staring at her like she’s made out of chocolate cake and is also about to explode.
Of all the films I’ve covered so far, this is the laziest. The script is full of awkward exposition and insistent terminology that makes me think the filmmakers didn’t know English. FBI head Jim Beaver refers to Russia as the “Russian Federation.” It’s not wrong, but it’s pretty obvious that this script was written a long time ago and they just did a find-and-replace of “Soviet Union.” Ferris claims that if Chris doesn’t help the feds, he’ll be sent to Folsom State Prison, in a different state. The acting is less than phoned in; everyone rushes through their lines with little thought or emotion, as if they have only minutes to finish shooting (only Jessica Biel seems to give a shit, and comes off looking the best despite some unflattering choices by the film’s hairstylist). In one scene, Cadillac hides from a security guard by crouching; not under or behind anything, just crouching. And considering the relative groundedness of the premise, the movie is packed with unnecessary CGI that looks like it was rendered on a PS2.
At the same time, it’s not entertaingly bad. It’s kind of fun to point out everything that’s wrong in the first act, but after that it cools down considerably. The premise and plot aren’t bad at all; it is based on a Philip K. Dick story after all (very loosely, as always), and the ending reminded me a bit of Memento, but Next is a perfect storm of poor execution.
Sign this was made in 2007 The movie opens with a montage of the Vegas strip set to Junkie XL’s remix of Elvis Presley’s “A Little Less Conversation.” That’s like an acheivement in hackery.
Additional Notes At one point the FBI uses an “enhance” button to find Chris.
Also in Theaters - The Invisible, directed by David S. Goyer (20% on RT)
- The Condemned, a Battle Royale knock-off starring Stone Cold Steve Austin (15% on RT)
- Kickin’ It Old Skool, a star vehicle for Jamie Kennedy (2% on RT)
Stay home, people of the past.
Next Time: Waitress
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Post by MarkInTexas on Mar 4, 2016 10:38:01 GMT -5
Also in Theaters - The Invisible, directed by David S. Goyer (20% on RT)
- The Condemned, a Battle Royale knock-off starring Stone Cold Steve Austin (15% on RT)
- Kickin’ It Old Skool, a star vehicle for Jamie Kennedy (2% on RT)
Stay home, people of the past.
They did. The Invisible ended up being the highest grosser of that week's batch, with a final North American box office of just over $20 million, and none of the four could beat Disturbia that weekend, even though that film had been out for three weeks by that point. The next weekend, Spider-Man 3 opened to $150 million, and all four movies became The Invisible. This film is pretty much the beginning of Cage going from respected, Oscar-winning actor to guy who will show up to do pretty much any film that offers him $1.98 and a pack of gum. Not all his upcoming films would be bad. Knowing, Bad Lieutenant, and Kick-Ass were still in the future. However, before this one, you could understand why he would do the films he did, even the bad movies and the flops. After this, his choice of roles began to seem more and more random.
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Post by Superb Owl 🦉 on Mar 4, 2016 10:39:40 GMT -5
Also in Theaters - The Invisible, directed by David S. Goyer (20% on RT)
- The Condemned, a Battle Royale knock-off starring Stone Cold Steve Austin (15% on RT)
- Kickin’ It Old Skool, a star vehicle for Jamie Kennedy (2% on RT)
Stay home, people of the past.
They did. The Invisible ended up being the highest grosser of that week's batch, with a final North American box office of just over $20 million, and none of the four could beat Disturbia that weekend, even though that film had been out for three weeks by that point. The next weekend, Spider-Man 3 opened to $150 million, and all four movies became The Invisible. This film is pretty much the beginning of Cage going from respected, Oscar-winning actor to guy who will show up to do pretty much any film that offers him $1.98 and a pack of gum. Not all his upcoming films would be bad. Knowing, Bad Lieutenant, and Kick-Ass were still in the future. However, before this one, you could understand why he would do the films he did, even the bad movies and the flops. After this, his choice of roles began to seem more and more random. Weren't "Next" and "Knowing" basically the same movie?
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Post by MarkInTexas on Mar 4, 2016 10:46:21 GMT -5
Cage didn't play a psychic in Knowing, but instead a professor who ended up with a document that he realized predicted the date and location of every major disaster, along with the final death count--and discovers that the ultimate disaster is just days away. I haven't seen it since I saw it in the theater 7 years ago, but I remember that it gets really sci-fi toward the end (aliens are involved).
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2016 17:33:04 GMT -5
Never acknowledged in this film is the fact that Cage's visions sometimes include the results of future visions, meaning he should be able to see infinitely into the future by recursion
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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Mar 5, 2016 10:07:32 GMT -5
Never acknowledged in this film is the fact that Cage's visions sometimes include the results of future visions, meaning he should be able to see infinitely into the future by recursion To the movie's credit, it does establish that Cage's visions vary in length and distance.
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Post by rimjobflashmob on Mar 6, 2016 15:00:10 GMT -5
Cage didn't play a psychic in Knowing, but instead a professor who ended up with a document that he realized predicted the date and location of every major disaster, along with the final death count--and discovers that the ultimate disaster is just days away. I haven't seen it since I saw it in the theater 7 years ago, but I remember that it gets really sci-fi toward the end (aliens are involved). That movie went from a grounded thriller to epic, sweeping biblical SF opera in like, two scenes. One of the most jarring tonal shifts I've ever seen.
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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Mar 8, 2016 22:59:52 GMT -5
Journal Entries of the Damned Excerpt from April 27, 2007
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Post by Desert Dweller on Mar 10, 2016 2:03:56 GMT -5
Additional Notes At one point the FBI uses an “enhance” button to find Chris. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! I LOVE when this effect is used in a movie or tv show. Never fails to make me laugh.
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