Next

Last night I had a free pass to see "Next" with Nicholas Cage... Other- wise I would NEVER spend either my money or my time on that bozo.

Have you heard anything about this new film? In it, Cage plays a guy who can see two minutes ahead in his life, so he can support himself by gambling, which he keeps to a modest amount so he isn't thrown out of the casinos. The cameras spot him anticipating cards and they even spot him spotting them as he becomes aware of their surveillance. He has been hiding from the government most of his adult life. As a cover, he is a two-bit magician, playing to mostly empty houses in Las Vegas, trying to avoid governmental agencies who have been studying him since childhood, making him feel like a lab rat. He's afraid he might be used for espionage with which he might disagree.

This plot, which has more holes in it than a sieve, stumbles around and involves the FBI. They are trying to locate and disarm a nuclear device (naturally) but the agent in charge (Julienne Moore) is convinced that our hero, the magician, can help them find it. He knows he can't help because he can only see ahead for two minutes in HIS own life! Naturally, he tries to elude them.

He has had a vision of meeting a woman at 8:10 (I think it is) in a restaurant but doesn't know if it is AM or PM and this seems to exceed the two-minute rule (did I mention a sieve?), as he goes to that same restaurant repeatedly. Jessica Beil is appropriately appealing when she does finally make her entrance, and watching him mentally test various approaches (and rebuffs) before he successfully goes up to her and makes her acquaintance, had the audience ...and me... giggling.

This flimsy vehicle for Nicholas Cage (I wish he would have his adenoids removed so he could breath with his mouth SHUT!) has some other mildly amusing scenes. For instance, I liked how he would just point where he wanted the FBI gal to shoot and she did so instantly. And of course she killed an enemy gunman ...every... single... time! Plus they did a clever ruse with a landslide into the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, triggered by a collapsing water tower on the Havasu Indian Reservation near Flagstaff. (I thought they were Hualapais up there, but what do I know...maybe I misunderstood.)

Lots of blowie uppie stuff, but little else....