Change Your Image
airelosse
Reviews
Next (2007)
Some of the Most fun I've had in a Theater in a Long Time
So what if that fun had nothing to do with the quality of the movie?
First off, everyone but Nicholas Cage was useless. Julianne Moore (Hannibal, The Hours) was pointless, but not quite as much as Jessica Beil (The Illusionist). Neither contributed much to the film, but at least Moore's character was trying to do something plotwise. Beil, well, she was there to look good. And she did, more or less. Besides that, she contributed nothing but a distraction to a movie who's "plot" was rough enough.
Oh yes, the plot. And i used the quotes for a reason. Apparently, there's a group of French-speaking, blond, Russian terrorists, none of whom you meet long enough to recognize or remember by name, planting a nuclear bomb (50 kiloton my ass.) in Los Angeles. And I'm not spoiling anything; the movie comes out and tells you this pretty early into it. So Moore, obsessed that Cage is the only one that can stop the bomb, somehow avoids being fired by her all too useless superiors and hunts him down. He's looking for Beil...only because he "saw" her once, important because it was more than the 2 minutes away he can normally see. Throw in some amateur philosophy talk about destiny, and we're half over.
The next half is Cage and Moore running...Cage with the same face in every situation, as per usual. Then, end.
A much more fitting end would've been: (Flashback to Cage in a casting agent's office): Cage - I'm sorry, but I've seen into this movie's future, and I see it failing miserably. Bye.
But it was fun...if, and only if, you go with a group of people who fully recognize this is not something to be taken seriously.
(sidenote: some of the best jokes are the "storytime with Fred Savage" ones when Peter Falk shows up early on)
The Riches (2007)
Does not disappoint, one bit.
Sure, it was only the pilot I saw, but I had very high hopes coming in, being a big, big fan of Eddie Izzard's. I was just worried that for a drama/comedy with what appears to be an actual storyline (unlike many serials, such as the CSI's or Law and Order's - not that there's anything wrong with that), a stand up comic was a rather strange choice for the lead character. But Izzard plays his role straight, not slapstick, and very well. Between him and Driver, definitely seems to be a good foundation (and at least most of the time, they did a good enough job of dropping their accents and picking up the southern one). The kids were good enough, which is really all I needed out of them for now. Not a distraction, added well to the ensemble.
Plot seemed dodgy when I read the synopsis. But it actually does make some sense, seems the writers are going to use one new thing going wrong per episode, such as their old family members possibly showing up. I just hope, that even though it just started, it stays fresh. But the outlook looks bright for the Riches.
10/10