Twin Cage Flicks

Well, ye socks, this week Netflix sent me two random movies because they apparently didn't have enough copies of the ones I actually wanted to watch.

So, what were the odds that both would star Nicholas Cage?

Perhaps it is symbolic of Nick's career, but one was pretty good and the other was absolute crap.

The crap was "Ghost Rider," based on the Marvel comic series of the same name. Ironically, I thought it was going to be the better of the two based on the supporting cast:

• Eva Mendes is smoking as the love interest.
• Peter Fonda plays The Devil. What's not to like about that casting?!
• Sam Elliott is an undead Texas Ranger who sold his soul over a century ago and serves as a mentor.

There were also a couple of familiar faces--you know, those character actors you recognize but don't know their names offhand. Two of my favorites were Brett Cullen, who plays Nick's dad but is also on just about every CBS drama I watch from "NCIS" to "The Ghost Whisperer" (and was also Alan Alda's running mate on the last season of "The West Wing"); and Donal Logue, whom you may remember from his fairly recent lackluster series "Grounded for Life," but also appears in "The Patriot" alongside Mel Gibson.

Anyway, it's pretty sad when all you can say about "Ghost Rider" is what the cast did *before* they ended up in this stinker. Sure, there's some ok special effects here and there, some explosions, etc. But, at the end of the day, I didn't buy into the overall concept at all. Not worth watching a second time, probably not worth watching the first time.

Okay, now to the second Cage flick, the one I thought would be a stinker but actually turned out to be pretty good: "Next".

Again, the supporting cast is good. Jessica Biel plays the love interest, and Julianne Moore plays an FBI agent who's trying to track them down. Add in some chase scenes, explosions, and an opening sequence in Vegas, and what's a guy not gonna like, right?!

The premise is good in "Next," too. Cage plays a cheesy lounge magician who has the ability to see 2 minutes into the future, and the feds want him to help them locate a nuclear bomb the Russian mob has hidden somewhere in LA.

Bottom line: skip "Ghost Rider," but check out "Next."