Novocaine (2025)

Jack Quaid plays Nate, a man who has a condition that stops him from feeling pain. That may sound all well and good, but Nate can't eat solid foods (in case he bites off the end of his tongue without feeling it), he has to set a timer to remind him to urinate before his bladder potentially explodes, and his home has a lot of extra padding around some of the fixtures and fittings. He tends to err towards caution, although that changes when he enjoys a date with a lovely bank colleague, Sherry (Amber Midthunder). That makes it all the more unfortunate when Sherry is taken hostage the next day by dangerous bank robbers. Determined to hunt them down and save the woman he loves, Nate decides to turn his apparent weakness into a bit of a super-power. 

Co-directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, both having shown a nice and consistent improvement throughout their joint filmography, Novocaine is helped a lot by a smart and fun screenplay from Lars Jacobson (who is finally on the right path to getting us all to forget that he co-wrote the screenplay for Day Of The Dead: Bloodline). Once the main premise is set up, you know that everyone involved is just running from one situation to the next with a focus on lots and lots of pain. And that's exactly what happens, with everything escalating from a slight case of the ouchies to a major bit of "oh my god, that's not going to be fixed any time soon".

Berk, Olsen, and Jacobson pace the whole thing perfectly, and the action is enjoyably scrappy and inventive. Our hero isn't particularly skilled, but he knows that he can take plenty of hits without suffering in the same way as others around him. He's not invulnerable, but it seems that way to some of the people he encounters. The 110-minute runtime fairly flies by once the action begins, and even a couple of extra sequences at the end of the film somehow don't make it feel as if it is outstaying its welcome.

Quaid is a very good choice for the lead role, once again relying on his slight awkwardness and charm ahead of any muscles or fighting capability. His character is driven by new love, and Quaid has experience in playing that kind of guy, even (especially) when he has to start questioning his feelings and motivation. Midthunder is also very good, and makes such a strong impression in her early scenes that you can easily understand why Nate becomes so driven to save her. Jacob Batalon is fun as an online friend who may need to finally meet Nate IRL, Betty Gabriel and Matt Walsh are two cops who start to suspect that our hero may be working with the villains, and Ray Nicholson is entertainingly callous and vicious as the nominal head of the criminal gang.

Funny and violent in equal measure, and with just about the right tone maintained throughout, Novocaine manages to feel relatively fresh and unique while reframing the kind of visceral action that we've seen in many different movies over the past few years. It always feels slightly ridiculous, but that helps to take the edge off of some of the more wince-inducing injuries we end up seeing. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants an action thriller with a fun twist on many of the usual tropes. You'll find it a relatively painless viewing experience.

8/10

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Life Of The Party (2018)

The pizza had arrived, I was settling into the position I wanted to stay in for the evening, and I browsed the many selections available to me for my next viewing choice. And that's when I saw Life Of The Party, a film that I wasn't sure I would like but was sure I would at least be moderately amused by, at least occasionally. It turns out that this was much better than I expected it to be.

I am continually surprised by the constant dismissal of Melissa McCarthy, who has the starring role here. People seem to want to label her as a comic actor who does no more than "act fat and loud". I don't/won't take the time and space to make my full argument against that accusation, and I may have mentioned it in a previous review (and may well mention it in a future review), but it's just rubbish. She has shown more range in her comedic roles than many of her male peers, and that doesn't mean that I dislike them either (I still enjoy comedies starring Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, and even Adam Sandler, despite everyone telling me I am wrong for doing so).

In this movie, McCarthy plays Deanna, a doting mother who drops her daughter (Maddie, played by Molly Gordon) at university for her final year. As she heads away with her husband (Dan, played by Matt Walsh), he drops the bombshell that he wants a divorce. He has started a relationship with a new woman. This upheaval leads to Deanna returning to university to complete the degree she sacrificed many years ago. She immediately bonds with some of her daughter's friends, learns to relax and party, and even lands herself an attentive younger lover (Jack, played by Luke Benward).

What I thought I was going to get with Life Of The Party was a comedy in which McCarthy would spend a lot of time embarrassing her daugher, a number of scenes in which she got carried away reclaiming her lost youth, and then a finale that would see lessons learned and bonds reformed. What I got was something much better than that. Yes, there are a few moments in the early scenes that show a young woman being embarrassed by her mother, and McCarthy takes things too far once or twice, but it's a much more balanced, a much sweeter, film than it could have been.

Ben Falcone (AKA Mr McCarthy) directs, and he and McCarthy also co-wrote the script together. There's nothing here to single out as a stunning achievement in cinema, and nothing that will prove too surprising once the film settles in to exactly what it wants to be, but it's a very enjoyable time that provides a lot of little chuckles in between some big laughs. Okay, the third act may feel like it blends together a number of '80s teen movie moments . . . so what?

McCarthy is warm and witty in her role, transforming believably as she becomes more and more confident in the new path she is taking through life. Gordon is very good as her understanding daughter, and there's a lot of fun to be had with Gillian Jacobs, Adria Arjona, and Jessie Ennis as the main friends. Benward is likeable as a smitten young man, Heidi Gardner is a roommate who rarely seems to leave her room, and Chris Parnell is a pun-loving teacher. Oh, and Maya Rudolph is a comedy goddess . . . I mean . . . she is hilarious as the long-time friend who enjoys living vicariously through the exploits of McCarthy. You also get great little turns from Walsh, Julie Bowen, Jacki Weaver, and Stephen Root, among others, as well as a cheesy celebrity cameo to enjoy.

I doubt this will convert anyone who doesn't enjoy the screen presence of McCarthy. Everyone else can relax and allow themselves to be entertained for 100 minutes (approximately).

7/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy the movie here.

Bonus Review: Into The Storm (2014)

Even dumber than you probably expect it to be, Into The Storm is, funnily enough, a weather-related disaster movie, with the extra gimmick of many scenes presented in the style of real footage captured by those in the middle of events.

Pete (Matt Walsh) is a storm chaser. He's got a team working with him (including a meteorologist, played by Sarah Wayne Callies), a vehicle that can withstand MAJOR winds, and the willingness to endanger everyone around him for the sake of some great footage. Unfortunately, he's not been getting close to any storms. That all changes when a number of tornadoes spring up, causing a lot of damage and signalling some even worse weather heading their way. Oh, and there also happens to be a graduation ceremony at a local high school, meaning that a lot of teenagers could also find themselves in peril.

Taking a formulaic plot structure, Into The Storm has occasional moments of spectacle to make it worth a watch, but very little else to recommend it. The direction from Steven Quale is pedestrian, at best, and the script by John Swetnam is ridiculously underdone, even for this kind of stuff. One or two characters stand out, but they're not necessarily the ones that you're rooting for. And as for the schoolkids, just forget it. Even the two or three that are given the chance to be the focus of the movie for a number of scenes are eminently forgettable.

Nathan Kress and Max Deacon are the two young actors stuck with characters that the audience won't really care for, Alycia Debnam Carey is the young actress also stuck with someone that nobody will really care about, and Richard Armitage plays a Vice Principal who also happens to be the father of the two boys. Yes, you guessed it, it's hard to care about him either. Callies does better in her role, but even she plays a character that it's hard to care too much about. It's not her fault, it's just an automatic reaction to a script that goes for the most obvious tricks in a heavy-handed manner, causing some (well, me, at the very least) to dislike the characters as they should be warming to them. Prime example - the scene with her talking on the phone to her daughter. The young daughter that misses her lots. See, you can't possibly want her to be endangered by freak meteorological events because SHE HAS A YOUNG DAUGHTER. If that doesn't make you care more for her then you're a heartless bastard, I guess. That's what people call me anyway. Walsh is the most fun, but as he's playing a bit of a selfish ass it's also difficult to care too much about his fate, particularly when so much of the third act is highlighted, underscored and covered in neon lighting during the first act of the movie. Mind you, at least that obvious foreshadowing is fun. I'll give 'em that.

There are some great special effects on display here, and viewers should be kept relatively entertained if they view the film as nothing more than a chance to see how well a computer can create tornadoes onscreen (which was obviously the whole raison d'être of the thing anyway). Given the choice, however, I would rush to rewatch The Day After Tomorrow instead. Heck, I'd probably put up with 2012 over this.

5/10

http://www.amazon.com/Storm-Blu-ray-Digital-UltraViolet-Combo/dp/B00MJANW40/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1415977337&sr=1-2&keywords=into+the+storm