MOVIE REVIEW: NOVOCAINE

 

When the girl of his dreams gets kidnapped, a man turns his inability to feel pain into an unexpected advantage as he fights a bunch of thugs to get her back.

Director: Robert Olsen, Dan Berk

Cast: Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Ray Nicholson, Jacob Batalon, Betty Gabriel, Matt Walsh

Release Date: March 14, 2025

Genre: Action, Comedy, Thriller

Rated R for strong bloody violence, grisly images, and language throughout.

Runtime: 1h 50m

Review:

Novocaine is fun, over the top, gimmick driven action film that stays afloat thanks to its gonzo approach and likable turns from Jack Quaid and Amber Midthunder.  Directors Robert Olsen and Dan Berk deliver a quirky blend of rom-com moments offset by a series of increasingly gory violence throughout the film.  There are echoes of 2006's frenetic Crank even though this film can't maintain that sort of unbridled manic energy consistently.  There are plenty of high points scattered throughout the film's nearly two-hour runtime which makes for a choppy experience that screams for some judicious editing especially for this kind of film.  When it works it does so because of the well acclimated set pieces that make great use of our living crash test dummy as he pursues his kidnapped love interest.  Jack Quaid brings what's quickly becoming a trademark goofy charm to the role that fits this incredibly sheltered character perfectly.  Quaid makes it easy to root for this character that's totally out of his depth who's more than willing to risk life and limb to rescue the girl that's taken his heart.   Amber Midthunder works well as the love interest here as she's clearly more than just a damsel in distress.  Midthunder gives her character a bit more depth than you'd expect from this sort of role and the film is better for it overall.  The supporting players aren't so lucky as we get a handful of generic police and thug types played by Betty Gabriel, Matt Walsh and Ray Nicholson with only Walsh leaving noticeable mark.  This film also serves as a perfect example of the film's marketing killing most of the surprises and fun it has to offer as the trailer provide a nearly step by step run of the film's best parts leaving very little unseen.  It’s a shame because if you've seen any of the trailers for Novocaine, you've likely seen the best parts of the film as nearly every moment is given away beforehand.   

C+

MOVIE REVIEW: SMILE 2

 

About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley begins to experience increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and pressures of fame, she must face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.

Director: Parker Finn

Cast: Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson, Raúl Castillo, Dylan Gelula, Ray Nicholson, Kyle Gallner

Release Date: October 18, 2024

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Rated R for strong bloody violent content, grisly images, language throughout and drug use.

Runtime: 2h 12m

Review:

Parker Finn's Smile 2 is gorier and devilishly funnier than its predecessor as focus shifts to a damaged pop star played by a stellar Naomi Scott.  Finn's second turn, immediately feels more confident and elegantly eerie as we follow Skye Riley's decent into madness.  He still relies on jump scares a tad too much for my taste but its hard to hate it too much when he sets up those moments up so effectively.  A handful of sequences are anxiety inducing and set up with impressive visual panache such as a gloriously nightmarish where Skye's smiling back up dancers chasing her around her apartment.  There are a handful of moments like that which leaves a noticeable impact with each leaving you wonder what's real and what's not as things get increasingly out of control.  This all doesn't work nearly as well as it does if not for a instantly engaging turn from Naomi Scott.  Scott is fully committed from the start by bringing a believable sense of mental fraying from the onset.  Her Skye is damaged and isolated before the madness begins due to a horrific event that's left her traumatized beforehand.  Scott conveys that sense of isolation and self hate with a natural ease that's incredibly impressive.  As things get more dire and her character starts to fall apart at the seams there's an exasperated terror to her as she starts to lose her grip on reality and she becomes an increasingly unreliable narrator.  Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley and Dylan Gelula are solid in supporting roles but this is Scott's showcase and she is the most fascinating performer onscreen throughout the entire film.  Given the amount of celebrities we've seen go off the rails there's something that feels slightly more realistic about this setup than the original which makes it one of the few horror films to earn its two hour runtime.  Smile 2 proves to be one of the rare horror sequels that improves on the original by taking in a slightly different sphere to deliver a mash up of The Ring and Nightmare on Elm Street which leaves me eager to see where the series goes next.

A-