SYNOPSIS: “Heads of State” is a Prime Video action-comedy featuring Idris Elba as Sam Clarke, a former commando-turned UK Prime Minister, and John Cena as Will Derringer, a former action star, now President of the United States, who is as loose as Clarke is uptight. “He still hasn’t figured out the difference between a press conference and a press junket,” says Clarke. When an international conspiracy threatens world peace, they can save the world, but only if they can put aside their differences. “The universe keeps telling me I look cool with a gun in my hand,” says Derringer.
CAST: Idris Elba, John Cena, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jack Quaid, Carla Gugino, Paddy Considine, Stephen Root, Sarah Niles, Richard Coyle, Clare Foster, Katrina Durden, Aleksandr Kuznetsov. Directed by Ilya Naishuller.
REVIEW: If the title “Heads of State” sounds like a throwback title from the 1990s it’s because the film is a return to the action comedies of the Clinton years. It’s a crowd-pleasing mix of likeable leads, ridiculous action and humor that echoes movies like “True Lies” or “Rush Hour,” films that got the balance of laughs and action just right.
The “embarrassing popcorn president” named William Matthew Derringer—“Your initials are WMD?” Clark asks incredulously—and the pragmatic prime minister are the engine that keeps “Heads of State” on track. A stacked supporting cast, including Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jack Quaid, Carla Gugino, Paddy Considine and Stephen Root, fill out the film’s edges, but it is Elba and Cena who hold its center, nicely playing off their opposite personalities.
Reteamed from “The Suicide Squad,” where they shared action-comedy moments as Bloodsport and Peacemaker, they are chalk and cheese with the chops to hold the film’s disparate tone together.
For the most part “Heads of State” avoids any heavy moralizing and sticks to its frenetic but lighthearted vibe. Sure, there is a disbanding NATO subplot, some America First banter and it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out who screenwriters Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec and Harrison Query are referring to when they have a character say, “The people elect a dopey actor as leader of the free world, of course their country can’t survive,” but “Head of State” isn’t about political discourse. It’s about chemistry and bombastic action, tinged with a hint of nostalgia for the buddy movies of the past.
SYNOPSIS: In “Novocaine,” a violent new rom com now playing in theatres, Jack Quaid plays a man with a congenital insensitivity to pain who is driven to extremes when the woman of his dreams is kidnapped by bank robbers.
CAST: Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Ray Nicholson, Jacob Batalon, Betty Gabriel, Matt Walsh. Directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen.
REVIEW: “Novocaine’s” central premise takes its inspiration from action movies of the past with silly gimmicks.
Remember Jason Statham’s adrenalized “Crank”? How about Scarlett Johansson‘s turbo-charged brainiac “Lucy”? Or Bradley Cooper’s enhanced cognitive abilities in “Limitless”? Each of those films features characters with a special ability that turns them into a superhero of a sort.
“Novocaine” sees Jack Quaid play Nathan Caine, a nerdy assistant bank manager nicknamed Novocaine because he has a rare medical condition that prevents him from feeling pain. “I have the superpower to step on a nail,” he jokes, “and not know until my shoe fills up with blood.”
When bank teller (and Nathan’s love interest) Sherry (Amber Midthunder) is kidnapped during a robbery at the bank, Nathan uses his condition to become an accidental superhero as he risks life-and-limb to rescue her.
“Novocaine” is what I call a “qualm rom com” because after the romantic, get-to-know-you vibe of the first half hour, it takes a violent twist that may leave you with some doubts about brutality on display. Most of the gruesome stuff is played for laughs, but after an hour or so of deep-fried hands, impalement and dangerous “Home Alone” style boobytraps, the initial feel-good ambiance has been replaced with a queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach.
Luckily, guiding the action is the charming presence of everyman Quaid. As the mild-mannered Nathan he’ll do anything for love, and even when he’s reigning chaos down on anyone who gets in his way, he remains a nice guy. That congeniality goes a long way to keeping “Novocaine’s” on track, even as we get as numb to the violence as Nathan is to the pain in the film’s extended third act.
“Novocaine’s” superpower isn’t Nathan’s immunity to pain, it’s Quaid’s likability.
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to do a high five! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the animated adventures of “Dog Man,’ surreal sci-fi of “Companion” and the doc “Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story.”
I join the CTV NewsChannel anchor Roger Peterson to talk about the surreal sci-fi of “Companion,” the animated adventures of “Dog Man’ and the doc “Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story.”
SYNOPSIS: In “Companion,” a darkly comedic sci-fi thriller starring Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid, and now playing in theatres, a weekend get-a-way at a billionaire’s palatial home takes a turn when the host is killed.
CAST: Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén and Rupert Friend. Directed by Drew Hancock.
REVIEW: (CAREFUL! MILD SPOILERS AHEAD) “Companion” is a fast paced, entertaining thriller that tackles big subjects like power structures, misogyny and our relationship with technology.
I’m keeping the synopsis and review vague as to not give away the film’s secrets. The pleasure of “Companion” is in its reveals, the way it invites the viewer in, and then subverts expectations.
Writer/director Drew Hancock sets the off-kilter tone off the top, staging a love-at-first sight meet cute between Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and Josh (Jack Quaid) as Iris narrates, “There have been two moments in my life when I was happiest. The first was the day I met Josh. And the second, the day I killed him.” It’s a delicious film noir flourish that hints us at the darkness to come in an intriguing manner.
Without giving too much away, I can say that there is more (or less, depending on how you look at it) to Josh than you might think at first glance. Hidden under his boyish charm is a conniving misogynist, incapable of deep feelings who feels the world owes him a debt. Quaid, who inherited his famous father Dennis’s toothy grin, gleefully goes from hero to zero, slowly revealing the cruelty that simmers inside.
The less you know about Iris the better. Just know that Thatcher, who impressed as a Mormon missionary in last year’s “Heretic,” is given the freedom to showcase many sides of her talent. From rom com princess to otherworldly femme fatale to action star, she does it all in a variety of languages and accents, and she’s a blast.
At its wizened heart “Companion” is a movie about (CAREFUL! SPOILERISH COMMENTS AHEAD) technology. But unlike “Westworld,” which mined similar territory, it’s not a technology gone wild movie, it’s about how tech can be manipulated by humans to do their bidding. (FINAL WARNING! STOP READING NOW!) “You programmed me to murder someone Josh,” says Iris. “It’s really hard to come back after that.”
“Companion” breathes the same air as shows like “Black Mirror” and “The Twilight Zone,” blending social commentary with genuine thrills and lots of dark humor.
Richard joins CTV NewsChannel and anchor Jennifer Burke to have a look at new movies coming to VOD and streaming services, including Johnny Knoxville and the unnatural acts of “Jackass Forever,” the reboot of “Scream,” the unhappily ever after fairy tale “The King’s Daughter” AND the great punk rock doc “Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché.”
It’s been more than a quarter of a century since the original “Scream,” starring David Arquette, Neve Campbell and Drew Barrymore, reinvented the slasher genre with a scary, funny and self-reverential take on things that go stab in the night.
Three sequels later, there’s a new edition, the inventively titled “Scream.” It’s the fifth film in the series, and they’re not calling it a sequel. It is, God help us, a relaunch, or, as they call it in the movie, a “requel.”
A mix of new and old characters, “Scream” takes place in Woodsboro, California, a sleepy little town whose peace and quiet was interrupted twenty-five years ago by a killer in the now iconic Ghostface mask.
The action in the new film gets underway as a new Ghostface killer sets their sights, and knife, on Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega), a teenage senior at Woodsboro High who enjoys “elevated horror.” (MILD SPOILER) Unlike the opening scene characters before her, Tara survives and is tended to by older sister Sam (Melissa Barrera) whose thorny history with Ghostface makes the pair a target for the masked killer.
As Ghostface’s killing spree continues, Sam turns to the old guard, Dewey Riley (David Arquette), television morning show host Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), and Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), for help.
“Scream” is much cleverer than the retread title and recycled killer would suggest. It continues the meta commentary on the rules characters in slasher movies must abide by if they expect to survive the knife but, more than that, it plays like a satire of itself. It’s a trickly line to walk but directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett stay the course.
As the killer carves notches on his belt, characters talk about “elevated horror,” and toxic fandom until the line between what the characters are talking about and what we’re watching on screen blurs into one bloody riff on postmodern horror and what it really means to be a “requel.” It is simultaneously self-reverential and mocking of the slasher genre, and values its cleverness as much as the kills that provide the scares.
The scary scenes don’t have quite the same atmosphere Wes Craven brought to his “Scream” instalments, but there are moments that linger in the memory. The old trope of revealing the killer behind an opening door is played for laughs and tension, and the loss of one of the “legacy” characters is actually kind of touching.
As expected, the killings are brutal and bloody, and mostly not played for laughs. The new “Scream” is the most gruesome film in the franchise, offering up piercing knives and gallons of pouring plasma. There are plot holes everywhere and the victims have usually done something to out themselves in harm’s way, but the killings are effectively played out.
“Scream” is a slasher movie that bends the rules of slasher movies but, best of all, it also breaks the sequel rule of diminishing returns. Adding a fifth entry to an established franchise, that holds up to the original, may be the movie’s biggest achievement.
SYNOPSIS: “Heads of State” is a Prime Video action-comedy featuring Idris Elba as Sam Clarke, a former commando-turned UK Prime Minister, and John Cena as Will Derringer, a former action star, now President of the United States, who is as loose as Clarke is uptight. “He still hasn’t figured out the difference between a press conference and a press junket,” says Clarke. When an international conspiracy threatens world peace, they can save the world, but only if they can put aside their differences. “The universe keeps telling me I look cool with a gun in my hand,” says Derringer.
