‘Novocaine’: Jack Quaid has his action hero moment with new movie
Jack Quaid stars as an action hero who can’t feel pain in the action comedy “Novocaine,” also starring Amber Midthunder.
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There are so many superhero movies and other flicks where the good guys seem too good at they do, it’s nice to root for a dude who you really wonder if he’s going to make it out of assorted bad situations.
In the grand tradition of John McClane and Indiana Jones, here comes Nathan Caine. Jack Quaid’s underdog protagonist feels no pain in the action comedy “Novocaine,” which marries cartoonish violence and an enjoyably hard-luck main character. Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt also embrace heroic roles – ones that feel familiar to anyone who’s watched “Stranger Things” and the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies – in the Netflix sci-fi adventure “The Electric State,” the latest from “Avengers” directors Joe and Anthony Russo. And Amanda Seyfried takes on an interesting part, as a Philadelphia beat cop, in the Peacock limited series “Long Bright River.”
Now on to the good stuff:
Witness Jack Quaid get shot, stabbed and fried in ‘Novocaine’
If like me you’ve been a longtime fan of the streaming show “The Boys,” you know how likable a guy Jack Quaid is. He’s been in movies, too, but the son of Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid really makes his mark as a big-screen action hero in his first star vehicle, “Novocaine.” He’s also the best part of the action comedy, which centers on a nerdy, homebody assistant bank manager – who has the interesting condition of not being able to feel pain – going after the robbers who take his crush (Amber Midthunder) hostage.
I talked with Quaid about how he channeled Buster Keaton for the fight scenes and why, because the movie is so violent, Nate needed to be a “sweetie pie” when getting punched, kicked, stabbed, impaled, etc., rather than a hardcore hero. “He can’t be dark or brooding or angry, really,” Quaid says. “He has to be a cupcake of a human.”
See Amanda Seyfried hit the streets in cop drama ‘Long Bright River’
She broke out as a ditz in “Mean Girls,” scored an Oscar nomination for “Mank” and sang with Meryl Streep in a couple of “Mamma Mia!” movies. Now she’s in an interesting TV phase, following up an Emmy-winning turn as Elizabeth Holmes in “The Dropout” to hitting the mean streets of Philly for “Long Bright River.” The gritty police drama (streaming now on Peacock) has a “Mare of Easttown” vibe, with Seyfried as an oboe-playing beat cop investigating a series of murders involving sex workers and also searching for her missing addict sister.
“Would I rather do comedy? Of course,” Seyfried tells our Patrick Ryan in an engaging convo. “The levity and challenge of that is really fun. But this strikes so close to home for so many people with the addiction storyline, including me.”
Stream Millie Bobby Brown’s movie ‘The Electric State’ on Netflix, new ‘Rust’ documentary on Hulu
Woody Harrelson voicing an animatronic Mr. Peanut? That is inspired casting right there. But there’s a lot of intriguing bits about Netflix’s retrofuturistic sci-fi adventure “The Electric State” (streaming now) that don’t add up to much. Millie Bobby Brown stars as a rebellious teenage girl in an alternate version of 1994 where robots grow tired of doing menial jobs and revolt against humans, and the youngster’s search for her kid brother involves a scruffy smuggler (Chris Pratt), colorful mechanical mascots, a tech bro bad guy (Stanley Tucci) and an overly sentimental streak. (Peep my ★★ review.)
While you’re in a streaming mood, my colleague Marco della Cava interviewed director Rachel Mason about her new documentary “Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna” (streaming now on Hulu). The film digs into the controversies surrounding the filming of the Western movie “Rust,” where a prop gun held by Alec Baldwin discharged during rehearsal and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Mason says she wanted to “show the overall human toll” of the tragedy and its aftermath, plus weighs in on “Rust” ultimately being finished. “If you knew Halyna, it’s impossible not to think she would want it completed,” Mason says.
Even more goodness to check out!
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