Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995)

Trading an urban environment for the jungles of Africa, Ace has achieved enlightenment and become one with nature when he's summoned to rescue a tribe's sacred white bat, Shikaka, from poachers. After that, the plot becomes irrelevant as Jim Carrey is let off his leash and causes havoc to all who meet him. This is another one of those raucous comedies where you can't analyze it too much or it loses all its value. It's fucking hilarious and I could list enough memorable scenes to cement it as a classic. I was originally going to give it a lower score, but upon revisiting it, I think it holds up as well as the original.

4 birthing rhinos out of 5

From Hell (2001)

A Jack the Ripper story adapted from/inspired by an Alan Moore graphic novel of the same name. It’s flawed but interesting.

The Hughes brothers wanted realism in the environment, but the end result is far from that; it’s a well-lit Whitechapel filled with clean dirt and a stage-like aura, but it works if you think of it as theatre.

There are some memorable flashes of creativity thanks in part to the stylised use of colour. The editing is good and the music is successful in creating and sustaining intrigue and drama.

Johnny Depp is a fine actor but he isn't suited to the role of a Dorset-born Police Inspector, and nor is Heather Graham suited to hers. The illusion of being in London is utterly shattered every time they speak.

2½ alleviations out of 5

White Noise (2005)

Horror/thriller about the dead communicating with the living through what is known as electronic voice phenomena (EVP). WN uses a number of tricks that Hollywood has learned from the Japanese over the years. For a while it’s successfully implemented, but by the third act it’s dumped into a large bag of missed opportunity and dropped down the shitter.
Michael Keaton played Mr Serious well, but the role needed more than that. I like Ian McNeice so it was fun to see him. Everyone else had little or nothing to do and had a similar level of impact on the story.

2½ breaths of dead air out of 5