White Noise 2 (2007, PG-13)

White Noise (the first) scared me more than just about any other movie I've seen.  It was early afternoon in August in Chicago and I was wrapped in a blanket and shivering.  That's what I call a successful horror movie!  White Noise 2 also left me extremely satisfied, but in a different way.  Unlike with many unplanned sequels in which producers try to recapture what made the first movie make money and then just replicate it, this one took the premise of the first movie and take it to the next logical step (development!).  In White Noise 1, Michael Keaton's character starts getting messages from the dead through static on TV and radio (hence the name white noise); in White Noise 2, Nathan Fillion's character has a near-death experience and becomes a receiver for white noise transmissions himself.  The tie between the first and second movies in this series is very tenuous.  You could easily watch the second without seeing the first (I don't think I've ever made that suggestion before), and you wouldn't even know it was a sequel if the title didn't include the number 2.  The white noise plot point only leads into what is really going on in this film, which is that Fillion can now see auras around people to indicate that they will soon fall victim to murder or an accident (the title could as easily be Aura as White Noise 2).  I really liked the exploration of his new ability and ramifications of it, kind of how The Butterfly Effect explored the various effects of changing your past.

I consistently enjoy movies by Joss Whedon, so I've sort of been trained to like seeing Nathan Fillion on screen (Firefly television series, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog), and I think he did a great job in this film (on par with Firefly, better than Dr. Horrible, though DH was more of a fun romp than a chance to stretch his acting muscles).  Before the Green Lantern movie was made, there was a fan-trailer made with the common dream-casting of Fillion as Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds was cast in the actual GL film), and while I recognized some of the clips from Firefly, others also looked good but I could not identify them... it turns out they were from this film.  White Noise 2 seemed more of a thriller than a horror flick to me, though it does have some spooky ghost jump-scares throughout.  I don't want to give away too many particulars because pretty much everything he finds out is a cool revelation and part of the experience of watching it, but if you're a fan of supernatural thrillers, Nathan Fillion, ghost jump-scares, or even we'll say superhero stories... this movie is worth renting.  As of the writing of this review the film is unfortunately no longer available on Netflix instant.

The Caveman's Valentine (2001, R)

I had added this movie to my instant queue because the cover looked interesting and I had no idea what it was about.  It turns out the title comes from the main character named Romulus Ledbetter who lives in a cave in new york, who people call The Caveman (he insists he's "Not homeless! I live in a cave."), and he finds a dead body outside his cave on Valentine's Day.  So it's a murder mystery in which the "detective" is a loud, ranting, crazy, homeless man.  Played by Samuel L. Jackson (Snakes On A Plane)!  It's awesome!  But seriously, it was a surprisingly good deceive story in which he struggled to get to the bottom of the case despite his difficult mental state.  And as you'll find in many good detective stories, the authorities don't want to cooperate or take the protagonist seriously (in this case, because he's literally crazy).  Btw, I haven't seen a movie in while in which Jackson consistently yelled as much as here (Star Wars and Pulp Fiction, which I watch on occasion, both have plenty of his quietly menacing variety).  The best part of the film was that, because it's from his point of view, we get to see his hallucinations.  And it's not always obvious that it was a hallucination until after something else happens.  One scene about halfway in was filmed in black and white and was actually very beautiful.  Anthony Michael Hall (Weird Science, The Deadzone television series) played a local rich businessman who appeared in a couple scenes, and though a decent guy still had elements that caricatured 1990's(ish) rich New York businessmen.

The story partly reminded me of The Soloist (2009) in that Romulus is a clever schizophrenic former Juliard student who would rather live outside than in a homeless shelter.  If The Caveman's Valentine did not predate The Soloist, I might have suspected a lack of originality (in part); The Soloist is also free from suspicion because it is based on a true story; both are based on books.  Also of note is that Sam Jackson and Danny DeVito are among the roughly a dozen producers on this flick.

Overall I liked the detective structure and story they told, and the creative twist of the main character's insanity just made it better.  I recommend this movie if you like detective stories, creative twists on the way a story is told, or Samuel L. Jackson (who I think was just a logical choice for this role).  This film is no longer available for streaming via Netflix, but can still be gotten by the DVD version. 

Little Blue Pill (2010, NR)

When I first read the description of the movie I thought it was some general fictitious medicine other that that little blue pill.  Turns out it was that little blue pill.  Or at least a parody of it: "Erecta"!  I can't say it's a good movie, but if you watch it sufficiently late at night and with sufficiently many drinks in you (as I did), it can be pretty damned fun!  The acting was terrible.  Well... I've seen worse.  But it's still not good.  There were no actor's I'm familiar with nor the director or screenwriter.  They had a decent camera and film stock, and some of the shot cuts near the end were actually noticeably good.

The premise is that the main character thought he was taking some over-the-counter painkillers for his headache (it was his roommate's medicine bottle) but it was actually a sample of the experimental (stronger) version of an erectile dysfunction medication.  And he took what would be a double-dose (fortunately he didn't take the third one in his hand).  He finds out that overdoses can cost his "equipment" and scrambles to try to find an antidote.  Parts of the setup are a lot like a high school buddy movie: the main character is a nice guy, his roomate/friend is a crude jerk, the girl is his just-friend who he might have a crush on.  The pharmaceutical company (Phalico) is trying to hunt him down and get rid of the evidence of the failed-trial version (this part is not standard high school comedy fare).  His self-imposed restrictions on how to deal with his problem are reminiscent of 40-Year-Old Virgin, which I also liked.  It's a "late night comedy" which means it's a raunchy romp with plenty of wackiness.  High school/college boys, this bud's for you (sorry, that ad campaign's inception predates even mine, but it's a line from Weird Science -which I watched probably close to 100 times growing up- so I have a soft spot for it).  There's really not much to say about this film other than it's a bit crude, it's got boobies, and my favorite line is "You're loosing your edge, Grampa: he's still alive."  If you're sober and the sun is shining, if you're above or below the age (or at least maturity level [and be proud of wherever you are]) to get a kick out of this, don't watch it.  But otherwise... do it.