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Summary: An Awsome movie!!!
Review: Any one who likes thriller movies has to see this film! Its go great, I've seen it twice and Im ready to buy the film. A great movie all around with an awsome, unbelievable ending.
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Summary: My favorite thriller movie!!
Review: A very good thriller movie with lots of twists. It keeps you sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what is going to happen next. Moderate foul language, and very brief nudity, if you blink you miss it.
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Summary: Wow! A GOOD 90s horror movie!
Review: This is the best 90s horror movie I've seen. It's suspenseful and psychological. Not a mindless slasher. The end could use some work but it's definitely worth seeing. I'd include it in my top 5 favorite movies.
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Summary: GREAT PLOT, LOUSY SCREENPLAY. FREEMAN AND JUDD CARRY IT..
Review: Nothing ingenious in the plot, nothing you wouldn't have seen before (it is almost "Se7en"-esque, come to think of it) but the handling of the crime thriller theme is different. There is a clever "bi-coastal" angle to the murders under investigation (I won't spoil it with an explanation) and the police investigators do well to identify it. BUT, it's the terrible screenplay that makes the movie's flow rather jerky. So much sudden stuff happened during the course of the detective sleuthing that I couldn't help not caring towards the second half. The finale is mildly predicatable, and the last straw that identifies the killer is so knuckle-headed that it takes away from the overall smart flavor of the film. On the upside, the shooting of the killer in the denouement is pretty novel (just so you wait until the end.) Morgan Freeman maintains every bit of his general quiet-yet-powerful screen charisma, and Ashley Judd delivers a very convincing performance of a woman with spirit. The movie has a good deal of suspense too, kept me riveted. But it surely shows what bad story telling can do to an otherwise great theme. On a scale of Freeman-Judd pairings, this is much better than "Along came a spider" (if you've seen it) but a weaker sibling to "High Crimes". Nothing you'd want to own but definitely a recommended rental!
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Summary: hauntingly scary
Review: Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman are perfect people for this film
Freeman always adds a touch of sarcasm, wit and other things among his dialogue. I like that. he really grabs your attention on screen. only watched this once on dvd. but I assure you it will be worth the watch every time i see it. the visuals of the girls being hurt or killed terrified me. the killer is one sick, twisted individual. not only that but the ending really makes you wonder what happens next or if anything at all. give this movie a try if you have'n't already. the title is hauntingly enough scary with the mask fading between the 2 faces.
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Summary: Suspenseful
Review: Fortunately, I saw the film before I read the book. Otherwise I would have been very disappointed because of all the scenes that were left out. Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd were great together. Excellent chemistry.
Rating:
Summary: Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd Make this Watchable
Review: Morgan Freeman seems to have staked out a niche role. He seems to play a similar character in "Seven," "Along Came a Spider," and "High Crimes," which also co-stars Ashley Judd, along with other roles. I should also point out that Morgan Freeman acted in at least 20 films in the five years from 2000 to 2004, quite prolific in this era. However, it is a role he does exceedingly well. In fact, Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Cary Elwes and the rest of the cast hold their own from an acting viewpoint. The problem with this movie is not the acting. The problem is that this movie is just another in a series of similar movies that, while it has some interesting moments, is still similar in some ways to other recent movies that it appears to be more of a variation on a theme versus anything new.
Dr. Kate McTiernan (Ashley Judd) is found by a river. It turns out that she has escaped a serial kidnapper dubbed Casanova. It also turns out that Kate has numerous skills, including the ability to defend herself when given the chance to do so. Of course, Casanova has been keeping his victims drugged, which causes Kate problems for much of the movie.
Dr. Alex Cross (Freeman) has a niece that appears to have been kidnapped by the Casanova, and he believes Kate may be the key to finding Casanova, his niece, and the other kidnapped girls. Along the path to finding Casanova we discover that the kidnapper seems to move back and forth between the East Coast and the West Coast, as the West Coast kidnapper takes his victims soon after the East Coast kidnapper. We also discover that the kidnapper is a very intelligent person (most of the time), and is so cool about his kidnappings that it is frightening.
What I enjoyed about this movie was how I was thrown off the scent by the West Coast and East Coast connection. Conversely, I was frustrated that it took Dr. Cross so long to figure out where Casanova might be hiding. I admit that we had more information than Dr. Cross, but based on where Kate was found and her descriptions, Dr. Cross should have had a clue earlier. I was also disappointed that Casanova did not build the same chill in me as the antagonists in "Silence of the Lambs," "Seven," or even "Along Came a Spider." This movie appears to be a thriller, but it comes across more as an episode of "Unsolved Mysteries."
Overall, I enjoyed the movie. However, it seemed to me the movie promised much more than it delivered, and I was disappointed by the unfulfilled buildup. I enjoyed Morgan Freeman's performance (as I nearly always do, the man is an excellent actor), and I found the other characters, particularly Ashley Judd, to be similarly believable. But I just never got any significant chills from this movie. It was like hopping on what appears to be a great roller coaster only to find out it was the kiddy coaster. I do recommend this movie to fans of the other movies I listed above, but I hesitate to recommend adding this to your collection.
Rating:
Summary: Thriller with a Less-Than-Scary Villain(s)
Review: Kiss the Girls has some good things going for it. Morgan Freeman is one of the most believable actors of any generation, and Ashley Judd gives one of her better performances here as a Doctor who is kidnapped by the villainous murderer "Casanova".
The movie has to stand up to comparisons with the Thrillers of today, and even limiting that to a shorter list of "Movies with Serial Killers", "Kiss the Girls" falls a little short. Although I liked much about the movie - specifically the acting of the two leads - I found myself mentally comparing the movie to "Seven" and "Silence of the Lambs".
The comparison to "Seven" is perhaps more obvious with Morgan Freeman in a similar role in both. Silence of the Lambs stands at the top of the genre and it wasn't surprising to me that this movie didn't measure up.
To me the most obvious shortcoming of "Kiss" compared to those two superior movies is in the performance of the villain. Kevin Spacey's appearance in "Se7en" begins the final act of that movie, and his twisted character plays off of Brad Pitt and Mr. Freeman perfectly as Seven careens towards it's conclusion. "Silence" tops "Seven" with two screen villains - Ted Levine as "Buffalo Bill" and Anthony Hopkins in one of the greatest screen performances ever as Hannibal Lecter.
I won't stoop to giving away actual spoiler information here but.... this movie's villain didn't strike the same bone-chilling terror down in my soul. If Pee Wee Herman had come riding up on his bright red bicycle in the final act, I swear I would have found it as believable and as thrilling as the way this film plays out. (Now that I think about it, Pee Wee Herman would make a pretty good movie serial killer, huh?)
But I digress. Another bone of contention that I have is with the quality of the acting after Ms. Judd and Mr. Freeman. Cary Elwes has been good before in comedy (Princess Bride and Men in Tights) and in drama (Lady Jane) - but he has previously demonstrated an imperfect ability to play a southern American(in "Twister" as the rival tornado chaser). Here he plays a southern policeman and he not only doesn't quite pull it off - he doesn't pull it off to a level that damages the movie. I find it ironic that as Robin Hood in "Men in Tights" his character gets to ridicule Kevin Costner's lack of the appropriate accent in HIS Robin Hood movie, where here his lack of the appropriate southern accent makes his character stick out like.... like.... Kevin Costner in Sherwood Forest!
Beyond those shortcomings - I recommend "Kiss the Girls".
Rating:
Summary: Kiss the Girls - A Non Love Story
Review: One thing I've learned is that just because I love something that doesn't mean that everyone will love it. Heck they may not even like it. What's that old saying? "One person's Treasure is another's Trash"
Despite that I was genuinely surprised when I noticed that a few (just a few)reviewers actually trashed Kiss The Girls. One or two reviewers said it wasn't like the book while another said something really crazy, that it was just like The Silence of the Lambs, so it wasn't worth seeing. Well let me tell you, comparing Kiss the Girls with The Silence of the Lambs is like comparing the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Monument because they're both monuments. This reviewer took the common denominator, serial murderers, and said they're both the same. By extension, all movies about serial murders are like TSOTL and not worth seeing and then perhaps all action movies are like Die Hard also are not worth seeing and so forth.
As for the comments about not following the book, thats why they write screen plays. Every book cannot be put into visual form without some modification, some more, some less and Kiss the Girls was definitely less. Now I have read Kiss the Girls and Silence of the Lambs too. If something was left out, so be it. That's the case in most movies. You can't cram six hundred pages of story into two hours. Now I didn't read it just before or just after I saw the movie but as I remembered it, I thought it followed the book pretty well.
The Plot
The Durham Police Department has problem. Pretty college co-eds are disappearing from area college campuses. Additionally a couple of the women have been located in the wilds tied to a tree, exposed to the elements and wild animals. A note was found at each crime scene that said "Cassanova". Whether the remaining captives are alive or dead the investigators can only speculate.
The latest victim happens to be the niece of Dr. Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman) a well reputed forensic detective and author from Washington. He has assured his frantic sister in law that he will do everything in his power to find out what happened to Naomi.
When Cross arrives in Durham he gets a tepid response from the authorities, being a famous big city cop nosing around in their business. But since this is family, this is personal and Cross will not be deterred. He discovers that there are six other victims, two of which have been found dead and that there is already a task force investigating.
Dr. Kate McTiernan (Ashley Judd) is a remarkable woman. She is an Intern at a local hospital whose hobby is kickboxing. She is beautiful, bright and talented, just the way Cassanova likes them. Kate will make an excellent addition to his collection.
The investigation is going nowhere, the investigators are stymied and need a break, when words comes that two boys found a woman on the bank of a river. It is the break they needed for it is the newly kidnapped Dr. McTiernan who apparently escaped from Cassanova but she is in the hospital and something is wrong with her.
With the help of Alex Cross, Kate recovers from the drugs that Cassanova had given her, however she is of limited help.
She is able to tell authorities that the other victims are alive and being held at some undisclosed location.
Conclusion
Well let's see, the movie is based on James Patterson's greatest novel and Ashley Judd is my favorite actress and Morgan Freeman is my favorite actor. The acting by all is superb, especially Judd and Freeman but everybody did an outstanding job. The directing was great, the story flows well and is extremely suspenseful. The camera work is also excellent as were the sets and the setting. The movie has no flat or dull spots and keeps you guessing full time and there are some unique plot twists that I haven't mentioned, that is the real genius of the story.
Do I like the movie? Da.... are you kidding, I love the movie, in fact it's one of my ten favorites.
Rating:
Summary: Isn't Gonna Win A OSCAR, but It's Quality Entertainment!
Review: I liked "Kiss the Girls" quiet a bit. Brilliant psycologist and homicide detective Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman) goes to North Carolina to help search for his missing niece. It turns out that she is actually one of many missing girls, the killer is a collector. As it seems the police have exhausted all leads, one of the killer's victoms (Ashley Judd) escapes. She helps Cross with a lot of information that leads him to realize there is a copy cat killer in L.A. Eventually they figure out it isn't copy cat, but the two know each other, andf they are competing with each other. "Kiss the Girls" was unfairly compared with "Silence of the Lambs" and "Se7en", itr shouldn't have been; it firmly stands on it's own. What would have been nice, however, would have been a little more motive from the killers, other than them being drivin by ego. Morgan Freeman as always dose a brilliant job in what could have been a traditonally 'Dirty Harry' cop and made him more human and caring. Ashley Judd dose pretty good too. She is far from helpless. She is strong, resourceful, and smart. She isn't all that just because she has to be, she really feels tough. Brian Cox as the lead police man is appropriotly authoritive and wise (sometimes). Tony Goldwyn is ok as smug plastic surgen and serial killer. All in all, it's an excellent way to kill a few hours.
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