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A Perfect Murder

A Perfect Murder

List Price: $12.97
Your Price: $9.08
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Surprising thriller
Review: Surprising update of the classic play "Dial M for murder", which was also placed on celluloid previously by Alfred Hitchcock, twists the formula to taylor for a modern audience. Michael Douglas plays a wealthy wall street tycoon married to a beautiful trophy wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) who is heiress to her own huge fortune. When Douglas finds out that his wife has taken on a lover, he sets a plan in motion wereby her lover is to kill his wife for half a million dollars. As it seems, the lover has a penchant for petty crime involving wealthy women and dissapearing money. Slick direction by the director of "The Fugitive", a fine ensamble cast and enough twists than a switchback trail, A Perfect Murder offers a slice of perfect popcorn fodder.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not Perfect but Very Good
Review: Andrew Davis' remake of the Hitchcock classic "Dial M for Murder" takes the story into the nineties and adds a few twists of its own. Michael Douglas is brilliant as Steven Taylor, a Wall Street mogul whose forceful persona extends beyond his business dealings and into his personal relationships. Gwyneth Paltrow is less convincing as his much younger wife who happens to be heir to a 100 million dollar estate. Completing the triangle is Viggo Mortensen as the starving artist who is currently having an affair with Paltrow. Of the three leads Douglas of course, gives the best performance while I found Paltrow to be a little too stilted. Mortensen is very good most of the time-a little flat in a few scenes but sufficiently devious.

This is a very intriguing and suspenseful film that grabs you right from the start and never lets go. At least that is until the latter stages when it becomes apparent what the outcome of the film will be and I must say, I didn't like the ending. To be fair, a film centered around three leads does limit the possible outcomes. An alternate ending is include on the DVD but it really isn't that different from the original. The audio commentaries included (there are two) are not really as good as some that I have heard. We learn things such as the fact that Mortensen really painted the pictures seen in the flat (who cares?). A little more interesting was how they came up with the idea for the murder weapon.

The picture quality of this DVD is excellent and probably as good as anything out there. The sound is great as well with a Dolby 5.1 track and great score. The extras include the aforementioned alternate ending and commentaries as well as bios and production notes. The DVD main menu is very nice and features scenes from the movie viewed through a keyhole matte. Strangely absent though is the films trailer.

This film will definitely hold your attention the first time you see it. The question then becomes-is it a movie you will watch time after time and therefore one you will want to purchase? For true fans of the genre and/or Michael Douglas the answer will probably be yes-others would be well-advised to rent this one. Either way this is a compelling thriller that is well worth seeing.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A decent movie
Review: Have seen this movie twice, the first time on VHS and the second time on rented DVD to see the alternate ending. I found the alternate one better than the original, which gave a twist to the ending than the dull original. Not a great movie but entertaining enough.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Visually entertaining...good acting
Review: I am a big fan of Dial M for Murder. This was a lot different. The part that does not make sense in this one is why, in that very big home, she would answer the phone all the way in the kithen when she was in the bathtub. In 1998, and in that big of a home surely you would have a phone in the master bedroom (which they do, someone uses it later on in the movie). In the original the flat that they lived in in London was pretty small and back then it was usual to have just one phone. Not a biggie just one of those holes that you wished they would have thought of. Visually I enjoyed it because it's always fun to see how people with that kind of wealth live.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Perfect
Review: "A Perfect Murder" is about a man (Micheal Douglas) who hires his wife's boyfriend to kill her. The wife (played very well by Gwyneth Paltrow) soon finds something is amiss... and it takes you on a suspensful ride of murder and betrayal. Very good. I'd recomend it to anyone looking for a wonderful movie.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not so perfect after all
Review: A husband in financial trouble who suspects foul play on the part of his wife hires her lover to kill her in exchange for half a million dollars. The plan quickly goes to hell and the husband tries to get himself out of the way of the law and gets in more trouble with his wife. Very good suspense flick has it's share of flaws but the pros prevail and Paltrow is something else. The attached alternate ending is dehumanizing on the part of Paltrow.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: MY FAVORITE MOVIE
Review: This movie was awesome. I love the mystery and suspense, and the alternate ending on the DVD version of the movie gives a twist on Paltrow's character. It's great!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Perfection takes time
Review: A business man's well off wife is cheating on him and he enacts revenge by hiring her lover to kill her so he can take her money as his business is failing. But the foreigner is not all he seems, he's a former crook and a coward who gets someone else to screw up for him and the whole blows up in everyone's face. Ranges from a poor start to interesting and entertaining to confusing in the same note. The alternate ending takes us back to Paltrow's former HUSH, which no one seemed to like.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Tepid rehash of Hitchcock classic
Review: Just to prove that there really is a dearth of originality in Hollywood, we get this too predictable re-make of the earlier film. Why don't they redo some bad films -- the classics will rarely be surpassed with modern technical glitz. If you want to see a modern film whose motif is the 'attempted wife murder gone astray' then get Fargo and forego(sorry) this one.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: unexpectedly AWFUL!
Review: Two wonderful stars in one terrible movie!!! How could a movie w/ such a great story line have so many holes in the plot-I was so dissappointed...There isn't much more i can say!


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