Mary Higgins Clark: Pretend You Don't (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)The pattern of the previous films of this series by Ms Clark is partly broken. The main character is not a radio anchorwoman but a female real estate agent. We are not dealing here with a serial killer but with a real hit man hired by a dirty soiled trafficker who appears slightly ambiguous because his secular but not criminal boss, who he cheats, is Italian, or has some kind of an Italian name. But it does not have anything to do with the mafia. The whole business is a cover up operation for a first murder that the police sloppily classified as being an accident. There the pattern is not broken. The police is still sloppy. What's more the police does not succeed where a simple woman, by taking risks and using her intelligence, baits the hit man and the rotten egg out of the basket in which they were hiding. The suspense is OK though of course we know from the very start what the stakes are and we are only missing the name of the man who is ordering these murders. The police will arrive just on time when it is needed not to get into more complicated business. And yet the whole film is built around a leak in the police protection of the main character and we will never know how this leak happened and where it came from. The police is always sloppy with Ms Clark, but Ms Clark is also sloppy on some basic logical elements.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne


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Live Once, Die Twice (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)Another reviewer said that she did'nt regret watching this film. I did. I have always admired actors like Kelly Martin and a few others who refused to lower themselves to Hollywood's sleazy standards. This is the only movie I've seen where Ms. Martin compromises and allows herself to do a sleazy, sensual scene. There may have been more sleazy scenes in this movie but I wouldn't know because after the first one I popped the dvd out and tossed it on my "discard" file...and I said to myself "another Hollywood actress who use to enforce some measure of discretion has caved in to the relentless pressure, from Hollywood directors, to compromise one's standards." Too bad!

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Item Name: Live Once, Die Twice; Studio:Timeless Media Group

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Mystery Woman - Sing Me a Murder (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)Kellie Martin returns as Samantha Kinsey, the owner of the Mystery Woman Bookshop and part-time snoop. The MYSTERY WOMAN series has a charming quality about it because the murders aren't heinous or particularly violent. My wife appreciates that fact about them, and I get to play detective with her as we watch.
The pacing is both familiar and relaxed enough that we get to take turns pointing out clues (some we get, and some aren't clues at all but are our overactive imaginations) and put in our votes for who we think the killer is prior to the solution. The cast of characters are likewise familiar, but they're well rounded and just deep enough that watching them work together is fun.
As owner of the bookstore, Sam seems to know everyone in town. Philby (Clarence Williams III) has a mysterious background of his own. Sam thinks he was once a spy, and everything in the series seems to indicate that as well. He maintains a small office space inside the bookstore and keeps a clandestine group of friends.
In this mystery, a folk rock group from the 1970s called the Ramblers have reunited for a series of fund-raising concerts that will help fight world hunger. They're managed by a young PR guy who ends up getting killed, setting the murder investigation into play.
Before the dust has settled on the murder, the band members are fighting among themselves, and Carly -- one of the members -- confesses to the murder. However Carly has a long history of mental breakdowns and is soon ruled out -- at least for the moment -- as the murderer.
In the meantime, Philby is pursuing a case of his own. Bank robbers have started hitting banks using cutting edge technology. Even though he's retired from whatever it was that he used to do, he's brought in to consult. Before long, Sam and Philby discover that all the cities that had bank robberies were also on the tour list of the Ramblers. What's the connection? And who committed the murder?
Granted, some of the writing and characterization is simple, but simple is what you need so you can work on figuring out whodunit. I love watching the characters go through their familiar routines as they work out the puzzle. The town, though I've never heard it named, seems like a great place to live (except for the periodic murders!) and I'd love to wander through the aisles of the Mystery Woman Bookshop.
If you want a quiet mystery filled with dialogue and a little action, a fiesty grown-up version of Nancy Drew, and without the romance element that can get in the way of the puzzle, the MYSTERY WOMAN DVD movies are great. I've bought and watched all three that have been released so far and have enjoyed all of them.

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Mystery Woman: Snapshot (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)MYSTERY WOMAN: SNAPSHOT details the murder of one of Samantha Kinsey's book club members. Barbara Sommers, one of the town's wealthy, has always been a conspiracy junkie, believing in UFOs and coverups. At the reading of her late brother's will, she finds out that she's left with none of the family company. Barbara insists that a conspiracy is in play, that she's being robbed of what's hers, and that her brother was murdered. After leaving a roll of film with Sam that Barbara tells her contains a clue to the murder, Barbara goes home and is murdered. Sam and Philby, the ex-CIA agent that was her father's friend and who shares her love of doing investigations that aren't quite legal, take up the chase for the murderer.
Kellie Martin (E.R.) stars as Samantha Kinsey. So far, A&E have made eight MYSTERY WOMAN movies, but not all of them have made it to DVD. The series was created by Michael Sloan, a staple in the mystery/adventure TV field. Georg Stanford Brown stars as Philby and even directs this one.
As a mystery, SNAPSHOT was so-so. There weren't enough suspects and the field narrowed pretty quickly once the initial murder kicked the play off. Still, Sam and her cronies are endearing characters and it was fun to watch them work.
Some of the usual confrontations with the local police was missing, and the stakes never truly rose above the solution of the murder. Philby even has his own little mystery to solve while he works on the pipes in the shop, but the solution comes out of left field and the viewer never had a chance at it.
MYSTERY WOMAN: SNAPSHOT is another great little mystery to watch in the casual comfort of home with a fellow sleuth. Perhaps the mystery will solve too quickly, with even the twists and turns telegraphed, but the characters are fun to watch and still worth the price of admission.

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Mystery Woman: Mystery Weekend (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)Samantha Kinsey owns the Mystery Woman Book Store, and occasionally runs into murder mysteries of her own. During Mystery weekend, a chance for fans to gather and meet their favorite writers, writer diva Clare Beckman puts in the first appearance in almost fifteen years. No one knows why she's avoided the limelight. Arriving fashionably late, Clare immediately seizes everyone's attention, makes the announcement that her latest book is her last, and is promptly nearly murdered. Samantha ends up on the suspect list, alongside her most treasured patron. In short order, things go from bad to worse as the mysterious killer succeeds in killing Clare Beckman. With the police certain they've got the killer in custody, it's up to Samantha, her partner Philby -- who used to be a spy, and her assistant district attorney friend Cassandra to track down the real murderer.
This is the second entry in Hallmark Entertainment's MYSTERY WOMAN movie series. Kellie Martin stars as Samantha Kinsey, bringing a lot of experience as an actress as well as directing some of the series' entries. Created by Michael Sloan -- who's created or written for HARRY-O, COLUMBO, THE HARDY BOYS/NANCY DREW MYSTERIES, McCLOUD, THE EQUALIZER, and LA FEMME NIKITA, the series is off to a promising start.
Samantha Kinsey is an enjoyable sleuth. She's an everyday woman, with just a touch of something extra. Her curiosity about mysteries is a deeply rooted passion, and in her movies she's given a good chance to exercise it. Although there's no real drama involved in this movie, there is a good storyline that will keep avid mystery fans guessing up until the final moments. The story plays fair with the clues and the background to solve the murder. Doubtless, the writer, Joyce Burditt, wound the plot largely around British mystery maven Anne Perry's real life, which only came to public light in the last few years. The dialogue is quick and fast-paced, and the subplot involving Samantha and Cassandra's interest in the new lawyer in town is great fun.
The only real drawback to the DVD version is the lack of extras. These days all DVDs come with a little more than the movie, and interviews with the cast would have been a nice addition.
MYSTERY WOMAN: MYSTERY WEEKEND is highly recommended for the armchair sleuthing couples who want to while away a lazy hour and a half over the weekend playing guessing games with each other. This series doesn't have the intensity of something like FOYLE'S WAR, but it is an engaging effort well worth the visit.

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She's an avid mystery lover and bookseller, for whom crime has been comfortably confined to the pages of her favorite novels -- until a real-life murder turns a weekend of fun and games into a chilling whodunit...The quaint mystery bookshop bequeathed to Samantha Kinsey may be struggling, but the idea she's concocted for the weekend should drum up some killer publicity -- a book signing by three very popular and very competitive mystery writers; Maura Hobbs, Angela Cooke, and the reclusive Clare Beckman. Unbeknownst to Sam, Clare is using this "mystery weekend" to make the shocking announcement of her retirement. Just as Clare poses for a final career photograph, an ear-shattering gunshot rings out. Clare manages to dodge the bullet, but later falls victim to a cleverly planted poison. Wading through a long list of suspects and motives, Sam manages to uncover a convoluted plot of blackmail, greed, and deceit -- a real-life mystery that would have thrilled Clare...had she lived to see it unfold.

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