I could shoot you in the middle of Mardi Gras and they can’t touch me.
I saw this movie years ago and enjoyed the suspense and the game-of-cat-and-mouse. When I was flipping through Amazon prime, I spotted it and decided to watch it again.
So the film starts out with the very wealthy Parson family, Nicholas (Bruce Greenwood) and Libby (Ashley Judd), hosting a fundraiser for the school their son Matty attends. They seem like the dream couple who have it all with the perfect relationship.
So sweet
Then to top it off, Nicholas surprises Libby with a sailboat. They are going to test it out before buying with a romantic night. Libby’s best friend and Matty’s teacher, Angela Green watches him for them.The two head off and have a romantic night. Everything is perfect.
Aw! How sweet!
When Libby awakes the next day she finds her husband gone! Blood everywhere! And her facing a murder charge.
Help me! I’m confused!
She tries to beat it, but finds herself in prison. She signs guardenship over to Angela, who sweetly visits every week with her son. But then one day Angela doesn’t come.
Soon it is a month.
Libby doesn’t know what to do but gets an idea from one of her cellmates to try and find her. Libby calls the school pretending to be Angela and gets the forwarding address. She then calls Angela, who is shocked that she tracked her down to San Francisco. Libby demands to talk to Matty, Angela lets her, and then Libby hears the last thing she ever would.
Matty: Daddy!
Her husband is alive? Alive?
Help me! I’m confused!
The line goes dead and that’s all Libby has. So here is Libby-imprisoned for a crime she did not commit, lost her son, lost the money, and stuck in prison-with no one wanting to listen to her or help her. All is bleak
But then one of the cellmates comes to her with an idea.
Margaret Skolowski: Pay attention, because this is the best g****** advice you’re ever gonna get. Ever hear of something called double jeopardy? Fifth Amendment to the constitution? [Libby shakes her head left to right] Huh? No? Well, double jeopardy provides that ‘no person may be tried for the same crime twice.’ You got that? Keep stirrin’. The state says you already killed your husband. They can’t convict you of it a second time. That means that when you leave here, and you track him down, and when you find him you can kill him. That’s right. You can walk right up to him in Times Square, put a gun to his head and pull the f****** trigger, and there’s nothin’ anybody can do about it.[Libby makes a slight smile] Kinda makes you feel warm and tingly all over, don’t it? That’s right. keep stirrin’.
So Libby decides that is what she will do. She becomes a model prisoner, works out, and survives on knowing that she can get him and get away with it.
She gets parole and ends up in a halfway house that is run by Travis (Tommy Lee Jones). She then heads on a quest to find her husband, and getting her son; killing him if necessary.
You are going down
***Spoiler Alert***
So Libby breaks into the school her son went to in order to get information on Angela-like her social security number and such in order to find her. She gets caught and arrested, but uses her wit to get out of it while they are ferrying to the city.
She then uses that and her husband’s love of painting to track him down to New Orleans, and to a bachelor auction fundraiser.
She tries to get her son, but Nicholas, now Jonathan Deveraux, tries to murder her again. But Libby won’t give up.
I am not done
One of the best parts is near the end when Travis starts to think that Libby is right and asks for a DMV picture of Parsons to see if he could be Jonathan Deveraux. The picture comes in and it is a picture of someone else.
Hmm…
But later he tells Nicholas how he decided that Parsons is a common name, and ran it again-finding proof of his picture. Then he and Libby plan a way to frame him!
[Libby shoots the painting behind Nick’s head]
Libby Parsons: [Libby smiles] I haven’t felt that good in six years. I don’t want to kill you, Nick. I just want you to suffer like I suffered.
Travis Lehman: What she means, Nick, is, you’re going to prison – For murder.
Nick Parsons: Who did I supposedly murder?
Libby Parsons: Me.
Nick Parsons: All you’ve got is an old fax photo.
Libby Parsons: Which supplies the motive. Your wife, whom you had framed, tracks you down, and to keep her from exposing you, you kill her.
Fantastic scene! The end is great and Libby finally gets her vengeance and justice.
So I was housesitting and dogsitting for a family friend while they went camping, and they asked if I would hang out with their dogs as they just love attention. They told me to help myself to anything to drink and that I could watch TV or movies.
Sounds good to me.
As dogs love attention I would come multiple times a day. And as I don’t have cable anymore I miss watching TCM (Turner Classic Movies) along with Lifetime and Hallmark.
So I was checking out what was on and then decided to look up xfinity’s on demand. I came across this movie’s summary.
Ellie was just your regular cheerleader until her father and sister were murdered. Now she’s investigating, but then two other girls are kidnapped. It seems as if the killer is on to Ellie’s investigation. Will she figure it out before they go after her next?
I thought it sounded great. Girl’s father and sister are murdered and she’s hunting down the killer’s in this huge game of cat and mouse?
I’m ready to watch
This film was no where near that at all.
Majorly
Instead it was stupid, Ellie was a giant numbskull, and it was extremely obvious who the killer was. I hated it and wished I hadn’t wasted my time.
However, as I already spent about two hours watching, so you guys are going to get my review.
As I didn’t really like the film it will be mostly images from other things. Just a quick FYI for you all.
So the film starts off extremely strangely. The girl believes everything that has gone wrong in her life is because of a curse.
Some “curse” of cheerleaders follows her family. First the prom king was killed when he was with her mom in high school. Then her sister and her boyfriend broke up. He didn’t take it kindly and snuck into the house. Ellie saw him and didn’t say anything due to her shock. He went into the sister’s room and shot her.
The father hearing the cries came out and was shot as well. The boyfriend then committed suicide.
Ellie blames herself for the murders, saying they happened because she is cursed.
Now I get blaming yourself (even though it wasn’t her fault. In fact if she had tried to do something she probably would have been killed) but a curse? A curse? Really? Why does she believe it? It makes zero sense, it just doesn’t jell of line up. There is no reason why she would believe she is cursed.
huh
So now it is a year later. The mom and daughter are strangely still living in the same house. I don’t know way they wouldn’t have moved, I sure would’ve.
Getting out of here
So Ellie is friends with the two most popular girls in school, also cheerleaders, Morgan and Dee. Morgan’s parents are out of town so she’s having a sleepover with Dee and Ellie. Ellie also dates the newest, yet hottest, guy in the school; Nicholas.
They think they are pretty hot.
Meanwhile, there is a guy who is on the fringe of high school social society, Ben. He tries to talk to Morgan but Dee scares the “loser” off.
Meanwhile, Morgan and the coach seem very friendly, so much that there is a rumor that something might be going on there but Morgan denies it.
At the sleepover one of the girls notices a little clay bunny. They ask Morgan where it came from, but Morgan doesn’t know, it just appeared.
So the sleepover doesn’t end well. Ellie and Dee are trying to find out if Morgan’s rumors with the coach are true. She gets mad and says some remarks to the two girls. Dee strikes back and Ellie gets offended when they say something that triggers her father’s and sister’s death.
Ellie leaves and heads home. When she arrives there she finds a clay bunny in her room too.
The next day Morgan and Dee don’t show up at school. It isn’t weird that they would skip, as neither girl is really an academic like Ellie, but hey would never miss the big day of the pep rally, I mean after all Dee’s the head cheerleader.
Something is not right!
Ellie decides to drive out to the house to check on the girls, but both are gone! And it looks like a struggle! She calls the police and they start investigating as to what could have happened.
Hmm…
Ellie goes home where they have the police wait outside just in case. After all, everyone knew she was going to be at the sleepover, she is lucky she left when she did or she would’ve been taken too.
Woah! Close Call!
Now I don’t understand why she thinks there is a “curse” that affects her. I mean she is pretty lucky. Here she wasn’t kidnapped, and later she does some real stupid things but makes it out okay. If anything she should think she is a “blessed” person.
Anyways, so she is at home while her boyfriend pulls a Billy from Scream and sneaks in through the window instead of going through the front door.
Now immediately I think, “hey, he’s new in town, this never happened before they moved here, and he gives off mega Billy vibes.” He is definitely in the equation.
So they end up finding Morgan’s body out of town in a ravine. It matches up with some other deaths that have happened all over the country, and is clearly the work of a serial killer. The FBI are called in and are very interested in Ellie.
But why would they think that Ellie is involved? There is zero evidence and no reason why she would do such a thing.
The FBI find a clay bunny in Dee’s room as well. Could it be left by the killer?
Ellie then receives a threatening note at school and decides to tell NO ONE ABOUT IT!!
What the HECK?!! WHY WOULD SHE DO THAT?! So stupid! TELL the POLICE!!!
And this makes no sense at the end. How did the…whoa getting a head of myself.
So Ben has been questioned by the police and acting up, yelling, being mean, etc. Ellie becomes suspicious of Ben and decides to investigate.
And DOES THE STUPIDEST THING EVER!!! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING GOING TO THE HOUSE OF A PERSON YOU THINK IS A KIDNAPPER AND MURDERER?
There, at Ben’s house, Ellie finds a bunch of clay bunnies. She freaks out, and then Ben come home with his drugged up mother. He says that he did leave the bunnies, but only because he wanted to be friends with them.
Well then why you creeping around? I mean I know that he didn’t feel he could approach them one on one in school, as they might be cruel or laugh in his face. But come on man, did you really think that by breaking into their house you would become besties with them?
Ben gets arrested, of course, but I know it’s not him. 1) He doesn’t seem like a killer, just a misunderstood boy looking for the love he is not getting from an abusive mother. 2) Its too easy. 3) There is a whole lot more left to the film.
Nope, not him.
Now Ben, I feel bad for you but you are going about this all in the completely WRONG way. First, stop skulking about the halls, no one likes a skulker. Second, stop being so mean and grouchy. Everyone likes a brooder but not someone who yells all the time. “
So Ellie gets more threats, but these through her text messages. She still choses to not discuss it with the police.
She’s also not even freaked out that crazy kidnapper and murderer, nay serial killer is after her. She’s just like no big deal.
really? I can’t stand this movie.
So she is not at all questioning her boyfriend or his father’s weird behavior. I mean she barely knows them, they just moved here, none of this happened before they came.
It is totally one of them and I’m leaning toward the dad.
Ellie decides to head out to where Morgan was found and the little altar/memorial they made for her but does the stupidest thing in the world.
really? I can’t stand this movie.
First, she was supposed to go with her mom but tells her she can’t because Nicholas and her are going together. Then Nicholas offers to go with her but she turns him down as she wants to go BY HERSELF TO TRY AND CATCH THE KILLER!!! Can you believe that? How stupid! Did you just forget that you’ve been threatened twice already?
You are just asking to be killed.
So I’m like please take a weapon or something with you, and does she? NO! BECAUSE SHE IS A BIG, FAT, STUPIDHEAD. Jeez, I try not to judge but you are really encompassing that stereotype of dumb cheerleader because you are so dumb!!!
My dream ending is that Ben will comes to Ellie’s rescue somehow, redeeming him and making everyone love and want to be his friend. That’s how I would end it. Either the dad or boyfriend turns out to be the psycho and Ben has to help her.
But back to the film. As soon as Ellie gets to the memorial, everyone just disappears! Why?
Morgan’s dad comes depressed, sad, and acting really creepy. A big red herring is what I think, tossing him in like that as a potential suspect.
You think I’m really going to fall for that?
As Ellie is leaving a car kind of attacks her and they go on a chase, but he takes off and Ellie gets no plates or anything.
So Ellie decides to drive up the highway where Morgan was found. So goes up to THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!!! YOU ARE JUST ASKING TO BE KILLED, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!
She finds this house that is all alone and just looks like the ideal murder spot. And what does she do? Call the police? NO OF COURSE NOT. THIS DUNDERHEAD DECIDES TO GO MARCHING IN. Just because you can’t see a car doesn’t mean the killer isn’t there. And what if there is more than one? Eh? You don’t have anything to protect yourself. I mean, seriously.
Look at your life, look at your choices. You are making some really bad ones.
So she breaks a window and gets into the house. Now of course this is the murder site, the writer of this flick wasn’t too bright or interesting. But what if this wasn’t the murder house? What if this house belongs to someone and you just wrecked it? You just don’t think do you.
Or do anything
This girl is so dumb, she deserves to die. Now I’m not usually that callous, but seriously the way she is acting. She’s asking to be a victim.
So Ellie hears a noise and heads down into the basement. There she finds Dee chained up, starved, and abused. Ellie gets her free and expects her friend to take off with her, but Dee is in too much of shock. She can barely move. If only Ellie had not forgotten to bring her phone.
Yes this entire movie Ellie has her phone permanently in her pocket, but then this one time she cold really use it, she left it in her car.
Then the killer returns. This part as actually interesting as the girls have to play a type of cat and mouse trying to flee from their attacker. Now this guy is fast, really fast like a football player. Hmm…just like her boyfriend and her boyfriend’s dad…
The killer is wearing a mask so they can’t see who it is. As they are running, Dee of course falls as she barely has control over her body after being bound for so long. The killer gets her as Ellie continues to run to the car and eventually has to go before she too is killed.
Told you so!
Again she blames the curse but this is on you. Too bad you didn’t bring a friend with you. Or your phone.
So later Ellie is an artist and draws the car that she saw trying to drive her off the road. Nicholas comes over to cheer her up when he looks at the sketch and freaks out:
Nicholas: [Worried] It’s happening again.
The dad is the killer, he just has to be the one!
Then we have Ellie who is completely convinced she is cursed and everything is her fault.
Blah, blah
Again with that? Really. I mean a five year old would believe that but you are almost an adult and you think a “curse” is to blame?
Anyways we have this weird and crazy flashback. This happens periodically throughout the film but have no reason. They don’t add anything to the story and they are just dumb.
really? I can’t stand this movie.
Ellie then gets a creepy message about how she can’t save the other? Others who? cheerleaders? I mean, come on. If you are going to threaten someone be clear.
So Ellie starts talking to her mom about the curse and the mom is actually pretty bright and decides to send her to the grandma in Sacramento.
It is extremely rare in this film.
Ellie is mad and decides to go see Nicholas to tell him good-bye. Nicholas isn’t home so the dad lets her go up to his room to wait for him. Nicholas’ room is really weird. He has a bunch of pics of himself, nothing with friends or anyone, just him. Weird.
Nicholas finally comes home and says some vague creepy things.
Nicholas: What if things weren’t exactly how you think they are.
What are you talking about?
The dad ends up killing his son and goes after Ellie taking her back up to the house. Luckily, the FBI were doing their job and has investigated the house, discovering it belongs to Nic’s dad. One of the FBI saves Ellie.
The film is over!!!
But Ellie still doesn’t think she is safe. She is still CURSED. UGH!!!!
So yeah. This film was extremely bad.Do yourself a favor and just skip on by it.
“They say that when I die, the case will die. They say it will be like a book I close. But the book, it will never close…”
So this is a film that I have been wanting to see for a really long time and finally was able to. It is on Amazon Instant Watch currently, so I would totally suggest checking it out if you have that.
Check it out
So this film was an amazing thriller. I have to say that I thought I had everything figured out, but in the end I was really thrown by James Patterson.
So the film is based on the book of the same name, and is the first of the Alex Cross detective series.
So the film starts off with Alex Cross, played by the amazing Morgan Freeman, trying to take down a serial rapist and killer. His partner, Tracie, is currently undercover and trying to see if Jim Galloway, the guy they’ve been tailing, is their supposed guy. Everything is running smoothly, until Galloway discovers that Tracie is a cop. He then tries to hurt her, causing her to hit him, the car to spin out of control, and go over the Virginia Falls.
Alex is brokenhearted.
Fast forward a year. Here we have little Megan Rose, a senator’s daughter, who is going to school. It seems to be just an average until…but its not. It is very different as her Charles Lindbergh obsessed computer science teacher, Mr. Soneji, kidnaps her.
The secret service who watches the kids of political parents discover the kidnapping and go looking for her, calling in the FBI.
Meanwhile, Alex Cross is watching news on TV when he receives a phone call. It is the killer!
Yes, just like When a Stranger Calls, the killer is interested in a game of cat and mouse. Soneji wants Alex to get involved in the case so that he can have the fame of not only outsmarting the detective but be widely written about in all the papers. He leaves Megan’s shoe in Alex’s mailbox, prompting him to immediately join the case. There he teams up with Jezzie, Megan’s security detail, to try and track this kidnapper down.
Now I won’t say anymore, because I really do not want to give away the ending, it was so awesome. But I will leave you with reasons why I truly enjoyed this film.
1. Morgan Freeman
Now you’re all probably think, no duh. (Am I right?) And sure it is a no brainer. Morgan Freeman is an absolutely wonderful actor and really connects to you in this role. You feel his pain when he loses his partner, the reluctance to take on a new one, and the drive he has to find this girl, no matter what the cost. He’s lovable, tough, no-nonsense, and the guy you pretty much wish you had backing you up.
2. Megan Rose
Megan is the little girl kidnapped and she’s no push over. This girl is pretty B.A. as she constantly comes up with ways to try and escape to get back to her parents. I love that she is not only super smart, but incredibly persistent stopping at nothing to gain her freedom.
3. Twist Ending
Now the ending is great, it was an amazing twist. It was one of those that when you each the end you see all the little hints that were headed your way and it all makes sense, vis a vis Perfect Stranger.
janeaustenrunsmylife 