Customer Reviews

A Perfect Murder / Murder by Numbers / Murder in the First

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These are three very different movies, but they all have fantastic acting and will keep you engaged throughout. As always, Michael Douglas was outstanding in "A Perfect Murder" and the performances of Gwyneth Paltrow and Viggo Mortensen were excellent. Such a great screenplay and with a number of twists in the plot. If you like action, suspense, crime movies, murder mysteries, revenge with the bad guy finally tripping himself up and being caught by a very intelligent detective you will love it.

In "Murder by Numbers" Sandra Bullock was both the main star and one of the Executive Producers and this was a perfect vehicle to showcase her abilities as an actress--which is why I think she selected it. The two young male actors were so believable as the privileged, bright and bored amoral teens who believed they were smarter than anyone else and could plan and execute the perfect murder and get away with it. Sandra Bullock was the police detective who was both psychologically and physically scared by a vicious attack years earlier but which still haunted her and which she tried to suppress but which still had power over her. Great screenwriting, directing, casting in addition to the acting which was excellent. If you enjoy suspense, detective stories, action and a number of twists in the plot you will be hooked from the start. Hint: everything in the movie is there for a reason although it may be later in the film when the audience understands the significance of what they had seen previously.

"Murder in the First" is supposedly based on a true story the same as "Murder by Numbers" and I don't usually like movies about prisons and prisoners who may be sentenced to the death penalty. The acting by Kevin Bacon who played Henry the teen sent to prison for stealing $5 and who ended up spending three years in solitary confinement and being tortured for an attempted escape from Alcatraz was fantastic. Gary Oldman played the Associate Warden of Alcatraz who was a sadist and felt he could do anything he wanted to the prisoners and who actually ran the prison on a day-to-day basis. Both of these actors turned in academy award quality performances and I found myself completely engrossed in this movie (much to my surprise). I didn't really like the way they ended it but then maybe that was what happened in real life.

If you enjoy thrillers, this triple feature is a bargain at the price. Enjoy!

Three movies for a little of nothing! Murder in the first is the best! I haven't looked at the other two yet but my wife all of them

I ordered this DVD mostly to get "A Perfect Murder" which is a good movie
so I thought the other 2 would be a bonus . The cast in both are all well known and I would have thought they would be good.
Murder by Numbers ,even with Sandra Bullock in it seemed like a low budget flick
Murder in the First was so boring for the first 45 minutes we finally turned it off.
SO.......the price was about what 1 movie would be so I suppose 1 out of 3 is not too bad

Great suspense. Normally don't care for Sandra Bullock but she was perfect for this role.