Along Came a Spider (DVD)

I first saw ‘Along Came a Spider’ at the cinema in Manchester because we had tickets to a special preview the week before it was released. However, what started as a free night out turned into one of my favourite movie watching occasions, and not just due to the monster Ben and Jerry’s sundaes we picked up on the way in. My usual preferred genre is comedy so this is not the sort of film I tend to watch. However, while this film is a ‘thriller’ to use the production studio’s term, for the most part it is much more ‘murder mystery Miss Marple style’ than ‘huge action flick with lots of guns’. There are some gorier scenes, some scarier ones and some more violent ...  Read the complete review

This movie is an adaptation of a novel by James Patterson, has a fast-paced screenplay by Marc Moss and was produced by Joe Wizan and David Brown. Photography was by Matthew F. Leonetti, and the music by Jerry Goldstein. Starring Morgan Freeman (who I think he is an incredible actor and could watch all day) as Dr. Alex Cross, a detective who is suffering from the loss of a partner and seems to have had a bad time of it for a few months. What I like most about Morgan Freeman is his ability to get inside his characters and make them become real. In "Along Came A Spider", he did not let me down, but I feel had to share the accolade for the best actor in the ...  Read the complete review

This is pure Morgan Freeman, of late. He seems to be slipping himself into retirement by inches, typecast as the worldweary cop with too much emotional baggage and a line in psychology. He is reprising an earlier character, you could argue, but given that he seems to play the same character ad infinitum these days, I really couldn't distinguish him. That said, the support cast is excellent, and they add a youthful presence to Freeman's 'elder statesman.' The plot is a tad sluggish, but some appropriately tense moments serve to kick it along at pace. As the 'little girl kidnapped' story develops, twist by twisty twist, you really do get sucked in. Then the final reel ...  Read the complete review

I have to admit to being a fan of James Patterson's Alex Cross novels. They are so easy to read that you can sit back and relax with your brain out of gear and still have a good time, but they are ultimately a little lightweight in detail, no matter how convoluted he tries to make the plots. Kiss The Girls was the first time we saw Alex Cross, and the same description could have been applied to that movie. Along Came A Spider is his secpnd movie appearance...and nothing has changed. The movie is good, but at the end when its all ironed out you'll wonder why all the twists and turns when the solution was a mere step away. The movie opens with a ...  Read the complete review

The Adventures of Alex Cross, Part 1, despite being the second film into the cinemas after "Kiss the Girls", because this film is based on the first Alex Cross novel by James Patterson. Morgan Freeman was good enough bait to entice me into the local cinema, the man can do no wrong, and here we have a follow up to a not-bad thriller. Michael Wincott is sign posted as the baddie, and he was one of the better things in "Alien: Resurrection" as a gravel voiced mercenary, and who the heck is Monica Potter...Lee Tamahori, veteran of "The Soprano's", "The Edge" and "Once Were Warriors" directs, so the film's ...  Read the complete review