Jonah Abbott
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
Philippa
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Janis
One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
SanteeFats
Another very well done Jesse Stone movie. A dead 14 year old, pregnant teen found floating in a Paradise pond leads to some very revealing scenarios. Turns out the girl has turned into a slut after she switches to a news school. As the film progresses Jesse finds out that the accused, a well known writer named Shaw uses his annual fund raiser to meet and seduce young girls and is the father of the dead girl's fetus. He is also a yachtsman and the knot tied to hold the body down doesn't make sense, it was a square knot which will come undone. This leads Jesse to the real murderer's, a local drug dealer and his gunman bodyguard. They killed the girl and planted her to get Shaw out of the picture because he was writing an expose on the dealer. They all meet in an abandoned building where the dealer ends up shot by his guard and Jesse kills the shooter. Just a nice old fashion detective movie.
aequitas_veritas_007
I will start off by saying the overall simple style and dialogue of this made for TV movie make it a success. It is a guys version of Hallmark/Lifetime movies, with a length that is not too long to hold a viewers interest. As this is the third Jesse Stone movie, and the second that I have seen, I am glad that the supporting characters returned to keep the bond they have created up. The set locations are amazingly rural and real, although some of the cheesy freeze frames during commercial transitions could have been handled better. The story remains as entertaining as Jesse Stone: Stone Cold. Stone's direct, no bull approach is cool to watch. The story line is a tough one to touch on national television and be appropriate, but they did a good job. The "plot twist" was simple and more of a "when are they going to realize what is going on" versus the "I have no idea, surprise me" type. The sub-stories about Stone's alcoholism could been left out, they didn't really contribute to anything. I am a fan of this series and can't wait to watch the rest, but I would not say it is worth buying on DVD. A single viewing should do ya.
JWJanneck
I like the Jesse Stone series---with generally very good acting, good production values, atmospheric photography and good direction, they are head and shoulders above average TV fare (I could do without the corny freeze-frame cuts, though). Selleck delivers an excellent performance, and his supporting cast turns in some fine acting as well. The movies are a bit formulaic: some big crime mixed with a human interest piece that Chief Stone usually handles by threatening someone or beating someone up, plus a romantic interest, usually the first reasonably attractive woman to walk onto the screen (although this time it was the second---my money initially was on the dog owner, but she wasn't it). However, the small-town atmosphere comes across nicely, the plots are reasonably complex, and the human interest story lines provide some intermittent satisfaction and an opportunity for Selleck to show another side of his character.SPOILERS! The one problem I had with this installment is that its resolution is somewhat sudden, and also not a little corny. Even though a viewer might have guessed it (it was pretty clear that the false suspect would turn out to be misdirection), the piece of evidence providing the crucial insight is delivered a few seconds before the final showdown (unless I missed a clue at the false suspect's maritime experience before then), and then it's a few seconds of high noon in a warehouse and that was it: game over.Still, not the worst way to spend 90 minutes or so, which you probably have discovered for yourself already, otherwise you hopefully wouldn't read this spoiler-ridden review.
vchimpanzee
In this latest Jesse Stone movie based on a novel by Robert B. Parker, a teenage girl's badly decomposed body is found in a lake wearing one shoe and tied to a concrete block. A class ring found at the scene points to a star athlete at an exclusive prep school where Dr. Lily Summers (Orla Brady) is the headmistress.The Bishops may be the parents of the missing girl. They have one other daughter, Emily, who is known to be alive and well. The father is very demanding and cares what people think. Up until she went to the prep school, Billie was an A student, but something happened when she changed schools.Chief Stone sees visions of the dead girl, both while sleeping and when he is awake, but this is pointless and never means anything.Meanwhile, Chief Stone must deal with an abusive husband (John Diehl) whose wife won't leave because she's Catholic, she has kids, and no real job skills. What makes this movie work is Selleck's usual fine performance of a character who is intelligent and determined yet stubborn and flawed. While most of the actors are good, another standout performance comes from William Devane as a therapist Stone's ex-wife recommends to help him stop drinking--a former cop who lost his job and his wife to his own alcohol problem. Another standout performance comes from the actor playing the Boston businessman with a bad reputation and a goon named Lovey.Officer Crane (Viola Davis) recalls how her sister was in a coma before she died. Other cast members in the series include Vito Rezza as Officer D'Angelo, Kohl Sudduth as Officer 'Suitcase' Simpson and Stephen McHattie as Detective Healy of Boston.The violence is minimal for most of the movie, though there is some blood in a couple of scenes. The language is stronger than one might normally hear on network TV, but not quite like 'NYPD Blue'.I liked the traditional jazz music played at the fund-raiser hosted by author Norman Shaw (Gary Basaraba).There will be more Jesse Stone movies, and I look forward to them.
