Am Anfang war ein Mord

I didn't have any expectations about this movie, so it was a nice surprise. Four friends end up with having to dispose of a body and things turn nasty. The acting is not exactly brilliant but you can live with that. It starts of as sort of a black comedy, well that is the best way I can describe it, and it takes all kinds of twists and turns towards the end. It's just good solid entertainment. If you like this one I would also recommend Shallow Grave (1995).

Ok, well I caught this film at like 4:30 in the morning on Cinemax and I wasn't expecting much..Not that you can necessarily trust the ratings assigned to movies, but this one got 1 star.So I am thinking its probably gonna bore me to death...Well I missed the first 5 minutes or so, but from there on I found myself quite engrossed in the movie..It has its flaws and at times it does become a little contrived, but overall I found it to be a prety decent movie..Very well-acted, it has the always beautiful Dina Meyer which certainly doesn't hurt, and the twists and turns will keep you guessing throughout..The end of the movie as one of the other reviewers on here stated is done quite strange, but done for a reason to show exactly why things unfolded the way they did. Choose "Stranger Than Fiction" as a rental one night, go into it with an open mind, and I think you will find this one to be a pretty good ride. On a scale of 4 stars, I give this one a 2.5

While waiting for their flight in a bar of an airport, the writer Donovan Miller (Todd Field) tells the story of his best-seller to a stranger to kill time. In Lake City, Violet Madison (Natascha Gregson Wagner), Austin Walker (Todd Field), Emma Scarlett (Dina Meyer) and Jared Roth (Mackenzie Astin) are good friends. After going together to a bar, Jared comes wounded to Austin's apartment in the late night and confesses that he is gay and has just killed a man in his apartment. He asks to his friends to help him to vanish with the body of the victim. The group agrees, and after many incidents, Violet stresses, jeopardizing the group. Many secrets are disclosed along this surprisingly good thriller, with lots of plot points and black humor. The story, including its presentation, is very original and enjoyable. In some moments, I recalled the magnificent "Shallow Grave" and "Mystery Date". This unknown movie deserves to be discovered in the rentals or in the stores. When you think that there is no more surprises in the screenplay, the plot has another twist. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Calafrio!" ("Chill!")

The story is entertaining although the movie is not very strong. Probably due to lack of experience it misses something. Strong acting for one thing. But the thing that bothered me the most is that they didn't try to make an ongoing story of it. Some things aren't explained in the movie itself but by a narrator who has to tie some loose ends together in the end to finish the story That is what i think is very cheap and non professional.

This movie gave me the impression that they had a four hour television series and tried to cut into 100 minutes to make a movie out of it. They failed!

But after all these negative things it is time to name some good sides. The twists are very nice and also the reaction of the different characters when they get deeper in deeper in the sh*t. And it is not some standard Hollywood action movie you have seen millions of times before.

rating: 3 out of 5

For the first hour and fifteen minutes of this film I kept thinking, "Wow, what a gem! I am so glad I found this movie." The movie was unexpectedly funny, the situation engaging and the director was skilled at creating a consistent tone for this black comedy. At around the hour-and-fifteen-minute point the plot seemed to come to a close and I was ready for the credits to roll. However at that point the movie took an infuriating turn. Not only did it completely change in tone - from comedy to high drama - but it introduced plot elements that, without being specific, negated much of what I had just seen.

Plot aside, why a movie's creators would want a film to be so funny for the first two acts and so deliberately unfunny for the third act is bewildering to me.

If movie sets up at the outset that it is a mystery, and then does something really twisty at the end you can enjoy it. But the movie did not prepare me for how it resolved and so I felt cheated out of a great comedy. "No Way Out" with Kevin Costner does a similar thing in the last one minute of the film. My recommendation is that you watch this for the first two third and then hit the stop button.

You will have a great time.