Michael Jackson Movie:

Editorial Review:
This remake of a 1947 film noir casts David Caruso (freshly escaped from TV's NYPD Blue) in the role originally played by Victor Mature. He plays Jimmy Kilmartin, a reformed criminal struggling to keep straight and keep his wife (Helen Hunt) from going back to the bottle. But a favor for his cousin lands him back in the clink, and when his wife dies, he comes out ready to make a deal with the D.A. He becomes an informant, joining the crew of Little Junior Brown (Nicolas Cage), a pumped-up, asthmatic psycho who weightlifts strippers for amusement. Eventually, Jimmy finds himself forced to keep his radar up for treachery from both the criminals he's finking on and the cops he's working for. This film, directed by Barbet Schroeder, didn't do much business, despite a powerful but controlled performance by Caruso and a scarily splashy one by Cage. --Marshall Fine

Kiss of Death [Region 2] Reviews:
Still a good flick, but one little thing missing
2009-08-26 - I remember waiting with anticipation for this movie to be released on Friday April 21st, 1995. I saw the trailer for this, and they had the Chambers Brothers doing "Time Has Come Today"; to me that's the ultimate freak out song, so I was expecting this to be extremely intense movie. I wasn't disappointed from the acting in the movie as Nicholas Cage and David Cauruso turned in stellar performances. The plot is actually better than the original as Cage plays a real sociopath....especially with the scene where one guy begins groping a dance girl because he was stoned drunk, and Cage gives the impression that he's going to burn the guys hand with a lit cigarette. I had to cover my eyes because of weak stomach, but then made him dance in his underwear I cracked up laughing because it was just too hilarious, and I was still thinking the hand was going to get burned.


Well anyway this flick is about a criminal that is trying to stay on the straight and narrow after being left out of prison, but his cousin talks him into one more crime as he's in trouble. However, things do not go well, and the criminal ends up back in jail. His family is torn apart as his wife is killed in a car accident, and it was his cousin's fault. The criminal is released from prison, and is confronted by the police officer played by Samuel L. Jackson who arrested him, and wants him to bring donw the crime family. There's non-stop thrills, and tons of good crime drama here including a classic fight between Cage's and Cauruso's characters. With all the good things I put on here you would think that I would give it 5 stars, but as I said there's one little thing missing, and I sat through the whole movie right down to the credits to hear "Time Has Come Today", and it never came. I guess I'm asking for too much here, but I really feel it would've made the film even better.

Kiss of Death
2009-08-04 - I really like this movie. Has nudity and strong violence which I Don't care for, but I'm a fan or all three lead actors so my over all opinion is good.

great purchase
2009-04-18 - Very seldom if at all that you see Nicholas Cage play a bad guy in a movie.He does a great job in this one.

David Caruso is cool, Kathryn Erbe is gorgeous! Nicolas Cage - eh!
2008-09-27 - David Caruso, as Jimmy Kilmartin; ex-hood, ex-felon was great. Showing that post-"NYPD" and pre-"CSI: Miami" demeanor. All the while being pushed around by the cops (Samuel L. Jackson as Calvin), almost killed by "Little Junior - B.A.D.," played by Nicolas Cage; psycho-hood son of father gangster "Big Junior" (what else!) played by Philip Baker Hall.

Jimmy goes to prison, but before he's released 3 years later; his wife (Helen Hunt) is run over (in a drunken stupor). Then, his cousin is killed by Cage for screwing up. Jimmy ends up marrying Rosie, played by Kathryn Erbe in her pre-"Law And Order - Criminal Intent" days. She's a real "looker" in this one.

An undercover fed (Ving Rhames) whom Jimmy meets, is assassinated by Little Junior, in his presence. The Feds want Junior's hide, but he ends up "walking." If you've watched a lot of movies with state and federal authorities screwing each other and not sharing information (Stanley Tucci - the prosecutor, among the many), then you'll know why Cage walks.

This is going to take too long, so please read "long-winded" reviews for complete storyline.

Anyway, the movie is short enough but replete with the many cliche'd "good guys vs. bad guys" mannerisms and confrontations that have been overdone in so many movies that... well....they're done in this one.

Slow thriller with some good performances
2008-09-08 - This isn't the great film it could have been, but it has some great acting and powerful scenes. It's worth watching for the quality acting, but the pace is far too slow.