Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise (2006)

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Mr Tom Selleck has often been sold short,particularly in the early stages of his career when he appeared to be just another good - looking big guy,albeit one with a sense of humour.More recently he has been flexing his acting chops and in the "Jesse Stone:Death in Paradise" he gives a performance well beyond the call of duty. Chief of a four person police department on the Massachusets coast,he is a man to inspire loyalty and confidence,respect and obedience;a remnant,if you like of all our distant memories of what we would like small - town cops to be. He is not a perfect man by any means,arriving in Paradise on the back of a marriage break up and he has a drink problem that he seems unable to resolve. He is stubborn,principled,brave and flawed,not unlike Robert B.Parker's more famous character,Spenser. He does not show emotion but he is not emotionless. Mr Selleck portrays these complicated and contrary characteristics with very little indications other than the eyes.Mostly he looks impassive but his true feelings are visible through his eyes.It is an exceedingly impressive performance of a depth rarely seen in TV productions. The story is almost ancillary to the character development,Mr Selleck is obviously in this for the long run. Mr W.Devane is excellent as the cop - turned - shrink who dishes out tough love to Jesse at $180 per hour. Lovers of Mr Parker's novels will appreciate the characters that cross from the Spenser series,Commander Healey of the State Police and Gino Fish the Boston mobster with a whimsical turn of mind. I have just read the first post - Parker Jesse Stone and the character has made the difficult transition between the authors quite flawlessly. I wholeheartedly recommend the "Jesse Stone" series to all lovers of joined - up TV cop shows.

When the body of a fourteen years old teenager is found in the margin of the river in Paradise, Massachusetts, the Chief of Police Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck) and his officer Simpson (Kohl Sudduth) seek clues in the spot. Through a graduation ring of a student that they find nearby the corpse, they identity the dead girl, the local slut Billy Bishop. Meanwhile, his department deals with a domestic violent situation with an aggressive and abusive husband that beats his wife. Along his investigation, Stone discloses that the famous writer Norman Shaw (Gary Masaraba) was too much close to the victim and intended to write the biography of the famous gangster Leo in his next book. Joining the pieces of evidences like a puzzle, Stone unravels the identity of the criminal."Death in Paradise" is the second excellent movie that I see with Tom Selleck in the role of Chief Jesse Stone. Both films show simple, credible and effective police stories, with great performances, magnificent cinematography and realistic screenplays. Jesse Stone seems to be tailored to Tom Selleck, who is perfect in the role of the cynical, stubborn and flawed but fair chief of police. I believe this character deserves a TV series, so good these stories are. I have just seen in IMDb that there are two other movies of this character, unfortunately not released in Brazil. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Crimes no Paraiso 2" ("Crimes in Paradise 2")

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.

I enjoyed watching the movie and have currently finished reading the next Jesse Stone book. Hooray for TV movies that are of the quality of big screen movies with well written, defined, true to life characters. Tom Selleck as Jesse Stone is my hero as he struggles with problems of work, alcohol, and loneliness as we all do. The story deals with the subject of child abuse and the resulting trauma that some people try to sweep under the rug or ignore rather than deal with which in this story results in a murder of an abused child. The other returning actors are great as the friends and co-workers who provide their own story lines interweaving with Selleck's.