Majorthebys
Charming and brutal
Doomtomylo
a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
Teddie Blake
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Patience Watson
One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.
dolly_valkyrie
Tania Raymonde did an amazing job in playing Jodi Arias. I watched An American Mystery a few days prior to this and they are almost exact. I've seen Jodi in this movie as a human and the victim as a villain through the story till the actual murder. It is not Hollywood polished movie and it is a bit raw and yet it lacks something I can not be sure what. If I will recommend it, well if you have some extra time, why not :-)
cinemaniac2002
I have been following the Jodi Arias murder trial, mostly out of fascination. Sociopathy has become more intriguing to me over the years - realizing that so many sociopaths walk among us and we are completely unawares. Much of what I have learned is from a book called "The Sociopath Next Door" by Martha Stout. The book is so good that it should be required reading in social studies. It could help a lot of people avoid tragedies like these.I thought that Tania Raymonde did a great job of emulating Jodi and what many have come to believe her motives were. While what Jodi did was heinous beyond belief - the target of her affections which crossed into butchery was not entirely a saint. It was clear that Travis used Jodi for sex and then discarded her like yesterday's trash when he decided to pursue finding himself a suitable Mormon wife - but not entirely. He kept Jodi around like many men and women do to keep those booty calls handy.Many of the true details of their relationship that I believe were critical were completely left out. For instance, the coy way that Jodi was heard to act like a little girl in real life phone conversations with Travis. Also, the movie didn't cover any of the sordid sexual details that Travis himself admitted to on the phone. Tania seemed far more mature than Jodi has - and I didn't see any indication that she ever took on the role of a coy teenager.I also got the feeling that Tania Raymonde's portrayal was more sexually mature than Jodi. I could not imagine Jodi being that appealing. Also, from the trial accounts there was some big todo about whether they were having regular, traditional sex or not. It seemed that they did certain things more regularly in an effort to conform with the Mormon faith that he espoused and she joined. Either way, they broke the rules because they weren't supposed to be having sexual contact prior to marriage anyway. And there is no doubt in my mind that Travis never thought of Jodi as marriage material. She became the booty call that he hid from people -- so the title really works here -- because she really was his dirty little secret. Finally, the moments before Jodi murdered Travis indicated that she became especially peeved by a text message. The fact that she went to great lengths to dye her hair, get gas cans so she wouldn't have to stop for gas and turned her cell phone off -- all so she wouldn't be traced or recognized. It was always obvious to me that the murder was premeditated, making it ever more creepy and this was never even touched on in the film.Travis Alexander, despite targeting Jodi directly as a sociopath in text messages - continued to have sex with her anyway. While that is not a crime and he does not deserve to be murdered for it - this should serve as a cautionary tale for anyone, man or woman who becomes resided to the fact that a romantic interest, friend or even family member is a sociopath. When you are sure of this - you must never confront them. Keep it to yourself and get as far away as possible. Make excuses and play a game, but do not let them close to you anymore. You've been warned from the second you know they're a sociopath. It never ends well. In my own personal experience, once sociopaths know they've lost, they are like animals who are out for the kill and will not rest until they either have control of you or they have done whatever they can to destroy you. When Travis became aware of her evil, under no circumstances did he have any business letting her through his door ever again. As I said before -- yes, Jodi is a sociopath. She will do whatever it takes to get what she wants, lying all the way through. Any tears she sheds is because she got caught. I wasn't expecting the film to go thoroughly into her psyche -- but I would have liked it if there was more emphasis on a lesson to take stalking very seriously. When a woman is stalked - films generally push how dangerous that is, but I didn't see that here. Perhaps it is a double standard since Travis was a male. Keyword: was. Had he gotten totally away from Jodi, perhaps he'd still be alive. But you don't get away from a sociopath by letting them back in your home at 4 am and having sex with them all day long.
Michael_Elliott
Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret (2013)* (out of 4)A new crime tale overtook mainstream America so naturally Lifetime would turn it into a movie. Jodi Arias (Tania Raymonde) begins a torrid sexual affair with Travis Alexander (Jesse Lee Soffer) and soon she becomes obsessive and kills him. Am I the only person in the world who finds Travis to be a bad guy? I certainly don't agree or condone what happened to him but at the same time I must admit that I found him to be a jerk by the way he just wanted to use this woman for sex, keep her in the background and hidden from his friends and pretty much just use her whenever he needed her. Sure, thousands if not millions of guys do this to women but most of them don't do it to someone crazy, which is obviously what Jodi was. This Lifetime movie is pretty awful all around and largely because you really don't learn anything about either people and we're left with a story of unsympathetic characters and certainly no one to life. Director Jace Alexander takes a fairly interesting "case" and turns it into a pure case of boredom because there's no energy, no life or anything else going on here. The entire film seems to run on longer than the real-life trial because we just keep getting scenes that add up to nothing. This here is more like a low-rent version of FATAL ATTRACTION but without the performances, tension or style. The movie has all sorts of problems including how it goes all out to paint Travis as this clean-cut Mormon who did nothing wrong and just wanted to help people. We get at least two scenes where Jodi sexually comes onto him while he turns away. Yet, minutes later, we see them two in a steamy sex affair where he's the one using her. You can't have it both ways. Even worse is the fact that these scenes trying to make Travis look clean are done in such a way that you really can't help but laugh at them. Both Raymonde and Soffer are good in their roles but sadly they're just not given much to do. When one watches Lifetime you really don't expect quality but I must say this here is without question one of the worst products they've'e turned out.
woernerdavid
I felt the made-for-TV movie about Jody Arias was actually very good and was a balanced presentation of a sensational story. Jody Arias is obviously unbalanced, paranoid, has super-low self-esteem, and many other psychological defects. But as the story is shown, it also balances this with Travis Alexander's duplicity. He wanted to maintain the appearance of being a good, pious Mormon but kept Jody Arias as his secret life and kept her out of the mainstream of his life. When he tried to break up several times, he always ended up back in bed with Jody. He certainly did not deserve the terrible thing that happened to him, but he contributed his share. I thought the film was balanced and worth watching.