If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I was never aware these two sick animals' crimes, so I went in to this without knowing what this movie was about. A social work student is asked to act as an 'Appropriate Adult' for a guy in a police station who is dressed in a normal fashion, no chains or even handcuffs. The fellow speaks in a matter of fact manner about having problems with his daughter, who threatened to give LSD to her younger siblings, and the father says he loses control and chokes her. The fellow then is left alone with the 'AA' and makes some chilling remarks to her. The police are shown digging up the guy's backyard with him again, not in handcuffs, speaking knowledgeably about using some tools.Basically, that's the pattern of the whole movie, and while it's kind of creepy, it gets kind of monotonous after a while, and I found myself wishing that the film would just end. Certainly, the two leads give good performances, but the director doesn't help them much in his choice of presenting the story in the manner of a play, rather than as a work of cinema.

The Fred and Rosemary West murders on 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, Englandcertainly overshadow the Moors Murders that occurred in the early 1960s. To anybody who has read about the case, it's baffling to see a married couple like Fred and Rose (your next door neighbors) involved in some of the country's most heinous crimes to date. Separately Rose and Fred were toxic as poison but together committed crimes against humanity against innocent young women including two of their daughters. The cast does a brilliant job in bringing the characters to life. The Wests are not sympathetic people at all but Dominic West and Monica Dolan did deserve their awards. The series of events is taken by the appropriate adult, Janet Leech, who is assigned to Fred West. Emily Watson plays Janet Leech, a mother and wife to a bipolar man. Watson did a fantastic job. Dominic West did a superb job in bringing one of the most despicable murders to life. Monica Dolan also did a superb job playing Rose West, a candidate for the worst mother ever. Sylvestra Le Touzel plays police officer Hazel Savage MBE who went searching for Heather West. It was Heather's disappearance that launched an investigation. Hazel and Janet Leech were unsung heroines in this case. Hazel was awarded MBE for her services to the police. Hazel was a veteran police officer and perhaps the inspiration.

I find I'm the skunk at the garden party with this flick. I found this highly acclaimed docudrama repellent, but not for the reasons one might suspect. It was repellent - as well as incomprehensible - to watch Leach's developing interest and fascination with Fred West. Anyone watching this movie should first do some Googling to find out the details of what Fred and Rosemary West perpetrated. If anyone deserves to be called human monsters, it is this pair. In the light of this knowledge, the script's clear intention - to me anyway - to actually make West into a figure of sympathy is disgusting. Knowing the nature of his deeds, his weeping and the crying about the "baby" (complete with colorful regional pronunciation of the word) are repulsive. It was also interesting to see the British treatment of prisoners in interrogation: allowed to wear their own clothes (no prison uniforms) and pretty much conducted like afternoon tea. As at least one other critic has observed, it is incomprehensible how any morally sentient human being could develop any sympathy with this fiend, as Leach evidently did. As the relationship between Leach and West is at the core of this narrative, and her motivation remains unexplained if not inexplicable, the whole movie does not wash.It was nice of the producers to include the photos of the actual victims in the closing credits. During the movie itself there is minimal emotion at their loss; the burial of their remains is portrayed with as much moral weight as the burial of a pickle jar.

Emily Watson, one of the great actors of our time, gives a superb performance as Janet Leach that may well be the finest work she has ever done. She is nothing less than hypnotic here as she lays bare the soul of a vulnerable woman who is involved in an experience she is completely unprepared for. While the portrait of Leach is profound and an incredible achievement, Watson doesn't get in our faces with her ACTING because she is almost invisible as she disappears into the character. What a truly memorable, stunning performance this is. The entire cast is excellent, as are all elements of the production, including writing and direction. However, it is Emily Watson who elevates this film to an artistic level of depth and realism that makes it totally riveting. There is no attempt by Watson to draw attention to herself and "steal" the film. "Gosford Park" is another example of how she shines in an ensemble piece and it naturally becomes her showcase. Her style is not flashy enough and far too superbly subtle to win Oscars. There isn't the teeth gnashing PERFORMANCE style of a Charlize Theron in "Monster", the sort of Halle Berry one-shot fluke that brings home the gold. Watson is an artist in the truest sense and it's her work alone that is her reward. In this film, what she does is so extraordinary, even for her, that perhaps the praise of critics will this time cause award committees and voters to take note of an actor they have too long overlooked because she never yells "look at me!" At any rate, reward yourself by watching an excellent film with an outstanding actress at her best, as usual.