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Opening extremely effectively with a section of the Hipoccratic oath this film concerns itself with an excellent medical student Ted (Milo Ventimiglia) who finds himself steadily drawn further and further into a group with murder as a hobby.

I found this a pleasingly disturbing film.

The themes running through it were intense and adult - sex and death confronted repeatedly from many different angles (so to speak). Immediately it confronts the viewer with the harsh, hideous realities of death, then sets about vividly preying upon fears the world has about what happens to the dead at the hands of the living. Then it smoothly descends into something more disturbing still - a comment on the arrogance of doctors and the living in general.

The acting here really is pretty good, especially from Michael Weston and it has to be to make any of these totally repellent, morally void human beings(or morally hypocritical in the case of Ted) charming or likable

It succeeds in that I was carried along by the film but by the end I felt a bit dirty.

There is just little light or moral centre in this film and whilst that isn't necessarily a drawback, in the sense that the characters seemed a little bit more real in this than they might have otherwise it makes the whole experience heavy going because there is no one at all to root for.

I expected this to be standard fare I literally watched it to indulge my fondness for That 70's show star Toper Grace alone. It was clearly a pointless silly bit of fluff with nothing relevant to say about humanity or society but I offered it the opportunity to entertain me and it very nearly did. Nearly being the word, I wasn't expecting that the person I was driven to the film for would be the person who put me off but alas he did.

This tale concerns itself with a genuine romance blossoming between a movie star (the eponymous Tad Hamilton) and a fan (Rosalee Futch) who wins a date with him via a contest set up as a publicity stunt.

There is a charm to the romance between the Rosa Lee and Tad that is likable. Kate Bosworth in particular as well as Josh Duhamel and supporting actors like Ginnifer Goodwin and Gary Cole as Rosalee's father are spirited enough almost to carry it off.

The obstacle to the tale is Rosalee's best friend Pete, her boss at work and a man secretly in love with her. Here was where I found the problem. I wanted to like Topher Grace and will say that despite all the reviews harping on about Sean Hayes and Nathan Lane he is the funniest thing in the film.

He does however play a character without charm or genuine humour. Most of his humour focuses upon mocking the good hearted charm that RosaLee evinces. Taken alongside the warmth of the rest of Rosalee's life he seems at odds. A mean spirited cynical human being undeserving of and unsuited to the naive glow of Bosworth's character.

For instance Tad genuinely loves Rosalee for these trusting loving qualities but Pete continually mocks her for them virulently and found it hard to root for Pete. So when the ending results in Pete wins the very fair lady's hand it is desperately unsatisfying.

I understand that the idea was that Pete uses his jibes as a defence mechanisms to protect Rosalee from herself. Or slightly less nobly to warn her off the big movie star who intimidates him. Perhaps if some other actor played Pete then things would have been different and the result better. Topher Grace seems so determined to wring all the humour from his lines that it doesn't play pleasantly at all.

His Pete sees scoring points against Rosalee as more important than protecting her, it doesn't come across like love that he feels as much as an ill disguised contempt that felt contrary to his apparent ongoing adoration

Obviously I understand this is simple fare, and probably wasn't invested in with that much thought. Grace probably has the most difficult character but when he plays it so charmlessly it brings down the energy the other actors have invested.

Still its worth watching Pete does have killer lines Topher Grace and Josh Duhamel are eye candy and Kate Bosworth is likable and sweet but still its unnecessarily sour and its all emanating from one source.

I found this very interesting, not least of all because I was at the college where it was filmed whilst it was being filmed and thus can recognize a few of the cast as people from my lessons...it was a nice memory trip seeing all the locales too but anyway...

the resulting film is definitely better than I thought it would be, especially from the plot which concerns two college dropouts who perform a series of childish pranks designed to get back at those fellow college kids that they feel have wronged them.

however the abusive reactions of the people who have the pranks played upon them end up forcing them into murder.

the main objection I had against this film which was undoubtedly quite well acted, was the fact that unfortunately the two school boy like pranksters are supposed to be the people you're rooting for and yet they are easily as obnoxious and as childishly imbecilic as the people they are attacking, which means that as a viewer you struggle more than a little to know who to root for throughout it.

also the twist into over the top hyper violence really feels at odds with the rest of it which seemed to be an engaging exercise in true realism...it just doesn't feel all that plausible by the end that the two boys would cause so much violence.

I was also overwhelmed by the odd and inconsistent shifts in moods of the main characters Gary and Tom towards their actions, because it seems as if the film one minute considers the awfulness of teen peer violence and in the next seems ready to make us laugh at the boy's rampant killing spree...

definitely worth a watch because the beginning is surprisingly well acted and worthwhile but as I've said it all gets a mite bit ridiculous somewhere after the first bit of violence

Oh what a classic introduction to a classic band, my only complaint is that they didn't include all of the videos or performances on Top of the Pops (TOTP) it is a bit lacking but still wherever possible every Smiths fan should own it I think. The TOTP performances and short promos that did make it on, sum up the Smiths in a beautiful fashion. Morrissey's performances is beautiful and camp and sexy as well as a bit stiff and self conscious in the uniquely ridiculous way that fits as a contrary to the harsh reality and truth of his emotional lyrics. - Especially in the Heaven Knows I'm Miserable now TOTP performance.

I guarantee that fans of the Smiths will be prompted to worship Morrissey, Marr, Rourke and Joyce even more. Buy it now :)

I dunno if I'm missing something but I thought that this was dire. Everything sucked from the distractingly loud and random piano soundtrack (that sounded like someone had had an epileptic attack in front of a keyboard) to the over the top hammy acting. I 'll admit that everything was also absolutely hilarious in an unintentional way but I was dissapointed because I'd always heard that this was a masterpiece.

But I do respect that it was one of the first serial killer movies and that deserves respect because it doesn't deserve respect for any other reason! I couldn't watch all of it not because it wasn't enjoyable (It was just so damn funny without meaning to be!) but because I was worried I could be doing something more interesting and worthwhile-like nothing!!.The plot essentially was a developing relationship between a wierd photographer who does a bit of snuff tape making in his spare time and a very overfriendly girl and it was just odd and bad at the same time.

Part of the problem lay in the fact that Mark was just so obviously a raging fruit loop that you questioned why anyone had anything to do with him. It was laughably implausible that he meets the girl after she invites him to her party seconds after catching him peeping at her through the window!!! I mean I personally would think that peeping toms aren't the ideal party guests and I certainly wouldn't then go and sit in his room with him completly alone but that's just me and I haven't taken a course in the logic of this movie.

Would recomend it because the acting is so hammy that it's worth a laugh but for the love of God don't watch all of it!!!

Regardless of how long this show has gone on for it is so consistently hilarious that it's one of the few things on T.V. that I actually look forward to watching. Mark Lamarr is king of mocking people and I love the games they play like "Guess the intro" and others which in all fairness are just prompts for some popular and more amusingly 80's music stars(the show which Pete Burns was on with his hideous - surely joke plastic lips that even Melanie Griffiths would wince at was hilarious!!) to make fools of themselves in an entirely good natured setting. I wasn't entirely convinced that when Sean Hughes left (who was very very funny) that the show would be able to continue but Bill Bailey gave it a new lease of life and the chemistry between him and Lamarr is often responsible for the funniest parts of the show. I hope it goes on for another few years because for as long as it does I will be watching.

(PLOT SPOILERS) An elaboration - (it is pretty much wholly different) of the autobiographical novel of the same name about the early life of Irish writer Brendan Behan this is a very moving film in places and nonsensical and cliched in others.

the film begins with Brendan being arrested by English police just prior to planting a terrorist bomb. He briefly meets thievin Cockney sailor Charlie Millwall (Danny Dyer) who ends up in Borstal with him.

Charlie warms to Brendan immidietly although Brendan is initially hostile. However as is inevitable, Brendan gradually revises this and they become chinas. the main prompt for this bonding is several adventures - which it must be said are by and large entirely improbable! For instance there is an army vs. boys rugby match!!! They at Brendan's request also stage an all boys "Importance of Being Earnest" which is also too odd a request to grasp! Also they try an escape that ends in tragedy.

Another is having to paint a crumbling room into a studio for Liz,(Eva Birtwhistle)the evacuated and dissatisifed duaghter to Borstal head Joyce (Micheal York) who in time develops quite a close relationship with Brendan

In the end Charlie and Brendan's relationship becomes closer too and Brendan realising that he harbours some attraction to Charlie kisses him.

However the resident bully Dale (Lee Ingleby) has it in for Charlie and attacks him. This Liz walks in on and is almost raped. Brendan saves Liz abandoning Charlie. Charlie as a result leaves, joining his ship and in the end is killed when it is torpedoed. at the end Brendan kisses Liz and she encourages him to write (which kinda came out of nowhere because this film didn't give any indication he could write till the very end - kinda odd since Behan was a writer!!)

Overall this works only because of the strength of the acting, because many elements are hokey and wholly unbelievable. Sometimes the characters are walking cliches. Liz for instance is the atypical poor little rich girl, and Birtwhistle only just pulls it off with any level of sincerity and conviction . The cartoonish super villainy of Dale was awful too, the escapees don't want Dale's involvment. Yet Dale's ears seem to be able to prick up every time they speak about the plan. I understand Dale is being potrayed as evil but does that mean they have to give him supernatural powers of attention too? don't think so! Also Lee Ingleby looks really sweet and non imposing most of the time and you wonder why some of the other boys who are all supposed to be rough criminals of some type or another doesn't smack him when he tries to interfere!

the two central performances are what is so special Hatosy is very good as the child desperately trying to be a man and a rebel through being gruff and pretentious "I am a prisoner of war it's my duty to escape!" he says for instance more than once. he had an effective stutter too however the Irish accent is sometimes all over the place but this is also a credit to his performance because this didn't distract me(and normally such things annoy me like you wouldn't beleive)!

the true miracle here was Dyer though he was spectacular, pure and simple. If there is any justice in this world this man will in the future be doing more high calibre work than appearing in the likes of "High Heels and Lowlifes". he is beautiful in every sense a soulful, sensitive and sad presence but still a bit of a cheeky and funny wideboy too. And he is capable of conveying heartbreak, and melancholy at being rejected with just a look. He's just the don, the scene where Liz and Brendan cry about his death almost made me cry Danny Dyer rocks!

I was a bit of a fan of watching other people play this game - I don't actually play computer games myself! so I had high expectations going into this film and I am glad to say I wasn't dissapointed in the slightest - the acting was quite impressive for a film of this type Eric Mabius was gorgeous and I've always found the whole zombie thing terrifying so this was more than scary enough for me.

I did have a few minor quibbles about the plot in places and I kinda think in places that in terms of making sense it doesn't stand up to a lot of scrutiny but they are very pedantic points that didn't detract from my general enjoyment. I can't say anything more about this film apart from the fact that it entertained me for the whole time - I would recommend it and I can't wait to see the sequel!

(possible plot spoilers)for the most part this was a mediocre film but in places it was god damn awful, to be quite honest i didn't like any of the characters and so didn't care when they died or how they died because they got killed off in very boring ways! only the first death was anything near chilling and it completly went down hill from there the implausibility factor was just taken repeatedly up a bit too high for my liking I'm afarid! however in the midst of all the awfulness and especially at the films kinda shock ending, Joe Absolom was quite good. now it should be known i wasn't a fan of his from the Eastenders days but i think he was the only one that i cared about. in fact even tho in the end he is the evil one i was rooting for him purely for killing off all the others cos they annoyed me. having said that though the ending was a bit of a confusing one/implausible impossible to the frame of the film!! that i felt undid all of Absolom's sterling work and reminded me how irritating this film was - not the worst film i have ever seen but i did regret paying to see it.

I think this was a film well worth watching most importantly for an extraordinary performance by Christian Bale. I found it harsh that another user had criticised it for it's sentimentality I agree but in reality how else could a story like this be filmed? I also found it a testament to the film that even with it's flaws the implausibilty of certain incidents and the cheap looking production values along with the fact that it isn't always the best most interesting film that I found it so heartwarming. If you are not extremely cynical or can turn that part of yourself off sometimes (like me)this film does hold something worthwhile.

This just was a film that thought it was a lot more funny than it was and a lot more moving than it was and just all around a lot more entertaining than it was. I really thought I was missing something because it has one of my favourite actors in it - Zach Braff on paper it should have been funny but there is only so many times seeing a lot of straight men act camp is slightly amusing and once that has worn off the appeal in this movie does too.

This is confusing since I thought individually all the performances were okay it just lacked humour completly and had a script that was occasionally atrocious too but thought it was being moving. Though it had it's moments I liked very much where Dean Cain's character read the latest dumpee the speech from his hand and I liked the little cameo from Kerr Smith, but apart from that everything was just flat!

This film is generally bad from start to finish though I did think it somewhat improved in the last few minutes - though that may have just been my relief that it was nearly over that made me feel that.

It was rubbish for many reasons, firstly the product placement is too extensive. I mean it's irritating when a film has constant lingering shot of the Virgin Megastores logo and has numerous scenes take place in a branch when the fact that Mary works there does nothing to advance the plot.

Another irritation was that the Dracula in this film isn't the slightest bit appealing, he's not particularly good looking and the actor isn't generally very seductive. This makes the fact that all the women in the film are drawn to him kinda hard to accept. I also didn't know why it was only women who are drawn to him unless this was just to make women out to be stupid and less rational compared to the men which would be bad not to mention sexist.

The acting was also intermittently just awful! Justine Waddell was paticularly atrocious the most grating scene being the church one which isn't good considering she's the main character. I mean the accent was just unbelievably posh and surely put on, at least I hope so cause I wouldn't think it possible for someone to be so rigid naturally!

That said some actors I found myself liking because they seemed to have the right idea, Omar Epps for instance is having the time of his life and so subsequently is bearable but a lot of the actors like Jonny Lee Miller, are too serious and not aware that they aren't acting out a good screenplay which is irritating to watch.

This is wonderful that's all I can say and key to that was the performances. Matt Damon gives a performance worthy of winning an Oscar the fact that he didn't even manage a nomination was wrong. He is in every frame of the film playing Tom Ripley without a shred of ego, totally transforming himself.

Tom is a man stuck in a trap of his own making. Someone in love with and seeking approval from his Dickie, who nevertheless ends up killing him and stealing his identity.

Obviously Tom does some fairly despicable things so the fact that Damon is able to make Tom's thought processes rational no matter how bizzarre they are and keeps the film together should have been noticed

Jude Law is good too since he plays Dickie with a shallowness that is human and not over the top. This film also exposed me to what a good actress Gwyneth Paltrow is I was never overly impressed with her beforehand but the scene near the end where she attacks Tom slowly letting all the rage she has felt at knowing the man who killed her fiance will go free just explode is very impressive.

However the main man is Damon and the delicacy of his acting and the consistency of his characterisation made me understand that what happens at the end wasn't such a shock. Basically in killing Peter, Tom is just reacting in the only way he knows how, the Dickie murder showed how limited his capabilities are for dealing with stress. He is just naturally afraid of confrontation so he finds a way out even where it costs him the man he loves.

It had it's moments but this series generally was no where near worthy of the cast it had - paticularly Reece Shearsmith who is my favorite LoG member. He basically played recently qualified doctor Flynn and remained okish throughout the series this was because although he and everyone else tried they inevitably failed because any humour they produced was just recycled out in the next episode because the script was formulaic and lazy. Basically the humour points were centred around the difficulties of being a doctor and running and hospital in the NHS. For example the lack of sleep the doctor's get which dominated an entire episode. When this had been used in a episode then the eccentricities of the patients that came in. When this had been used they would make a joke about how slow the very slwo porter Sid was something that I had grasped to my satisfaction a hell of a long time ago. Or they'd let the nurses make an offensive comment to Flynn or let Terry make an campy comment. However I didn't hate it not by any means I love Shearsmith and i did find enough rewards and laughs to keep me watching, but the engineering of these laughs was far too obvious

POSSIBLE PLOT SPOILERS? I very nearly didn't watch, this but in the end I'm very glad I did, I was enthralled from the beginning to the end. Tim Cornish who was surprisingly well acted by Lee Williams - who I'd last seen in a fairly awful Beatles film is a fairly shallow but gorgeous, (well Williams is a bit too pretty for my likes but anyway!) university student who becomes attracted to a male university professor called Ivo Steadman. This attraction though initially obsessive in time reveals itself to be shallow because it evaporates when Ivo admits he loves Tim because the sense of mystery is gone. This leads Tim into the arms of a woman called Isabel and to the decision that he must get out of his relationship with Ivo in any way he can even if that means killing him. The acting especially from Marc Warren who is sublime as Ivo is what really made this special and all in all this is a good adaptation of a wonderful Barbara Vine book.

In fact i can't speak too highly of Warren the sarcasm and the melancholy but also the great hopeless affection for Tim the way he loves him despite all he has done are all transported perfectly from the book to this teleplay. i guess that was down to a really good bit of casting. All in all i can't say anything more than i thought it was very good well adapted - (yes I read the book - in 2 days i might add) - that's how good it was! and well acted.

I have recently rewatched the third series which I taped off the tv and had an argument with my brother as to whether it was as good as the two before I think it is the same uneasy often crude humour is there even if the laugh track isn't but my brother feels something substantial had been removed. Anyway I think this is and has been one of the most consistently wonderful comedy shows ever! the weirdness level keeps rising and I'm left shaking my head in wonderment about how the LoG ever came up with some of the things they show. All in all though at times it is uneasy in tone and very occasionally not funny at all it is always original and inspired. From the film references to the serial killer ones littering the second series the choices are odd to say the least but this is it's best facet. I have many favourite bits but stand outs are any Charlie and Stella scene it is amazing the way that Reece Shearsmith's whole demeanour and manner change when he plays Stella because bizzarely he convinces me through manners and gestures that he exactly of the kind of flirtatious middle aged woman she's supposed to be - even in the Drury Lane version when he has no makeup on - it's chilling and very scary. Another favourite is Papa Lazarou who is just stereotypically crazy in the funniest sense. Absolutely amazing lets hope they keep it up!

I was so so disappointed although I should really have known that when critics have a unanimously low opinion of a film that it is usually warranted. I mistakenly decided to give this film a chance though staying up way past my bed time to watch it it so was not worth my time. this is because from start to finish this is the film equivalent of the words pretencious, self indulgent and nauseating. Worst of all I really am quite a big Jude Law fan and most of the other actors on screen are talented elsewhere like Ray Winstone and throughout I was left to ponder where they lost their way. Basically the plot such as there is one is that Jude Law has died and left his 'friends' a tape which documents their misdeeds and that is really the plot line - cue lots of unpleasant over the top shouting and swearing - paticularly Winstone(and don't get me wrong I'm a big fan of swearing in film when necessary but to my recall he doesn't stop.) as they grow angry at what Jude has done. It is bad, and for people to try to justify the negative opinions I am not alone in putting forth by saying that the only reason we have them is because this is a hard film to watch or because it's subject matter is disturbing is rubbish, The film just isn't good full stop. No acting that warrants merit is displayed no human emotions are shared or elaborated on no interesting issues are explored this merely is unpleasantness for no reason whatsoever! I mean I personally found Gary Oldman's Nil By Mouth very hard going and disturbing to watch but still have a good opinion of it as a film! Basically anyone who may at any point in the future be in the position to see this don't bother! this is one film where believing the hype is wise because all I recall about this film is a total lack of anything that justified it being made.