Monday, May 23, 2011

Movie Review Monday #1

I just watched King's Speech for the second time this week. (You would think that immediately gives away my opinion, but I have unfortunately watched several films that I didn't like multiple times. I've seen Dude, Where's My Car three times, for example. Don't judge me.)


Top five observations:
1. Colin Firth deserved his Oscar. Look at what he had to accomplish with his character: Regalness perfectly blended with humility, a manner of speaking and behaving in keeping with the time period, and a stammer that wasn't overdone but conveyed the power of the story, just to name a few.
2. This is one of the first R-rated films that I felt was fully justified in its rating. The F-bombs were absolutely necessary to the story. Don't get me wrong, there are other R-rated films where the mature content added somewhat to the story, but I can't think of any off the top of my head where the mature content was completely necessary like this one. I'm a prude, get over it.
3. Geoffrey Rush is an ugly man. Uglier, in fact, than the real life dude he portrayed. See?
Not ugly...
ugly!
Fascinating casting, don't you think? The good news is that he's a freaking good actor, so you don't even think about Geoff's looks (I just decided to call him Geoff - did I pull that off?). He's endearing and delightful, a great father and husband, and a good friend to Firth's character, who is a difficult man to befriend.
4. There are at least three Harry Potter actors in this film. This is a strength in my book. One of those actors is Helena Bonham Carter in one of her least quirky works in recent memory, and she is still impressive as always. I would like to hang out with her and absorb some of her brilliant weirdness.
5. I love that this is a true story, but it's also somehow a fresh and interesting story. There was nothing similar to this film in theaters this year - a historic piece which focuses on a friendship between two grown men and the struggles of a leader. 

As you can see, lobsters, I give this two claws up. It was WAY better than Dude, Where's My Car.

3 comments:

  1. ditto. once is too many times with Dude, Where's my Car and twice is simply not enough with King's Speech. Can't wait to see it again. I also love the friendship between the two men, so beautifully portrayed. Lastly, I would be very intrigued to see what Emily with a dose of Helena would look like. Please consider this a post prompt. ;)

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  2. I was watching a movie the other day and thought, "hey, that guy could play a Weasley." Then I looked him up on my best friend IMDB... and he was! So yes... I love HP and their actors too. Also the King's Speech will arrive on my Netflix this week. Woo!

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  3. Were you watching True Grit, by any chance? Also, one time I got kicked off of IMDB for a couple of days. There was an error message that said I used it so much that I should upgrade to IMDB pro. I felt oddly proud.

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