The King's Speech

The Synopsis
Based on the true story of King George VI's (Colin Firth) journey to the throne, the struggle he had with his longstanding stammer and the damage it had on the Country's faith in him as King. His wife, Queen Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) calls on the help of Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) to coach him in overcoming his stammer.

The Review
Aaah man, I love films where I come out feeling all patriotic and this was one of them! I have never felt more British and proud. I know the royal family get a lot of slack for not seemingly doing...well...anything but I absolutely love them.

There's this little part of me that stays dormant for the majority of my day to day life, this is the 'proud to be British' gene. It's always there but it very rarely takes a dominant position in my life. Previous to this film the main culprits for encouraging it to take over are a: Al Murray or b: anything written by Richard Curtis, with the occasional c: british comedy panel shows. But this film and it's simple 'probably not going to be understood by the Americans' undertone just made me want to jump from my seat and start singing the national anthem at the top of my lungs. Luckily I resisted this urge as it was already kind of sad that on 'Orange Wednesdays' at my local cinema at half eight in the evening, I was looking slightly 'weird freak who no one likes' as I queued for half an hour all on my lonesome.

Anywho, enough about me. The film... Colin Firth was awesome and definitely deserves the awards he's been getting, oscar worthy performance definitely. The film was funny and realistic. Helena Bonham Carter played an amazing portrayal of Queen Elizabeth, balancing the regal uptight behaviour with her complete devotion to her husband perfectly. Geoffrey Rush... perfectly timed one liners throughout and the performance was at his usual stunning level. I was a little confused with his accent as I would not have for one moment assumed he was Australian had they not kept on bringing it up throughout the film. His wife definitely sounded Australian but the scenes with them two again confused me. I couldn't quite understand what kind of relationship they were trying to show. Was it distant? loving? happy? unhappy? All the scenes seemed to sit uneasy with the rest of the film, like the director switched styles of filming specifically for them and it made the flow slightly disjointed.

That aside, I loved it and can definitely see why there is a lot of fuss about it. If you're looking for a realistic representation of our beautifully civil and uptight British ways then this is the film for you. If youre looking for action and plot twists, perhaps hold out for something else. Overall it was funny, powerful, emotional and a perfect way to brush up on your history knowledge if you don't know much about the Royal family at that time. I swear.. no one actually needs to go to history lessons, the films are showing it all for us anyway. (DISCLAIMER: Not all films are as historically accurate as they claim to be, for example, do not rely on Disney's Hercules to teach you about Greek mythology because in spite of what they say, it is certainly NOT the 'Gospel Truth.')

Another four faces from me.

Love and Other Drugs

The Synopsis
Jamie (Jake Gyllenhall) is a man with a low attention span and a charismatic personality. After he starts his new fad of being a drug salesman he meets Maggie (Anne Hathaway) a young woman with stage one Parkinson's and a complete fear of commitment. The film explores the couple as they both surprise themselves by falling in love and learning all the challenges and perks that come with it.

The review
Ladies, let me just get this off my chest before I get all profound and 'professional' in my reviewing. Jake Gyllenhall in this movie is STUPIDLY gorgeous. This was a fact that took me completely by surprise as, although being slightly aware that he wasn't exactly hard on the eye, I had never found him particularly that attractive. It freaks me out when I'm faced with a revelation such as this as I'm pretty much lost as to how I had never noticed before. I have seen a LOT of Jake's work and not even Brokeback Mountain had made me stop and take notice, which judging by the type of men I have been known to show interest in in the past should have been the film, if there was going to be any, that would have turned me to 'Team Jake.' Nonetheless, it was this film and he was truly beautiful and nail bitingly yummy in it all the way through. Enough said on that... onto the proper stuff.

I was once asked a few years ago whether I write stories that are plot based or character based. This was a concept that to me I had never thought about until asked but since have always looked at when watching a film or reading a book. When it comes to romance films, the plot line 9 times out of 10 can be predicted within the first ten minutes of the film. This film is no exception to that rule, but what makes this film good instead of ridiculously mundane is that it is 100% all about the characters. Both Maggie and Jamie are real and completely screwed up characters that are entirely relatable to the audience and Hathaway and Gyllenhall both give an outstanding performance throughout. As a film on the whole, yes there really isn't anything substantial to it but in amongst it all there are pockets of sheer dialogue beauty between the two of them as they project their own screwed up insecurities on the other in a way that only proves they are perfect for each other.

Scenes such as Jamie's panic attack and Maggie's bathtub speech are two of the highlights of the film. My hat is tipped off to the writers for those particular moments. The film was simply about two very real people and without relying on anything fantastic happening it focused on these people and who they were, which in this context was by far enough.

Pretty impressed tbh, a good four faces from me.