When considering the basics of The King’s Speech, there’s really nothing particularly alluring about it. It’s a period piece about a Duke with a stutter. Yes, that’s basically true, but there’s more to this film than can ever be conveyed in even the most detailed synopsis. The combination of spectacular performances and masterful direction turns this story into an all-consuming emotional experience.
Based on a true story, Colin Firth stars as Albert, the Duke of York. As the son of King George the V (Michael Gambon), Bertie (the nickname used by his family) is required to speak publicly quite frequently. The problem is, Bertie has a speech impediment; he stammers. He’s seen a number of speech therapists, but nobody’s been able to fix the issue or get a handle on the Duke’s poor attitude. The only one able to quell is frustration is his wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), who refuses to let him succumb to his stammer.
She finds an Australian speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), whose treatment involves rather unusual methods and decides to put the Duke in his care. The men bump heads right from the start with their first meeting coming to an abrupt end when Bertie blows up and storms out of the room. However, Bertie slowly begins to open up to Lionel and just in time too, for his older brother’s (Guy Pearce) antics will have the Duke in the royal spotlight much more and far sooner than he ever expected.
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It’s that time of year again; time to look back on the year passed and recognize the best of the best. It seems every year we complain the crop of movies isn’t up to par, but then the time to compile a list of the best of the year arrives and it’s increasingly difficult. This year gave me a particularly tough time thanks to my latest endeavor: film school.
It’s nice to find a filmmaker with good intentions, but there’s just so far the intent alone can get you. Writer-director Sylvain Chomet aims to conjure up quite a degree of emotion in his nearly dialogue-less, animated 80 minute film, and while he comes close to making a powerful impact, winds up falling flat thanks to a key facet missing from his movie - entertainment.
Director Paul Weitz has a ton of pressure on him with his latest film, Little Fockers. Not only does he have to manage a massive top-notch cast, but he’s also the guy who has to take the reins from Jay Roach, the man who helmed the first two films that grossed over $330 million and $516.6 million worldwide, apiece. But Weitz is the guy responsible for critically acclaimed films like About a Boy and In Good Company and he certainly has experience managing an ensemble cast and dealing with some pretty raunchy material thanks to his very first feature, American Pie. Little Fockers was right up his alley.
I had the pleasure of talking to Stephen Dorff a few months ago about another film, but all he wanted to talk about was Sophia Coppola’s Somewhere. Ever since, I’ve been particularly anxious to see the film that he said set a new standard for him and now the time has finally come and Somewhere is hitting theaters.
We’ve seen The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette and now Sofia Coppola is gearing up for the release of her fourth feature film, Somewhere, in which she returns to the far more natural and minimalistic style of filmmaking that earned her praise for her first two films.
Half the fun of going to see a new installment of the Meet the Parents franchise is getting to hang out with the families you’ve grown to love over the past few years, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for more crazy characters. She isn’t a Focker or a Byrnes, but in Little Fockers, Jessica Alba steps in as series newcomer Andi Garcia.