The Kings Speech

The Kings Speech

Its not easy being Geoffrey Rush. You must remain consistent. Never ever approach a charachter, just run at it with water balloons and see what sticks walk around in it for a while, shake it a little, and remain there in the next few weeks and presume your work is done as you saunter through scene after scene exposing only what you are comfortable with and know will work. This is fine when you are the zaniest person on screen, but when eye to eye with a nuanced civilised and real person its starts to show your messy approach to character. In the opening half hour, and one of the best of the year, its equal and charming, the simple playful nature of the King and his FRIEND(in capitals as this word is the entire second half of the script, just repeated over an over again) capture simply and without any real stretch a different hierarchy of performance, never stretching never pushing each other to out due each others acting but a subdued nervous reverence for the practices and backgrounds of each person, this would be fine if one of these characters was not the King of England, but it is also the reason why it works so well until a point, this point fades in when Guy Pearce the older sibling and next inline for the throne comes in to play, he is like a super sub who comes in and give the film a beacon to push forward into a second act that magnifies the ordeal of the younger brother "Bertie"(old wet shirt..Colin Firth) and adds context to the his life as a Royal, these two acts are not seamlessly blended but make it look stunning compared to the bludgeoning of the third, where after so much time has been spent oh their brotherly squabbling it come s to a halt and re-inserts the story about a man speaking.......

this is akin to stop mid Coitus “as my favourite add is on telly and you must see it...ness“. It tries but the film has set up from its first two acts a third that places the inevitable speech as part of Britain’s catalyst in a savage fight to come, to show the explosion of his brothers abdiction, an highlight the people need for a real leader,the third act fails on all accounts mainly as it coasts on easy ideas and Geoffrey Rush's impression of the first reality Tv show host making his pupil overcome....something, possibly losing weight or finally coming to grips with..anyway, in context of the first two acts it fails and is like a lead weight dragging the rest of the ship down,In a boat carrying lead weights somewhere that is.

Other problems are a score stolen from an an elevator where a scene from Highway to Heaven was filmed and it all keeps coming back to missed ideas that never dedicated itself to commenting on Britain properly. If you are not going to fully discuss pre-war England and its Politics don’t feature Winston Churchill in a cameo, that feels like the dude making an appearance in a Harold and Kumar film where he plays there straight edged accountant.

Colin Firth is good though. Nicely shot too..in parts.

Love and other Drugs.

Love and other Drugs.

Man(Jake Gyllenhall) meets girl(Anne Hathaway).He is a drug rep. She has Parkinsons......

wow

It feels like a conspiracy. It may be word for word interpretation of the book that the film is based on,but i don't think it is. Otherwise its not best seller but more a classy smut book for ladies who like to cry while there gentlemen masturbate as they are women are so dull that the find this emotional stimulating. This is a film about a relationship but its the audiences relationship with

romantic fantasy and what a filmmaker is entitled to get away with to involve a demographic into

a story to purposefully hate them for their failings about what they need to find stimulating. There is coarse nudity,huge emotional curves that are pretty straight,it was just sign posted for a roundabout in 400 miles. Its a film where beautiful people are happy where ugly people are sad and useless(but can be tech savy millionaires if they choose),even the women,Anne Hathaway who suffers from Parkinson's disease at 26... come off a little too man easy going but then again the disease that with 4mins of editing could be taken out if test audiences felt it was wrong,a little trimming and a few scenes to redirect the ending and you have a fun rom com where noone one of known any better. Its all filler all the time,it has moments to criticizes the medical establishment but swerves at the last minute to making a gag out of it rather than ever have any courage to tackle any issue,targeting doctors more than the giant evil conglomerate who come off so lightly it feels a little too cosy and in social terms of what the film-makers laid out for themselves to films and what they eventually got...i can not presume to understand how they thought this was in any way going to work.A romantic film staring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway is fine in itself they had simple chemistry together in Valentines day,a film compared to this deservers so much more respect as all it aimed to do was to tell stupid love vignettes and sell it to girls. This uses illness to tell a story.Its momentum comes from suffering,and abusing such suffering,the film actually references going to Canada to buy cheaper mediation,yet never challenges why it is,it merely sells it as Cocoon on a bus.

Performance wise..its nothing. Direction is flaccid,from someone who believes he is making a statement but wants to sell it to reach the widest possible audience with an anodyne romance,and fails to convince anyone it matter on any level,unless you like your films hinged on a final one line that gives it a little bit of hope,until you recall the films opening,Jake as a electronics salesman being so alarming contrived to sell the rest of the film on his charm the whole filmed failed as he is not a salesman like Tom Cruise/George Clooney approach of being that salesman naturally and here Jake forces everything that he feels quite seedy and laughable.