TIFF Review: THE KING'S SPEECH

Written by David Seidler

Directed by Tom Hooper

Starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter

There is no official poster for this film yet.

King George VI: Waiting for me to commence a conversation, one can wait a rather long wait.

When a king speaks, he must command attention. Though the British monarchy may be more iconography than anything else at this point in history, people will still look to their royal leader for guidance and reassurance in times of woe and doubt. That’s a lot of pressure for someone who may never have wanted to assume the responsibility to begin with. Unfortunately for King George VI, his birthright meant he did not have any choice in the matter. It’s not that he didn’t think he could do it; it’s just that he wasn’t confidant enough to think anyone would care to have him.

Forget the king; when director Tom Hooper speaks, he has my full attention. After his impressive first feature last year, THE DAMNED UNITED, Hooper continues his journey in regal fashion with THE KING’S SPEECH and delivers the goods right from the start. Colin Firth, who could easily garner another Oscar nod with his heartbreaking work here, is the Duke of York. It is 1925 and he is about to address the nation. The tension builds and by the time he gets to the podium, every ear in the land appears to be waiting to hear what he has to say. At first, there is nothing. What follows that awkwardness is a disjointed, passionless address that he stammers all the way through. It may not be as epic a global failure as modern day technology allows but enough people were listening to make it seem like a public collapse that he might never recover from.

He almost didn’t. King George VI went through many speech therapists before landing on Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Logue helps George break down the years of subtle abuse one suffers as the son of a king to see that his speech impediment is the result of isolation and lack of confidence, not something particularly physical. Their banter is at times hilarious and at others quite intense. Their immense combined talent, along with supporting turns from Helena Bonham Carter and Guy Pearce, give THE KING’S SPEECH even more depth and flourish than Hooper already has. Together, they created a film that will certainly resonate long after it’s said what it has to say.

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Blu-Tuesday: February 23

It is a busy day for both Blu-Ray and DVD today. There are some excellent releases, some that just look horrible and some other releases that I can confirm actually are horrible. With so many titles to look at, we best get to it.

THE INFORMANT!

I love Steven Soderbergh. THE INFORMANT! was his second release from last year, after the summer art house entry, THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE. It was actually his fourth film of the year if you count his CHE films as two and consider that they only hit most theatres in 2009. THE INFORMANT!, based on the true story of corporate whistle blower, Mark Whitacre, is by far, his breeziest entry. Soderbergh, along with a jovial and exuberant, Matt Damon, seems to just be having a lot of fun with this one. THE INFORMANT! is the kind of fresh, adult comedy that Hollywood needs to make more of.

THE DAMNED UNITED

Here is another true story and another unfortunately under appreciated film. Director Tom Hooper first impressed me with his incredibly meticulous work on the HBO mini-series, JOHN ADAMS. Here he enlists the underrated Michael Sheen to play famed British soccer coach, Brian Clough, as well as writer, Peter Morgan (THE QUEEN, FROST/NIXON) to pen the script. Morgan clearly knows how to write for Sheen as this is their third feature film together. THE DAMNED UNITED is a good, fun sports film with a very human heart keeping it alive.

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE

This 2009 documentary about famed ice queen and fashionsita, Anna Wintour, is only available on DVD. I had the chance to see it finally last week and it was a delight for me to go behind the scenes at Vogue magazine to see how their infamous September issue is put together. The funny part is that I don't even really care about fashion but the film kept me focused despite this because of the drama that goes on there. My only complaint is that there wasn't enough Wintour. My assumption is that director, R. J. Cutler, was not able to crack her and had to fill the rest of the film with Vogue's supporting team. Thankfully, all of it is way too glamourous to feel like filler.

NURSE JACKIE

This Showtime television series is just starting its second season and its first season is now available on BD. I started watching it last Friday night and finished all 12 episodes by the next day. I just could not stop watching. Addictive is the best way to describe it and when you see it, and you should see it, you will see why addictive works on so many levels. For a full review of the show, please click the link to read what I wrote for Exclaim!

THE BOX

I don't want to say too much about this movie by DONNIE DARKO director, Richard Kelly, because the good people at Warner Brothers were kind enough to send me a free copy. I must say though that THE BOX is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. It is one of those great, big messes that starts showing signs of woe about two minutes in and just gets worse and worse from there. It is one strange decision after another and an incredibly infuriating film to endure. I urge you; don't waste your time on this one. There is nothing interesting inside this box.

ALSO AVAILABLE NOW

CIRQUE DU FREAK: THE VAMPIRE'S ASSISTANT
(2009 - Directed by Paul Weitz and starring John C. Reilly & Selma Hayek))

TRAILER PARK BOYS: THE COUNTDOWN TO LIQUOR DAY
(2009 - Directed by Mike Clattenburg)

EVERYBODY'S FINE
(2009 - Directed by Kirk Jones and starring Robert De Niro and Drew Barrymore

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Black Sheep @ The Box Office: The Saw Is Finally Dull

It may not be too fair to say so but it would seem that the SAW series has finally warn out its welcome. Ordinarily, it isn't Halloween if it isn't SAW but the sixth installment of the consistently successful franchise pulled in less than half of what the fifth film did. The reason I say it may not be fair to send SAW to the grave just yet is because the SAW series has never had a force as monumental as PARANORMAL ACTIVITY to deal with in past years. This phenomenon added over 1100 screens this week and saw its earnings increase another 12% for a first place finish six weeks after its initial release. With Halloween coming next week, there is no question that the film will continue to haunt minds and multiplexes for at least the next little while.


Last week's champ, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, suffered a non-too-surprising 55% drop, suggesting that fans have come and gone already and that it doesn't have the legs to really let loose. Still, it was the top family draw this weekend as audiences showed little interest in the animated big screen adaptation of ASTRO BOY, which landed hard in sixth place. That landing is nothing compared to the nosedive crash of AMELIA. The Hilary Swank Oscar bait missed out on the Top 10 entirely, coming in 11th place, with just over $4 million. Other notable films this week include continued success for the Coen Brothers' A SERIOUS MAN (12th place finish with a 34% increase), Chris Rock's documentary, GOOD HAIR (pulling in over $1 million on 460 screens), the delicate and lovely AN EDUCATION ($13K per screen average, more than any other film in release) and the not to be missed, THE DAMNED UNITED (115% increase on 36 screens). Finally, Lars Von Trier's latest, ANTICHRIST, debuted to an average of $12K per screen on just six screens and will expand next week. Speaking of which ...

NEXT WEEK: Nobody wants to get in the way of the king ... Michael Jackson's THIS IS IT is the only major release next week, hitting 3400 screens on Wednesday for a limited time. I don't know about you but I am very curious to see if this is really it finally.

SOURCE: Box Office Mojo

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Black Sheep @ The Box Office: Number 1 Is Where they Are

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE was originally slated for release in the spring of 2008. It was delayed until the fall of 2008 and then delayed again for a whole year because Warner Brothers and director, Spike Jonze, could not reach a place where they were both happy with the film. Maurice Sendak's book is considered to be one of the most popular children's books of all time and Warner Bros. was afraid that Jonze's stark interpretation was too real to appeal to kids. Once again, the little guys have been underestimated.

Warner's worries were appeased on Friday when WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE pulled in $12.1 million, a record one-day gross for a live-action picture in October. The film polled an A- grade from filmgoers and the love was spread across the weekend, allowing Jonze's third film to easily surpass its competition and become its own king. The second place was nowhere near the $32.5 million gross WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE pulled in but it was an interesting race regardless. In a tight race, the win went to LAW ABIDING CITIZEN - the one where Gerard Butler takes on the judicial system and Jamie Foxx from inside prison. Just another unbelievable premise that was seen by another unbelievable amount of people. Giving Butler and Foxx a run for their money was the third place, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. Up another 155% this week after adding 600 more screens. That scorching $26K per screen average suggests that come next weekend, this Halloween may not be about SAW at all. The very happy people at Paramount will be bumping the theatre count up to about 1800. The only other debut this week, THE STEPFATHER, was met with about as little interest as I met my real-life stepfather with, pulling in just over $12 million for a fifth place finish.


Below the Top 10, two emerging Oscar contenders continued to perform well in limited runs. Both the Coen Brothers' A SERIOUS MAN and AN EDUCATION saw solid increases as their expansions proceeded. COCO AVANT CHANEL and THE DAMNED UNITED enjoyed solid holds on their audiences but showed no signs that a wide release would amount to anything. And NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU, a collection of short films inspired by the similar project, PARIS JE T'AIME, failed to excite anyone the same way the city itself does, pulling in an average of $3K on approximately 115 screens. New York, we love you but we see you on screen enough as it is, I think.

NEXT WEEK: SAW VI looks to get the early jump on Halloween as it slices its way onto 3000 screens. Opening with a similar theatre count, the big screen adaptation of ASTRO BOY. In case you aren't tired of vampires yet, you can catch John C. Reilly and Selma Hayek in CIRQUE DU FREAK: THE VAMPIRE'S ASSISTANT (2750 screens). And in case you aren't tired of Hilary Swank appearing in Oscar bait yet, you can catch her turn as Amelia Earhart in AMELIA (800 screens).

SOURCE: Box Office Mojo

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