Today Samantha and I decided to spend the afternoon in town, to celebrate being finished with our first semester in England. Disgruntled after turning in our papers and already stressing about the next semester, we decided that a break was in order. Orange mobile offers its customers “Orange Wednesdays” which allow you to buy two movie tickets for the price of one. Using our student discounts as well we spent less than three pounds per ticket–a big deal when it usually costs seven or eight!

The King’s Speech was amazing! It was refreshing to see Colin Firth in a role that had a real story; sometimes I find myself forgetting how great of an actor he is! The story is a mostly true one, recounting the life of King George VI before his ascension to the throne. A man who was so afraid of his father and brother that he began stuttering at age five, Albert (“Bertie”) had tried every speech therapist in London. His wife, played by the lovely and remarkable Helena Bonham Carter, finds Lionel (Geoffrey Rush) whose methods are unorthodox to say the least!

The movie allowed for laughter and tears of the best kind; you fell in love with this crazy man’s way of fixing a speech problem and your heart broke every time Bertie stuttered in public. I highly recommend this film–though it’s not exactly fun for the whole family (One speech training scene involves copious curse words)

I must admit, however, that my favorite part of the film was seeing Helena Bonham Carter being somewhat ordinary. I have fallen in love with each of the quirky characters she plays–the Queen of Hearts and Bellatrix–but this character was so utterly normal !

Ta for now,

A