Pretty fantastic filmmaking. Helena Bonham Carter was just lovely and understated, Geoffrey Rush was compassionate and perceptive, Colin Firth had much less patience than usual and it worked so well. The costumes, the settings, the subterfuge in arriving at appointments… I liked it all alot.

I didn’t quite love the film as much as others do, though. I know it was a big moment THEN, the King’s Speech and the committing to a World War AGAIN, and the fact that all those others (particularly Wallis Simpson and the abdicator) were so enamored of Hitler, is really powerful stuff. But I just kept thinking about today, and how little a king’s speech would impact or mean to almost anyone, and how we are right now in World War III even if no one wants to ever acknowledge it or even discuss the fact that we are still at war, these many years post 9/11. I couldn’t quite keep my mind focused on seeing this as the subtle big moment that it was and kept thinking on the small moment it seems NOW.

That said, I did really enjoy it, I did need kleenex at the end, and they are all certainly Oscar-worthy performances.

DadReaction chimed in to say he’s never liked Geoffrey Rush as much as he did in this movie. Such a calm, powerful performance.