King's Speech

When I was an undergraduate, and people asked me what my major was I responded "speech path" the response was either a blank stare or "what the hell is that? or both. So the fact that there is a major Oscar contending movie about speech pathology almost made me wet me pants. I was privvy to this screenplay three years ago, when I attended my second Fierce Backbone meeting. Fierce is a theatre group and in that visit I sat in the small Hollywood theatre and heard a reading by playwright David Seidler about a play he was working on about a stuttering English king. The speech pathologist in me was way more excited than the director or playwright, someone knows of the work I do? And with such great pride I finally saw this Stutter King not on stage but on screen. What a wonderfully acted film. Rarely do I enjoy movies with character who stutter as they are frequently comedic in nature and I find there is nothing funny about a speech disorder. But they movie tackle what can be quite a debilitating disorder with intergrity, compassion and authenticity. I do encourage folks to see this movie and I do hope that sweet David Seidler brings home the Oscar in a few weeks.

Orphan

I hate to waste my first movie blog on this dreadful movie. It made no attempt at originality it was a terrible combination of The Omen, The Good Son and every crappy Lifetime movie about a stranger that becomes a part of a family. It is the same tired formula, troubled wife that has a checkered past that renders her unreliable. Sappy husband who believes everyone except his loved ones despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. A family friend who comes to warn the family and is then killed by this character. I think a green house and a lake are pretty customary. A prolonged ending where the culprit continues to attack despite repeated false endings that supposedly lead the audience to believe that he/she has died. What is sad about these films is that beyond being completely insulting to the audience that almost always portray the mother/wife in a poor light.