Front Row Dress Circle

The adorable little boy pictured at left would one day grow up to be a King of the British Empire, the father of our present Queen Elizabeth II. As Prince Albert of Wales he looks like most little boys of the era which was the early 20th century, dressed in a sailor suit for the photographer as was the trend at the time. We all think he led a charmed life – as would assume all Royals do – but sadly his childhood was not the happy childhood it could have been. He was habitually abused as a toddler by a spiteful nanny and terrorised throughout his teens by an authoritative, demanding father and teased by his brothers – no wonder he was plagued by nervous problems and a crippling stammer into adulthood. I saw The King’s Speech at the weekend which details the years in which this little boy went from being the newly married Prince Albert, Duke of York, to King George VI and how he found a man who was able to help him ultimately control the stammer that made public speaking for him such a nightmare. Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist, became a significant part of ‘Bertie’s’ life giving him the skills and confidence he needed to deliver the many speeches that rallied a nation during wartime and marked his reign as so successful. Through the film you discover the traumas that caused the young prince to start stammering as five year old child and you really deeply for the young man who was living a relatively uncomplicated life as a Naval Officer when the biggest role of all was conferred upon him.

What comes across very strongly is the sense of vulnerability in a man who had not enjoyed a happy childhood or doting parents, but rather isolation and dominance. His love of his quiet family life with his wife and two daughters was interrupted by the Abdication but the rest, as we know, is history and if you ever wondered where the Queen gets her strength and resilience from then look no further – go see this brilliant film about a man who overcame so many personal problems and issues that we experience in our own lives today and see why he certainly was born to be King.

If Colin Firth (The King) and Geoffrey Rush (Lionel Logue) don’t both win Oscars for their roles in this film then I will eat my keyboard!

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Our usual Sunday drives around the countryside have had to be put on hold for the time being due to the really cold weather we are getting at the moment; even in this kind of weather the rural side of Northern Ireland is just as beautiful but it’s kind of lost on me when there is a gale force wind tearing at your face…

So we decided on a trip to the cinema which is something that everyone always can agree on. We love the Disney-Pixar films in our family and we have been waiting for the release of the latest pic Planet 51 after we saw a preview of it when we went to see Up a few weeks ago. The kids have been asking about it constantly so when we read that there were advance screenings on yesterday we decided to go for it. Any parent will know that taking the family to the movies these days almost requires the budget of a small third world country but I am one of those people who think that the popcorn, the drink and the maltesers are part and parcel of the experience. In Australia you can buy ‘choc tops’ – a cone with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream dipped in chocolate which sets so that you have to bite through the chocolate topping. You dont get those here but they are an institution where I come from.

So after parting with a good portion of a weeks wages we settled into our seats and I had to note how long the flick was – 98 minutes – which is important when you have two kids aged 5 and 7 armed with a 2 gallon container of fanta. This is a good length of film especially for young John as his bladder just about holds out without us needing to take a trip to the loo’s. When we took him to see War of the Worlds it was pretty hard going…and just as it was ending he was about to fall asleep. By the way – Planet 5 was brilliant, we highly recommend it!

Popularity: 37% [?]

Today was cinema day for our family so we took the kids to see the new flick ‘Monsters Vs Aliens’ – it was a real treat and not only did the kids love it we enjoyed it too.

It’s a great film – 92 mins – so it’s long enough to give you value for your money and short enough to keep the kids attention. I always think that anything over 100 mins for kids under 6 is asking for trouble boredom-threshold speaking. But our two loved it and to tell you the truth I would even sit through it again – something I would rarely do with kids films…not including some of the old Disney classics of course.

Highly recommend it!

Popularity: 36% [?]