Media Log
This is one of those movies that I've seen most of already on Youtube, but in 1 minute chunks between woodworking and LEGO building Shorts. I'd say I would stop to watch it about 60% of the time, so not the most riveting movie ever, but it's good enough to grab my attention. The reason I actually sat down and watched the entire thing was because boyf had to watch it for a film class.
As is to be expected with a film about the intricacies of life in the British royalty, certain parts of this story drag on with a dull tedium. Watching Albert walk down the same long hallway several times gets pretty old. However, there's also plenty of humor instigated primarily by the Australian speech teacher, Lionel, that eventually gets to bounce off of Albert's dry British wit.
There were a bunch of actors from the film series that moldy terf lady wrote, which was a surprise each time one would pop up. I guess Britain only has 30 actors lmao. Nice to see them again in a different context though.
I noticed that the movie was set in 1934, but I wasn't sure how long it was going to go into WW2 or if it would bring it up much at all. The moment where they're watching the film of Hitler speaking and Albert says "I don't know what he's saying, but he's saying it damn well" or something along those lines is just one of those constant reminders of "most people really didn't realize how fucked everything was in Germany." I have a strong feeling that this will be the final kick I need to really get into WW2. I don't really care about the actual fighting, but more about the technological advances (like Enigma and computing as a whole) and the sociological impacts, like rationing and art. It's just hard to find media that focuses on that.
There's a few scenes where Albert is cussing, singing, and dancing around in order to create a flow of movement to overcome his stutter. It reminded me a lot of the weird little act I put on after I feel like I've blundered a social situation - I walk away cursing or sing-songing under my breath, trying to forget whatever I just managed to be weird about. It's better than spiraling, but it is a little embarassing when I'm doing it and someone rounds the corner and see me lol.
Towards the tail end of the movie, they find out that Lionel isn't a doctor, and didn't have any formal training. I suppose I understand why they were upset, considering it means that they barely vetted this man who was so close to the king that he was in the family box during his coronation, but otherwise... I don't see why they really give a crap. Medicine was still a major crapshoot, and it's not like this guy was going to do surgery or anything on him. It's miles better than the actual doctor who said "chain smoke these cigarettes and hell, throw a handful of marbles in your mouth while you're at it!" I dunno, maybe I'm the weird one for not really caring, but I only care about the end results myself.
Overall, this was a fine movie. If your interests lie somewhere among the British royal family, speech therapy, or self-improvement, you'll probably have a good time watching. Otherwise, save it for something like crafting where you plan on having a varied span of attention.
Oof... so. Me and boyf started watching House (rewatching for me) a while back, but I didn't really write down my thoughts anywhere. Now that we're getting into some of the later seasons, I realized I would actually want to keep some notes and observations. I also just really love this fucked up show. I'll do one for the pilot, one for the rest of season 1, and one for all of season 2 that we've watched up to this point. Then each episode will get its own entry.
As far as the pilot episode goes, it's alright. Pilots are always a little clunky and awkward, but I recall this one being decent enough. Laying out the groundwork for House being a miserable asshole isn't very fun, especially compared to the nuance and depth we get later, but it's gotta be done to establish the baseline.
It's very funny to me how young everyone looks in the pilot, including Hugh Laurie. They're like little babies, but then I look one of them up, and I realize it's been 20 years!
Anyways, main patient is a kindergarten teacher who passes out - goes through testing - allergic reaction to MRI contrast - steroids make her better - she gets worse suddenly - refuses more experimental treatments - they x-ray her leg to prove she has... tapeworms!
Clinc patients: Orange man bad - a man who ate too many carrots & A crappy mom that gives her kid a maintenance inhaler as a rescue inhaler. They aren't particularly memorable to me.
Pretty good pilot for an awesome show.