My Blog

• Date Watched
• Format
• With

Date Watched

Saturday 21st January 2012

Format

Sky Anytime Plus

With

Marie Faulkener

The King’s Speech is one of those films that has been so universally praised and loved it actually ends up having the reverse effect on me and ends up making me avoid it.  I know that’s a bit sad – but there you go.  So anyway last night it got to about 11pm and myself and Marie wanted to curl up on the sofa and watch something.  Clash of the Titans 3D was the only film I had recorded on the box and as it was late and the boy’s were having a bit of trouble sleeping anyway we didn’t want to watch an all-action Blu-ray.

So, for the first time, I went onto Sky’s streaming service and Marie immediately spotted The King’s Speech.  I am sceptical of streaming services, so something like this which wouldn’t rely on HD sound and blinding picture seemed like the ideal test.

I must say that the film was an absolute joy.  The performances from everyone involved were a joy – especially Colin Firth – and the proximity to present times (it taught me a lot about a period of history my parents lived through) made it doubly interesting to me.  I hadn’t realised that the central character was the brother of the Edward who married Mrs. Simpson (superbly played by Guy Pearce showing absolutely no trace of his Aussie accent), and that his wife was the Queen Mother (and his daughter, of course, the present Queen).   So all that was fascinating.

As for streaming, I was impressed.  It was in full surround sound and this worked really well.  I haven’t got the Blu-ray to compare it to, of course, but the picture was HD and looked damned good.  Not entirely sure I would ever watch the film again, but it was VERY VERY good and I will certainly stream again…….