The Useless Critic 2.0

I've posted about Alfred Hitchcock several times in the past. I'm sure he's probably my favorite dictator and this is the best time of year for his movies.   "The Birds," "Vertigo," "Psycho." Classics!  Well, it has come to my attention two films about his life, one in HBO and one in theaters, are about to be released. I'm quite excited:  the theater one, "Hitchcock," stars A-listers Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins and Scarlett Johansson.  When "Psycho" was released, popular opinion said it'd be a flop. Well, it obviously wasn't. HOWEVER, perhaps I am more interested in the HBO one, weirdly (I say weirdly because I'm not the world's biggest Sienna Miller fan...really, I'm more interested in a pile of wood chips) called "The Girl" regarding the ever-so-awesome Tippi Hedren (who didn't have much of a career, but helped develop Vietnamese nail salons in America. Read about it.)...

The King’s Speech I was pretty skeptical coming into this film. I had heard about the positive reviews but it seemed like one of those Hallmark cum inspirational films about a man finding his voice for his country rahrah . This film could have been a turkey, if the directing hit the schmaltzy button and made a male version of a Mandy Moore film. Surprisingly, it was really good. Colin Firth totally owned the performance as the stuttering king with guts. He’s having a great run at the moment, with his acting performance in A Single Man and The King’s Speech being excellent. Thank God he’s moved on from wearing reindeer shirts in Bridget’s Jones Diary . I thought we had lost him forever to shit rom - coms : OH LOOK, BITCHES I AM PAYING THE MORTGAGE, HERE. Geoffrey Rush was also very good as the Australian speech therapist. He played the eccentric kooky doctor role well (think Robert Williams in Good Will Hunting ) and kept asking the King for a shilling. Surprisingly the rest of the c...

I never got to see Shadowboxer - but this pic of Cuba Gooding says it all. He can be a badass and work alongside Helen Mirren. Of course, he is an Oscar winner, but he wins the snacktacular s/s today because he is Cuba Gooding Jr: The Forgotten Badass of Planet Earth. And yes; snacktacular is a Simpsons reference. QATFYG: Did you ever see Boat Trip ?