The King’s Speech (Cert 12 )
WHEN Love triumphs over duty and Edward VIII abdicates, his brother Albert (Colin Firth) is forced into the spotlight. However, the newly-crowned King George VI suffers from a crippling stammer, which renders him unable to deliver public addresses. With war imminent, Queen Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) approaches unconventional Australian-born speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) to help her husband. Feted with four Oscars, The King’s Speech is a crowd-pleasing, heart-tugging gem.
Tom Hooper’s film is an impeccably crafted chapter from recent British history that charts a remarkable and unlikely friendship between two men from opposite sides of the class divide. David Seidler’s script elegantly dissects the relationship between monarch and commoner, creating memorable exchanges that provide the film with huge laughs and a strong emotional heartbeat.
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Family Guy – Season Ten (Cert 15 )
THREE-DISC box set of 16 episodes from Seth MacFarlane’s hugely popular animated comedy, which chronicles the misadventures of the Griffin family led by despairing patriarch, Peter (voiced by MacFarlane).
In this series, Peter and his long-suffering wife Lois (Alex Borstein) are at the centre of a murder mystery at James Woods’s house, while scheming, megalomaniac baby Stewie (MacFarlane again) falls head over heels in love and foolishly lets his guard down.
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The Way Back (Cert 12 )
IN SOVIET-OCCUPIED Poland, officer Janusz (Jim Sturgess) is falsely incriminated as a foreign spy and sent to a Russian gulag in Siberia.
Behind the camp’s walls, Janusz meets Khabarov (Mark Strong), who claims escape is possible if they head south to Lake Baikal, using the elements to cover their tracks. Russian thug Valka (Colin Farrell), enigmatic American prisoner Mr Smith (Ed Harris), youngster Kazik (Sebastian Urzendowsky), Tomasz (Alexandru Potocean), Voss (Gustaf Skarsgard) and Zoran (Dragos Bucur) complete the escape party. Teenage refugee Irena (Saoirse Ronan) joins the remarkable odyssey, but, as the gulag chief predicted, Mother Nature shows no mercy.
The Way Back is a harrowing true story of courage and endurance against the odds during the Second World War. Cinematographer Russell Boyd captures the rugged beauty of the frozen wastelands of Siberia and the Mongolian desert.
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