The King’s Speech (2010–118 mins) C. Firth, G. Rush, H. Bonham Carter

Ah yes, “The King’s Speech”, the movie which was all the hype at the Oscars this year. It took home best picture, best actor, best director and best screenplay. So with all this hype obviously as always I am skeptical. It didn’t look like a movie I would like. A movie about a King who has a stutter, and how he forges a bond with his speech therapist to cope with it. YAWN! Only, wait. WTF. This damn movie IS good. Well crap, that means I can’t give it crap for being over hyped. Well, I kinda can b/c it’s not the best thing since sliced bread. BUT it is a damn good movie.

The whole genius of this movie is in the script, and the interaction between Colin Firth (The King), and Geoffrey Rush (the King’s therapist turned friend). If it had not been for the intelligent dry humored conversations these two had in the film, it would not be a tenth of how good it was. They are the heart and soul of the film. The other factor that goes into a great film, which this one had, is the ability to make 2 hours go by without a clue how much time had passed by. The King’s Speech adds to my count of the movies which were up for and won Oscars this year. So far of the best picture noms. I have seen all but four of them; 127 hours (not a huge desire to see), The Black Swan, True Grit (Can’t wait to see), and Winter’s Bone (will prolly see this one out of obligation to see almost all of these). So of the ones I have seen and ones I am yet to see, and of course only using the films nominated, I would say The King’s Speech gives a good argument for best picture. Of those I have not seen only “True Grit” in my mind has a chance to unseat the ones I already love. I think right now on paper I would rank them as follows; 1. Toy Story 3, 2. The King’s Speech,3. The Fighter, 4. Inception 5. The Social Network.  “Inception” could very well move a notch or two up the ladder with another viewing, one which is not at work so I can pay total attention to the almost too complicated on purpose plot.

So that brings me to my obligation to talk about the other awards that this film won. Did Firth deserve best leading actor? I am going to venture a guess that Jeff Bridges is better then him in “True Grit” but I obviously have to see it to say 100% but, I can say Jesse Eisenberg was better in “The Social Network”. Don’t flame me too fast Firth fans, he WAS good, just not great and not even as good as his co-star. Which brings me to my real beef. Best supporting actor. If you go and read my review of “The Fighter” you will see how much I loved Christian Bale in it. Bale was simply amazing as the drug addicted brother of a pro-boxer and a former pro himself. As much as I loved loved loved Bale, there simply is no supporting actor nominated who was better then Geoffry Rush. The quick wit, amazing timing, and complete perfection in his expressions takes the cake hands down. The academy got one wrong there for sure. The next award that “The Kings Speech” missed out on was best supporting actress. I simply cannot fault the academy for passing over Helena Bonham Carter. Again she was good here but I stand by my point that Amy Adams should have been the real winner, and not Melissa Leo.

I cannot make any claim to say who should have won for  best screenplay, because honestly I have no ideas about that profession, and cannot make an educated guess at all. SURE, we all can say who we think should win, but then aren’t we just really saying which movie we like best? Doesn’t that just bring us back to square one?

Verdict—?  Simply put go see it.

The slightly more complicated version—> Reading everything above though you might say that after all is said and done, I am saying that “The Kings Speech” may not be the greatest movie ever made, like some outlets will have you believe, it still is an amazing movie to see. I would give it a large recommendation to see it asap. Add it to the top of your must see list.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS