I have a voice!

The King's Speech

The story of King George the VI aka Bertie and Lionel Logue, the man who helped him overcome his emotionally and physically painful stammer, The King's Speech is an inspiring story of bravery and friendship and will carry Colin Firth to Oscar gold.

The King's Speech is the Colin Firth show. This movie is built around him and he rules it like a king. His stammer/stutter seems accurate and well researched. He's gentle and intimidating, fragile yet tough as nails. A battle rages inside him, a battle of pain, embarrassment/self-loathing and silent bravery and growing hope. This battle all plays out in his face, particularly his eyes and mouth. His perseverance and performance moved me to tears. One of the best male performances of the year.

Firth and Geoffrey Rush have excellent chemistry, whether they are fighting or supporting each other. It's quite magical to watch their friendship develop. Rush provides much needed laughs and uses the fantastic comedic timing we saw in Shakespeare in Love. Helena Bonham-Carter was also quite good in her supporting role but the role was written to be supporting and not outshine Firth and Rush. She did the best with what she was given.

The techniques director Tom Hooper uses to show Bertie's pain and embarrassment are quite masterful. The echoing microphone repeats Bertie's stammer, almost mocking him. His not overbearing use of Bertie's awful family really reinforces the tough childhood Bertie had; we see them enough to realize they are awful and they leave on impression, like they are always in the back of our mind, like Bertie. The end is inspiring and left some audience members clapping in my theater. Hooper doesn't rush Bertie's speech, he lets him take his time, just as Logue would've instructed.

The King's Speech definitely goes through the Oscar checklist: inspiring story about a man overcoming an obstacle, World War II, true story, life-changing relationship and so on. But The King's Speech has heart, something many Oscar checklist film forget to include. Rush's dedication and Firth's power combine to make the audience feel, unlike Benjamin Button which was just an interesting film to look at with an interesting story.

I really enjoyed The King's Speech, I think it did a great job of telling a compelling story and highlighting a misunderstood condition. Do I think it should win Best Picture? Probably not. Will I be mad if it does? Definitely not.

Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit

This girl is the next Dakota Fanning! She's super talented and she's such a little adult. Anyone who can go toe-to-toe with Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin and act as well as them is one heck of a talent. The Coen Brothers have written some memorable, strong, and incredibly feminist characters, and Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross brings her to life. This girl has a bright future ahead of her.

Netflix

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind-I frequently hear this was good.
The Other Guys-Heard this was either hilarious or atrocious.
The Red Shoes-Netflix Instant. Perhaps an inspiration for Black Swan?