Watching the Academy Awards this year, it seemed like The King’s Speech could not lose. It won four Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, and Best Director. The Academy nominated it for another eight. Amazingly, neither my fellow critic Tony Route nor I had seen it. We decided to fix that and headed to the theater.
Colin Firth plays Prince Albert “Bertie” who later becomes King George VI. Bertie is afflicted with terrible stammering and is humiliated when his father, the king, forces him to make public speeches at events and on the radio. He and his wife seek out numerous treatment options to no avail. He eventually ends up at the office of Lionel Logue (played by Geoffrey Rush). Lionel secretly helps Bertie to improve his stammer. Fate and circumstance thrust Bertie into the throne just as England is drawn into World War II.
What an amazing movie. It is hard to say enough good things about this movie. The cinematography is beautiful. Every frame could make a photograph. The dialogue and script is intelligent, witty, and believable. The characters are solid, fleshed out and wonderfully flawed just like real people. You find yourself empathizing with each of them as the movie progresses.
The acting was top notch. Firth and Rush both give tremendous performances, each nominated for and worthy of an Oscar; however only Firth walked away with one. Helena Bonham Carter plays Queen Elizabeth (mother of the current queen). Carter seems destined to play a queen. She was the Red Queen in the recent incarnation of Alice in Wonderland. She looks and sounds like a queen. She portrayed understated elegance and gave a great performance.
I exceedingly enjoyed this movie and feel it deserved the awards it received. I highly recommend watching this movie. It is rated R (edited version is PG-13) but is mostly because of some cursing, nearly all of it in a single scene. I would say that it should really just be PG-13. I give it a 9.5 /10.
Colin Firth plays Prince Albert “Bertie” who later becomes King George VI. Bertie is afflicted with terrible stammering and is humiliated when his father, the king, forces him to make public speeches at events and on the radio. He and his wife seek out numerous treatment options to no avail. He eventually ends up at the office of Lionel Logue (played by Geoffrey Rush). Lionel secretly helps Bertie to improve his stammer. Fate and circumstance thrust Bertie into the throne just as England is drawn into World War II.
What an amazing movie. It is hard to say enough good things about this movie. The cinematography is beautiful. Every frame could make a photograph. The dialogue and script is intelligent, witty, and believable. The characters are solid, fleshed out and wonderfully flawed just like real people. You find yourself empathizing with each of them as the movie progresses.
The acting was top notch. Firth and Rush both give tremendous performances, each nominated for and worthy of an Oscar; however only Firth walked away with one. Helena Bonham Carter plays Queen Elizabeth (mother of the current queen). Carter seems destined to play a queen. She was the Red Queen in the recent incarnation of Alice in Wonderland. She looks and sounds like a queen. She portrayed understated elegance and gave a great performance.
I exceedingly enjoyed this movie and feel it deserved the awards it received. I highly recommend watching this movie. It is rated R (edited version is PG-13) but is mostly because of some cursing, nearly all of it in a single scene. I would say that it should really just be PG-13. I give it a 9.5 /10.
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