movie review: The King's Speech

-
The King's SpeechThe backstory: Already nominated for multiple Golden Globes, Screen Actor's Guild, Critic's Choice Award and Independent Spirit Awards, I was eager to see The King's Speech when it came out on Christmas. It went on to win 4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture at the 83rd Oscars.

 The basics: Colin Firth plays King George VI of Britain as he tries to stop stuttering to lead England.

 My thoughts: With no disrespect to Jeff Bridges, I think Colin Firth should have won the Best Actor Oscar last year for his performance in A Single Man. I think he finally will win Best Actor this year for his amazing performance in The King's Speech. I was mesmerized by his performance. Geoffrey Rush was similarly amazing, and the scenes with the two of them were magnificent. The screenplay was well-written. It captured enough background to place the film in context, but it never let the story get bogged down with its history. I laughed, I cried, and I joined the rest of the audience in spontaneous applause at the film's conclusion. It was a lovely way to spend my Christmas night, and it's a film I will keep recommending to everyone.

 The verdict: The King's Speech is the perfect blend of humor, history and inspiration. It's my favorite film of 2010.

 Rating: 5 stars (out of 5) 
Length: 118 minutes
Release date: It's in these theaters now
Source: I paid to see it at Albany's finest Spectrum Theatre.


As an Amazon affiliate, I receive a small commission when you make a purchase through any of the above links. Thank you!

Comments

  1. ZibileeDecember 30, 2010 at 12:59 PM

    I just saw A Single Man a few weeks ago and loved it!! I agree that Firth should have won the award. I hadn't hear much about this movie, but it does indeed sound like something that I would really be interested in seeing. I kind of have a little crush on Colin Firth!! Great to hear that you loved the movie, and that it was your favorite of the year. I am going to be adding it to my list to watch in the new year!! Awesome review!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AmusedDecember 30, 2010 at 3:06 PM

    I love Colin Firth and think this movie looks fabulous! So glad to see you loved this movie :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnnaDecember 30, 2010 at 3:51 PM

    Colin Firth is awesome. I must see this.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to comment. Happy reading!

Popular posts from this blog

book review: A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear

-
Image
The backstory: A Dangerous Place  is the eleventh historical mystery featuring Maisie Dobbs. My reviews of the other eleven (plus Winspear's stand alone historical novel) are in my Book Review Database . The basics: Set four years after the last Maisie Dobbs novel, Leaving Everything Most Loved , in A Dangerous Place , we meet up with Maisie in Gibraltar in 1927 during the Spanish Civil War. She gets off her England-bound ship in Gibraltar because she's not quite ready to return. Note: this review contains spoilers about what happened in those four years of Maisie's life between books, all of which are revealed in this novel's first thirty pages.  My thoughts: Sunday I wrote about the Maisie Mail I received. These postcards appear in the book itself, along with many others. After setting the stage in Gibraltar in the opening pages (Maisie stumbles upon a dead body), Winspear recounts the last four years of Maisie's life in the form of postcards, letters, an...
Read more

book review: Run by Ann Patchett

-
Image
The backstory: After loving State of Wonder  ( my review ), I set out to read all of Ann Patchett's books. The basics: Run  is the story of the Doyle family: Bernard, an Irish Catholic ex-mayor of Boston, his deceased wife Bernadette, their adult son Sullivan, and their two adopted college ages sons, Tip and Teddy, who are biological brothers. My thoughts: I'm beginning to think Ann Patchett is my soul sister. Her writing reaches me deeply, and I've adored everything she's written. It was a special treat to read Run , the novel of hers I knew the least about going in. Although I had the framework of two of her novels and one memoir, I didn't know what to expect. Run  isn't as universally loved as some of her other works, so I was particularly curious to see how it measured up. Admittedly, Run  started off slowly for me. It took two chapters to really get into the heart of the story, but once it happened, I was hooked. One of the things I love most about ...
Read more

book review: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

-
Image
The backstory: Gilead  won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005, the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2004, and was longlisted for the Orange Prize in 2006. The basics: As Rev. Ames nears the end of his life in the 1950's, he begins a letter to his young son because Ames realizes his son is too young to really know him. Gilead  is that letter. My thoughts: Gilead  is a novel I'm been meaning to read for years. It's a character-driven, Midwestern narrative by one of our best contemporary writers. It should be a novel I love, yet I struggled to finish it and admit I was wowed by neither the story nor the writing. Gilead  seemed almost stream-of-consciousness at first. I appreciated that Robinson jumped right in: this novel is a letter from father to son; the reader's ignorance of these two characters is not the focus. As the novel progressed, more details began to be filled in, and the reader begins to understand the characters, setting and purpose. I enjoyed the ...
Read more