Thursday, February 17, 2011

Movie Review: The King's Speech

aka The Duke's Speech for 3/4 of the movie....
The hype behind this film has been enormous to say the least, winning top honors at most of the major Hollywood/industry awards and surpassing The Social Network as the film to beat at this year's Oscars and you know what? Damn them all to hell if they weren't right. The King's Speech is an amazing movie.

The film centers around Britain's Prince Albert, Duke of York, played masterfully by Colin Firth, who secretly struggles to overcome a debilitating speech impediment while his family and country titer on the brink of collapse prior to the start of the Second World War. Albert's wife, portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter, enlists the aid of an unconventional speech therapist, Geoffrey Rush's character Lionel, to help her husband with his "stammer."

Oscar nom nom nom...
Most of the film's subplots shouldn't be too surprising to anyone who stayed awake in history class (King Edward's abdication, rise of Churchill, Hitler, WWII...) but thankfully, the The King's Speech stays true to it's title, focusing primarily on the Duke/King, his therapist and their quest to get him reading aloud like a pro. Director Tom Hooper doesn't do anything too out of the ordinary with this film, other than using really tight shots on the actors faces (esp Firth) which greatly amplifies the tension on screen such as in the therapy or speech scenes. The outstanding acting performances is what makes The King's Speech such a wonderful film. I'm voting (like my non-Academy affiliated vote matters) for Colin Firth in the Best Actor category. I'd say Geoffrey Rush should take home Supporting Actor, but I'm standing by my boy Christian Bale for his work amazing turn in The Fighter. Close Geoffrey, close...

So yeah, if you're interested in a historical dramas, period films, or awesome acting you cannot go wrong with The King's Speech. Also, props to Guy Pierce for being such an awesome little asshole in this flick. Now go see it.

Posted by at
Labels: ,

23 comments:

  1. poupsFebruary 17, 2011 at 10:21 AM

    seem to be a interesting movie to see :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. BartFebruary 17, 2011 at 10:41 AM

    ther was hype behind this movie? i never even knew of its existent till just now. lol :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. AWLBlogsFebruary 17, 2011 at 12:31 PM

    Trailer looks interesting and all but i personaly think it will wont be that good :/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Suciô SanchezFebruary 17, 2011 at 3:42 PM

    On the "to watch list". So much bandwidth, so little time.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ZakkFebruary 17, 2011 at 4:12 PM

    Great stuff :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. RawrFebruary 17, 2011 at 4:58 PM

    looks nice

    ReplyDelete
  7. Major MackFebruary 17, 2011 at 5:00 PM

    yea I saw this it Ill b on it

    ReplyDelete
  8. llllollllllFebruary 17, 2011 at 5:50 PM

    I really enjoyed this movie. Terrific acting.

    ReplyDelete
  9. SkimboshFebruary 17, 2011 at 6:45 PM

    As much as I enjoy Firth, I cannot be even remotely interested in the subject of this film.
    Color me uncultured. :(

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lil PeeFebruary 17, 2011 at 6:47 PM

    Uh.. Still dont know if I'd watch it..

    ReplyDelete
  11. dopdavidFebruary 17, 2011 at 8:16 PM

    thorough review
    keep up the good work

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousFebruary 17, 2011 at 8:59 PM

    nice review. personally I am more interested in inspiring movies more than these kind of born and brought in blue blood and without any much contribution to the world..

    ReplyDelete
  13. Con QuesoFebruary 17, 2011 at 10:22 PM

    Sounds like a movie I really can't miss. Unfortunately I'm going to have to wait until it's out on DVD.

    ReplyDelete
  14. JaccstevFebruary 18, 2011 at 4:25 AM

    It helps that I hear the movie is actually good, cause it really didn't sparked my interest at first.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The Angry LurkerFebruary 18, 2011 at 10:16 AM

    Damn, I'm going to have to see this now.

    ReplyDelete
  16. TeutorixFebruary 18, 2011 at 12:39 PM

    "What does he say?"
    "I dont know, but he seems to be saying it rather well" hahahaha, I'll check it out, it's a really nice concept.
    Check out my blog too:
    http://www.pixelshredder.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  17. Das Auto!February 18, 2011 at 6:23 PM

    i've been meaning to see this for a while now. BTW, i'm jealous that you live in SoCal. I just got piped last weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  18. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2011 at 7:35 PM

    My friend told me about The King's Speech a while back telling me to watch it I was like w/e about it. But after reading your review on it, it pushed me to check it out!

    ReplyDelete
  19. HiFiFebruary 19, 2011 at 1:52 AM

    I see commercials of this on TV all the time, which made me wonder how good this movie really is. Your review has helped me see the light. I'm gonna go watch it.

    ReplyDelete
  20. noogFebruary 19, 2011 at 9:38 PM

    Great in-depth review man... I may have to download a rip if I can find it. I could try torrents, but those are so 2008

    ReplyDelete
  21. NatáliaFebruary 19, 2011 at 11:47 PM

    It's on my list of "must see." Black Swan was another great movie! Have you seen it? Social Network was good but I think overrated. It totally doesn't deserve an Oscar nomination and neither does the Jessie Eisenberg. He pretty much just played the same character he always does.

    ReplyDelete
  22. NauFebruary 23, 2011 at 5:14 AM

    Oh Helena Bohnam Carter! Love her.

    ReplyDelete
  23. killerkunFebruary 25, 2011 at 5:06 PM

    Just saw it today... i liked it (:

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)