The King's Speech

Royalty got it rough, yo.

Nominated for:
Best Actor - Colin Firth
Best Supporting Actor - Geoffrey Rush
Best Supporting Actress - Helena Bonham Carter
Cinematography - Danny Cohen
Directing - Tom Hooper
Best Picture
Original Screenplay - David Seidler

Also nominated for:
Art Direction
Costume Design - Jenny Beavan
Film Editing - Tariq Anwar
Sound Mixing
Original Score - Alexandre Desplat

This film has garnered 12 Academy Award nominations, and I have to ask myself - why? The cinematography is not particularly creative or innovative, the score is overly-produced and generic, the supporting characters are completely one-dimensional, and the narrative yo-yos all over the place.

But wait! Its about a materialistically wealthy dude making an unlikely friend who helps him overcome his personal obstacles and teaches him to believe in himself - epic cheering scene ensues! How could I not love this movie? It's certainly not a replica of every single Oscar-bait movie ever to come out of Hollywood!

Colin Firth gave a good performance, but its not like British upper class is a stretch for him. His performance in last year's A Single Man acts the pants off this stuttering, stuffy old royalty schtick. And don't even think of linking the film's value to the number of nominations it's received. You know what else got a lot of nominations? Shakespeare in Love (13). You know what else got a lot of nominations? Titanic (14).

Eli

Rating: 3 for innovation, 4 for emotions (because, ok, they did do a good job of visualizing his stutter...), and 2 for cohesiveness.