Movie Review: "The King's Speech"

Being a movie freak who lives in Indonesia is quite challenging. I'm a super curious person when it comes to the new releases, and I have this impulsiveness to must watch those newest ones. Unfortunately the foreign movies that arrive in my town, Yogyakarta, usually only the 'big-budget' ones. Those which are set for international/ wide release, for the smaller projects we usually have to wait until they arrive in Jakarta, then few weeks later they will arrive here. That's why we just got "The King's Speech" arrive here a couple of days ago. When my friend asked me "Do you want to watch 'The King's Speech' or 'Mechanics'?" I was like "'THE KING'S SPEECH' OF COURSE!!".

Knowing that the movie is highly acclaimed, I totally raised my expectations (it just won Best Film in the BAFTA, and is predicted to win Best Picture in the Oscars). And what can I say? The movie was wonderful! It came from a very simple idea, but Tom Hooper and the crew developed it into a beautiful pack of masterpiece. Great actors, great screenplay, great cinematography — that's all you need.

Colin Firth was 'man of the scenes'. He depicted the struggling Bertie perfectly, seems like something was hanging on his throat and that he actually wanted to say so many things but he couldn't. Firth was able to connect his struggle to the audience, in a very natural way. He raised our symphaty yet admiration of his strong will to be a good leader as his father wished for. At one point after reigning as King George VI, he was so desperate and screamed "I'm not a good king!" so many times — it was so heartbreaking.

Firth's vulnerable character was supported by the eccentric speech trainer Lionel Logue, played by Geoffrey Rush. Logue was initially reluctant to help Bertie when Bertie's wife came to him. But when she revealed that it was actually Duke of York who needed his help, he accepted the proposal directly. During the speech training (but it's more like 'therapy' to me), those two different characters met and they created this intriguingly dynamic conversation. Logue tried to dig into Bertie's mind, which Bertie rejected first, but slowly they got to know each other and bond naturally. Rush did amazing, he was all of encouragement, optimism, and confident. Exactly the kind of person Bertie needed, besides his loving wife Elizabeth (played by the-oh-so-amazing Helena Bonham Carter).

Overall, the movie was relaxed, positive, and really nice to watch. I really enjoy the flow of the plot. The actors were terrific — it was merely perfect cast. There was a lot of meaningful dialogue that I can't even remember. I don't know if this movie will beat the more-hype "Social Network", but this was absolutely an Oscar material. Five stars out of five!

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"The King's Speech" is the biggest winner of Screen Actors Guild Awards!

Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, and Geoffrey Rush presenting "The King's Speech" at Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Tom Hooper's critically acclaimed "The King's Speech" snatched the biggest award of tonight's Screen Actors Guld Awards (SAG Awards) as Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture—or shortly Best Movie! Colin Firth, leading actor of "The King's Speech" also won Best Actor, beating Jeff Bridges for "True Grit", Jesse Eisenberg for "The Social Network", Robert Duvall for "Get Low", and James Franco for "127 Hours". While the Best Actress went to "Black Swan" leading lady Natalie Portman.

Another big winners are the cast of "The Fighter", in which Christian Bale (the birthday boy—he's officially 37 tonight!) and Melissa Leo named as Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress respectively. Both were also the winners of Best Supporting roles in the previous Golden Globe Awards.

As for the television category, Best Comedy went to "Modern Family" (which surprisingly beat the favorited nominee "Glee"), while the Best Drama went to "Boardwalk Empire". Alec Baldwin and Betty White were Best Actors in Comedy Series. Steve Buschemi, who previously won Best Actor for Television Series in Golden Globe also won Best Actor for Drama TV Series, while the Best Actress was Julianna Margulies. Click "Read More" for full winner list.

Congratulations for all the winners! This speculates that "The King's Speech" might be the strongest candidate to win in the next award show, Orange British Academy Film Awards (or the BAFTAs), or even the Academy Awards.

Another personal note to myself: I need to see "The King's Speech" real soon. Before the Oscars!

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The Academy Award nominations: "The King's Speech" leads with 12 noms, "True Grit" with 10 noms, both "Inception" and "The Social Network" for 8 noms!

Finally! The Oscar aka Academy Awards nominations have been announced! The British masterpiece "The King's Speech" leads the Oscar with 12 nominations, followed by "True Grit" with 10 nominations, and then "Inception" and "The Social Network" with 8 nominations each. Other favorites like "Black Swan", "The Fighter", and "Toy Story 3" are also included. Here are the complete nomination list, plus my favorites to win!

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"The Social Network" won Best Picture at Los Angeles Film Critics Association

Andrew Garfield at Los Angeles
Film Association Awards event.

Oops, "The Social Network" did it again! The Los Angeles Film Critics Association awarded the Best Picture to the David Fincher's directed movie last night, as well as Best Screenplay for Aaron Sorkin. The Best Director award was given to two tied-winners, David Fincher and Olivier Assayas for "Carlos", which was the runner-up for Best Picture. Another tied-award for "The Social Network" is Best Music Score for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross along with Alexandre Displat for "The Ghost Writer".

Colin Firth and Kim Hye-Ja were the Best Actor and Actress respectively, with Edgar Ramirez from "Carlos" and Jennifer Lawrence from "Winter's Bone" as the runner-ups. "Toy Story 3" won Best Animation, while "Inception" won only an award for Best Production Design. Please click here for the full list of LAFCA winners.

After LAFCA Awards ended, the stars were gathered in a Golden Globes afternoon tea in an event held by cooperation of BAFTA/LA. The Golden Globes nominees were having a good time even though they will be contending tomorrow at the award show. From Jeff Bridges, Jeremy Renner, Nicole Kidman, Diane Warren (composer of "Burlesque"), Jane Lynch, Tom Hooper (director of "The King's Speech"), Vanessa Williams, Ryan Gosling, and Michelle Williams were spotted spending a nice time together.

"The King's Speech" director Tom Hooper with Andrew Garfield at the BAFTA/LA Awards Season Tea at Four Seasons. Both are nominated for Golden Globes Award, aired tomorrow.

Andrew Garfield (hmm, yeah, my favorite), who's nominated as Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globes, was spotted with his British actor pal Eddie Redmayne (star of "The Yellow Handkerchief" and "Pillars Of The Earth"). "It's nice being in a room with such inspiring, wonderful people to talk to," Andrew said. He also expressed he couldn't believe that he's been invited to attend such honorable award shows ever since "The Social Network" came out to a blast.

Trust me Andrew, if you keep playing like you did in "The Social Network", "Boy A", and "Never Let Me Go", they will keep inviting and nominating you to those great award shows until you become a grandfather.

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