Opening in theaters today is “The King’s Speech,” largely considered the frontrunner for this year’s Best Picture Oscar and an audience charmer since it first bowed at Telluride (where I saw and greatly enjoyed it). I also talked to the film’s director, Tom Hooper, and stars Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush at the time, so I guess that deserves another link. Guy, however, had a different take at London fest. But now the jury’s out on public perception. Tell us what you thought if you get around to giving it a look this weekend.
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23 responses to “Tell us what you thought of ‘The King’s Speech’”
Is this really considered the frontrunner? I feel like The Social Network is far more widely lauded. The best reviewed film in a couple years and it made serious money.
The King’s Speech is definitely considered the frontrunner…if you talk to Academy members.
This is one of those movies that will not get as much critical acclaim as the darling(s) – Toy Story 3 or The Social Network – but will probably do much better with AMPAS. You know … people with a heart. lol
Just kidding, obviously. Some critics have hearts. ;)
I actually take that back, a bit. Toy Story 3 had more than enough heart that critics latched onto.
I expect TKS to be in the 80’s on Metacritc and around 90 on RT.
Do you foresee a split this year between movie and director? Sounds like The King’s Speech stands on the performances–ie Firth and Rush. Otherwise it seems to be a smaller film–enjoyable and moving as it might be–than The social network. And isn’t David Fincher “due”–whatever that means?
I’ll tell you next week when it comes out here.
@gilda…agreed. I think this is too small to win. I’m not talking about budget, but simply scope/relevance/timeliness.
I think it’s a lovely film that the director saves from being a boring history lesson and two great actors have a blast going toe to toe with one another — both Firth and Rush will be in the Oscar race and at the top of their category, unless Jeff Bridges in True Grit is as good as I think he’s going to be — as for the film being the years best, The Social Network, Black Swan (brilliant), and 127 Hours are stronger (for me) at this point, but the Academy loves this kind of movie and that alone makes it the front runner — I have a hunch the Coens are going to knock us out with True Grit (I hope) but as Kris astutely states, according to Academy members, this is the front runner…and that is what matters right now.
LOVED, LOVED it. And with less than half the sugar and schmaltz of typical cinematic comfort food.
Good to know, Paul. :)
I saw it a second time this week and liked it a little more. It’s quite good but it probably won’t finish it in my top 15.
It will be interesting to see if Social Network or True Grit can defeat it or if its same old with the Academy.
Saw it today, good movie but not quite outstanding. I would choose plenty of films over it for best picture (though probably of that group only Toy Story 3 and Kids Are All Right have even a longshot chance to win) but also wouldn’t be too upset if it did win.
It will be interesting to see how the b.o. for the films turns out. A good run could help solidify its status as the frontrunner and it seems like a crowd pleaser, but it also doesn’t feel like the most commercial subject matter so it may post great limited release numbers and then slow down upon going wide.
People always compare The King’s Speech to other British period films such as Shakespeare in Love or The Queen… But do not forget that audiences in some major festivals loved this movie so far, and as someone who hasn’t seen the movie yet, I thought that wave was more like the reaction to Slumdog Millionaire. People respond to this, when The Social Network is a tough film to relate to. Fincher did a great job with a talking heads movie, but will the AMPAS members really respond to that better than they will to this? I still doubt that.
I know this is the apparent frontrunner, but when you look back at the past winners in the best picture category working all the way back to “Crash” it strikes me that the Academy is just plain fucking sick of rewarding films like this. I think it is certainly the favorite now, and Firth will get his due no doubt, but I think the backlash is gonna come in pretty strong soon enough on this one.
I don’t see foresee any backlash around this film. If anything I would imagine there would be more backlash around TSN, talk about a film witthout heart.
I think The King’s Speech will affect audiences emotionally more than The Queen.
It’n not immediately noticeable, but there is a hell of a lot of heart in TSN. Fincher is not as slick a director as people make him out to be, there is always a strong undercurrent of emotion in his work, Benjamin Button being the exception in that the emotion there is obvious. And the backlash I foresee for TKS is in regard to the fact that it is a predictably well made british period piece that does nothing to further that genre of film. It’s not unlike what happened to “Avatar”.
“People always compare The King’s Speech to other British period films such as Shakespeare in Love or The Queen…”
The Queen, released in 2006, covers events from 1997. Hardly a period film.
At this point, it seems to me that “The King’s Speech” is our Best Picture winner, with “The Social Network” getting Fincher his first Best Director Oscar.
But it’s still early… I’m excited to see who the critics’ prizes go to, and then the guilds! May be a game changer.
I saw it a few months ago, and I loved it. I think it may be my favorite film of the year, but I’ll have to give it another go to be sure.
I think the backlash against TKS is just wishful thinking on the part of those who like TSN more. Maybe there will be more than one film than will be favored by various award givers this year. That would certainly be more interesting than the same film winning all the major awards.
How wide is the release this weekend? I’ll have to wait until it opens in Montréal on December 10th.
You know…Colin Firth doesn’t look much like the real George VI at all. Just sayin’.
I saw a screening of it at MoMA with a Q&A with Tom Hooper afterwards. It was very well received. I liked it well enough – seems like just the type of film that leaves the older AMPAS members salivating. Very British. Very royal.
I saw it earlier today. It’s beautifully acted by Firth and Rush. Helena Bonham-Carter also registered very strongly as the future Queen Mum, King George VI’s wife. It’s a very polished, very well executed film. If it has any flaws, then it’s the fact it has an old-fashioned feel to it (unlike Black Swan or TSN) but that’s a tiny quibble next to the overall quality of the movie. Well done!