The King's Speech

The moving story about King George VI and his struggle to overcome stuttering. Deftly written by David Seidler, once a stutterer himself, this movie brings on full emotion to the screen.

At a time when bringing the people of their kingdom together, united against the threat of Nazi propagation throughout Europe, the British Royal Family finds itself in a succession crisis when King George V died and Prince Edward, a socialite, is assigned the throne, clearly not wanting much to do with it. Due to Royal protocol, King Edward VII abdicated a year later so he could marry an american divorceé, leaving the throne to his younger, more serious brother, "Bertie".

Although Bertie's (later King George VI) stuttering is a very commonly overlooked piece of British Royal Family History, this story truly shows what's behind the curtains and the effort needed not only to break through the barricades, but at the same time, how such effort builds character.

The movie-watching experience, for me, is all about rooting for a character and seeing him through thick and thin to jump every hurdle set against him. I believe the greater obstacle one can face is oneself, and as such, it is so much more gratifying to prevail, and this is what Bertie did. Although faced with doubt, his effort is relentless, and, no matter the outcome, the story takes us through his determination; we can actually say, King George VI had "True Grit".

An Australian self-taught therapist, Lionel Logue, goes one-on-one with Bertie to help him get through his speech impediment. This of course, stirs-up dissent amongst conservative circles, whom not only think that any Brit could be superior to an Australian, but also clearly more qualified. Nonetheless, after having taken Bertie to different therapists, his wife, Elizabeth (Queen Mum) finds Logue, which seems to work, against the odds.

Not only do we witness an interesting interaction between Bertie and Logue, but how, also, by leveling the field, friendship strikes and endures throughout.

Amongst a motherload of intricate screenplays and complicated movies, comes this heartfelt tale that's honest and simple and straight to the point. This compelling storyline shows love, friendship, hope and perseverance. Writing like this is more and more a craft in extintion. And acting like this, both Firth and Rush, is the substance of movie legends.

I'm willing to sell all my Alien vs. Predator memorabilia to make a juicy bet that this is THE Oscar winner, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Movie... and some other casualties along the way!.. King's Speech filmmakers, prepare your own speech!

SPECULATIVE FUN FACT: If David Logue had a stuttering hot line, it'd be: 1-800-Dial-Logue

L-l-l-later dudes!

Biutiful

From a romantic and even beautiful idea about a man struggling to set his affairs in order and leave this existence peacefully comes this dreadful portrait that's anything but Biutiful. Like a couple of Valiums dropped in a warm beer, this movie drags you through the winter cold side streets of Barcelona with downer stories that for the first time in a González Iñarritu's film are interconnected through the main character rather than by some random steer of the wheel or an accidental sighting of some TV set. Like an offspring of Paul Haggis's Crash (Which with all credit due is like an offspring of Iñarritu's Amores Perros), Biutiful retakes the illegal immigrant crisis through the lens of exploitation... along with facing death, raising children and being a medium or ghost whisperer of sorts or something...Javier Bardem plays pain with dignity well worth palms and nominations.

I never cease to think there's always too much on Iñarritu's plate, and whatever crisis is going on never reaches either full importance or emotion as it is dragged to level with a whole bunch of things going on around it. For the downer it is intended to be it is well achieved, the acting, the cinematography, even the music work perfectly towards this inevitable theme of death, but at the same time there is this subplot that carries on a romantic notion of dying and going elsewhere, and going in peace, holding us down to do the right thing while we're still here.

Although I feel a Best Foreign Language Film nomination for the Oscar is a bit of a stretch, I believe the idea holds firmly through and the acting is precise, it might leave you an aftertaste of something if you manage not to fall asleep through it.

Two thumbs up, with their corresponding indexes pointing towards my head (if you manage to picture that)... But don't pull the trigger just yet. Watch it (or 2.6 stars out of five).

Bobby's Nominees

Here's my feeble attempt at predicting this years Oscar nominee's, I first most clear up that I haven't watched EVERY movie in order to determine which one's are the best, but I've made a good effort at reading about and watching most of what was deemed worth watching. Based on that I present to you, a few hours ahead of the Academy, my list of what could be the 10 best picture nominees tomorrow morning.

My list must, as any list, include the big time favorites and then a speculation of which of the other movies which are not the top contenders will be able to make the list.

The Favorites: These following movies are relevant because Everything is at stake, whether it is leading a country in an imminent time of war, sacrificing friendship for a shot at riches and popularity or merely achieving artistic and aesthetic perfection, leading the race we'll have The Social Network, The King's Speech and Black Swan.

The Crowd Pleasers: These movies are simply likable and everyone will recommend them to you, they're not awfully controversial and will certainly show you a couple of hours of top entertainment: Toy Story 3, Inception, The Fighter and True Grit.

The Nerve Pinchers: These movies will be a bit controversial at times and sometimes even tough to watch, either lightly carried or way on the rough country side, or simply brilliantly played... The Kids Are All Right and Winter's Bone.

The Dark Horse: As a last nominee I leave with you several wild cards that range through a whole spectrum of cinema, in order of probable to least probable here they are:

127 Hours, Another Year, Animal Kingdom, The Town, The Ghost Writer, Blue Valentine, and Please Give... if it is imperative that I choose one, as I guess it is, given the nature of trying to predict a list of 10, I admit I haven't seen 127 Hours, and I'm about to watch Animal Kingdom but I'm under the understanding that these are amongst this year's best... My nominee is...

I just finished watching it and yeah mate, Animal Kingdom's got my vote

Going The Distance

This is a Long Distance Romantic Comedy that thrives on the good chemistry between the two actors: Drew Barrymore and that guy she's dating. And that's it.

Like that old favorite hollywood saying, "cut to the chase", this movie cuts to the "super-date" right away, which works well for engaging you early on, but instead of building up gradually, it builds a relationship out of virtually nowhere, gets 6 weeks of real time in about 10 minutes of screen time and then starts building-down through the wear and tear of time-zone differences, missed calls, and long flights (which by the way aren't even relevantly portrayed)

Doesn't stand up to some of its predecessors but it's more viewable than some other romantic fare like say, Love Happens (Rip my eyes out), and the current wave of rom-coms I cannot even move myself to start watching. Comic relief in this movie comes via Justin Long's buddies (yeah, I had to look up his name now). The candid dynamics between friends advising each other are funny and even real, absurd as they may sound, the boldness of some of the jokes is simply hilarious so... all in all this is, of course, a chick flick that might be somewhat tolerable by the guys, so it could be worth a shot. 2.5 Stars out of 5... Watch it (Don't Steal it, Buy it, or Rent it... just Watch it). Note: Don't even bother watching it if it's not for entertaining your girl.

Vague Movie Formula: Sleepless in Seattle + When Harry Met Sally - Rob Reiner's Sense of Delivery + 20 years late = Might Take You The Distance... No guarantees!

PS. I recently watched How Do You Know? with Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd and Jack Nicholson (at his worst)... Don't even bother!! This should be banned out of mere respect for the viewers, the lamest rom-com of the season. Rip my Eyes Out.. Again.

All Good Things

Hahaha, if anything, this movie is at least cleverly titled. This Romantic Thriller is inspired on true events, based on a prominent unsolved mystery involving a high profile New York family. The story leads us to believe there could have been a crime perpetrated. It doesn't fully tell us, so it lets us infer as to whether there might be one or not, which I thought it as completely fair.

David Marks, (Ryan Gosling), is a somewhat disturbed character that has lost a sense of control over himself and his surrounding circumstances. While initially a striving rebel that seems willing to sacrifice an affluent lifestyle for the love of a woman, Marks is eventually subdued by the promise of comfort and the strong control exerted by his father, Sanford Marks, deftly played by Frank Langella.

At the heart of this marriage drama lie the slight differences that lead a relationship astray and can take awful turns. The dominant father subplot carries the undertow, subtly surfacing but conferring the bold statement that family trumps any other relationship. :( I feel like taking a few points off for lack of a stronger link between the plot and the sub-plot and for the story's predictability. On the other hand, this movie does not try to mislead you and starts right off with the character's court deposition. This moves the story forward by taking a clear angle that will portray Marks as our prime suspect without fully incriminating him.

PD. This suspenseful thriller brings us a very good performance by Ryan Gosling, who tends to hover towards character driven roles, and as such is one of the true actors of our generation...

Vague Movie Formula: Revolutionary Road (Excellent performance drama) + Zodiac ( 70's Crime Mystery) - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (No Crime Solving) + Nixon (Freakingly powerful Langella)= All Good Things to watch.

Rent it, or as someone else mentioned... worth watching once.

Black Swan

Black Swan is a Psychological Thriller that dwells deep into the confines of character development. It is an artistic portrait of a ballerina in search of perfection, but it is also a portrait of many perfectionists whose character drives them to the edge. If any movie could have been called The Edge of Darkness, it's this one and not that Mel Gibson shit!.

Natalie Portman plays the wonderfully docile and somehow naive Nina Sayers, whom out of her guarded life that has her confined to ballet and... well, ballet, strives for the perfection not only demanded by her own self but by the imposition of a mother that has brought her up to be this, and just this, a ballerina (and a perfect one at that, which is the whole intention.) In her quest, Nina Sayers might go from fear of losing her edge to outright schizophrenia... As we presence her battle and her breakthrough we arrive at one of those few performances that might give you the swan-bumps.

As Black Swan focuses very narrowly on this one's character development taking it to a harsh extreme I would say this is not a movie for everyone, lacking colorful variety of situaitons, settings, characters, etc. Darren Aronofsky courageously moves film-making from the universal to the very specific. Kudos to him for bringing out the actor's talent again like he did with The Wrestler, for portraying the pain and sacrifice of the performer (again), and for pairing up visuals and sounds in a beautiful tribute to Tchaikovsky's work! Kudos to Natalie Portman, her performance is well worth deserving an Oscar! Steal this movie... blame me.