And the Oscar goes too...

Well we have finished another awards season with the 83rd Academy Awards.

There are 24 awards presented in the Ceremony which was presented by Anne Hathaway (Not Shakespeares Wife) and James Franco who seemed quite nervous throughout, but who cares about that as after all what we are watching for are the winners.

The Main Awards went to:

Best Picture: The Kings Speech

Best Director: Tom Hooper - The Kings Speech

Best Actor: Colin Firth - The Kings Speech

Best Actress: Natalie Portman - Black Swan

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale - The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo - The Fighter

Best Original Screenplay: David Seidler - The Kings Speech

Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin - The Social Network

Along with four technical awards for Inception which was definitely the most original idea of the year, The social network also picked up awards for Editing and Original Score, perhaps a sympathy vote for the film that was very widely tipped to clean up before the Kings Speech came out.

Overall I think there were no particular surprises I said after watching The Kings Speech that it was my pick to win and I think it was well deserved, Similarly Natalie Portman's performance in Black Swan was one of the best solo performances I have seen in a film for years. Christian Bale is one of those actors who however you feel about him as a person, and there is a lot that happens in his personal life, he always gives 100% to any role he takes and so rightly got recognised, I doubt it will be his last.

I think the star of the awards however has to be Tom Hooper who made the rarely made transition from Eastenders to Best Director Actor, and finishes a fast transition to hollywood elite.

The King's Speech - Movie of the Year?

There is no doubt in mind that the King's speech is the best film of the year, but then, on the 15th of January, that would not be a particularly hard achievement, However there really would need to be a good a film to take this accolade later on.

The film is based on the true story (It has a surprising amount of historical accuracy for a movie) of Price Albert, The Duke of York (Later King George VI) and his relationship with an irreverent Australian Speech therapist Lionel Logue. The story displays perfectly the internal struggle that The Duke of York goes through as he juxtapositions his annoyance at the perceived lack of respect with his desperation to solve his long term speech impediment.

The film stars Colin Firth as Prince Albert/King George in a performance that has been tipped to receive an Oscar nomination and I think there would be something wrong with the academy members if he doesn't. He successfully manages to fill a stammer with as much edge of your seat nervousness as the best psychological thriller as you are literally pleading with him to get the words out. Firth shows a great deal of different parts of the Kings personality as he is often flits from Anger to melancholy to vulnerable but makes him inherently likable. Whilst Geoffry Rush is wonderfully cast as the failed actor turned speech therapist, he sits passively as the King rants at him and has many calming mannerisms that sit well against the uptight royal, this film is at it's heart a film about overcoming adversity, but it would be a very boring watch without the great buddy chemistry produced by the main two characters.

The supporting cast do not let this film down either with Helena Bonham Carter in great form as Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother) sitting helplessly by as her husband struggles with his duties. Mike from Neighbours (Guy Pearce) plays the fun loving Edward VIII whose Abdication caused George the VI to take the throne, he plays a much more sympathetic figure than a lot of portrayals, and his Nazi sympathies are played down, but he manages to portray the King's struggle.

The only inaccuracy that bugged me was that it was suggested that Prince Albert chose the name George as Albert seemed too German where as in fact it was King Edward VII (Also called Albert) who decided that no other monarch should ever be called King Albert in reverence to his father Prince Albert.