The King's Speech

I went to see this film with the news that it had received 12 Academy Award nominations, and as a film it has dominated the categories at the BAFTAs as well. Pundits now claim that the race is between this film, and The Social Network.

So I had high hopes. And I, as indeed with The Social Network and Black Swan was not disappointed.

The film follows Bertie, the future George VI (Colin Firth) who suffers from a serious stammer. His wife, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham-Carter) has searched high and low for a doctor who will help him get over this problem, but to no avail, until she comes across Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an Australian speech therapist whose eccentric methods work wonderfully. I don't think that's a spoiler, as it is pretty much history. His appointments take place against the backdrop of a succession crisis on the death of George V (Michael Gambon), and the accession of Edward (Gareth Pearce), who is more interested in marrying Wallis Simpson (Eve Best) than performing his duties as king which means 'B-B-Bertie' ascends to the throne.

David Seidler, the screenwriter, and Tom Hooper's biggest challenge here was to make a story that everyone knew the resolution of, as we know history, and make it compelling. They succeed wonderfully. I was sort of expecting the actors to carry the piece, but the writing and directing mean that the audience is gripped by the story as well as the performances. I really wanted Bertie to succeed in giving his speeches, and even in the final speech-which you know will be complete-I felt almost on the edge of my seat with hope that Bertie would manage to get through it.

Of course, Colin Firth's performance has been written about a million times, but it deserves all the hyperbole. Firth's ability to make his character sympathetic, despite some flashes of prejudice is brilliant; as is his grip on the stammer that his character fights against. There are moments when his frustration almost reduces him to tears, and Firth really knows how to pull at the audience's heartstrings. As with the wonderful A Single Man, he takes another step away from his performances as Darcy-esque characters.

Geoffrey Rush is also very good, which makes me assume that Christian Bale must be simply fantastic in The Fighter. Rush brings an utter calmness to the role of Lionel; he almost acts like a father figure to Bertie, and manages to get under the skin of the Duke of York as a person, as opposed to just a figurehead. Rush is also gifted with some of the film's best one-liners. As Bertie's wife, Helena Bonham-Carter is also good, and other able support comes from Guy Pearce as a totally spineless Edward, Derek Jacobi as a rather smarmy Archbishop and Timothy Spall, who on paper seems a rather unlikely Churchill, but who manages to bring the right physicality and vocal work to the role.

It was also quite fun to see Jennifer Ehle, who played Elizabeth opposite Firth as Darcy in the BBC adaptation of Pride & Prejudice popping up as Lionel's wife, and also Ramona Marquez, the young star of Outnumbered, doing a similarly cute performance as Princess Margaret.

I didn't expect to enjoy this film quite as much as I did, so I would suggest that you go and catch this if you can. It is a truly moving, character-driven piece.

A Single Man

Despite our best efforts, me and my Mum never managed to get to see A Single Man when it came out, due to the fact it wasn't distributed locally, so it is again a case of LoveFilm bringing me up to speed.

A Single Man is based on a novel of the same name by Christopher Isherwood. Directed by the designer Tom Ford, it follows a day in the life of George Falconer, played by Colin Firth, an English professor in America in 1962, who is mourning the death of his lover of 16 years, Joe (Matthew Goode), who died in a car crash. On this day, George visits his close friend from England, Charlie (Julianne Moore), inspires a student in his class (Nicholas Hoult) and has a close encounter with a Spanish escort (Jon Kortajarena).

The film is Ford's directorial debut, and it's got a wonderful flow. One can see his designer touches in the clothes-which is very 1960s-and the very details on the actors-from make-up to glasses. At times, certain scenes seem to have an overlong time spent on them-the very final image is shown for a very long time. Yet, my absolute favourite part of the filming of A Single Man, was the use of colour. Black & White for a a flashback inspired by a photo of the same colour; a palate of browns to sum up the mood of George, which changes to vibrant colour when a good thing happens-seeing a dog that looks like his old ones, an encounter with a girl who lives nearby, the evening with Charlie and meeting Hoult's character Kenny at the bar where he met Joe.

Colin Firth is wonderful in his Bafta-winning performance as George. It's refreshing to see him not playing an off-shot of Mr Darcy or a posh English gentlemen (Bridget Jones, St Trinians, Nanny McPhee, Love Actually etc). He is both humerous and heartbreaking-and his speech to his students-about fear being a form of oppression, invisible minorities-is one of my favourite moments in the film.

Julianne Moore, despite being given double-billing on the posters-isn't in the film for very long, and delivers quite an interesting performance-delivering the most traditionally sixties line in the film about gay relationships not being 'proper' relationships, proved by an the earlier news that George wasn't allowed to attend Joe's memorial, as it was 'just for family'.

I am of the view that Nicholas Hoult, who plays the student Kenny, deserves the double-billing more. He is slightly more integral to the plot and gives a great adult debut performance in Hollywood-Hoult is well-known in the UK for playing Tony in Skins and his previous 'big' credit was as the boy in About A Boy with Hugh Grant. His American accent puts over English young actors (I'm looking at you R-Patz) attempts to shame. He's also pretty easy on the eye.

Matthew Goode's main requirement is to look pretty and be young & funny opposite Colin Firth in the flashback sequences about their relationship-and he does both admirably. Ditto Kortajarena, who-unsupringsly-in a model. His job as Carlos is to look pretty and charm George, delivering the occasional philosophical musing in a carpark. This scene is one of the ones that is shot in gorgeous colour.

A Single Man is wonderful film. I was worried I'd find it overly 'artsy' and kind of overrated. Yet it was a wonderful film-that (espesically in the final moments) succeeds in making the viewer incredibly happy and satisfied and also quickly saddened. Ford & Hoult need to make more films, and Firth needs to continue to act outside the Darcy/English Gent mould.

St Trinian's 2-The Legend of Fritton's Gold

The first St Trinian's was the largest-grossing independant UK film after Four Weddings & A Funeral and this second installment debuted at number two in the UK Box Office (behind Avatar). The story is somewhat crazy (the ending twist is a kind of...what on earth?). In around 1589, Pirate Fritton (Rupert Everett) robs Lord Pomfrey (David Tennant) of his treasure, in order to prevent Pomfrey attempting to overthrow the Queen of England. In 2009, the new term is starting at St Trinian's School for Girls. Camilla Fritton (Rupert Everett) appoints her niece Annabelle Fritton (Talulah Riley) as Head Girl. It is Annabelle's task to try and control all the various cliques at the school. These include the 'Rude Girls' led by Bianca (Zawe Ashton) the 'Posh Totty' led by Chelsea (Tamisn Egerton) the 'Emos' led by Zoe (Montserrat Lombard), the geeks led by Lucy (Ella Smith) and the new girl Roxy (Sarah Harding).
Although this seems futile, when Celia (Juno Temple) is discovered in the library searching for a ring for a mysterious caller who has offered £20,000 for the ring, the girls soon are excited about a new task. When the caller appears in the school, he is revealed to be Piers Pomfrey (David Tennant), leader of AD1-an secret sexist society-and Charity Tsar, who has come to reclaim his ancestors treasure. With the help of Camilla's old flame Jeffrey (Colin Firth) and the ex-Head Girl Kelly (Gemma Arteton) the girls are soon on the bad guys tail , discovering that all cliques can work together (for now). Rupert Everett is incredibly camp as the head mistress and Colin Firth is pretty good sport as her/his love interest. David Tennant is, as usual, brilliant as the bad guy, even if he is sporting a rather intriguing hairstyle. Talulah Riley, Juno Temple & Gemma Arterton all put in fine performances, proving that they are probably ones to watch-Riley has previously appeared as Mary Bennett in the Keria Knightley Pride & Prejudice and in The Boat that Rocked along with the first of these St Trinian's films; Temple is appearing again as Celia, having performed in Atonement with Keria Knightley & James MacAvoy, Wild Child and The Other Boleyn Girl and Arterton has been seen as the title character in the BBC's Tess of the D'Ubervilles and in the most recent James Bond film-Quantom of Solace. The major flaw acting-wise is Sarah Harding of Girls Aloud, who appears in pretty much every scene looking TOTALLY out of place in a school-she looks older that Arterton, and is incredibly wooden. Whilst the story is pretty flimsy, there are a couple of good laughs ('Death is like life, but without the crap things, like poverty, facism and Miley Cyrus'). Not a bad way to spend an hour and a bit.