Never Mind Pop Film

Regardless of what the Academy eventually chooses for Best Picture, Director, and Actor over the coming months, some will be shouting "again?!" when the winner's name is announced.

Out of all the nominees, nearly none of the leaders in major categories are new to the Oscar derby. Previous winners like Robert DeNiro, Sally Field, Denzel Washington, Joaquin Phoenix, Helen Hunt and Philip Seymour Hoffman could all add to their totals on Oscar night. And those are only a few names; the entire Supporting Actor category is made up of former winners!

With the exception of Amour and Beasts of the Southern Wild, the majority of the nominated films also have winners behind them. Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty) won Best Director three years ago for Hurt Locker, Steven Spielberg (Lincoln) is a two-time winner for Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List and Ang Lee (Life of Pi) also won a Best Director Oscar previously for Brokeback Mountain.

Read the rest over at Film Annex

I think at this point of the year we all know Alexandre Desplat is the frontrunner for Best Original score. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, and Daft Punk may be more deserving, but The King's Speech will probably sweep everything it is nominated for.

Who saw this coming as short as a month ago? The Social Network was cruising through the critic's circuit and taking award after award. Now, The King's Speech has taken the last three important steps: wins at the PGA, DGA and SAG. Only once has a film won those three awards and lost Best Picture, and that film was Apollo 13. So the question has to be asked: was The Social Network the game-changer the critics predicted it as, or simply a well-crafted film?
Either way I guess we should have all expected as much. The King's Speech is a period piece, a triumph over hardship and features Colin Firth. Realistically that film had it in the bag a long time ago. It comes as a shock to many because in past years the Academy has gone with non-traditional films for Best Picture.  While many lament this is just another example of picking the "safe, formulaic film", The Departed, Slumdog Millionaire, The Hurt Locker are hardly considered prestige films. This year the Academ…

I enjoy history, but when it comes to the history of British royalty, I'm a bit of a commoner. I can't say this is ever been a problem, I don't tend to hobnob with royalty, well, ever. When it comes to films likeThe King's Speech it can come in quite handy--it means I can sit back an enjoy the story for what it is, rather than compare and contrast it.

The story starts with a rather disastrous speech given by Prince Albert (Colin Firth) at Wembley Stadium in 1925. It isn't the speech, it's the manner in which it's delivered-- and as I'm sure you all know from trailers and synopses-- Prince Albert, or 'Bertie' as he is called by his family, has quite the stammer. It is because of this that Bertie's wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) goes out searching for better treatment options and comes across Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an Australian-born speech therapist.

The relationship between his majesty and Logue is kind of a rocky one to start…

The front-runner for awards already, The King's Speech has the prestige (Colin Firth), the backing (Harvey Weinstein), and support (Toronto's audience award) to pull it off.