The King’s Speech (2010, UK/Australia)

I’ll admit that I’m a sucker for a British costume drama – my first favorite film was A Room With a View - but with that disclosure made, The King’s Speech is an excellent film, with terrific performances by Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. Though occasionally drifting towards melodrama, it always reins itself in before getting too carried away, helped by the performances as much as by the spare cinematography – in particular the use of extreme close-ups, which serve to humanize some very grand characters. Perhaps this will be Firth’s year come the Globes, and possibly the Oscars, seeing as how he was more or less robbed for his performance in A Single Man (no offence, Jeff Bridges).

Sidenote – I’m a fan of Timothy Spall, but how impossible is it to play Winston Churchill without turning him into a caricature? Jowls? Check. Cigar? Check. Gruffness? Check. I haven’t seen Albert Finney’s version in The Gathering Storm, but in general it seems like a pretty thankless role for a roster of excellent actors (Spall, Ian McNeice, Brendan Gleeson).