Tom Hooper’s “The King’s Speech” swept the awards weekend with wins at all the Guilds: Screen Actors, Producers, Directors.
Now this gorgeous film heads to a coronation on February 27th at the Academy Awards. I told you this would happen back in early September, when the other Oscar “pundits” had clearly decided for “The Social Network.” It’s amazing to me about all those blogs that concentrate on the Oscars, get almost everything wrong, and then stamp their feet about their importance.
If only all that punditry and “digging” for bits of information were applied to reporting in any other field besides the Academy Awards.
What happened? “The Social Network” is a great, exciting movie. The acting is fine. But it’s a writer’s movie–Aaron Sorkin is kind of the star of the movie. Sometimes we thought he was the director because David Fincher is so reticent in public. That’s not all: in the end, “The Social Network” doesn’t speak to a larger human issue. It’s about friendship gone bad, yes. But it’s also about billions of dollars being divided among young people. Everyone wins, no matter what happens.
“The King’s Speech” is big scale. It’s about family and honor and facing a challenge. It’s also about kindness. In the end, that will always win a Best Picture. Exuberance helps also. And “The Social Network,” while cutting edge, lacks those qualities.
But what about all those online critics polls, etc? They were all wrong. Now they’ll try to explain what happened. Of course, they knew all along!
PS Kudos this season to actors who were team players: Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Julianne Moore, Amy Adams, Max Minghella, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling, Mark Wahlberg, and Matt Damon. They made their movies successful, and had to take backseats during awards season. They’re all great!
