Worthy of a king

As my roommates can attest, last night was a good night for me.  I typically don't agree with the Academy when it comes to awards, except for the categories very few people care about, like original and adapted screenplays, cinematography, sound editing...that kind of thing.
However, last night, I agreed with all of the top four categories (and some of the lesser ones, too).  The one that surprised me the most was Best Picture.  I was sure it was a toss-up between Black Swan and Inception.  I was rooting for The King's Speech.

In general, I have an affinity for Colin Firth (Mr. Darcy!  Lord Henry!)--I think he chooses solid, interesting movies, brings a humanity to all of his characters (if you've ever read The Picture of Dorian Gray, you know how impressive that is.  Lord Henry.  That's all I'm saying.), dominates every bloody scene he's in--even if he's not dripping wet--and is a fantastic actor to boot.
Yes, I agree with his win for best actor.
The King's Speech is just as impressive (if slightly less romantic than Pride & Prejudice and nowhere near as creepy as Dorian Gray) as his other movies.  I think it's pretty accurate (don't quote me), but more than that, it's a wonderful portrait of a man who was stronger than the circumstances he was confronted with.

m.

The only thing that made me mad about the movie was the stupid MPAA rating.  It got an R for excessive language, but there's so much meaning.  Lionel realizes that George doesn't stutter when he swears, so he has him swear nonstop for about thirty seconds.  Yes, that's a lot of language, but hasn't the MPAA ever heard of "context?"  Not to mention the fact that lost of very violent movies don't get an R.  Violence...language...disembowelment...four letter words to overcome a stammer....

Poster source; can I have one for my wall?

Yeah, I do think that history repeats itself.

The Movie Title Stills Collection is just what it sounds like--a collection of stills from movies of their titles, dating back to the 1920s.
I thought it was cool when I first heard the concept, but after having sat down and perused it for a couple of hours, it's even cooler.  I think I pulled about 100 to show you, but then decided it might be a good idea to scale that number down.  They're pretty dang awesome in their own right, and I love seeing the different shots from remakes (there's a movie called Inglorious Bastards that predates Tarantino's by a couple of decades; you learn something new everyday).

But I think what I love most is watching how they changed over time, and how old some of the ideas are, and how it seems Hollywood has gotten maybe something right for generations that sometimes simple is best.

m.