The King's Speech

About what I expected it would be but I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would. Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter are all perfect in their respective roles, but Colin Firth really shines as a man not just burdened with a speech impediment but crippled with fear. As someone who has occasionally dealt with social anxiety, and constantly deals with extreme anxiety about public speaking, this movie gave me sweaty palms at times. It was also a film about friendship and eccentricity, and about the power of the media in the modern age. Lots of good small performances as well, including Michael Gambon as the dying King, Guy Pearce as Edward, who gives up the throne to marry the American Wallis Simpson, and Jennifer Ehle (reunited with her Darcy) as the speech therapist's plain-Jane wife.

A Single Man (2009)

A so-so film with a great lead performance by Colin Firth. I loved him in this. He plays an elegant English professor in the early 1960s who has lost his lover in a car-crash, and now wants to kill himself. It follows him during the course of one day, and there are lots of hazy, over-directed flashbacks. The single day premise seems contrived, and it is. The best sequence is his dinner with Charly, a boozy divorcee played by Julianne Moore. They have a long history together and it shows. I can almost imagine expanding this dinner sequence into one long two-character play. I would pay to see this but it would have to be Julianne Moore and Colin Firth on stage in their wardrobe from the movie. The rest of the movie is just okay, although incredibly stylish at every turn. It was directed by Tom Ford, the fashion designer.

Here's a picture of Firth and Moore below. Their look is incredible, as is everything in this movie. In fact, the whole thing starts to feel a little fetishized and I think that's part of the problem.