The King's Speech Takes Top Honors

Expect a lot of love for 'The King's Speech'

(NEWSER) - It's Academy Awards weekend, so in anticipation of Sunday's ceremony, Claudia Puig offers up her choices for who should win—and who actually will win—in USA Today :

• Best Picture: "Despite its superb performances, brilliant direction, sharp writing, and exquisitely complex, if not always likable, lead character," The Social Network will lose out to less-worthy contender The King's Speech—which brings audiences the "happy ending and clear-cut hero" they crave, writes Puig.
• Best Director: Once again, The Social Network deserves a win because its "brilliant direction" is at the heart of its success as a film—but The King's Speech will probably grab this one as well.

Film snags top honor, as well as lead actor trophy for Colin Firth

(NEWSER) - Yet more awards season love for The King’s Speech: The heartwarming film about stammering King George VI won best film at the British Academy Film Awards. Lead actor Colin Firth also took home the best actor trophy at the BAFTAs, the UK’s equivalent to the Oscars, Bloomberg reports. The King’s Speech beat out The Social Network, Black Swan, True Grit, and Inception for the top honor, but David Fincher won the best director award for The Social Network and Natalie Portman won the lead actress trophy for Black Swan. Click to read why one writer thinks the Oscars are already over —and The King's Speech has won. More»

Colin Firth, Natalie Portman take top acting honors

(NEWSER) - The King's Speech took top prize at the Screen Actors Guild awards, giving the Oscars front-runner added momentum after it took top honors at the Directors Guild awards Saturday night. The British royals drama won the trophy for outstanding cast, the SAG equivalent of Best Picture, reports the Los Angeles Times. The night's other big winners:

• King's Speech star Colin Firth was named best actor for his role as stuttering monarch King George VI.

He slams 'glorifying' children out of wedlock

(NEWSER) - Possible presidential contender Mike Huckabee isn't taking on birthers, but he is grousing about a birth. He has slammed Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman for being pregnant out of wedlock. It's "troubling" to see people like "Natalie Portman or some other Hollywood starlet who boasts of, 'Hey look, we're having children, we're not married, but we're having these children, and they're doing just fine,'" Huck complained to radio host Michael Medved. "It's unfortunate that we glorify and glamorize the idea of out of children wedlock." More»

Melissa Leo's faux pas is sure to be watercooler fodder

(NEWSER) - Worst Academy Awards ever? E! thinks so, calling it “clunky, amateurish, and pretty much lacking in actual entertainment value for those of us not picking up awards," and New York suggests that the obituary reel "should include a mention of this show." Some of the highlights—or, in many cases, lowlights:

• Two opening montages? One too many—but anything involving Alec Baldwin and Morgan Freeman can’t be all bad. Watch that montage here .
• Bad material, worse transitions: Example? “One minute Hathaway is yelling something about lesbians and then … Tom Hanks comes talking about Gone With the Wind," writes Erik Pederson on E!.