The King's Speech
It doesn’t seem five minutes since actors and filmmakers descended on the capital for the London Film Festival, but twelve months on and the 54th festival is about to roll into town.
And, was we have come to expect from London, there is an all star line-up on show as Hollywood talent as well as home grown stars will all be on show.
So here at FemaleFirst we take a look at some of the movies that you should check out if you find yourself in London or those to watch out for over the coming months.
127 Hours - it’s been over twelve months since a Danny Boyle movie has graced the big screen, we all remember Slumdog Millionaire!
After supposedly being offered My Fair Lady and the latest Bond movie Boyle has finally got a new project on the horizon and it comes in the form of 127.
127 Hours is the remarkable true story of climber Aaron Rolston, played by James Franco, who fought to stay alive after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah.
The movie is already winning over the critics on the festival circuit but a Danny Boyle movie is always worth catching, plus it’s interesting to see how he follows up his Oscar winner.
Another Year - Mike Leigh has brought us some great movies over the years, including Secrets & Lies, Vera Drake and Happy Go Lucky and he is back with his new project Another Year.
Leigh has been one this country’s best filmmakers and he brings together Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville and Imelda Staunton.
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. Family and friendship. Love and warmth. Joy and sadness. Hope and despair. Companionship. Loneliness. A birth. A death. Time passes...
Another Year is Mike Leigh’s eleventh feature film and marks his eighth collaboration with Lesley Manville, his seventh with Jim Broadbent and fifth with Ruth Sheen.
Black Swan - Darren Aronofsky is back in the director’s chair in the new year for his new movie Black Swan, his first film since the awesome The Wrestler last year.
Now I appreciate that it’s only October but this movie is already surrounded in Oscar whispers after it wowed the critics at the Venice Film Festival just a few weeks ago.
Natalie Portman leads the cast, which also includes Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel. Nina (Portman) is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance.
She lives with her obsessive former ballerina mother Erica (Hershey) who exerts a suffocating control over her.
When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice.
But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality.
Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side - a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.
The King’s Speech - From one early Oscar favourite for another as Colin Firth is already being tipped for a Best Actor Oscar for his role as King George VI.
Firth picked up his very first Oscar nomination earlier this year for A Single Man and looks like he may be picking up a second when the nominations are announced next year.
The King's Speech tells the story of the man who would become King George VI, the father of the current Queen, Elizabeth II.
After his brother abdicates, George 'Bertie' VI (Firth) reluctantly assumes the throne.
Plagued by a dreaded nervous stammer and considered unfit to be King, Bertie engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue (Rush).
Through a set of unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and boldly lead the country into war.
Joining firth is an all-star cast as Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce and Derek Jacobi all turn in great performance.
Never Let Me Go - this is one of the movies that I am particularly looking forward to when it hits cinemas in the new year as Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Sally Hawkins all join forces.
The movie is directed by Mark Romanek, the man behind One Hour Photo, and the movie is an adaptation of the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro.
Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Tommy (Andrew Garfield) and Ruth (Keira Knightley) live in a world and a time that feel familiar to us, but are not quite like anything we know.
They spend their childhood at Hailsham, a seemingly idyllic English boarding school.
When they leave the shelter of the school and the terrible truth of their fate is revealed to them, they must also confront the deep feelings of love, jealousy and betrayal that threaten to pull them apart.
Other movies that you should keep an eye out for including Let Me In, Carlos, Everything Must Go, The American, Africa United and Biutiful.
London Film festival gets underway 13th October.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in BFI