For those who might have missed (or avoided) The Academy Awards (Oscars) Sunday Night, here was the highlight of the ceremonies--a two and a half minute montage of the ten films nominated fro Best Picture. From some reason they now nominate ten films for Best Picture, although this doesn't change the fact that only one or two films have a realistic chance of winning the award.
Of the five of these films I actually saw, the three best in my mind were "True Grit", "The King's Speech" and "The Social Network". The British-themed film, the one where Colin Firth displays a remarkable ability to be a bad public speaker, won the top prize.
Do agents of the mighty British Artistic Empire (BAE) have some dark hold over Academy Voters? OK, likely not, not consider this:
From Wikipedia: "To date, eleven films exclusively financed outside the United States have won Best Picture; all eleven were financed, in part or in whole, by the United Kingdom. Those films were, in chronological order: Hamlet, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Tom Jones, A Man for All Seasons, Oliver!, Chariots of Fire, Gandhi, The Last Emperor, Slumdog Millionaire and The King's Speech
As it featured one of the most sympathetic of the British monarchs, George VI--who had the throne shoved on him by the actions of his (by royal standards) feckless elder Brother David (Edward VIII)--I wasn't surprised, nor were many of the media analysts.
