“King’s Speech” and tradition triumph at Oscars

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – Hollywood found a new group  of kings lording over movies on Monday, the makers of Oscar  winner “The King’s Speech,” whose heartwarming tale triumphed  over a flashy story of new technology in “The Social Network.”
“King’s Speech” claimed four Oscars — best film, actor for  Colin Firth, director and screenplay — with a traditional  story of a British monarch defeating personal demons. It  featured World War Two-era costumes, sweeping sets and a royal  tale that seemed bigger than life itself.
The British movie entered Sunday’s Oscars, the world’s top  film honors, in a tight race for best film with “The Social  Network,” which chronicled the rise of Facebook from a website  dreamed up in a college dormitory to an Internet sensation.
But the contemporary tale of the digital age — and its  stable of young actors such as Jesse Eisenberg — failed to  capture the fancy of Oscar voters as much as did the  old-fashioned, sweeping saga “The King’s Speech.”
“What has struck me is the emotional response to (the  movie), which seems to have been very, very personal and quite  diverse,” Firth told reporters after the awards show.
The veteran actor, age 50, won best actor over a group of  others that included Eisenberg, 27, who portrayed Facebook  founder Mark Zuckerberg. It was Firth’s second nomination and  Eisenberg’s first.
Natalie Portman claimed the best actress Academy Award for  her portrayal of a young ballerina who grows into womanhood in  “Black Swan.”
Portman called it “a dream” backstage to be a winner and  despite the fact that she has starred in big-budget flicks such  as the “Star Wars” movies, she instantly becomes an even more  sought-after star.
COMEDY ONSTAGE
Similar to Firth, veterans Melissa Leo and Christian Bale  won best supporting actress and actor, respectively, for roles  in another straightforward movie, boxing drama “The Fighter.”
Among other key winners were family comedy “Toy Story 3”  for best animated feature, Wall Street meltdown movie “Inside  Job” for top documentary and Denmark’s “In a Better World” took  the prize for foreign language film.
The world’s top film honors from the Academy of Motion  Picture Arts and Sciences came packed with a lot of comedy  onstage from show hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco.
Franco, 32, and Hathaway, 28 — the first man and woman to  co-host the program — had been expected to bring a youthful  edge to the show, but it seemed that some of the better  sequences harkened back to the Hollywood of old.
Hathaway sang a beautiful number, after which Franco  appeared in a dress and blonde wig, looking like Marilyn Monroe  — or, perhaps more closely like her co-stars Tony Curtis and  Jack Lemmon when they dressed in drag for “Some Like it Hot.”
And even the more subtle fashion of recent years — when  women dressed down in a nod to the economic recession — seemed  turned on its ear. This year, some razzle and some dazzle  returned to Oscar’s red carpet with bright and colorful gowns.
In a year that was supposed to have been all about what was  new and hip, it was what was the old that was new again.