The Saturday afternoon matinee was as crowded as any I’ve been to in years. The reason: “The King’s Speech” had just been nominated for 12 Academy Awards.

Are we all really going to a film about stuttering? I asked myself. There must be more.

There was.

It wasn’t just a film about British royalty, though I admit I am a sucker for such tales. Here was a story of an adult prince whose older brother would become king and then abdicate the throne for the woman he loved. The prince would succeed his brother as king on the eve of World War II. Would he be able to help lead his people through such perilous times? To do so, he must be able to speak for them.

I agree with Nick Spate of Arizona State University’s State Press who wrote Sunday that “The King’s Speech” and “The Social Network” are this year’s two top contenders for the Academy Award for Best Picture. They appear to be worthy contenders.

Both films excel at the stories they’re telling. And what different stories they are.

One is a story as current as your Facebook home page. The other is a time long gone, a world where the wireless, aka the radio, was the technological juggernaut changing communication.

But more than that, “The Social Network” is about stepping on your best friend in order to make yourself a big person, and how we have become calloused to such behavior. “The King’s Speech” is about a man of privilege who needs more than a speech pathologist to keep his stutter in check. He needs a friend.

Readers, on Feb. 27 which movie will win the award for Best Picture? (Along with “The King’s Speech” and “The Social Network,” the nominees are “Black Swan,” “The Fighter,” “Inception,” “The Kid’s Are All Right,” “Toy Story 3,” “True Grit,” “Winter’s Bone,” and “127 Hours.”)

– Robert Digitale