Brucie gets his knighthood

DESERVED: Arise Sir Bruce Forsyth!

STRICTLY Come Dancing host Bruce Forsyth has finally received a thoroughly deserved knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.  Forsyth, 83, who has graced the world of showbiz entertainment for over half a century has what many will well, a knighthood that should have happened ages ago.  He told Sky News of his feelings as he shall be better known now as Arise Sir Brucie;

     “It is a great accolade and one you always work for.  There has been a great amount of talk since I received the CBE (in 2006), maybe too much talk and hype.  However, I’m grateful to those people who campaigned on my behalf and to get it now is such a joyful occasion.”

     Bruce has been around in the entertainment industry for the best part of 60 years and is often referred to as ‘The King of Saturday Nights.’  He starred in The Generation Game, Play Your Cards Right and Bruce’s Price is Right, before landing the co-host gig alongside Tess Daly for the BBC Saturday night hit Strictly Come Dancing in 2004.  Since then, he has simply gone from strength to strength. 

     Away from Bruce’s success, there is also a deserved CBE for actor Colin Firth.  It completes an incredible year for Firth, who has won all the main acting gongs for his epic role in the film of the year, The King’s Speech.  In sport, golfer Lee Westwood gets an OBE for an incredibly consistent year on the European tour, which saw him be part of Europe’s Ryder Cup success last October and knock Tiger Woods off his perch as no.1 in the world.  England opening cricket batsman Alistair Cook, who hit century after century in the Ashes Down Under last winter, is made an MBE.  MBE’s also go out to world and European triple jump champion Phillips Idowu, heptathlon sensation Jessica Ennis and Mark Cavendish, who won several stages on last year’s Tour de France.  For their leading roles in the Ashes annihilation of the Aussies, captain Andrew Strauss and coach Andy Flower earn OBE’s.  Singer Bryan Ferry gets a CBE for his services to film.  There is also an MBE for Brooke Kinsella.  Kinsella, the former EastEnders actress has been successfully fighting a campaign against knife crime, since her brother Ben, was murdered in 2008.     

     However, it is the national treasure Bruce Forsyth himself, who takes the shining role in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List and I’m sure he has plenty of thrills and spills left in him yet.  Arise Sir Brucie!

The Oscars 2011 - King's Speech is the crowning glory

By JASON WRIGHT (Entertainment Expert)

THE stars of the big screen came out in glamour in Hollywood for the 83^rd Academy Awards.  The Oscars is the world’s greatest awards ceremony and although this may be honoured as an American event, Sunday night’s event proved to be a great success for the British.

TOP: Colin Firth completed a stunning treble

     Despite it not being a whitewash success as many people predicted, The King’s Speech still came out on top with four awards out of its twelve nominations.  All the nominations were the major awards it had been nominated in, Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director for ex-Byker Grove and EastEnders director Tom Hooper and most importantly, Best Actor for Colin Firth in the film’s lead role.  Speaking of his delight, Firth exclaimed “I have a feeling my career’s just peaked,” whilst director Hooper labelled the success as “an extraordinary honour”.

     Inception, which was a big film hit last summer, also scooped up four awards, which were all in the technical department.  Following close behind were The Social Network, a documentary based on the creation of social networking site Facebook, with three awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score and Best Film Editing.  The Fighter, which also contains some British interest, earned a double in the Supporting acting categories for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo respectively.  However, Leo’s success was tainted by accidentally uttering ‘the f word’ in her acceptance speech.

WINNER: Natalie Portman deserved her Best Actress accolade

     The only big award not to go to a major film winner was for Best Actress which went to Natalie Portman in her role in The Black Swan.  Moved to tears by the accomplishment, Portman said “I truly wish that the prize tonight was to get to work with my fellow nominees, I’m so in awe of you.”  Meanwhile, the biggest shocks of the night were 127 Hours, directed by Slumdog Millionaire’s Danny Boyle, failing to win any of its six nominations but the modern day adaption of Western film True Grit was a total disaster.  It had earned a massive ten nominations but walked away empty handed.

     Elsewhere, two family films earned honourable recognition.  The live action adaptation of Alice in Wonderland earned two awards for its art and fashion design whilst Toy Story 3, the final chapter in the popular movie trilogy also picked up two awards for Best Original Song and Best Animated Feature.  It’s a deserved accomplishment for defying the odds in breaking several box office records worldwide last summer.

     This night however will be forever remembered for continuing the recent rise of success of British films on a global stage.  The King’s Speech certainly goes down as one of the best films in its generation and Colin Firth’s portrayal in the lead role is emotional and moving to everyone who watches it.

     The world of film never stops of course, and the race now begins to see who can get top honours in twelve months time.

THE OSCARS 2011 WINNERS

Best Picture: The King’s Speech

Best Director: Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech)

Best Actor: Colin Firth (The King’s Speech)

Best Actress: Natalie Portman (The Black Swan)

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale (The Fighter)

Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo (The Fighter)

Best Original Screenplay: The King’s Speech

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3

Best Foreign Language Film: In A Better World

Best Feature Documentary: Inside Job

Best Short Subject Documentary: Strangers No More

Best Live Action Short Film: God of Love

Best Animated Short Film: The Lost Thing

Best Original Score: The Social Network

Best Original Song: We Belong Together (Toy Story 3)

Best Sound Editing: Inception

Best Sound Mixing: Inception

Best Art Direction: Alice in Wonderland

Best Cinematography: Inception

Best Makeup: The Wolfman

Best Costume Design: Alice in Wonderland

Best Film Editing: The Social Network

Best Visual Editing: Inception

BAFTA bonanza for King's Speech

TOP: Colin Firth has ticked off two majors; next stop, The Oscars?

THE BAFTA’S (British Academy, Film and Television Awards) last night rewarded Colin Firth and the King’s Speech, as the hit movie picked up seven gongs.  Having been nominated for 14 awards, many experts tipped the movie to dominate at the ceremony at the Royal Opera House last night and that is exactly what it did.  The question on the lips of many now is will award-winning Firth, a winner at last month’s prestigious Golden Globes ceremony continue his storming of the film ceremonies at the Oscars in a fortnight.

The unprecedented success of the King’s Speech at the Box Office made it a shoe-in for many of the awards.  In the process, Firth made some nice history for himself, by becoming only the second individual to win the Best Actor category at the BAFTA’s for two consecutive years.  Despite the overwhelming success for himself, Firth was keen to play down his genius role; “It is such a team success.  You get so close to one another whilst doing a movie and it doesn’t make sense for one of us to pick up all the awards and for another not to.”  As well as Firth picking up the Best Actor gong, they won Best Movie, Best Supporting Actor for Geoffrey Rush and Best Supporting Actress for Helena Bonham Carter.  It was an astounding performance for a top-class movie and hopefully, it will get the success it deserves at the Oscars.

The ceremony sponsored by telecommunications giant Orange saw the King’s Speech not the only winners.  Despite having never won a BAFTA before, the iconic Harry Potter series won an Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema award.  Natalie Portman took home a deserved Best Actress gong for her role in Black Swan, whilst The Social Network; a big Golden Globe winner, had to settle for just two wins, one of those going to David Fincher for Best Director.  Finally, 88-year old Christopher Lee, famous for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, was overwhelmed to accept the BAFTA Academy Fellowship award; potentially the most established recognition you can possibly get in British film.

Despite the very damp, traditional British weather, which seemed to make the red carpet more like a soppy blanket, it was a prestigious night for the UK film industry and in particular, for one movie, which is threatening to clean-up all around them.

Golden Globe glory for Firth

GLORY: Colin Firth was the big winner at the Golden Globes

COLIN FIRTH celebrated Golden Globe glory at Sunday night’s award ceremony, picking up Best Actor for his role in ‘The King’s Speech.’

In Los Angeles, Firth was the best hope for British glory across the Atlantic and he duly delivered.  He looked shocked at the announcement and praised his fellow cast members that helped him achieve such a prestigious success.  At the ceremony, he said; “I own a very great debt to the supernaturally talent fellow cast members.”  However, for a film that has achieved great acclaim back home and also earnt itself 14 nominations this morning for the BAFTA film awards, Firth’s actor gong was the only award it picked out of seven; bound to be a severe disappointment.

The night belonged to ‘The Social Network.’  Having got six nominations on the shortlist, the film – which narrates the story of how Mark Zuckerberg set-up Facebook at University walked away with four awards, including the most prized asset at the Golden Globes of Best Film.  The other Brit to win a Globe was Christian Bale, scooping the award of Best Supporting Actor for his role in boxing movie ‘The Fighter.’  “Fantastic, we are being spoilt rotten over at that table, thank you so much,” Bale said when he picked up his award.  ‘The Fighter’ won two awards, with Melissa Leo taking the award for Best Supporting Actress.  

The ceremony was hosted by comedian Ricky Gervais for the second successive year, and as ever, he did spark some controversy with some of his introductions to those people who were giving out awards.  There was a lifetime achievement award for the highly respected Robert de Niro, Natalie Portman scooped the Best Actress Globe for her role Black Swan and the stunning Toy Story 3 claimed success in the Best Animated Film category.  There were also two awards in the TV section for the hit US musical drama, Glee. 

Despite not doing as well as expected, ‘The King’s Speech’ should do better at the BAFTA’s and the night well and truly belonged to Colin Firth.  Attention in the cinema world now starts to drift towards the Oscars next month.