I am SO going to see this movie!

Many people are calling this new Three Stooges movie that the Farrelly brothers are directing blasphemous to the original trio. I'll hold my judgment until it comes out next year. Because in addition to growing up watching Stooges clips on TV, I will see it for this reason: 

Sean Penn is playing Larry!!!

Sean Penn > Mickey Rourke!

As I wrote earlier, I didn't watch most of the Oscars telecast last night, but Nikki Finke's blow-by-blow is hilarious.  But I don't get the fanatical devotion that many people had--including Finke--to seeing Mickey Rourke win for Best Actor. It's obvious that he was the "populist" choice to many, to the point that there were some saying that Rourke should prevail while acknowledging that Sean Penn gave a better performance. (????!!!!!) Others are saying Penn's win was "a make-up Oscar for Brokeback Mountain" or a nod to anti-Prop 8 sentiment.

If conspiracy theories make hardcore "Wrestler" fans feel better, fine, it's a free country. But it's pretty simple and obvious why Mickey Rourke, who is a wonderful actor, lost. He was outshined by his longtime friend.

Sean Penn will go down in history as one of the best film actors of all time--maybe even THE best. His performance in Milk is sublime, the literal meaning of a tour de force. He was better than Mickey Rourke, and his colleagues rewarded the best performance in that category. The BEST ACTOR won the Best Actor Oscar last night.

(The 20 minutes I actually saw of) The Oscars

AWESOME: Sean Penn won! Artistry wins over backstory (and yes, Mickey Rourke is an artist too...but c'mon!!)!

AWESOME AND SAD: Heath Ledger wins, and his family graciously accepts the award that they're holding "for the beautiful Matilda." *me wiping away tears*

BORING: Pretty much everything else.  Slumdog. Best Pic? Really?!!! Yeah, whatever...

The next to last awards show

Today is the deadline to vote for the Spirit Awards, "indie" film's version of the Oscars. Unlike the Oscars, I'm actually going to watch the Spirit Awards on the 21st, in part because I voted, so I feel like I have a vested interest. Many worthy films and performances were nominated, but there were also some odd omissions. No Milk or The Visitor for Best Feature, no Gus Van Sant for Best Director. Waltz with Bashir is MIA for Best Foreign Film as well as Trouble the Water for Best Documentary. I guess they figured--correctly, except for The Visitor-- that these films would be recognized by AMPAS in their respective categories, but it would have been nice to have had them in the mix. 

I am glad that Slumdog Millionaire was left out; that film needs no more attention at this point!

My fingers are crossed for Melissa Leo, up for Best Female Lead for Frozen River, and Rachel Getting Married's Rosemarie DeWitt, who was wrongly snubbed by Oscar, but is nominated for Best Supporting Female. And I hope Milk wins everything it's nominated for, and I think it will.

The Visitor and The Wrestler

Saw two very good films this week that play a part in the Oscar race:

The Visitor - A somber story of a widowed college professor (Richard Jenkins) who comes back to his part-time NYC apartment to find an immigrant couple living there. Jenkins befriends the couple, at which point the narrative branches out to both love story and post 9-11 "war on terrorism" tale.

I really liked The Visitor, in part because writer/director Tom McCarthy didn't deal with the aforementioned issues in a cheesy, formulaic or flashy way. I cared about these characters like I knew them. Richard Jenkins is great in this film; you see his transformation from sort-of-depression to a full embrace of life and the city he had all but abandoned. His Oscar nomination for Best Actor is much deserved; it's too bad he has no chance of winning. Also, co-star Haaz Sleiman is wonderful as Tarek, the Syria-born drummer who squatted in the apartment and changed Jenkins' life. This guy has the goods (charisma, talent and hotness!) to become a star.

Moving on to a Best Actor nominee who does have a shot at victory: Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. I'll skip a description of the film, at this point everyone who follows movies knows what it's about and why there's buzz. I liked the film, but I wasn't knocked out by it (pun intended). It has a documentary feel, but the handheld camera constantly shooting behind Rourke's head was annoying after a while. Also, if you are adverse to watching violence on screen, steel yourself before seeing this film. 

As the titular role, Rourke carries the film valiantly. He runs the gamut of emotions: pride, pain, shame, love, (figurative) impotence. What makes this a great performance is that Rourke's Randy "The Ram" Robinson isn't a dialogue-driven character.  Robinson's story is told in Rourke's battered face and eyes. 

However--and I'm a longtime Mickey Rourke fan...of his acting, not the rest of it--you have to ask how much of a stretch this really was for him. Rourke the (close to) washed-up actor vs. Robinson the washed-up wrestler. Rourke's face is as beaten up from ill-advised boxing and drug abuse as Robinson's body is from drug abuse and wrestling. Both men have alienated nearly everyone who ever cared about them (and at least Robinson had his wrestling "family," which was an unexpectedly sweet aspect of the film). So what was the challenge? This film is as close as Rourke can get to playing himself without playing himself. 

In a year in which Sean Penn and Frank Langella (as well as Heath Ledger in supporting) are being honored for iconic performances that are complete flipsides of what you would expect from them, why is Mickey Rourke getting all of this love for basically looking at himself in the mirror? Weirdly, as good as he is, I found him more heartbreaking in Sin City (his last "comeback" movie).

As a final point, if Rourke upsets Sean Penn for the Oscar, considering how much of a total fuck-up he was in Hollywood, then someone will have to explain to me how Eddie Murphy lost two years ago for Dreamgirls!

Anger towards AMPAS aside...

Congrats to Melissa Leo for her deserved Best Actress nomination in "Frozen River!"

And now ... my picks for the Oscar nominations!

I will go into more details later about what films I've seen and what I think about them. But here's what and who I think will earn Oscar nominations tomorrow morning:

BEST PICTURE:

"The Dark Knight" -- yes, I think it will make it in. :-)

"Milk"

"Slumdog Millionaire"

"Frost/Nixon"

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" -- although I think this film has lost a lot of steam. If one of the early frontrunners gets left out for say, "WALL-E"  or "The Wrestler," I think it will be this film.

BEST DIRECTOR

Danny Boyle - "Slumdog Millionaire"

Christopher Nolan - "The Dark Knight"

Gus Van Sant - "Milk"

Ron Howard - "Frost/Nixon"

Andrew Stanton - "WALL-E" - I think this will be one of the surprise nominations...their consolation prize for the film not getting a BP nod (like Paul Greengrass for "United 93"). Despite his DGA nod, I think Fincher is weak enough to get knocked out.

BEST ACTOR

Sean Penn - "Milk"

Frank Langella - "Frost/Nixon"

Mickey Rourke - "The Wrestler"

Clint Eastwood - "Gran Torino" - because they have to nominate him for SOMETHING!

Richard Jenkins - "The Visitor" - Jenkins is a veteran actor that's been around the block. His performance has gotten buzz, and the "Benjamin Button" fade out will be enough to take Brad Pitt out of the running.

BEST ACTRESS

Anne Hathaway - "Rachel Getting Married"

Meryl Streep - "Doubt"

Sally Hawkins  - "Happy Go Lucky"

Angelina Jolie - "Changeling"

Kate Winslet - "The Reader" - AMPAS will ignore "Revolutionary Road" and bump her up to lead for this performance.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Does it even matter, really?)

Heath Ledger - "The Dark Knight" - They should have sent the Oscar to his family last summer!

Josh Brolin  - "Milk" - personally, I think James Franco deserves it more.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman - "Doubt"

Robert Downey, Jr. - "Tropic Thunder"

Dev Patel - "Slumdog Millionaire" - The "Slumdog" love will carry him over for this nom.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Penelope Cruz  - "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"

Viola Davis - "Doubt"

Marisa Tomei - "The Wrestler"

Taraji P. Henson - "...Benjamin Button" - The "Button" backlash won't rub off on her. People like her performance and like HER.

Rosemarie DeWitt - "Rachel Getting Married" - She will be the other SHOCKER acting nomination, with Winslet's absence in this category letting her sneak in (and it will be deserved).

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

"...Benjamin Button"

"Doubt"

"Frost/Nixon"

"The Dark Knight"

"Slumdog Millionaire"

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

"Milk"

"Vicky Cristina Barcelona"

"The Wrestler"

"Burn After Reading"

"Rachel Getting Married"

We'll see how right I am in less than 10 hours!