The Wrestler

A happy-go-lucky film this is not but Mickey Rourke is simply brilliant as Randy 'The Ram' Robinson. A brutal film and Rourke give it a deserved brutally honest performance. You really have to see this one.

These things that have comforted me, I drive away

This place that is my home I cannot stay

My only faith's in the broken bones and bruises I display

Bruce Springsteen's title-track pretty much sums up 'The Ram' and Mickey Rourke's career and this close connection between the two is one of two reasons Rourke will not be gathering up an Oscar later this month.

The second, and more important reason, is that Sean Penn is absolutely mind-numbing brilliant as Harvey Milk in Milk (of course I have still not seen Richard Jenkins in The Visitor so I could be talking through my ass). It's a great year for moviegoers when there are so many amazing performances to watch and surly Rourke's tour-de-force deserves acknowledgment. Unfortunately for 'the Ram,' this is one match he is going to lose.

Marisa Tomei is also very good in this picture as a stripper 'The Ram' wants to have a relationship with. Only the second of the Best Supporting Actress nominations we have seen and I'll need to see more before I render a verdict on this category.

Our yearly Oscar quest continues...