If you’re sitting there right now, reading these words, killing time, nothing much to do this afternoon, do yourself a favor — go out and buy the new Criterion Blu-ray release of Terrence Malick’s “The Thin Red Line.” I’ve been delighting in this top 10 all-timer all week, probably my most anticipated home video release [...]

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“Good is the enemy of Great,” wrote Jim Collins, in one of the more high-maintenance self-help plans you’re likely to encounter. As nice a thought as it is, this law appears to have no place in the world of the Hollywood franchise blockbuster, where Crap is the enemy of pretty much everything, and Good is [...]

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I heard word last year that Larry Clark was remaking Neil Jordan’s “Mona Lisa,” but had no idea whether it was really going ahead or not. This promotional one-sheet design from All City Media, found on their spiffy new website, suggests that it might be. However the film turns out — if at all — [...]

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Last January, I wrote an especially effusive review of the previous night’s Golden Globe awards, commending the usually much-derided HFPA for looking beyond star power and box-office grosses. Instead, they assembled an international and rather indie-minded winners slate that included such titles as “Happy-Go-Lucky,” “The Wrestler,” “In Bruges,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and eventual Oscar-sweeper “Slumdog [...]

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2005 was the year of Heath Ledger’s beautiful, moving performance in “Brokeback Mountain,” which I saw for the first time in Toronto.  It instantly became the talk of the festival, and the film became the one to beat for the Academy Award. Ledger was astonishing as the taciturn cowboy who is more surprised than anybody [...]

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Here’s something I’ll bet a lot of you wouldn’t have guessed: once upon a time, when my pants were short and my South African accent heavy, I was a very good Oscar pundit. I won every pool going. I beat the lame TV critics’ guesses and laughed in their televised faces. When that got old, [...]

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In one of the weakest years in memory, not just for performances but for great films, 2001 saw Denzel Washington and Halle Berry knock “two birds out with one stone,” as the former declared on Oscar night, as two African Americans won the top acting prizes for the first time ever.  And it was difficult [...]

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Mickey Rourke has filmed an episode of “Inside the Actors Studio” with James Lipton, which should make for fascinating viewing.  After all, this is a probing atmosphere and while Rourke can be somewhat forthcoming and certainly a grand storyteller, he can also be guarded about things. Hulu has an exclusive preview of the episode up [...]

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• “Avatar”-izing James Cameron’s past characters. [MTV Movies Blog] • Following “The Hurt Locker,” Kathryn Bigelow aiming for a similar visceral style for “Triple Frontier.” [The Playlist] • Joseph Gordon-Levitt: the new Heath Ledger? [The Guardian]

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• How many days did Bill Murray re-live in “Groundhog Day?” [Chicago Tribune] • Screenwriter Roberto Orci to receive Imagen Awards’ Norman Lear Writer’s Award. [Variety] • David Poland sits down with three more Super Movie Friends to talk “Inglourious Basterds.” [The Hot Blog]

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Courtesy of USA Today, Screen Rant and Jon Favreau’s Twitter page, we get our first peek at Mickey Rourke as Whiplash in “Iron Man 2.”  Quite low-tech, which is interesting.  Thoughts? Side-by-side comparison with a comic depiction of Whiplash after the jump.

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• The “Oh yeah, what happened to her?” blurb of the week. [Associated Press] • Yours truly covers Grant Morrison’s latest monthly, “Batman and Robin.” [Batman on Film] • David Poland analyzes the brave new world of media ad buys. [The Hot Blog] • Tom O’Neil on Geoffrey Rush’s new acting triple crown with last [...]

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When I caught Gregor Jordan’s “The Informers” at the Santa Barbara Film Festival earlier this year, I had one of those “Hey, neat-o” moments when I noticed both Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger were part of the film’s ensemble.  Granted, the two never share the screen and each part is minuscule, but it was a [...]

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UPDATED (4/7): An interesting story out of the UK’s Guardian newspaper today: The flesh was willing, but the insurers were weak. Mickey Rourke, star of The Wrestler, was forced to abandon plans to enter the ring for real after being vetoed by the insurance company working on his new film Iron Man 2. Rourke, 56, [...]

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Yeah, I shelled out the cash this evening to see WrestleMania 25, which might mark some skewed end to the 2008 Oscar season with Best Actor nominee Mickey Rourke’s decision to participate after all (news reported last month).  First pay-per-view in a decade.  Guilty. Anyway, I haven’t been keeping up with the WWE so forgive [...]

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I don’t mind admitting that one of my most consistent pleasures of the last awards season was Mickey Rourke’s wardrobe. Seriously. In an industry where “who are you wearing” has been allowed to become a legitimate question, Rourke’s wholly individual, tongue-in-cheek and occasionally (okay, maybe it’s just me) pretty damn stylish ensembles came to symbolise [...]

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Over a month after Sean Penn defeated Mickey Rourke in what was possibly the tightest acting race in recent memory, Cinematical’s Jeffrey Anderson has come up with an interesting take on how the outcome may actually benefit Rourke, and indeed “The Wrestler.” In short, he says, losing the Oscar allows them to retain their edge: [...]

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I knew this would happen.  Back in January and February, the buzz was that Mickey Rourke would be spring-boarding from his success in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” to the real squared circle at the WWE’s WrestleMania on April 5.  But some shrewd publicist told Rourke to can it and, indeed, the denials started flowing soon [...]

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