And the award for Best Over-Acter Goes to...

I rented Mystic River from Netflix, and managed to make it through the whole film despite being repelled by the protagonist's character and by the over-acting of Sean Penn.

Come to find out later, Sean Penn won the Oscar for "Best Actor in a Leading Role" for his portrayal of Jimmy Markum, an arrogant self-absorbed Boston-area father and two-bit thief. I can see why the part would be a natural for Penn (arrogant, self-absorbed) although Jimmy Markum's not the sort of person you'd ever want to know or be friends with.

Nothing about Penn's Markum seemed real to me... if there are people in this world like him, I thankfully have not met them, but his staged breaking through the police lines to see his slain daughter was an obvious attempt to make his character larger than the movie. I wasn't buying it. I saw that as a man crying out, "I AM AN ACTOR!! - SEE MY EMOTION, FEEL MY ANGUISH!" I didn't see Jimmy Markum at all, just Sean Penn being mis-directed by Clint Eastwood.

Of course by now we know that the Oscars have become a kind of political sham. For example, does anyone really believe that 2007's Best Song was "I Need to Wake Up," by Melissa Etheridge? Really? I think the Academy needs to wake up. But back in 2003 the Best Actor award was leaning towards awarding people who portrayed characters who were worse morally than you ever dreamed a human could be. Denzel Washington won in 2001 for his portrayal of Alonzo, a corrupt and racist cop who was more animal than human. Again - not someone you'd ever want to meet, or know. I agree that Denzel is a powerful actor though; worthy of his award. Did he win for Glory, Crimson Tide, or Philadelphia? Movies in which he portrayed characters with some redeeming qualities? Nope. But I digress.

Sean Penn - the Little Richard of acting... please check yourself into rehab for your illness of over-acting. And do we need an Academy that acts as enabler? Oh, and by the way, Kevin Bacon turned in the best acting performance of the three leading men in Mystic River, and he wasn't even nominated. Marcia Gay Harden was awesome as usual in her role, and Laura Linney's portrayal of Annabeth Markum was frightening. That lady is scary looking.

[Link]

Borat - The sound of throwing up

Imagine the sound of someone vomiting: "Borat!" "Borat!" After hearing the hype I rented the movie from Netflix. Although there were some laughs in the beginning, the movie became increasingly disgusting, until I reached the point of ejecting the movie sometime after the "do you clean my anus?" dinner party.

Amazingly Rottentomatoes.com gave this movie a 91% fresh rating. That's almost as disturbing as the movie. The jokes were pretty much all used up in the first 15 minutes, after which it became the same staged setup where this jerk exploited people's honest desire to befriend someone of a foreign culture only to insult them repeatedly.

I was puzzled when I heard many people wanted to sue him after the movie came out, but after seeing it, I not only understand but hope that he loses his "anus" big time. He deserves it. "You are suing my ass in the US of A?"

Rocky Based in Truth

From the "in case you didn't know" department, the original story of Rocky was inspired by Chuck Wepner, a tough ex-marine who challenged Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight title in 1975, and in a losing effort became the only opponent to knock Ali down during his championship years.

"When a young, impressionable and unknown Philadelphia resident -- Sylvester Stallone -- saw the Wepner/Ali fight he was instantly inspired to write the blockbuster movie screenplay, Rocky. It became one of the 20th Century's greatest box office hits."

[Wikipedia]

[Chuck's Page]