comment #1

Chase Kahn says ...

And Rourke begins his campaign against being awarded an Oscar...

comment #2

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

hah!

comment #3

thegreatmags says ...

yeah right

comment #4

clancy says ...

I was underwhelmed by the Rourke performance - especially in light of all the praise he has received. The truth is that it is an Oscar-ready role - as it would have been with Nic Cage. Penn's performance is a marvel- just gay enough - just sentimental enough. Penn is going to win.

comment #5

rgmax99 says ...

Haven't seen Milk yet...though I'm looking forward to it. However, Rourke is flat-out dynamite in The Wrestler.

Fuck The Wrestler backlash.

comment #6

Redmond says ...

Well, Mickey Rourke WAS enjoying a resurgence in his acting career.... Jesus.

comment #7

JckNapier2 says ...

Hmm... an anonymous 'entertainment honcho'? I don't suppose it's someone from Focus Features? Just saying, I'm looking at this as form of mudslinging Oscar campaigning... just seems too suspicious right as Rourke's momentum is really building.

comment #8

MindlessObamaton says ...

Frankly, Penn's homosity in the role didn't convince me. He tried too hard, IMO. And, he could've phoned that perf in. There just wasn't anything going on in MILK that we didn't learn first in the Shilts book or that great doc made years ago. Like the tired arguement that Mann recreated WHEN WE WERE KINGS into ALI, so has Van Sant just recreated the co into a feature. You don't end the film with any more insight into the man or the events behind his

comment #9

MindlessObamaton says ...

Also, Rourke seems like he barely can function, let alone knows how to text. Just saying. Read any interview and the guy is shell of a man, which he brings to the role of The Ram.

comment #10

Redmond says ...

Mindless, haven't seen the movie, but your comment about Penn trying too hard jives with reports I've read. James Franco recently griped that Penn pushed Van Sant for their love scene to go, God I hate this term, more "Brokeback." I guess he was going for the hard sell. (I went there.)

In the meantime, I don't really see Sean Penn "super liberal" being homophobic, but regardless, nothing about Milk has excited me to see it. However, the buzz on Rourke's performance in The Wrestler has my curiosity fully piqued.

comment #11

corey3rd says ...

Mickey, Mickey, Mickey! I think he's trying to sabotage his Oscar chances cause he doesn't want to dress up. What are the chances that the message was really from Jan Michael Vincent?

This is going to kill my chance to make Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man 2: Smoke 'em when you Get 'em.

But quoting private text messages? That's just wrong. And seeing how Mickey knows who received that message, expect Mickey to go Evel on his ass.

comment #12

Jonah says ...

Anybody that says Penn's performance is anything less than great just has a gripe with the man. They may not openly admit it, but that's the reason.

I hope Rourke didn't really do this. Penn has been a supporter of Rourkes for a long time.

comment #13

TheJeff says ...

"Also, Rourke seems like he barely can function, let alone knows how to text."

I'm cracking up picturing Rourke in his little glasses trying to bang out a text with those bratwurst-sized fingers.

comment #14

William Goss says ...

It was actually a text from Mickey Mouse. Long story...

comment #15

deadre says ...

i haven't seen either of them but i'm rooting for frank langella just because .........

comment #16

Chase Kahn says ...

OBAMATON -- I don't agree with your assessment of Penn's performance, but I do agree on your opinion of the film as a whole.

I've seen 'MILK' twice now and it keeps eating me that while it's certainly respectable in every way -- and emotional, timely, etc. -- it's a cookie-cutter biopic that works because it's subject works. If this is our Oscar winner it will cap off and define 2008 as a severely underwhelming.

Fine film and all, don't see the "masterpiece" label from Pete Travers...at all.

comment #17

Phatang! says ...

Penn made the man smaller. Less charming. Less inspiring. Less intelligent. Less complex. I thought he looked fantastic in the trailers. But he wasn't.

Rourke created a lived in character. Made the movie better than it had any right to be.

comment #18

byanyother says ...

Oh dear. SMEAR. Why don't people see through this kind of crap?

comment #19

Pinko Punko says ...

There is no sourcing on this at all- Jeff, jesus H.

comment #20

drgogol says ...

Also, Gerald Posner = major league snotnose

comment #21

scooterzz says ...

rourke has, once again, shot himself in the foot....or not.....this just adds to the legend (and hopefully the biopic that will star sean penn)...

comment #22

BurmaShave says ...

Still a better reviewer than Ben Lyons.

comment #23

James Rocchi says ...

1) As pointed out, it's unsourced. 2) As pointed out, it's too easily written off as posturing or power-playing 3) Giving a damn about what an actor does outside of the credits of a film, with the exception of if they commit a felony, is the number one symptom of why our pop culture is dying a slow, sickly, mucus-wheezing death. Why is it that if I want a smart, well-written consumer magazine about movies, I have to reach for Total Film or Empire and not an American equivalent? Why do web stories about relationship 'news' for famous people get more traffic than reviews, interviews, etc? Because of horeshit like this. Gerald Posner's proven he's Perez Hilton with complete sentences. In other words, one of them.

comment #24

Renfield says ...

This just proves, and, Wells, you must know this well with the whole Vinessa Shaw e-mail debacle, that you can't trust ANYONE in this town.

A buck is a buck and a friend is a "friend".

Disgusting on the source's part.

comment #25

The InSneider says ...

Mickey was SO much better than Sean. If Penn wins another Oscar I'll go apeshit. Mickey's is the performance of the year.

comment #26

iamwhoiam says ...

As the legendary Kirk Lazarus would say, Sean Penn definitely went full gay in Milk, but it was still a great performance. In an case, this is highly low-class from Rourke.

comment #27

Chicago48 says ...

Hasn't Penn done the same to Cage in the past, and some other actors - calling them out as unworthy? Penn hasn't impressed me in several years. The last great performances he gave was in Carlito's Way and Dead Man Walking....since then I haven't paid to see him in a movie.

comment #28

Devin Faraci says ...

AHAHAHA CASED CLOSED Posner?

Give me a fucking break.

comment #29

Devin Faraci says ...

I followed up with an email to feedback@posner.com. The text follows:

Mr. Posner,

My name is Devin Faraci. I am a writer for a film website called CHUD.com (Cinematic Happenings Under Development), and I am interested in running your story regarding Mickey Rourke text messaging about Sean Penn. I have some questions, though.

1) What is your source on this story? Unsourced this seems like a tenuous tale at best.

2) What is the news angle on this story? As someone who closed the case on the JFK assassination, I would assume that you would be interested in hard news items. This appears, on the surface, to be a celebrity fluff piece of nonsense slightly less newsworthy than a report on Paris' feelings re: Lindsay Lohan. I don't mean to second guess an important investigative reporter, but I was hoping that an explanation of the news value of this piece might help me in shaping my own story on CHUD.com.

3) Are you as full of shit as you seem?

Thanks in advance for you help,

Devin Faraci
Cinematic Happenings Under Development
www.chud.com

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/author-11406

comment #30

Josh Massey says ...

Devin, why did you have to lob that snark grenade at the end? You might have actually gotten an answer.

comment #31

MindlessObamaton says ...

I'm cracking up picturing Rourke in his little glasses trying to bang out a text with those bratwurst-sized fingers.

great post, man. And I as I said right above, in total agreement with you.

Look, it hardly matters what he did or didn't say or text. I don't believe Rourke is texting anyone ever. But besides all that, does Penn need ANOTHER oscar. Really? Not for this, I say. Out of all theguys who could be nominated, don't we all want to see rourke win? How great would that be to see this guy shanble up to the stage. Tears flowing, it'd be amazing. I think it would. I'm not even a huge fan. I like the "idea" of Rourke maybe more than the man himself. But the way he really puts it all out there in this film is pretty great. I don't even think he was acting. So maybe, somehow, he doesn't deserve it over some other guy who is really "acting," but no matter what it is a PERFORMANCe, and it might be the best thing anyone's done this year (well, except for Ledger, of course).

comment #32

EDouglasCS says ...

Devin, why would Posner give up his source? And I certainly don't see sources listed on plenty of your CHUD scoops so not sure why you'd expect anyone else to give up theirs. ? DIdn't you see Nothing But the Truth?

Regardless of whether it's true or not (and seriously, why wouldn't it be? There are plenty of homophobes in Hollywood, even those who consider themselves liberal), Rourke is probably the last person to be throwing stones in glass houses and if Penn is indeed homopobic, than his performance is even more amazing for him facing his fears/prejudices to play the role.

comment #33

Ray says ...

At the end of his life, Mickey can stare at his ugly mug in the mirror and have all the answers he needs for why everything he ever had was wasted.

comment #34

Piper71 says ...

Yeah,

He and Penn are really, really good friends. That's why Rourke is spending time bagging on his performance.

I haven't seen Milk yet, but I'm going to guess Rourke is probably spot on. Penn is always too much for me.

comment #35

lonniechung says ...

Rourke is good, but the backstory is more compelling than the performance (still top notch, but more so in the context of real life). Sean Penn fell into the trap of impersonation rather than fleshing out a personality (you wanted Harvey to appear as more than the sum of the events). Frank Langella was fantastic, but the film was so set in mediocrity it's hard to imagine him rising above. As much as I can't believe I'm saying this, Clint may deserve it this year. Sure, he's doing what he always does, but the third act turn is about as compelling - and in some ways unexpected - as it gets. He takes the one-dimensional (by choice) character and turns it inside out. Surprising.

comment #36

BurmaShave says ...

Sean Penn already owes Bill Murray an Oscar, it'd be a shame if he took Mickey's over some chickenshit thing like this.

comment #37

Breedlove says ...

Devin, did you read 'Case Closed'? Curious if you had specific issues with it. Pretty interesting book.

Penn is really fantastic in 'Milk' - a totally winning performance that's unlike anything else I've seen him do. Haven't seen 'The Wrestler' yet but hopefully Rourke is even better.

comment #38

Jonah says ...

"Sean Penn already owes Bill Murray an Oscar, it'd be a shame if he took Mickey's over some chickenshit thing like this. "

Bill Murray is the most overrated SERIOUS actor in Hollywood. He's a comedic genius, but his performance in Lost In Translation was average at best.

comment #39

Devin Faraci says ...

Ed, there's a difference between posting a story about a casting choice and posting a scurrilous personal bit of shitty gossip. A huge difference.

comment #40

/3rtfu11 says ...

Jonah says ...

Bill Murray is the most overrated SERIOUS actor in Hollywood.

Overrated by the village but not by Hollywood.

comment #41

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

C.H.U.D. = Calloused.Hands.Under.Devin

comment #42

the400blows says ...

I don't understand all the attention Sean Penn is getting for his performance as Milk. He was very good, but it was hardly one of his best performances. As a matter of fact, I'll take Josh Brolin's rendition of George W. Bush over Penn's rendition of Milk. I even liked W. more than Milk. Whereas Milk was more of a political commentary film, W. was more of a character study film. That's why I liked W. more than Milk.